At Phoenix Bikes, a non-profit bicycle shop and educational center, students are learning their ABCs. That stands for the air, brakes, and chain of basic bike mechanics. Phoenix Bikes sells bikes to the public at their business in Arlington, Virginia. But it also teaches teenagers how to repair bikes. Most students at Phoenix start in its after-school “earn-a-bike program,” at middle and high schools in and around Arlington County. Once a week over a 12 week period, students learn repair skills. They learn how to use tools, fix flat tires, align the wheels, and adjust brakes and gears. The first lesson involves taking the bike apart, or stripping it down to its basic structure, the frame. By doing this, they learn all the parts of a bike. In the first weeks, they work in small groups to repair a bike donated to the shop. The bikes often have missing or damaged parts. The finished bike is then given to a person in need from the community. Phoenix Bikes director Emily Gage said the shop partners with several local organizations to donate the bikes. Some bikes have been going to Afghan refugees resettled in the area. In the last four weeks of the program, students come to the shop to work on one of the donated bikes which they can then take home at no cost.
