DAYTON, Ohio — In the basement of Dayton’s Armory building is a sprawling workshop. The walls are lined with every size and color of bicycle imaginable, its shelves filled with buckets and boxes of pedals, chains, seats and kickstands.
Very little goes to waste. As long as it’s in a safe condition, Matt Tepper works to find a new home for everything that gets donated, all in the hopes Bicycles for All can live up to its name, and make taking to the streets and trails of the Miami Valley accessible for everyone.
The nonprofit started in 2012 and barring a short hiatus at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, its volunteers refurbish roughly 500 bicycles every year. Most of those, about 300, are given to kids and the rest are sold at a significant discount to adults. The group will also repair adult bicycles for the price of a small discount.
Tepper shows his adult bike inventory to a potential buyer.
As president, Tepper said he got involved when he was looking for a way to marry a few of his passions.
“I like to bike Dayton,” he said. “And when I first moved here, I really wanted to find a nonprofit with a good heart.”
Bicycles for All allows him to share his love of cycling with the city while also promoting safety and sustainability.
“To me, safety is the biggest thing,” Tepper said.
Every bicycle that comes in for donation gets an evaluation from one of the organization’s volunteers. Tepper said they go through a checklist to verify every piece of the bicycle is in working condition or can be restored to working condition.
“This one has a little bit of work to do because it’s not just easily switching,” Tepper said evaluating the pedals on one of the donated “Huffy” bicycles he recently got in. “This one should be salvageable.”
Tepper and volunteers collect unfixable bikes for scrap
Ideally, they’d want to get those donated bikes back out on the street in full, working condition. Other times, Tepper said it requires significant repairs or the bike is worth more for its parts.
“Some bikes have better parts that can sort of be taken off and be compatible with other bikes, and we look for those parts,” he said.
A few aren’t fixable at all, and those, like the bicycles stripped for parts, head to Dayton’s metal scrapyard, where Tepper said the nonprofit can get a little money back for the recycling.
“Then those proceeds go back into our operation,” he said.
The organization is run entirely by volunteers, some of whom use their expertise to repair the bicycles, and others that simply sort through the inventory and donations.
“The camaraderie between different organizations is what makes this work,” Tepper said.
Tepper instructs a group of volunteers.
Toward the end of July, representatives from Waste Free Dayton helped them scrap dozens of bicycles for parts and recycled metal. As first-time volunteers, the group’s founder Natalie Warrick said she was happy for an opportunity to learn more about a group that aligned with some of Waste Free Dayton’s goals of promoting recycling and community rejuvenation.
“How can we reduce our waste and reuse them with a purpose and have fun, too? That’s been exciting to see,” she said.
Tepper said he’s always looking for more volunteers to continue the group’s work. The nonprofit considers summer their busiest months as they work to get bicycles to as many children as possible before they head back to school.
