ReeCycles Yellow Bikes |
The ReeCycles Learn A Bike/Earn A Bike Program |
Another community service the Russells perform is the Learn A Bike/Earn A Bike program. It's a kind of volunteer VoTechEd deal. The way it works is that a youth, in exchange for doing chores around the shop, learns bicycle mechanics and skills useful to the budding kustomizer; and ends up with a kool rebuilt bike. Since it's not some sort of official social/educational program, there is no poverty requirement. This is very good,as kids from a more comfortable background need the reality of this sort of knowledge as much as anyone. If Dad can pay for someone to do bicycle work for the kid, the kid misses out on a valuable learning experience. Less-privileged kids have to do things themselves, but they don't necessarily learn to do it right. Everybody wins with this deal. Bicycles are incredibly educational things to play with. Unlike most machines, the works are easily visible as they function. The fact that it is one's own force providing the power, makes the physics of power trains perfectly obvious, unlike textbook learning. All sorts of useful knowledge is absorbed, just from this hands-on process. Metallurgy, aerodynamics, chemistry and lots of other sciences, are also picked up during the process of fixing-up and riding one's own bike. Another positive aspect to this concept is that it gets someone used to the idea of being somewhere at a certain time, to do some work, in which there is a reward. As one who has worked in a supervisory role with many people, I can attest that there are an amazing number of people as old as 25, who have not actually achieved proficiency in the simple concept of being somewhere at a certain time, to perform a task, for which they will get paid. I've found the highest percentage of this sort of life-skill deficiency in Los Angeles; but I've encountered the syndrome in New York City, as well. Less-well-off kids usually pick up the concept during a stint at McDonalds, but building one's own bike is a lot more fun. Affluent youth have the incentive that Daddy can't, or won't, slap down the plastic for the kind of bikes these kids build. I've heard it said that the poor have so many babies because they are the only luxury goods they can acquire. As one who luxuriates in the smell and feel and beauty of human babies; I can certainly agree with them. Those kids who scrimp and save and sweat to build fantastic kustom bikes are similar in many ways. They might not be able to envision owning a custom-built mansion filled with hand-made furnishings, and closets full of bespoke garments; but the envisioning of owning a great one-off bike is another thing, entirely. Especially, if people like the Russells are there with guidance. Who knows; having built a bike just might make that bespoke mansion seem a little more achievable, especially if one is confident enough to tackle the project, based upon actual experience. Like all the Russell ideas, this one may be implemented anywhere there is a bike shop. To those of you out there who are in a position to do something like this; I urge you to stop bitching about modern youth, and actually do something about it. You don't have to be a Harvard Professor to have a profound influence on young people's lives. I might add that satisfaction is generally considered to be a luxury in our culture. I'm sure that the Russells achieve a great deal of satisfaction from this activity. Think about it, eh? JW Photo © 1999 REECYCLES |
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