In the world of cycling it is not uncommon to hear of benefit rides, or someone like Lance Armstrong starting the Livestrong Foundation, and those are some of the aspects of cycling that make me proud to be a part of it. Even though it is something you do because you want to, there is always a sense of community about it. Phoenix Bikes shares that sense of community and is a bike shop that is completely and entirely dedicated to being a part of the community, giving back to it and showing kids how productive and accomplished you can feel after a few hour wrenching on bikes with some good friends.

Living in Washington, DC it’s pretty normal to meet 50 people a day who all work for a non-profit of some sort. I myself had never heard of a non-profit bike shop until Phoenix Bikes. Phoenix Bikes is located in Arlington, VA in Barcroft Park. Their goal is simple and straight forward as explained in their mission statement: “Phoenix Bikes empowers youth to become social entrepreneurs through direct participation in a financially and environmentally sustainable nonprofit bike shop that serves the community.” The kids that they work with get a chance to work in a real world situation, gaining real world skills and experience.

Phoenix Bikes was nice enough to invite Out of Print to their 3rd Annual Phoenix Bikes Show. After making the trek out to Arlington, VA and walking about 20 minutes farther than I had to, thanks to DC Metro Trip Planner, I arrived at the show to find an extremely friendly and family oriented vibe. The art show had a theme of “extraordinary rides”. Riders from all over the country submitted their rides to Phoenix Bikes, and in the end the top 7 were the ones that were specifically used as inspiration for each artists piece. The winning rides were: Women’s Garden Cycle: DC to Montreal, The White Rim Trail, Sudan by Phoenix, and the Death of a worm, Kenny’s Father’s Day Ride from Shirlington to Lovettsville, VA, Harvest Ride, Bike-Aid 1988, and 24 Hour Solo National Championship, 2008.

From left to right: Matt Prescott , Erin McGann, Carolyn Jaeger

From left to right: Nathaniel Doptis, Brittany Carter, Mike Sikes, Joanie Laporte

A silent auction was also held for a myriad of items. Everything from cycling jersey’s to prints. I had my eye on a Rapha hat and Jersey set, but the price was already out of my range by the time I found it.

In addition to the silent auction and the art show, there were also a few pretty extraordinary bikes on display. From a Bamboo frame, to what appeared to be a World War II relic, to the Spider Bike. This bike was without a doubt the buzz of the show. The Spider Bike is made of Carbon Fiber which is nothing new in the world of bicycles, but this bike is made of strands of Carbon Fiber that have been twisted and weaved together to form the entire frame. It is really a pretty remarkable thing to see.

Although it was the “Phoenix Bikes Show”, it was apparent that this night was about more than just them, once again showing how expansive their sense of community is. City Chairmen for Arlington County, Jay Fisette was there speaking on behalf of Arlington, and speaking in promotion of Phoenix Bikes and what they have been doing. He discussed plans that are in the works to make Arlington a better place for cycling, ways that the county is going to be promoting it, how we can all promote it, and of course, how Phoenix Bikes is filling a void that is probably missed by most when it comes to cycling.

For the most part we all had bikes as kids, but it was just for fun, riding around the neighborhood and racing your friends. As we get older, many times there is no one there to tell us, just because you are getting older does not mean that you have to stop riding a bike. Not only, does it not mean that you have to stop riding, but there are probably more reasons for you to keep riding. They are showing these kids just how valuable cycling can be. The last component to the show was the raffle at the end of the night where 4 bikes were given away. They invited a different kid up on stage to talk about how long they have been with Phoenix Bikes, how many bikes they have, and read the number out for the winner.

Watching the kids on stage interacting with Jesse Fox, Executive Director of Phoenix Bikes, you can tell that they are truly happy to be a part of it. We had a chance to speak with Jesse a few days after the show, so he could shed a little more light on Phoenix Bikes for us, and this is what he had to say:

OOPM: Where did the idea for Phoenix Bikes come from? Did it start out as a vision to do a non-profit or did it evolve into that?

Jesse: Before Phoenix Bikes started, there was a little bike shop called
Community Spokes that existed in our current building. Community
Spokes was a program run by Arlington County (our home county), and
when it was about to disappear due to illness (the one guy who ran the
program became seriously ill), a few concerned and driven community
members got together and formed Phoenix Bikes. We sort of formed out
of the ashes of Community Spokes.

OOPM: How long have you guys been around?

Jesse: 3 years, almost to the day.

OOPM: Everything you guys build and sell is from donations, correct?

Jesse: Yes!

OOPM: Is there a vision in the future to stock new bikes and parts at all?

Jesse: No, that’s not in our vision, really. We want to remain a recycler of
parts and bikes. We do have accounts with a couple of major bicycle
parts distributors, but we generally only use them for consumable
stuff like lube, tires and tubes, brake pads, chains, etc.

OOPM: I got to see some of the kids who work at the shop when I was at the art show you guys put on the other night, they seem really happy to be involved with it. How do they go about getting involved, do they find you guys, or do you work with an outside organization?

Jesse: A lot of “recruiting” happens by word of mouth. We visit schools and
set up a table during lunch periods, or we’ll visit a community center
and talk to kids that way. We also have the benefit of existing in a
wonderful county park, so there are lots of youth hanging around
anyway, and they inevitably see what’s going on in our shop and become
interested that way.

OOPM: In a nutshell, how would you explain what Phoenix Bikes is about?

Jesse: Here’s our mission statement: Phoenix Bikes empowers youth to become
social entrepreneurs through
direct participation in a financially and environmentally sustainable
nonprofit bike shop that serves the community.

OOPM: You are going to be changing locations in the future to a “green” fully collapsable/movable space, if I understood the announcement at the show correctly. How did that come about?

Jesse: We are fortunate to be working with some great architects who
understand what we are about, and it is an appropriate design concept
considering what we do and how we do it. Also, we don’t yet have a
location finalized for our new space, so we wanted that built-in
flexibility.

OOPM: How long have you been riding bikes?

Jesse: A long time- since I was 4 or 5! I’ve been a professional bike
mechanic for about 6 years now.

OOPM: Judging by the hours listed on the web site it looks like you have a full time job in addition to Phoenix Bikes, how difficult is it to juggle to two?

Jesse: I am actually one of two full-time staff members. I work from home in
the mornings, focusing on programming, shop operations and securing
grants. Our hours mainly reflect that we exist primarily as an
after-school youth program, and we would like that to remain our
focus. Although, as demand for our regular shop business is picking
up, we may have to increase our service hours to meet demand, and that
will require a delicate balance between retaining our youth focus and
delivering our services to the local community of cyclists.

OOPM: Is Phoenix run entirely on volunteer staff?

Jesse: We have two staffers and a ton of awesome volunteers!

OOPM: Is making Phoenix Bikes a full time living something that you would like to see happen?

Jesse: It is a full-time job right now (in fact, way more than full-time),
but I love it! I am really lucky to be here.

It’s amazing to see someone so humble about doing so much for the community. Not only is Jesse Fox lucky to be where he is, but the cycling community, as well as the community as a whole in Arlington, VA is lucky to have Phoenix bikes. They not only support young people and a cycling lifestyle, but they support the art scene there by having artists participate in the Phoenix Bikes Shows every year. We can’t wait to see what 2011 brings for Phoenix Bikes.

All of the artists that worked on pieces for this show did an amazing job. If you see something that you particularly like please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will get you in touch with the artist. Thank you to all artists involved: Joanie Laporte, Matt Prescott, Brittany Carter, Mike Sikes, Nathaniel Doptis, Carolyn Jaeger, and Erin McGann, and especially, Phoenix Bikes!