By Jessica LaDow
POINT PARK NEWS SERVICE
Saturday, December 22, 2007

Rich Kragness hoisted a small Spider-Man bike onto an old bicycle stand and rubbed his hands together, his breath fogging in the warehouse air as he wiped the handles with an old cloth.
“It just called to me,” he said. “It’s a cute little bike. It needs a home.”

Thanks to Kragness, 47, and other volunteers who participated in the 4th annual Free Ride Kids Bike Build-a-Thon in East Liberty, more than 60 recycled and repaired bicycles will have homes with needy children.

Free Ride is a nonprofit shop that allows people of all ages to exchange their skills in maintaining and building bikes in return for tools and supplies to build and maintain their own, said Eric Boerer, shop coordinator and project director for Bike Pittsburgh.

Free Ride is a project of Bike Pittsburgh, a city group dedicated toward advocating healthy and safe bicycling practices around the city, he said.
For two days, dozens of people huddled in a small section of the Construction Junction warehouse to build bikes. They braved the cold, bolting together metal frames and greasing gears as one small kerosene heater gave off warmth.

Sixty-three bicycles, picked up by the Allegheny Housing Authority, are being distributed to needy kids around the area during this holiday season.

“We actually kept making them afterward, to have even more,” Boerer said. “I don’t even know what number we’re at now.”

Eva Barinas, 24, walked from her home in Squirrel Hill to build bikes to help children because she said all kids should have the chance to ride. She wiped the pink frame, white wheels and small shiny tire reflectors of a mid-sized girl’s bicycle with a tattered rag and green cleaner.

“I thought it would be nice,” she said. “I always liked riding when I was younger.”

The volunteers, clad in scarves, fingerless gloves and hooded sweatshirts, helped one another tighten bolts and screw on seats while taking short breaks at the tool bench covered with snacks and apple cider.

Most volunteers were Free Ride regulars, but Boerer said he was happy to see a few newcomers helping out.

Projects such as the Kids Bike Build-a-Thon are ways the organization reaches out to the community. It tries to foster healthy, active lifestyles through biking, Boerer said.

The bicycles ranged in size from tiny ones for toddlers to larger street bikes for older kids and teens.

Kragness spun the back wheel of the tiny Spiderman bike.

“It’s part of the fun for me — helping the kids,” he said.