Author: Jason Luo ’25
Cycling Saves the Planet
According to the University of Montana, “If everyone in the world who works less than 5 miles from home cycled instead of driving to work one day a week, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5 million tons a year.” Everyone knows bicycles are more sustainable than your average combustion engine vehicle. But, we can do more. That’s where the idea of a circular economy comes in — the idea that the end-of-life of one thing is the beginning-of-life of another. Cycling is great for the environment. Recycling old bike parts is even better. One group at Princeton does just that.
It’s no coincidence that you can’t spell “recyclable” without “cyclab.” In fact, the Cyclab has been a bastion of the Princeton student community for nearly two decades. They operate in the shadows, providing life-saving bike repairs on the darkest of nights…
We sat down with Nic McAdam ’25 to talk about the group and how it is involved with sustainability. McAdam, along with Sam Kleiner ’25, manages Cyclab. From the conversation, it was easy to see that sustainability is something they take seriously.
The Goals and Visions of Cyclab
The Cyclab is a student job organization supported under Rockefeller College and is composed of paid student mechanics and volunteers that work in shifts during operating hours. Founded in 2007, Cyclab’s mission is simple: help students fix and maintain their bikes. But in reality, they do more than that, all while keeping sustainability at the forefront of their mission.
According to McAdam, “Cyclab’s vision is just to create a space that’s inclusive to as many people as possible, as well as creating a more sustainable future for the Princeton community and for the cycling community.” Much of their work is focused on reversing the attitudes of consumerism and single-use purchasing. “Just because something’s out of fashion, or something’s a few weeks, months, years old, doesn’t mean that it no longer has value,” McAdam said. “Value is intrinsic to the person who uses it, as opposed to the object itself.” In particular, Cyclab’s mechanics make use of old parts from abandoned or confiscated bikes around campus. “We take what parts we can possibly reuse and put those on to other bikes. And from that, we then will give those parts out. And if we can’t reuse them, for example, if a frame is cracking, or there’s something wrong with the frame, we have channels to recycle those as well as any rubbers or materials that were used in the frame,” McAdam said. “There’s a huge emphasis on sustainability within that, as well as just general safety for students.”
When asked how Cyclab specifically intersects with the environment, McAdam had a broader outlook: “There’s multiple facets … I think cycling as a whole, and teaching students that cycling is an option for commuting going into the future, is definitely a huge mindset change that has to happen within society.” McAdam said he felt compelled to join Cyclab after experiencing the competitive culture at Princeton. “There’s a huge amount of pressure to perform. Whether it’s academically or whatever environment, it’s very much a place where, no matter what, you feel like there’s a sense of being judged,” he said. “And coming into a space like Cyclab, I very much felt that it was a space where you were encouraged just to be who you are. At that moment, I didn’t need to worry about being judged for what I was doing. It was very much this thing that I’d like to learn a little bit more about. And that was embraced regardless of what level I was at, or what school I was at. It was just, I could show up and be present in that space and be taught the skills.”
Moving forward, Cyclab hopes to work with facilities and other campus groups to plan larger events. One idea involves discussing bike safety, including educating riders on when to do tire and brake replacements. The group also envisions researching ways to recycle unusable materials and giving people the chance to properly dispose of their old tires.
Getting Involved
Cyclab is typically open Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays from 7:30–10:30pm, and Sundays from 2–5pm. Interested in learning more? Be sure to visit Cyclab’s website, or follow their Instagram and Facebook pages. Those looking to get involved with Cyclab as a staff member or volunteer can contact the managers at nmcadam@princeton.edu and sk3220@princeton.edu.
Citations:
The Trustees of Princeton University. (n.d.). The cyclab – Princeton University’s bicycle cooperative at Rocky College. Princeton University. https://cyclab.princeton.edu/
Benefits of biking. University of Montana. (n.d.). https://www.umt.edu/transportation-parking-services/news/benefitsofbiking.php
Bike waste and moving towards a circular economy for … (n.d.). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/10126902221138033