The power of bicycles

wtg

At first, Manuel Vera just wanted to do something productive for his neighbors during the COVID-19 lockdown. Maybe he could help them get outside by tuning up bikes in need of a little TLC, he thought. So he posted to an online group in his Silver Spring, Maryland, neighborhood, offering to fix people’s bikes for free. All he asked was to be reimbursed for any new parts.

“Then I started thinking about all the bikes that people have at home that never get used,” says Vera, 74, who is retired from the local power company.

Soon he was asking neighbors to donate any bikes collecting dust in their garages and basements after kids had outgrown them or adults had upgraded to new models. Then, in his tidy little backyard shed, he’d get to work.

https://www.rd.com/article/silver-spring-maryland-free-bikes/?utm_placement=newsletter

I don't fix them up, but I will pick up bikes that have been put out as garbage. I give them to the Working Bikes Coop to fix up or use for parts.

CHAS

Bicycles are good for the mind.
Have my doubts about ebikes. Have never ridden one.

Mik

Ebikes keep people riding long after they might have quit. It's a good thing. What concerns me is that I see the kids in my neighborhood, ages three to late teens, buzzing around on motorized toys - no physical exertion. The area here is very flat. The scooters particularly worry me because of the high center of gravity and no helmet. They are FAST like 15-20 mph.

A very old friend of mine works for the county probation department. I've given her a couple older but well-maintained bikes she fixes up and gives to probationers who either have lost licenses or can't afford a car.

wtg

@Mik

We have a neighbor who picks up every single motorized kid car or scooter he sees put out at the curb as garbage. He can't put his cars in the garage because it's full of them. And his huge storage shed has the overflow. After he fixes them, his two kids ( ages 4 and 7) ride them up and down the block. The scooter is a howler and can go that 15 mph or more that you mentioned. I saw the seven year old on it last week.

I guess the only saving grace is that the kids wear helmets.