Bikes for the people

How much does a bicycle cost?

If you order a Damien Hirst "Butterfly" Trek Madrone titanium road bike, designed in Canada and made in the United States, it'll set you back $500,000.

For most people, that's not a very practical option. For them, and those who are too young to get a driver's license, there are several community-based programs throughout Sonoma County that can provide bikes at low cost — or no cost at all.

"We've given away 300 free bicycles in the past year, and thousands over the past eight years," said Michael Teller, co-founder of Community Bikes Santa Rosa, a nonprofit organization that recycles old donated bikes.

Community Bikes also sells rebuilt, lower-priced bicycles, and lets bike owners use its repair shop for $10 an hour, with used parts for sale and volunteer bike mechanics available to mentor riders on how to fix their rides.

"We get a lot of support from local bike shops, because we can offer something they don't," Teller said.

The program has more than economy in mind. Established by LITE Initiatives, a local environmental organization, Community Bikes is also ecology-minded.

"We encourage people to ride bicycles, and we try to make it easy," Teller said.

Cycling not only spares the air and reduces use of fossil fuel, it also helps people stay in shape and offers inexpensive transportation to those with few other options, he explained.

The core staff of some 20 volunteers at Community Bikes Santa Rosa practices what it believes.

"Everyone here rides a bicycle by choice," Teller said. "It's a way of life."

A completely separate program with a similar name — Community Bikes Petaluma — operates on a smaller scale.

"It's basically me, my friends and family. I did it out of my backyard at first," said founder Alan Allen, who started collecting, repairing and redistributing donated bicycles in early 2012.

On his website, communitybikespetaluma.org, he schedules bike giveaways and repair clinics at sites including a garage and a storage facility.

"I just don't want to see children go without something as simple as a bicycle," Allen said.

"Bikes let kids go and explore the parks and trails."

Operation Bicycle founder Adrian Palenchar, working through Sonoma Valley Teen Services, aims his efforts primarily at teenagers.

"A lot of teens don't drive, because they can't afford it," Palenchar said.

"We have an earn-a-bike program so they can volunteer at our repair shop and earn credits toward a bike. Kids have earned about 130 bikes that way. We also sell some bikes, at about $80 maximum, and put the money back into the program."

As a contractor for the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition, Palenchar also works with the "Safe Routes to School" program, visiting classrooms around the county to teach basic bike safety to students from the second grade through the sixth grade.

In addition to the year-round programs, there are annual bike giveaways sponsored by community service organizations.

The Active 20-30 Club North Bay, for example, collects bicycles every fall to give to low-income families through the holidays, said club president Aaron Horwedel.

One year, a teenage boy who showed up late on the designated day, on his way home from work, was disappointed to discover that the bike he had called ahead to reserve couldn't be found.

"His parents were out of work, and he said, 'It would make me really happy to get a bike for my little sister,'" Horwedel recalled.

"When we heard that story, we went out and bought a brand-new bike."

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. See his ARTS blog at http://arts.blogs. pressdemocrat.com.