Ledlie said he would like to see more students, employees and professors using bikes to get around.

A goal of Quad Bikes will also be to teach the Harvard community bike basics in order to avoid small problems that lead to bike disposal.

“Since they don’t understand the bikes, they treat them as toys and don’t use them to their potential,” Ledlie said.

He also said he wants to engage students as employees at the all student-run shop.

Ledlie said he hopes to attract people to apply for jobs with Quad Bikes both for the convenience of being on-campus and for the competitive pay that Quad Bikes hopes to offer.

For now, it is only Ledlie and Juan C. Agudelo ’03.

The pair said they hope to expand and have heard from several people who have visited their website (www.quadbikes.org) inquiring about services and employment opportunities.

A publicity campaign kicked into gear last week with a campus-wide e-mail to House open lists. Plans are also under way for a grand opening in Cabot this fall.

“We hope to have a barbecue, tune bikes, sell accessories, and maybe have people biking around the Quad,” Agudelo said.

Cabot House Master James H. Ware was an early convert.

“Quad Bikes is pretty spiffy,” Ware gushed.

“I hope this becomes a trend and the College takes advantage of the space available in the Quad,” Ware said. “We’d like to see more academic and cultural activities.”

“I am very impressed with all that [Leidle] and [Agudelo] have put in,” Ware said.

Quadling and bike rider Nancy S. Garland ’03 recently brought in her bike to Leidle and said that having a bike shop will help the Quad become a self-contained community.

“Quad Bikes is convenient and accessible, and it is not intimidating because they are our peers,” Garland said. “It’s really great that students are working in the shop.”

—Staff writer Maria S. Pedroza can be reached at mpedroza@fas.harvard.edu.