Discarded Colfax bikes to be reused in Ghana, Moscow

Unwanted bikes left in the parks and alleyways of Colfax will soon be cropping up in an unlikely pair of locations.

Eighteen of 34 bikes did not attract buyers at the city’s surplus sale last weekend. Police Chief Bill Hickman said the city picks up bikes when they have left in a public place for extended periods of time.

“Usually we give them a few days,” said Chief Hickman. “A kid leaves his bike somewhere, sometimes it takes him awhile to remember where he left it.”

Because the city’s bike inventory had grown so large, they were put up for auction.

Now, the unwanted and long-forgotten bikes that did not sell will be given new lives both on the streets of Moscow and in villages in Ghana.

“It’s neat that a bunch of unwanted bikes from Colfax could help out over there,” said Colfax City Councilman Thomas Huntwork.

Huntwork at Monday’s city council session proposed turning over the leftover bikes to Paradise Creek Bicycles. He used to work with T.J. Clevenger, the bike shop’s owner at Decagon Devices in Pullman.

The bikes were taken to Moscow Tuesday.

He said he recently bought a bike from Clevenger and learned about the Village Bicycle Project. Paradise Creek takes in run-down bicycles and then ships them to Africa with bikes from other shops in the U.S.

In Ghana, the locals are put to work in a repair shop, where they are given the tools and training to master bicycle mechanics. After they learn the ins and outs of bike repair, they can purchase one of the bikes at half price.

“Teach a man to fish and then give him a fishing pole,” said Clevenger.

The idea, he said, is to improve mobility in Africa, which leads to greater economic freedom.

The Village Bicycle Project is a non-profit based in Vancouver. Since 1999, more than 45,000 bikes have been sent to Africa.

“I think it’s a good deal. It’s a very cool thing,” said Huntwork.

Twelve of the Colfax bikes will be sent to Ghana.

The remaining four bikes will find their future on the streets of Moscow starting next spring.

Clevenger is starting a Green Bike program that will place public bicycles throughout Moscow. The bikes will be rehabilitated and painted green.

“If you need to get around, you hop on a bike, ride it to where you need to go and leave it for someone else,” said Clevenger.

He is currently employing local boy scouts to repair the bikes. The high school and junior high shop classes are making up bike racks and signs to accompany them.

Similar projects have taken off in cities across the nation.

The University of Idaho will install sensors on the bikes that track their movement and location. That information can later be used to help design bike traffic flows around Moscow, said Clevenger.

It will also allow Clevenger to track down those who try to keep the bikes for themselves.

“Thanks to the University, we can go to their door and say ‘give me back my bike’,” said Clevenger.

As for the rest of the city’s surplus auction, Hickman reported the sale of a former drug car, a 1992 Chrysler New Yorker, will not be concluded because bidders were not advised that the transmission had failed on the car.