By NICOLE DANNA Colorado Daily Staff Writer
Sunday, June 3, 2007

Nearly everyone at Community Cycles is living car-free.

For Rich Points, a founder and manager of the Boulder-based nonprofit that provides refurbished bikes to local residents through various outreach programs, it's the only way to live - and he's more than happy to help others who want to make biking a way of life as well.

These days, Points' Boulder shop is never empty, he said. Since Community Cycles first opened its doors in April 2006, it has been growing faster than Points can repair, rebuild or refurbish. Just two months after he set up shop, Points said the nonprofit had already pulled off three bike drives, each bringing in more than 300 bikes, and had filled two storage containers with parts and equipment.

Since that time, Points estimates he's supplied more than 1,000 bikes to local residents - no small feat for three men and a bike shop.

“We moved to our [current location] in February [2006], and we outgrew it that month,” said Points, a longtime bicycle advocate who joined up with fellow Boulder bikers Reid Lustig, Chris Scanlan and Gary Gingras to form Community Cycles, located at 2805 Wilderness Pl.

Their dream: To recycle bikes from the community to give back to low-income and high-needs locals.

Today, Community Cycles provides a number of services for the bicycling community, offering a spot where locals can drop in for repairs, learn about basic bike maintenance, donate used bikes, and even pick up a refurbished one. More than half of Community Cycle's funding is derived from bike sales and tune-ups, said Points, and about 10 percent comes from donations.

The shop also provides an outlet for volunteers, who can participate in teaching programs alongside Points to help others earn a bike as a means of transportation or recreation.

“We call it ‘Earn-A-Bike',” said Points, who explains the program - open to men and women of all ages - allows participants to learn about bike mechanics with the guidance of experienced volunteer. Participants work in the shop and, after 15 hours of shop time and instruction, are given the opportunity to customize a bike to their preference and keep it as their own.

This past Sunday, one such participant - 12-year-old Boulder resident Samir Alicic - was putting the final touches on his new, red bike.

Alicic said he decided to participate in the program rather than buy a new bike because he “wanted to learn how to put it together so that if it ever broke, I can fix it myself.”

Likewise, Ann Kiefer, who has been commuting via bike for more than 10 years, decided to participate by volunteering in the shop. Kiefer's mission: To learn more about bike maintenance.

“I rely on my bike, and if something goes wrong, I get anxious. It's my second time here, and so far it's been very helpful and informative,” said Kiefer Sunday. “And every time I've been here, it's been busy.”

For Points, who has been living car-free for nine years, it's rewarding to see people of all ages commuting on two wheels instead of four. Points himself switched from being a car-commuter to a full-time bike commuter when he moved to Boulder from Michigan in 1998 to attend the masters program in Environmental Leadership at Naropa University.

It was an easy decision to make, Points added.

“I guess it just happened. I discovered the bike paths, which were kept in such good condition year round, and I just didn't need a car. But I've always been involved with bicycle advocacy,” said Points, a former GO Boulder Bike Ambassador. “The political side of biking doesn't come up in the shop. But we try to encourage people to be car-free. We have everything here you could possibly need to commute, from bike maps and cargo racks - all the basic commuter essentials.”

In fact, every inch of Points' shop is stocked with tools and bicycle parts - a colorful display of handlebars, frames, wheels - everything necessary to construct new bikes for those who participate in one of Community Cycles many programs.

And while the shop functions as a full-service repair pit, where any member of the public can stop by for a $20 tune-up, Community Cycles' Create-A-Commuter and Earn-A-Bike programs are what make this nonprofit so unique, said Points.

One of Points' favorite programs: Bikes Abroad, an initiative that began in November 2006 and has since provided people in Ghana, Africa with reliable, affordable transportation.

“Our first shipment left Boulder on November where they were distributed throughout the country,” said Points, who worked in conjunction with Spoke Community Bicycle Project to deliver more than 400 bikes.

For Points, there is still a lot of road to be covered, however. Not only has he started a new program to aid inmates on work-release by working them through the Earn-A-Bike program, Points said he now has plans to expand his outreach to local corporations.

“We're constantly doing outreach, and I see us doing a lot more with [local companies] in the near future,” said Points, who has already started building a fleet of bikes for employees of a local company. “We want to continue to build partnerships, and work with more community organizations. Basically, we want people to come here for everything they'll need to commute via bike, the goal being to help people see it can be easy to replace the automobile. Even if we can just teach people to fix a flat, it will keep them out there riding.”

Contact Nicole Danna about this story at (303) 443-6272, ext. 125, or at danna@coloradodaily.com.