Unlike car dealerships, most bike shops don’t take in used bikes towards a new one.

Those with nice bikes in good working condition often sell them at swap meets, in on-line classified ads, or on eBay. For older, used bikes, you’re usually better off donating it to a friend or a group.

Back Alley Bikes

There are at least a couple good groups looking for bikes in the Metro Detroit area. The first is Back Alley Bikes. They offer programs where kids can refurbish a used bike by themselves then get to keep it. They also offer bicycle repair training for adults.

If you have a kids bike or anything with fat tires, this is a great place to donate it. They are also looking for bicycle parts, too.

Back Alley Bikes is located on Cass at Martin Luther King. The entrance is from the alley behind the building. Just look for the painted sign.

Re-CYCLE for Kids

The Oakland County Sheriff’s office has developed a program as noted in this Detroit Free Press article, Bike recycling gets a push in Wixom:

[Lighting Supply Co.'s Wixom store] is a drop-off location for the Oakland County Sheriff Office’s bike rehabilitation program, Sheriff’s Re-CYCLE for Kids. The program takes in bikes from donors and then has low-level offenders at Trusty Camp, a correctional facility, fix them up. The bikes then go to needy children.

Lighting Supply is the only private business in all of Oakland County that has volunteered to be a drop-off site for the 2-year-old program, according to the sheriff’s office. For volunteering to be a drop-off site, the company received a community award from the City of Wixom in late February.

The Lighting Supply Company has stores in Ferndale and Wixom.

Another great program that refurbishes donated bikes for needy children…

From the Detroit News:
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office has added two new partners to its Re-CYCLE for Kids program.

The program allows members of the community to donate bikes and bike parts as well as bicycle tools and accessories to give away to needy children through local charities. Officials have given away about 600 bikes since the program started in February 2006.

The bikes are then refurbished by minimum security inmates who perform work details in the community through the Sheriff’s Office Trusty Camp.

For information and a list of drop off locations, visit www.oakgov.com/sheriff/ or call (248) 858-5000.
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There are habits in life that if you don’t pick them up as a kid, you’re unlikely to pick them up as an adult, e.g. eating right, hunting, smoking, and biking. Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes it’s not.

I’m reminded of the “give a man a fish” adage. Give a kid a ride to school and they’ll be in class that day. Give them a bike and they’re empowered to ride to school and elsewhere on their own (and be a whole lot healthier.)

A big thanks to Variety on Christmas!

From the Detroit Free Press:
When 12-year-old Jalen Hunt and his brother, 11-year-old Danotis Smith Jr., first set eyes on their new bicycles, they were looking forward to summer so they could go for a ride.

“This feels good,” said Jalen while testing out his bicycle. “This is new. It doesn’t look like my old one.”

More than 165 children like Jalen and Danotis received brand-new bicycles thanks to Variety, a children’s charity that offers support to more than 25 children’s agencies and groups throughout southeastern Michigan. For 12 years, Variety has worked with agencies to identify children who need a bicycle. Some of the children have never owned a bicycle or have never had a brand-new one.

Since Variety began its Bikes for Kids event, nearly 3,000 bicycles have been given away.

Read the complete article