Hornell’s Larry Pelkey recieves over two dozen bikes from Rochester Community Bikes
By Andrew Harris
Since Larry “The Bikeman” Pelkey started his mission to give bikes away to local kids he has delighted many, actually about 1100 kids. The Mayor of Hornell recently honored Pelkey for his efforts. What a great idea and mission, but it begs a question: Where do all the bikes come from ??
Besides local donations, Larry has a key source Rochester Community Bikes; a similar operation to Larry’s, giving away and repairing thousands of bikes. They actual “wholesale” bikes that still need repairs and Larry just took advantage of the opportunity. RCB put this to social media recently:
Larry Pelkey lives in Hornell and gives away free bicycles to area residents. His non-profit is called Larry’s Bikes of Hornell, and he does everything himself. He stores the bikes (both unrepaired and ready-to-go) inside his house including in the former bedrooms. Each year, he gives away 350 – 400 bikes and has given away almost 1100 since October 2021. The majority of the bikes he gives away are for kids, and he picked up 26 unrepaired kid bikes from the Flint warehouse on Tuesday. He and his sister loaded them carefully into their two sedans, and he would’ve taken more if they’d fit. Besides filling the trunks to overflowing, they also squeezed bikes into the cars’ back seats and front passenger seats. R Community Bikes has a surplus of kids bikes and was happy to give these bikes to Larry.
More about RCB:
R Community Bikes (RCB) is a grassroots, 501(c)3 organization, staffed entirely by volunteers, that collects and repairs used bicycles for distribution, free of charge, to the Rochester, NY area’s children and adults. We give away over 2,000 bicycles every year and do over 3,000 repairs for our clients, many of whom depend on bicycles as their main source of transportation. In addition, we supply bicycles or repair services to dozens of community organizations, including church groups, youth centers, and neighborhood associations.
