Bike shop with a mission up and rolling
Bike Me Up Niagara provides affordable transportation and opportunity for volunteers to pick up new skills
It’s not a stretch to say the wheels are in motion.
Bike Me Up Niagara’s mission is relatively simple — provide affordable two-wheeled transportation and a place for volunteers to learn the basics of bicycle repair and maintenance.
The program, at 203 Church St. in St. Catharines, is run in conjunction with Start Me Up Niagara.
Bike Me Up Niagara got into gear in the spring and has gained a considerable degree of traction, said Wayne Schmidt, social enterprise co-ordinator at Start Me Up.
He is managing the bike project, which he says is a labour of love.
“It is really critical for some people who don’t have a car,” Schmidt said. “They might not have bus money a lot of the time. A bike can provide mobility for work or to just go for a ride for health benefits.
“What we are trying to do is get some of our client base from
Start Me Up and the Queenston Street neighbourhood to come in and get a bike for $30.”
Schmidt, a retired former logistical services manager at Enbridge, is a familiar face from local United Way campaigns and the Community Care agency.
He said the bikes are donated. Some of the seed money came from Niagara Prosperity Initiative and was used to create a pair of work-stations and acquire some tools and supplies.
“We know the health benefits of cycling,” Schmidt said. “We are all cyclists here, and cycling is good medicine. It takes the work out of a workout.
“One of the things we were seeing was a lot of people riding around downtown with brakes hanging off, or without brakes. Sometimes the gears and cables were hanging off.”
Schmidt didn’t try to re-invent the wheel. He visited a shop in Kitchener called Recycled Cycles as well as a program that acquires bikes for migrant farm workers in Niagara-on-the-Lake. He also took a good look at the Broken Spoke program run by Port Colborne High.
Schmidt said Bike Me Up Niagara would like to eventually run seminars on maintenance and use the curriculum from Port High as a guide.
“It could lead to a training program for some people, and possibly provide a certificate that could help with employment in a bike shop.
There is a 12-metre-long sea container sitting outside almost full of donated bikes at the floor level. Schmidt has spent time recently working to gather resources to add a second level to the container.
“We are need bicycles, and we could use another bike tech or two who are good with tools,” he said. “We need some volunteers that aren’t necessarily mechanically inclined, but are willing to clean and strip parts off bikes and learn as they go.”
Arnold Goertzen is one of the volunteers. He is a retired IT specialist, but before that, as a younger man, he was a car mechanic. He knows his way around a tool bench.
“Our church got involved with the migrant workers’ bike program and I was fixing bicycles with them.
“Dr. Fraser Mackay asked me if I was willing to come down and help Wayne. A lot of the participants don’t have much in the way of mechanical aptitude and don’t know what end of the wrench to hold. But that is not a problem. We can work with anyone who wants to learn.”
Tony Venditti, outreach centre co-ordinator at Start Me Up Niagara, said the program fits in well with their principles of improving health, increasing community integration and supporting employment for its participants.
“This shop is great,” Venditti said. “We are kind of blown away by it all. We are ahead of what we expected. We know it takes time, and Wayne’s done a tremendous job.
“I think there is some buzz in the community about the bikes and people are coming in.”
The Bike Me Up workshop runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The program will also arrange to pick up for bike donations.
“We are not on the clock,” Schmidt said. “We are not trying to make a profit every day. What is important to us is that we care about the people.
“It’s not your standard bicycle shop. It’s unique. You never know what’s coming through the door.”