A Place to Tinker: The Story Bearings Bike Shop
J.Rich Atlanta believes in elevating influential voices in our community. Today, we hear from Becky O’Mara, Co-Founder of Bearings Bike Shop in Adair Park!
If you have ventured out onto The Beltline westside trail as it traverses Adair Park you have likely seen the exterior of Bearings Bike Shop directly across The Beltline from the old Farmers Market complex. While you may have seen the exterior of the building chances are you are unaware of the magic that goes inside. We took a moment to sit down and speak with Becky & Tim O’Mara the husband and wife duo behind Bearings Bike Shop, to uncover what inspired them to start the business and why they chose to call Adair Park home.
The Bearings story began with a simple gesture of neighbors helping neighbors. In 2008, Tim and I moved into Adair Park, a historic neighborhood in Southwest Atlanta. One day, 8-year-old Britney came by and asked us if we could help fix her bike. We came up with odd jobs around the yard as a way for her to earn the money to fix the bike. After she had helped around the house several times, we ended up surprising her with a new bike. Word spread and soon all the neighborhood youth wanted to know how they could earn their own bicycles.
“A concept was born: kids would be invited to earn a donated, refurbished bike by picking up trash in the neighborhood.”
Eventually an idea began to emerge: very few of these children had bikes, but all over the city many outgrown bikes were collecting dust in garages and basements. In Adair Park, residents were frustrated by the litter and dumping that tormented our streets. A concept was born: kids would be invited to earn a donated, refurbished bike by picking up trash in the neighborhood. With that, everyone won. We had stumbled into community development, finding a unique connection point to the youth in the community as well as a learning tool for teaching kids valuable life skills that go beyond the bicycle.
Out of this initial gesture grew Bearings Bike Shop. Our mission puts the right tools in the hands of youth enabling them to advance their skills to build productive lives. Today, Bearings is the largest earn-a-bike program in the city and serves over 300 students annually. Our vision is to see those that we serve take ownership of their lives with character and purpose and experience the freedom of economic mobility.
“Although the prospect of earning a bike is what draws kids to the program, the excitement of learning new skills and being part of a community keeps them returning, week after week.”
Although the prospect of earning a bike is what draws kids to the program, the excitement of learning new skills and being part of a community keeps them returning, week after week. Our signature program is an after school drop-in program where participants can earn a bike by learning how to build and fix bikes. We teach mechanical skills and kids earn points for every hour they “work”, or participate in the program. They can then use their accumulated points to “purchase” bike parts and accessories and to use the shop resources to maintain their bikes.
The environment invites staff and volunteers to build relationships with students and reinforce the character strengths that are leveraged in the bike shop environment. We also serve the community through a fully-functioning retail bike shop in which we offer full tune-up and repair services and sell quality refurbished used bikes. It’s also our primary training space for teens and young adults learning valuable employment skills in the context of a bike shop. Every summer, we employ 10 teens in our Frameworks internship program at the shop. Two to three young adults usually stay on with us through the remainder of the year, continuing to hone their mechanical skills alongside professional bike mechanics as they serve customers.
More than anything, our hope is that Bearings is a community hub where people of different ages and different backgrounds connect over the common love of bikes. We’ve seen the richness this adds to all of our lives. Often, that relationship can be the start of something beautiful.
Make sure to check out Bearings Bike Shop.
PRO TIP: They are about to open a new workshop overlooking The Beltline!
