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Eau Claire (WQOW) - A local group is using old bikes to spark new interest in biking.
The Greasy Fixins Bike Harvesters started collecting old bikes to use for spare parts last fall.
"It all started with the university donating 25 abandoned bikes from the summer because all these students leave and they leave their bikes abandoned, they're sitting outside all winter," says Kyle Zander, a member of the Greasy Fixins Bike Harvesters.
Now they're using the bikes to spread interest in the activity by helping folks fix up their old bikes or in some cases provide them with a new used bicycle.
"Its an open shop where anybody can come in and work on their own bike, if they don't know how, there's a number of us here that can teach them how to. We have parts, we have bikes, we have frames, we have food, we have fun, we have music," says Dan Green, a member of the Greasy Fixins Bike Harvesters.
Besides fixing flat tires, rusty chains and anything else that can go wrong with a bike, the group repairs old bikes and donates them to various groups in the community.
"We get them fixed up, a lot of people put some time into the bikes and we're donating them to transitional houses where guys don't have enough money to provide transportation for themselves," says Zander.
The group has also donated bikes to the Boys and Girls Club and Big Brothers, Big Sisters.
"Everyone here loves biking and wants to support it however they can and we thought this would be a good way to do it," says Green.
"Its a good community project, you get to meet a few people, share a little time and knowledge, learn something on top of it," says Don Bestul, a local bicycle enthusiast.
The Greazy Fixins Bike Harvesters meets every other Saturday afternoon in the basement of Banbury Place Building 17. On Earth Day, the group is holding a bike auction so they can buy some tools and bike parts.
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