New Bike Exchange Shop Pedals into Newark

Affordable bicycles of all shapes, sizes and colors took center stage Saturday at the grand opening of a new bike exchange for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Newark.

An empty restaurant at 31 Central Ave. was transformed into a bike store - the first one in a long time in Newark - where volunteers collect, refurbish and resell second-hand vehicles for $10 to $30 for children's bicycles and $40 to $125 for adult bicycles. All of the proceeds will fund afterschool programs for the Boys & Girls Clubs.

The shop is the brainchild of Russ White, a retired publishing executive from Princeton. White, who owns a bike shop in Yardley, Pa., started a bike exchange for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Trenton in 2009. White said he wanted to help the community and provide a way for cyclists to donate old vehicles and for the public to be able to purchase low-cost bicycles.

To date, the Trenton program has sold 4,800 bikes and net $240,000 for afterschool programs, White said.

His hopes for bicycling and the bike exchange to take off in Newark are even greater because the city's population is much bigger than the capital city's population.

"We're going to bend on these guys to put bike markers in the street," White joked, pointing to Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Councilman-at-Large Carlos Gonzalez, state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) and a representative for Councilwoman Mildred Crump, who showed up for the opening.

White and other volunteers also encouraged the public to hold bicycle collection drives for the exchange.

The bike exchange currently has about 100 vehicles for sale, most of them children's bicycles donated by High Gear Cyclery in Stirling, NJ, said Kirk Sohr, a volunteer and cycling instructor from Maplewood. The greatest donation need is for adult bicycles.

Salma Muro, the CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Newark, thanked White and all the other volunteers for their help, as well Assurance Realty Group and Prudential Financial and Prudential Foundation for helping to secure and donate the storefront.

Muro said the bike exchange funding will be a great help to their afterschool programs; the club has about 1,900 members and its programs reached out to about 70,000 children.

She also said the exchange is a great way for the city's community to access bikes and it will help recycle valuable vehicles. She noted that Kent Bikes of Parsippany has donated spare parts for repairs.

Cynthia M. Banks, the club's vice president of operations, said the bike exchange also fits well with the vision of improving children's lives.

"We talk about obesity and being fit and healthy, bringing the family together to do things as one nucleus," Banks said. "What better place [to do that] than to get a bike and take the family out in the beautiful parks in Newark?"

The politicians praised the bike exchange and vowed to help support the program. Ruiz pledged to donate one of her old bikes and Gonzalez even bought a bicycle for his own use.

While Booker said he usually uses a stationary bicycle for exercise, he plans on spreading the word about the new bike exchange.

"I will rush to my Twitter account and say, 'Give me your bikes right now,'" he joked.

Booker said he would like to make Newark more bike-friendly and plans to do more research into the best bicycling practices for cities with help from Gonzalez and other residents.

To cap the grand opening, Boys & Girls Clubs members N'Kaela W., 12, and Wadoo W., 12, read their prize-winning essays explaining why bicycles are important. In return, the two each won a bicycle.

Wadoo and N'Keala said they liked bicycles because they cut down on pollution and do not require gasoline. N'Keala said she thought bicycles can help kids exercise their legs and keep kids off the street and away from smoking or doing drugs.

"They can help make our society look more like a Utopian society every day," N'Keala said.

The bike exchange is open Thursdays from 5-8 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.