We went to West Central Community Center yesterday and fixed up some bikes. All up, we had about a dozen bikes come in. It was a perfect first event. I was a bit worried that we’d be overwhelmed and unable to help folks out. But the weather was kinda sucky and it was Father’s Day, so the 2 hour-slot we filled was just right. Folks came in a nice gentle stream.

We had 6 volunteers, four work stands, and enough tools. We brought the right tools. We went through a few cables, some housing, a couple tubes, and two tires. Stuff we need to bring next time are saddles and chains.

One family came in that had some pretty rough bikes. One was a Schwinn World tour from Goodwill, one was a really cool old Italian racer from 1974 that the woman had bought with her first tax return, and the girl’s bike was the one in the picture there that Ken fixed up. It was great to get these bikes running again. The father said it was one of his best Father’s Day presents yet. Cool.

This week and next we’ll be spending evening fixing up bikes for the KHQ Kids Bike Drive. There are about 50 bikes waiting for us in portable storage containers. I’ll be going out there with Joe and Kathleen tonight to take inventory and see what we need to fix. If you’ve got time to help in the next couple weeks, I know we’ll need it. Check out our events calandar here and look for “KHQ” in the title if you want to help out.