17 Apr 2011
Charlie’s Free Wheels
We went to the grand opening of Charlie’s Bike Shop today. Charlie’s is Toronto’s first youth-operated bike repair shop, will be opening at 242½ Queen Street East. The bike shop gets its name from a youth program called Charlie’s FreeWheels. Charlie’s Freewheels offers training in basic bicycle maintenance and repair as well as recreational and career development opportunities for youth aged 14 to 19 from the Regent Park community in Toronto.
The shop manager (Derek Chadbourne), he’s provided more than 25 students from Regent Park with 60 hours of free training in basic bike maintenance. From what I gather, past students will have paid mechanic positions (jr & sr).
There were no bikes for sale today because they just weren’t ready as of yet but if you check back in a few weeks you could get a nice bike, at a good price, for a great cause.
Jingles and I tried to win a Diana F+ camera they had in their silent auction but I don’t think we got it (we left early and haven’t got a phone call yet). Check Charlie’s blog for updates.
Probably my favourite thing in the shop was this teeny mini wire bike. See the pen in the foreground for frame of reference. Tres cool.
If nothing else, go check out their shop at 242 1/2 Queen Street East and see the good stuff they’re up to.
