Putting Your Old Bike To Good Use Saturday

Article by Gina Curreri.

Bike collector Dennis Wood is coming to Belmont to gather used and broken bicycles to repair them and sell them at low costs to people who “really need them.”

“Why throw the bike out?” Wood said. 

“It’s amazing how many bikes get thrown out every year because they don’t know how to fix them.”

Wood will be at be at Saint Joseph’s Church on Saturday, July 26 from 9 a.m. to noon accepting just about anything on two wheels. He and his brother frequent churches in the area to collect the bikes and fix them up in his garage. In return, the churches get some of the proceeds from the bikes sold at subsidized, below market prices.

“I want to say that this is not a charity event. Some people have been confused in the past,” Wood said.

“I get paid for my time and energy. But it’s a recycling event, and the results end up being positive.”

Many of the bikes end up in the west African nation of Ghana after being sold to an intermediary. Others go to churches in Worcester for people who’ve requested affordable bicycles.

Wood said he’s not opposed to selling the bikes locally.

“I’m not going to exclude that because the beauty is, if somebody does want to buy a bike, I’ll sell it,” he said. 

“The more money I make on a bike, the more money the church gets.”

Wood also collects sewing machines, which he said the people in Ghana need and are willing to buy no matter how basic they are.