#YBS17: Shifting Gears

What is a Youth Bike Summit? Last time we introduced you to a local group of young writers who are also learning about bikes and becoming young riders. Some of those Story Riders will be attending the Youth Bike Summit this weekend...but what exactly is a youth bike summit?

Simply put it's the future of cycling. Every year Washington DC is home to the National Bike Summit, where businesses, organizations, advocates, bikers, and the like all gather to talk about ideas, plans, and facilities that worked or needed improvement in the grand scheme of making cycling safer and more accessible to everyone.

The one step that has propelled biking farther and faster than any other component is a change in ideas. And where is there an untapped resource of fresh ideas? The professionals of tomorrow.

In so many of our cities, cycling sat on a back burner when it came to laying out roads and bridges and sidewalks. Bike sharing was something that happened in other cities not our cities. But all of that is changing. People are riding bikes more and because of that our infrastructure must change to meet that shift.

Around the country there are many youth based bike organizations that teach mechanics, help kids earn bikes, and get young people out on our roads and more comfortable on bikes. These kids are the future of cycling and their numbers are growing. They are growing up, living and working in our cities, and they are using bikes on a daily basis. They are passionate about bikes, they are experiencing the challenges put in place by car-centric designers and engineers, and they have ideas. The Youth Bike Summit  connects them to like-minded allies and gives them a voice.

At this year's summit, youth and adults will come together to talk about issues immediately affecting youth and cycling, such as riding on trails, career opportunities in the bike industry, bike facilities on college campuses, etc. There is even a panel about relationships with law enforcement and how the bike can help bridge the gap in communication.

The bottom line is this, our youth will be the next drivers on the road, they may already be there. Educating them about the rights of cyclists will make them better drivers and make the roads safer for everyone. They may also be our future engineers designing our roads and communities. They most definitely will be tomorrow's advocates fighting to have our voices heard.

The Youth Bike Summit comes to Arlington this year and is being hosted by our own youth group Phoenix Bikes. This experience has helped introduce mature concepts to the youth in this program through something they all love, biking. It has brought them together to work as a team, to express their thoughts and ideas and come up with plans and solutions...in just planning the event itself.

Several of them have been invited to speak at the conference. They will create a presentation, get up in front of a crowd, share their thoughts and answer questions. They will meet other inspired minds and share ideas and work together to change the future of cycling and possibility their communities.

This experience is more than encouraging youth to take an active, vocal role in their cycling futures, it's about maturing and growing into themselves. It's about figuring out that their opinions matter. It's also about learning how to effectively express themselves and make change happen. It's learning to come together and work together for a common goal; something we all could use a little more of in our lives.

Featured Volunteer: Nick Hein

2013 National Day of Service

Every year Bikes for the World likes to participate in Martin Luther King Day festivities by starting the year out with a container loading of bikes for one of our overseas partners. 2013 was no different, except given the added Inauguration event on Monday, we chose to load over the weekend instead. For this National Day of Service over two dozen volunteers came out to King Farm to help us load our first container of the year, destination: FINCA Costa Rica.

Jennifer Privell and Nick delivering bikes from Positive Spin

Then event also gave us the opportunity to say goodbye to one of our--oh, let's just say our BIGGEST WVA--supporters Nick Hein. Nick has been the Director of Morgantown WVA's Positive Spin. He is, however, as sandals in wintertime may suggest, moving on to the West Coast to pursue other interests.

Nick and Positive Spin have supported Bikes for the World for years, and before that donated bikes to our sister organization in Chicago, Working Bikes. Nick Hein can remember our Nick Colombo when he was at Working Bikes before coming to BfW.

Positive Spin offers classes in bicycle maintenance and repair, mentors teens in bicycle repair (and earning a bike through their efforts), solicits donations of unwanted bicycles, and reconditions and sells used bikes to the community at low prices. Morgantown is home to the University of West Virginia, and students, faculty, and other staff comprise a large part of the Positive Spin volunteer base and market for reconditioned bikes.

A common problem of community bike projects such as Positive Spin is that their donors and volunteers produce more bikes and spare parts than can be used (although the bikes tend to be of department-store quality and marginal condition, requiring too much skilled labor and time to make usable).

Nick Hein delivers bikes from Positive Spin to BfW in 2011

Beginning in 2008 (or so), Positive Spin has donated surplus bikes and spare parts meeting Bikes for the World standards. To get them from Morgantown to our storage site in Rockville MD, we have relied on a combination of transport arrangements -- volunteers with the Cumberland (MD) Rotary Club, and other various BfW volunteers with trucks (and generous hearts). Most recently, BfW shared the costs of truck rental to bring 80+ bikes and many boxes of parts (all loaded by Nick and Jennifer) to this National Day of Service loading.

We want to say thank you and good luck to Nick Hein for all his support over the years. We also want to recognize his valuable contribution to the cycling community of Morgantown. We hope that Positive Spin will continue to thrive in this community even after Nick moves on to explore other adventures out west.

   

Big Bear Bike Sale

Saturday December 8th 10am-2pm

Tis the Season...for buying a bike AND supporting your favorite local non-profit. Several times a year Big Bear Cafe opens their outdoor area to local bike non-profits Bikes for the World and Phoenix Bikes for a big used bike sale.

For you it's a great time to come out and find the perfect used bike at an affordable price. For us it helps raise funds to support our international mission by selling off some of the high end road bikes unsuitable for the terrain of our international partners. Not only that but we get to promote one of our favorite local youth projects: Phoenix Bikes.

Courtesy Phoenix Bikes

Phoenix Bikes is THAT local group YOU keep asking us about! Phoenix Bikes is located in South Arlington and reaches out to area youth to get them involved and active in the cycling community.

Why are they so cool? Besides the biking aspect you mean? It's the kids of course. Phoenix is not just a local bike club or bike shop, they run a youth development education program and Earn-A-Bike program. The participants in the program are trained in bike mechanics, learn life skills, engage in problem solving, and learn the value of giving back to the community. These kids are learning valuable skills that will help them throughout their lives, all from the saddles of their bikes.

The bikes Phoenix collects come from a variety of sources just like ours at Bikes for the World. We value this project for what it gives these kids as well as the community we live and work in. Phoenix Bikes is actually a huge supporter of Bikes for the World! They often get in plenty of bikes that aren't suitable for their program that they in turn donate to BfW.

The ones they keep the kids work on, earn, and sell in the bike shop that helps support the program. Refurbishing bikes is something we at BfW don't have the staff to keep up with given we collect over 10,000 bikes a year. We will be at the Big Bear sale this weekend with about a dozen or so high end or vintage road bikes that were donated to us. These select frames can do more to further our global mission if we sell them locally than ship them overseas where they may not be suitable for the job in front of them. Our expert mechanic (and Operations Manager) Nick Colombo has tuned up these bikes and will have them available for sale from 10am - 2pm but come early, they go quick.

Phoenix Bikes will have a larger selection and variety. If you are looking for a mountain bike, single speed, cruiser, or hybrid this is the place to be! All proceeds from the sale will benefit our respective organizations and help us keep doing what we are doing. See you at the Sale!

Big Bear Cafe
 1700 1st St (1st and R St)  NW DC 
Saturday December 8th
10am - 2pm