photo by: Contributed photo

The Lawrence Re-Cyclery co-owner Brian Shay and Rowyn McAnulla Fisher, an employee at the shop, work to remove discarded Veo bikes out of the pile at the 12th & Haskell Recycling Center, 1006 E. 11th St.

The efforts of a local bicycle repair shop and donations from the community have helped save some of the bikes recently scrapped by a bike-share company.

Some Lawrence residents expressed anger after the bike-share company Veo, formerly known as VeoRide, dropped off an approximately 20-foot-tall pile of bicycles at a local scrap yard earlier this month. With the help of about $2,000 in donations from the community, the Lawrence Re-Cyclery at 229 Elm St. purchased several of the bicycles and is in the process of repairing those and other damaged bicycles for donation.

Kristie Shay, who runs the Lawrence Re-Cyclery with her husband, Brian Shay, said that many of the Veo bicycles appeared to have been heavily damaged by the equipment used to move and pile the bicycles. Still, she said that the shop was able to gather some parts from the heavily damaged bicycles to help repair the couple dozen bikes it collected from the pile. Shay said 15 bikes needed only minor repairs, but the others require more substantial work.

“It’s definitely a labor of love at this point,” Shay said. “I know some people ask ‘Why would you waste the time?’ At this point, it’s become a community effort to see those bikes repurposed.”

photo by: Mackenzie Clark

A large pile of Veo bikes sits at the 12th and Haskell Recycling Center, 1006 E. 11th St., on Wednesday, April 8, 2020.

The Lawrence Re-Cyclery already repaired the 15 bikes with only minor damage and donated them to the Lawrence Community Shelter, O’Connell Youth Ranch and the Transitional Living Program, which serves youth who have recently aged out of foster care, Shay said. She said three of those bikes were also donated to individuals, including a homeless man who recently had his tent and bike stolen and needed the bike to get to work.

“Those were the ones that were in the best shape,” Shay said. “They mainly just needed tightened or tweaked or painted.”

Veo operates a bike-share program in Lawrence that allows people to rent bikes using a smartphone app. The company provides both pedal bikes and electric bikes, but Veo recently removed its pedal bikes from the University of Kansas campus after its agreement with KU ended on March 30.

Shay explained that the shop had to remove and paint over the branding on the bikes, which included logos for VeoRide and KU. She said the $2,000 raised though the shop’s fundraiser has gone toward paint, supplies and labor to repair the Veo bikes and will also help repair another dozen bikes the shop already has on hand, which will also be donated.

photo by: Contributed photo

Refurbished bicycles await donation to the Lawrence Community Shelter and O’Connell Youth Ranch.

For Shay, the project represents the purpose of the shop. While new bikes can be bought relatively cheaply, Shay said those bikes are also cheaply made, and the best thing for the environment is to repair bikes and other products when they break instead of just going out and buying another.

“I think in the world that we live in right now, we are all becoming very aware of the fact that throwing things away is not helping the planet,” Shay said. “It’s our personal passion and our business model that we up-cycle as much as we can.”

Shay said the shop’s efforts to repurpose the Veo bikes have also made her aware of the great need for bikes in Lawrence. She said she has gotten dozens of messages and emails from people requesting one of the bikes for themselves, for recreation or to get to work, or for their children. In response, she said that the shop is in the process of forming a nonprofit branch of the company to continue refurbishing bikes that can be donated to those in need, along with bike helmets and bike locks.

“We are going to try to expand this and make it bigger,” Shay said.