Fourteen pedals, one new tour

Editor's note: The bike's actual cost was $8,700, not $87,000.

The seven-person Conference Bike made its first, excellent impression on AU students, faculty and prospective students Oct. 8 at Susan Howell Hall.

“We had a great time," said Cindy, mother of Brandon Cook, a visiting student. "It’s really neat on a number of levels. It sets Alfred apart,” .

According to conferencebike.com, “the CoBi-7 is a tricycle pedaled by seven riders sitting in a circle. One person steers while everyone is free to pedal or not as the bike moves effortlessly [excluding hills] along.”

Jeff Kallay, who helps improve college visit programs around the country, has been working with AU for the past two years and has brought about some of the changes in the AU tours.

According to Jodi Bailey, Director of Marketing for the University, Kallay suggested that AU change from facility-based tours to more experience-based ones. Instead of just telling visitors about the University’s history, guides will now focus more on their personal experiences in respect to AU.

Another new addition is the AU tour van. Previously, tour guides would walk families from Alumni Hall to the Marlin Miller Performing Arts Center via Academic Alley, and then back to Alumni Hall. Now, after walking to Miller, visitors are picked up and driven to McLane Physical Education center, and after exploring McLane and some of the village, they are driven back to Alumni Hall. This new improved form of touring gave prospective students the opportunity to learn more about AU and Alfred in general.

“They got to see a broader scope [of AU] in the same amount of time,” said Bailey.

The idea for the CoBi-7 resulted from a meeting of tour guides was conducted by Kallay this summer in an effort to find out what else AU can do to improve tours.

The $87,000 bike was the creation of artist/inventor Eric Staller. AU was able to afford it courtesy of a donor. The CoBi-7 is red now, but plans to make it some form of purple and gold over the winter break are in the making, with help from the Bicycle Man in Alfred Station.

The bike tour is now offered along with or instead of the default tour, weather permitting. Families who choose to take the bike tour are given free tour guide shirts.

The bike tours are about 15 to 20 minutes long. The tour makes a complete circle around the campus down Academic Alley, then up behind Ade Dining Hall, following the road behind the Science center, then back to Alumni Hall, usually not stopping.

If there is an empty seat, an occasional stop is made to give rides to those walking. That way, visitors have a chance to make a deeper connection with some AU community members.

“They may come back and say, ‘I remember you from that bike tour,’” said Bailey with a smile, "already a connection is made."