Madison bicycle store gives opportunities to teens

 Some of the refurbished bikes for sale at the Madison DreamBikes. (Maija Inveiss/Madison Commons)

Among many of the stores lining the Beltline, DreamBikes stands out not for its simple brown building, but for the blue bicycle wrapped in white string lights hanging above the store sign.

As soon as anyone steps into DreamBikes their eyes immediately drift to the left side of the store filled with bicycles of various styles, brands and colors. On the other side, a group of teens gather in a workshop area designed for bicycle repairs and refurbishment.

Though DreamBikes looks like a standard bike repair shop, there is more to the store than what meets the eye. 

Besides selling and fixing bikes, DreamBikes is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing jobs and learning experiences to teens, particularly those in the south side of Madison. 

According to its website, since 2008 the organization has refurbished and returned over 10,000 used bikes to the community and provided over 80 jobs.

Current assistant manager JaCorian Rice has been involved with the program since its beginning. At the time, Rice was working at Walmart Supercenter, but decided to apply to the organization after the previous CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County suggested he get involved.

Rice said he started out not even thinking about bikes, but now eight and a half years later, he rides and fixes bikes on a daily basis. 

“Not knowing anything to actually managing a bike shop is huge,” Rice said. “A lot of people where I’m from don’t bike or even think about bikes.”

DreamBikes teaches teens sales, mechanical and people skills through hands-on work at the store.

The organization operates on donations of used parts, accessories and bicycles, which they repair and sell as merchandise. The store allows anyone in the greater Madison community to purchase a refurbished bicycle, fixed in-house by one of the teen employees. 

Rice said the store brings higher quality bikes to lower income neighborhoods. For some, he said, bicycles are their only form of transportation.

“It’s more like a family thing rather than a business,” Rice said. “[Customers] can come here and just be themselves rather than feel the pressure to get something. 

DreamBikes also extends their community-focus beyond their storefront.  Rice said one of the main outreach programs is mobile repair. During the spring and summer, employees will go out into the community for four hours once or twice a week to provide free simple repairs like fixing brakes or shifting.

Rice said DreamBikes also donates bikes or gives discounted prices and repairs to organizations like the Boys and Girls Club and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Ideally, Rice would like to see DreamBikes stores located around the world to provide access to bike shop quality bikes to everyone.

“It’s important to have this type of business around the world especially nowadays when people are getting away from riding bikes,” Rice said. “A DreamBikes everywhere would be ideal for the world.”

Though it might be a while before the whole world gets to have a DreamBikes store, Rice said another Madison location will be coming to the Eastside. The location is currently undergoing renovation, but the goal is to open the store by the end of this summer.