By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

County Cycle Pitstop is hosting a bike giveaway alongside their customer appreciation day on Friday, Aug. 9. Seven teen/adult bicycles, as well as one children’s bike will be given away to those who may benefit from a bike.

“We’ve been donating bikes to people in the community anyways,” said owner and operator Paul Boyer. “This is just an extension of that. We’ve taken these bikes in trade and I go through them just to make sure they’re in as good of condition as they can be. Most of them are basically brand new.”

Bloyer said that these bikes are set aside for families or individuals that could benefit from getting a bike in hopes that it may help them with their transportation needs. With eight total bikes to give away, he is hoping that those who find themselves in need of a bike, will call County Cycle at (612) 558-6867 so that he can announce their name at the giveaway.

“This is new territory because I’ve never done this particular giveaway,” said Bloyer. “We gave one away to the fire department, we’ve always been community oriented. These are for someone that needs a bike to get around.”

Bloyer said that the bikes are received in trade, oftentimes for a credit towards an e-bike and that he tunes them up to like-new. He said that many of the bikes he takes in for trade have been used very gently and often not more than a few times. He said it’s a great way for customers to get rid of their unused bikes while getting some store credit as well as opening the opportunity for Bloyer to give away some bikes to the public.

“We’re trying to be a good steward and do our part to help someone that could use a bike in their family,” he said. “We’re going to try to do this every year.”

County Cycle’s customer appreciation day will feature a lunch of hot dogs, chips and pop from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. as well as a tour of the new shop facility and bike demonstrations all day long. Everything from e-bikes to the racks you put them on will be available for purchase during the event and an opportunity to learn more about the biking world.

“I’m looking forward for people to see what we’re all about with the e-bikes and everything else,” said Boyer. “We also repair—I just got two repairs in today—so that’s a big part. People are still learning that we repair e-bikes, but also traditional bikes.”