After officially starting business last quarter and hosting a celebratory opening last month, Piogears Underground will continue its efforts in bicycle education by hosting a six-week master class on bike maintenance, independent from DU curriculum.

The classes, beginning on Thurday, April 11 and held every week thereafter, will be led by James Tyson, a graduate student in the University College Environmental Policy and Management Program. Tyson has been involved with numerous bike related initiatives at DU since the beginning of the year.

“The master mechanics classes are designed for people who are interested in taking better care of their own bicycles,” said Tyson. “A lot of people we have come in are avid commuters and younger students who really want to learn more about bicycles, and I think it’ll be a good opportunity to do that since we have more tools showing up on campus in the form of the fix-it stands.”

Students who signed up for the class paid a fee of $200 to help cover staffing and tools. In addition, Tyson and his fellow mechanics will continue to work with the Bike Depot in Denver to provide parts and resources to students. Enrollment will close when the class begins, but Piogears will consider opening up the class to students with varied knowledge of bikes if the demand is high enough.

“One of our mechanics actually took it last year at the Bike Depot’s Park Hill location,” said Tyson. “This last quarter we brought [the class] to campus to use our tools and our shop and teach five mechanics how to properly work on bicycles so we could run a shop for the students here. Then it just evolved into opening up to DU community members when they wanted to do it each quarter. We might as well open it up to teach more people about their bicycle.”

Even if students are unable to enroll in the class, Tyson heavily encourages anyone to come to Piogears to learn tips about handling bike maintenance. Anyone interested in the classes, or in Piogears, can contact Tyson for more details.