Cycle Schenectady, Electric City Bike Rescue holding Bike Bash in Hamilton Hill Sunday

SCHENECTADY – Six weeks faraway from a well-attended occasion that gave away refurbished bicycles and made free repairs to residents’ bikes, Cycle Schenectady and the Electrical Metropolis Bike Rescue is providing a second Bike Bash, this time with neighborhood gradual rides.

The 2 entities are sponsoring a Bike Bash within the Hamilton Hill neighborhood’s Jerry Burrell Park on Paige Road from 1:30 to five:30 p.m. Sunday.

A few dozen used, refurbished grownup bicycles, and as many kids’s bikes, will likely be given away first come first served, stated Artwork Clayman, president of Cycle Schenectady, and vp of the Electrical Metropolis Bike Rescue.

A motorcycle rodeo offers a venue for kids to study to experience safely and check their expertise.

One or two gradual rides across the neighborhood lasting about two miles is a brand new characteristic.

Organizers selected Hamilton Hill as a result of many neighborhood children personal bikes, however they is probably not in one of the best form and their households might not have the means for repairs at a motorcycle store.

“We wish to ensure that their tires maintain air, their brakes work, their saddle is on the proper top, and the bike is in any other case arrange accurately, and that they’ve a helmet and listen to concerning the significance of sporting one,” Clayman stated.

The bike rodeo is designed for them to have enjoyable whereas studying security suggestions and growing bike-handling expertise for after they experience round automobiles, Clayman added.

The 2 organizations had their first Bike Bash on Juneteenth, throughout which the used bikes went “like hotcakes,” stated Clayman, noting the worldwide scarcity of bikes amid elevated curiosity in outside actions through the pandemic.

“We repair them up and ensure they’re roadworthy after which attempt to get them out locally,” he stated.

The grownup bicycles are fundamental commuter and mountain bikes, a few of that are as outdated as 40 years.

“They’re all respectable bikes, they do the job they usually’ve been taken care of,” Clayman stated. “They have been in dangerous form, however we changed components and every part, so that they’re positively rideable and good bikes.”

The youngsters’s bikes are newer as a result of dad and mom donate them extra typically when their kids outgrow them.

The biking advocate stated there have been different causes for concentrating on Hamilton Hill. 

“We wish to get children on Hamilton Hill concerned in biking as a result of it’s a terrific sport, and it’s a terrific mode of transportation, and much more adults in Hamilton Hill don’t have automobiles, essentially,” he stated. “As many as 40% don’t have automobiles so that they don’t have that choice they usually truly have to bike.”

The occasion will likely be staffed by 15 individuals, together with 5 every from Cycle Schenectady and the bike rescue, one other 5 volunteers from Social Enterprise and Coaching Middle, a workforce improvement Company in Schenectady that serves underrepresented younger individuals, and two law enforcement officials.

Clayman stated organizers are hoping to accommodate at the very least 100 attendees.

In Hamilton Hill, Brandywine Avenue and the slim Albany Road are two of the worst streets on which to bicycle, Clayman stated.

“Fearless as I’m, I’m unsure I might experience on these roads,” he stated.

However the remainder of the neighborhood is comparatively bicycle-friendly, with broad roads and a variety of one-way streets, he stated.

The gradual rides by the neighborhood goal roadways with newer pavement in order that the group doesn’t must dodge potholes, Clayman stated.

Classes: News, Schenectady County