EVERETT — The smell of dirt, grease and rubber tread hangs in the air of the Sharing Wheels community bike shop downtown. In a windowless building with a back-alley entrance, the shop is packed with bicycles for sale or awaiting repair.
“We refurbish bikes to resell,” shop manager Kristi Knodell said.*
For 13 years, the shop has helped low-income people get bikes. Sharing Wheels started in a home garage and now is a nonprofit mainly funded by revenue from the repair and sales of bikes and parts.
A wide array of bikes are available for people of varying skills and interests.
“There are the hipster fixed-gear guys and gals, BMX dudes and kids looking for a street or mountain bike,” Knodell said. “More people are coming in looking at commuter bikes — they want to bike to work.”
Good bikes can be costly. Sharing Wheels aims to provide quality bicycles at an affordable price, as well as the tools, parts and workspace to maintain them.
Not all of the donated bikes are usable.
“Some of the things people bring in are so badly damaged that they are scrapped or destroyed,” Knodell said.
She curates a museum of sorts in the back of the shop, where brand-name plates and antique parts are on display in a glass case next to her desk.
Each Christmas, the shop donates refurbished children’s bikes to Christmas House, an organization that helps low-income families with free gifts for children. Sharing Wheels has donated more than 70 bikes so far this year.
Bicycle culture is growing in Everett. Knodell sees Sharing Wheels as a vital part of the social health of the community by enabling people to get out of their cars and out and about.
“There is a lot of diversity in people who use the bike shop,” she said. “That scares some people away, but it’s also the cool part. You’ll find someone has stopped what they’re working on to help fix a Mormon missionary’s tire. That’s what the community bike shop is about.”
In the summer, Sharing Wheels opens the doors for a children’s bike swap, where kids can trade up for a new set of wheels. Similar to trades at a car dealership, kids bring in their old bikes and receive a voucher that can be used toward the cost of a new bike.
“Through the year, some kids stop in and learn to work on their bikes,” she said.
Some bikes come back to Sharing Wheels through the bike swap others are simply donated back. So goes the cycle of bike ownership.
Andrew Gobin: 425-339-3000, ext. 5461; agobin@heraldnet.com.
Correction, Dec. 12, 2014: Sharing Wheels’ shop manager is Kristi Knodell. Her name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.
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