Fall 2025 Newsletter
The range of bicycles Pedals for Progress receives is quite amazing. Our generous supporters donate bicycles that cover almost every era. From the classic yellow Schwinn to modern full suspension mountain bikes fresh out the box, we have accepted and shipped our fair share of interesting bikes.
We get thousands of bikes per year at our collections, so it can be hard to keep track of some of the more interesting bikes we receive. This year two bikes especially caught my eye.
The first was Bob’s old skip tooth that was dropped off our collection in Clinton NJ with the Clinton Presbyterian and North Hunterdon Rotary Club. As soon as it was unloaded, it was turning heads at the collection like a time capsule from another life.
Bob told us a little bit about the bike. It was one of his first bikes as a kid more than 50 years ago that helped him all around town. Like many bikes from our childhood, one day he stowed it away in his family barn, where it sat for years.
The age of the bike conjured up a lot of questions like “Is it good enough?” “Is it too old?” “Do you accept antique bikes”. In short: yes. For the most part this was a fine bike that simply had a lot of years behind it. It was mostly kept in a barn, so the elements did not push it beyond the repairable condition we typically ask our bikes to be in. Upon learning about our friends in Guatemala at Masa Critica and their interest in vintage bikes, I knew right away who would appreciate this special bike.
The guys down in Guatemala love these vintage bikes and were very encouraging to me when they heard we sometimes get antique bikes at our collections. The same bike culture we have of fixing and restoring old vintage bikes is alive and well in Guatemala. FIDESMA was able to sell the bike to Muhammed who was absolutely excited to see Bob’s skip chain find its way down south. This important sale goes right back to FIDESMA community outreach efforts to complete the full cycle of our program.
Now in Guatemala, Muhammed will be sure to put plenty of care and respect into this blast from the past. It is a simple reminder of how our memoirs are stored in these bicycles and lived on through others around the world. Thank you, Bob, for sending your special bike to a new home.
Another funky bike we received is this custom beach cruiser we picked up down the shore with the Monmouth social club. I always like using these examples of quirky bikes to illustrate the grand potential of P4P. While this bike isn’t practical as a commuter bike, it certainly tells a story about the person who rode it.
This is simply a whimsical bike. Every time I look at it, it just makes me smile. The long handlebars and the all-black paint job combine a sort of silliness and ruggedness that totally clashes with the beach-bike frame. I can totally picture this bike being ridden down the boardwalk. To me it just screams Jersey Shore.
I love New Jersey, so sending this bike to one of our partners was a complete joy. We always speak of the practicality of Pedals for Progress and the importance of our bikes as tools of personal empowerment. While this bike may not get you to work as quickly as a sleek road bike, it spreads simple happiness and joy to our recipients, illustrating a different side of our mission.
I rarely try to track bikes: I don’t want to burden our partners by having them look out for special bikes among the hundreds they unload from a container they are trying to return on time.
I snapped this photo of the bike simply because it made me smile. Sure enough, one day, months later, I see the same bike with a happy new owner on GoBike’s Instagram page. By sheer coincidence, I was overthrown with happiness seeing our proud new owner of this unique bike.
His smile in the photo, next to the quirky bike, gave me a newfound appreciation for our organization. He knows it won’t be the most practical, or the best bike to get from point A to B, but this man also saw the joy inside the bike and wanted to give it new life. I love imagining the heads turn in Kosovo as it rides down the streets infecting people with smiles and laughter seeing a foreign bike from a wacky country called New Jersey.
To whoever donated this wonderful bike, thank you. Thank you for illustrating the joy and happiness bicycles can bring for people in the developing world. So keep those bikes coming, in all forms, to help us keep spreading the joy of cycling.