At BikeX, we are quite experienced tuning up bikes donated to us and ensuring they're in fine, safe operational shape. That's been the key to donating thousands of bikes to our partner charities over the years.
Typically our repairs involve cleaning the bike, replacing or patching tubes, changing tires, replacing cables and housing, and swapping grips or wrapping handlebars. If we've done our jobs well, the bike works well is then ready to be donated, or in some cases sold, to its next owner. Hopefully, each bike we work on delivers many miles of reliable riding.
Building such reliable, practical bikes is a rewarding bike mechanic experience, but it's not the only aspect of working on bikes that some of us find appealing. There's a creative process of building out a bike with a certain kind of riding and rider in mind, and with a certain style.
Over the last few months, we've worked with recently-featured volunteer John Garrish to create a few bikes designed for mixed-terrain riding. You might have heard gravel bikes are popular these days, and this is our take on bikes built for exploring and cruising the dirt and gravel in the Bay Area, yet aren't really gravel race bikes you'd take to tackle a 100-mile gravel race. Gravel Cruisers, or #gravlkruzr is what we're calling them.
The bikes vary by handlebar type and wheel size, but were customized for fun, mixed terrain riding. They're part klunker, part gravel bike, part #burritoslayer, and 100% fun.
Browse a few of John's creations in the galley below. Most will soon be for sale at shop.bikex.org. Drop us a line if you want to be first in line!
