Eighth grader Lillian Robinson earned her new bike.
But first, she learned all the parts of a bike and what they’re for. She learned to fix a flat tire and how to ride safely on the road. She also learned how to deal with frustration and stay calm during tense moments.
Lillian is one of dozens of Indianapolis kids who have participated in a bicycle program at Freewheelin’ Community Bikes in Mapleton-Fall Creek since the nonprofit bike shop opened in 2008. The program fosters interest in bike mechanics and cycling, and promotes key science, technology, engineering and math skills known as STEM.
“My first day, everyone was so happy for me to be there,” said Lillian, now in her second year. “It was so welcoming, and all my nerves went away. The first time I entered through the door, it was so much fun.”
The program is for 10- to 18-year-olds. For a $35 registration fee, the bike shop gives participants mechanical training, life skills, a bike of their own — and a community. Apprentices can even earn a paycheck. And now, the shop is focused on expanding and improving through a partnership with Orr Fellowship.
Freewheelin’ is unique in Indianapolis. It’s the city’s only full-service nonprofit bike shop that provides hands-on education, according to Executive Director LaNisha Clark.
“What I like about the work that we do is that it’s very unique,” Clark said. “And so I tell the story all the time, but we are the only full-service nonprofit bike shop for miles and miles and miles and miles.”
How it works
Freewheelin’ is split into two spaces.
The front offers retail services where some participants work with customers. But it’s in the back where the nonprofit truly makes a difference. There, students learn about road safety, how to repair bicycles and life skills.
Freewheelin’ structures its programs similarly to martial arts, but students earn aprons instead of belts.
The aprons start at green, which is the earn-a-bike program, then go to red, purple and black, as they learn more advanced bike mechanics.
During the green apron they learn basics like road safety, fixing a flat and bike parts. When students advance all the way to the black apron, they can take a bike apart and put it back together.
“We just graduated a group of nine students, and that is what they did. We showed them a beautiful bike, and they were like, OK, take it apart, and then put it back together again,” Clark said.
In the next few years, Freewheelin’ hopes to double the number of students from 150 to over 300 benefiting from their programs, Clark said.
One way they plan to accomplish that growth is by using the findings from a recent feasibility study done through a partnership with another nonprofit called Orr Fellowship.
Freewheelin’s road to growth
The Orr Fellowship is an early-career development program in Indiana that helps high-achieving recent college graduates learn skills to help them excel in the work place while also helping Indiana businesses grow.
The Orr program pairs the graduates with nonprofits. At Freewheelin’, 22-year-old Orr fellow Benjamin Johnson led a team to conduct a feasibility study on how to help the nonprofit grow and thrive.
A recent Purdue University graduate, Johnson conducted a study that ultimately advised Freewheelin’ to move to a more visible and accessible location and to do more marketing to potential customers.
“It was just a lot of searching and talking to people with different knowledge and seeing how I can pull it all together,” Johnson said. “So I felt like it was definitely a thrilling experience.”
Clark says she is using the statistics Johnson and his team found to search for a new location in Marion County. She has a better idea, from the data, why certain neighborhoods would work better than others to reach customers.
“We were fortunate recently to bring on an amazing real estate firm. So we have Realtors now that are working through that plan,” Clark said, “and so passing that along to that team that is focused solely on relocating our mission has been very, very helpful as well.”
Johnson’s team also suggested ways to improve marketing. They include reaching out to local schools to set up information booths and marketing the bike shop at local amateur races.
Johnson says he feels blessed for the opportunity to work with Freewheelin’ and to learn the networking and professionalism skills it provided.
“Just coming away from this, I feel I’ve gained a sense of confidence in myself, professionally and personally, and I’m just super grateful for our fellowship, my team, and anyone else who helped with the project,” Johnson said.
Shop could move next year
Clark wants to use the information to relocate in 2026 and immediately start outreach to more schools around the city.
“Long term, I always tell people, I would love for every student in Marion County to at least have some type of access point to Freewheelin’ and with a low barrier to entry,” Clark said.
As for Lillian, she learned of the program through her older sisters, who both now work for Freewheelin’ and “hyped it up” to her. Now one of her sisters is an upperclassman in high school, and the other just graduated from IU Indianapolis.
Before Lillian’s first day, her sister gave her the run down and helped ease some nerves. They went away quickly, though, once she started working in the program.
Now, Lillian has a red apron as an apprentice. She has started to work with customers in the front of the shop, and the family and community she has built is something she wanted to be a part of from the first day.
“When I was doing green apron, I could see all of the people teaching me were working together, they were just so close and I was like, ‘I want to be a part of that. That would be so amazing,’ ” Lillian said.
To learn more
Freewheelin’ Community Bikes, 3355 N. Central Ave., is open from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Contact the shop at info@freewheelinbikes.org or 317-926-5440.
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Garrett Simms is a Mirror Indy freelance contributor. You can reach him at garrettsimm22@gmail.com.
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