A bike means freedom for South Side kids
A bike means freedom for South Side kids
Each time 15-year-old Reginald Graham builds a bicycle, the process begins with a ritual.
He goes to the back room at the shop where he often works after school and scans the bikes and bike parts. Many are donated. Some are found, abandoned on bike racks. The key, Reggie says, is to find the right frame. It has to be solid. It has to fit the rider's build.
Always, there are diamonds in the rough that, with a little love and polish, can turn into something special.
Reggie was kind of like that, too — a diamond in the rough — when he first stepped into this warehouse on Chicago's South Side that is home to the Blackstone Bicycle Works.
That was two years ago. He was 13, a good kid — capable, by all accounts, but a bit lost. Then he put on a bike mechanic's apron for the first time, and something clicked.
Certainly, the fact that he could work 25 hours to earn a free bike was enticing.
That's why most kids come to the after-school program at this shop in the city's Woodlawn neighborhood. For these boys and girls, a bike represents freedom, a way to fly more quickly through the gang-ridden streets that surround the shop.
They feel the wind on their faces, and can be alone with their thoughts. Many ride to places they don't often go __ to the lakeshore or a museum or to the Lincoln Park Zoo, 10 miles to the north.
Grinning broadly, sixth-grader Kaniya Coleman says, "When I ride I feel like a super woman." She recalls a trip to the beach this summer when she and others wore capes while they rode in a pack, whooping and hollering all the way. "It was awesome."
For Reggie, there also is comfort, and freedom, in just being here in this place for a few hours - in working with his hands, in building something, in belonging.
"It feels like home. When you walk in, people greet you, say hello. People listen," says the 15-year-old high school freshman.
He feels safe here.
Once he chooses a bike for its frame, the process begins.
He strips it down, takes off the wheels and all rusted parts that have to be replaced. Then the rebuilding begins.
Reggie, who has worked his way up to the position of bike apprentice, wears a black apron that represents that status. The fledgling mechanics around him start with green aprons and work up to red and purple as they master the basics.
Aaron Swanton, an adult mechanic and the youth program manager at Blackstone, remembers when Reggie was one of those beginners. He didn't smile much, but had an intensity and steady work ethic.
"It's different for every kid. But sometimes it just fits right away — and for Reggie, that's how it's been," Swanton says.
He and the other adults at the shop learned, over time, about the "complications" of Reggie's home life, including helping to care for his grandmother, who is chronically ill. With just his younger sister living there with them, he was the man of the house, but at 13 wasn't prepared for that.
"I needed somebody to show me how to be a man," Reggie says.
Turns out, Swanton, a former teacher who's been at the shop for more than four years, was one of those people.
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- Posted on November 1, 2011
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this kid can really do stuff, i think he is someone very special and will have a nice job. why is it that in the town it is that hard to get a bike. i think that were the kid lives, should be able to make very fasinating bikes.
I think that this program is great because it helps kids in need. When a kid is going through a hard time they can just go and work at the shop.
This was a really good story. This kid found something good to do with his time and it is also something that makes him feel good. he found a mentor instead of choosing to be alone and that is really good and inspirational. You can't get help if you don't go out and get it.
This was a really good story. This kid found something good to do with his time and it is also something that makes him feel good. he found a mentor instead of choosing to be alone and that is really good and inspirational. You can't get help if you don't go out and get it.
This story is about Reggie, a thirteen year old boy, who finds his peace within himself by building bikes. For him it is a way to be free and to have time to think about things. I think this is really awesome. For a kid who is "lost" to have a way to find himself again is just wonderful! When you have fun, you have the strength to do whatever you want and these kids did just that. They found a way to be happy and that made them able to do a technical job like that at thirteen! In the text it said "When I ride I feel like Super Woman." by one of the girls who builds bikes with Reggie. It also said that "I needed somebody to show me how to be a man" by Reggie. The people are helping these kids come from "He didn't smile much" to "Grinning broadly." This is truly a wonderful story.
I think that this is a really cool kid. He was only thirteen when he started and he is still doing it. Good job kid you found your passion keep it up. :)
Fact: His grandma is chronically ill.
I think it would be fun to build bikes all the time. I do it for fun but not very often. I would also like working 25 hours to get a free bike. It costs a lot of money to make a bike so that would be a big advantage.
I think that is cool for the boy he can build bikes I wish I built a bike by myself. I want to do that when I get older for a job and carrer.
wow! not many people can be or even have the skills to be a bike mechanic this is a wonderful talent and its amazing how you happen to do it. KEEP IT UP AND GOOD LUCK(:
I completely understand where he is coming from when the article states that he was lost until he found the bike shop because that is the case for a lot of people. Like for me, I think that music really "clicked" just like the bike shop "clicked" for Reggie. In school work even you normally tend to do better in a subject that interests you because you really love what you are doing and it is not an ordeal to do the work required for that certain job. Too, it is helping others so he is benefiting the community by doing this. It just allows him to do what he loves and I think that is the best part.