Link-Up Bike Ministry donates repaired bikes to Cleveland residents in need of transportation

Ed. note: Collin Cunningham is a volunteer at the Link-Up Bike Ministry.

On a Wednesday in November of last year, four men filed through a door between a pair of bay entrances into a squat, unassuming garage off Scranton Road in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood. They bantered about the upcoming MLB pitchers spring training report and the weather before exchanging winter mittens for grease-stained work gloves. They were repairing bicycles to donate to local residents as part of the Link-Up Bike Ministry, located at 2115 Clover Ave. just two blocks north of MetroHealth’s main campus.

“The principle behind Link-Up is for me to fix up donated bikes and get them in the hands and feet of people,” Matt Whisenhunt told The Land. Whisenhunt is director and pastor at Harbor and Bridge Community Center and church at W. 44th St. and Bridge Ave. in Ohio City and heads up the bike-based nonprofit, which has fixed and donated over 450 pre-owned bicycles since it got rolling in 2021. 

“But cycling is way bigger than that,” he continued. “It’s the middle transportation option. Bicycles really bridge the gap for people to help get around (our) car-dominated society a little quicker.”

Midway through his volunteer shift, Whisenhunt responded to a knock on the foot door to find a mother and two children, ages 8 and 10, both wide-eyed at the sight of 200 bike frames. They had taken an RTA bus from their nearby home after hearing about Link-Up and came seeking bikes.

A cycle of donation

Link-Up’s mission is helping Clevelanders, primarily on the west side, access transportation that’s cheaper than owning and maintaining a car. All the bikes are repaired and distributed for free. Neighbors in need of a bike are encouraged to reach out by filling out a form with their size and what kind of bike they’re looking for. Volunteers, mostly local retirees and church members, then comb through stacks of damaged, donated bikes to either find a frame worth fixing or cannibalize one from scattered parts. 

Whisenhunt said Link-Up is ramping up and gave out 200 bikes in 2023 alone. The donated bikes come from all over Northeast Ohio, he added. Bike Cleveland has helped the nonprofit reclaim some bikes left at RTA stations. 

“I can’t express enough of my gratitude for the gift of a beautiful bicycle,” said one bike recipient named James, who was shoveling walkways outside of Harbor and Bridge following a January snowfall when The Land came to visit. He first heard about the program through the West Side Catholic Center before reaching out to Whisenhunt.

Though the weather had prevented James from riding to the church, he said the red Schwinn cruiser he got from Link-Up in July helps him get around more easily. He’s been riding public transportation since someone stole his previous mountain bike from an RTA bike rack.

Coasting along 30-mile rides through the Emerald Necklace Trail spanning the Cleveland Metroparks, James said he recalls the joy he felt when riding a similar crimson Schwinn in his youth. “I’d say (I ride it) four times a week in good weather,” he said. “I did a lot of riding as a kid. I remember riding out from Wallace Lake Park (in Berea) to the Tiedeman and Snow Road area (in Brooklyn).” 

Bike Cleveland executive director Jacob VanSickle said groups like Link-Up plus the nearby Ohio City Bicycle Co-Op help make biking more affordable and provide cheap transportation options for Clevelanders. This goes hand-in-hand with the work of Bike Cleveland to make the area safer for biking. 

“The bulk of our work is really around advocacy and education, advocating for safe places for people to bike and walk,” VanSickle said. “We work with the city on trails, get funding applications, we influence civic leaders to help get more bike facilities.”

Setting up shop

Brian Hintz of Rocky River United Methodist Church originally started the program by marrying his love of mountain biking to his community work at the church’s free store.

“One day (the store) had five or six different bikes,” Hintz said. “They raffled them off and, as I was helping people load them into their cars, I noticed some had chains loose, were rusty or had flat tires. I asked people if they knew how to fix these bikes or had bike pumps to fix the tires.”

Hintz was not surprised that most recipients didn’t know how to fix the bikes, meaning the store’s “free” bikes would still carry a price tag for parts and repairs. Hintz wracked his brain until recalling an article he had read detailing a Bike Walk Mississippi program that repurposes bikes for people who need them. 

Hintz said Link-Up is part of a network of bike repair nonprofits tied to churches in cities including Atlanta, Houston and Las Vegas. They all use similar setups, getting donated bikes, fixing them up for free, and distributing them to community members. 

Nuts and bolts (and dollars and cents)

During two-hour shifts on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the inside of the crew’s garage is a sensory blur of oil fumes and steel colliding with steel. Half of the brick building houses two historic Fords under repair by the building’s owner, a Rocky River UMC member, and the rest is dedicated to bike maintenance. 

Originally purchased using RRUMC congregant collections in 2015, Whisenhunt frequently supplements the shop’s supply of tools with equipment he pays for out of his own pocket. A variety of tools and supplies line workbenches and racks with bicycle hulls hanging on the opposite side.

Bulky Schwinn frames hang next to sporty Peugeot bikes, many bearing scars from wear and tear. With most of the bikes arriving at Link-Up’s doors for free, Whisenhunt said the group’s primary expenses are the monthly rent and parts. He mostly sources dollars for those from church collections, community donations, and whatever comes from scrapping junk material. Link-Up also occasionally sells bikes and distributes the money back into the program. 

It’s clear from speaking to Whisenhunt and the other volunteers that Link-Up’s volunteers all have a personal relationship with biking. “I remember having a Huffy as my first bike, probably seven years old or maybe eight,” Whisenhunt reminisced. “Two weeks of going around the block 100 times and flying down hills. That feeling you have as a kid comes back as an adult, just chugging your legs and feeling the breeze.”

Riding into the sunset

Whisenhunt has been using the Harbor and Bridge Community Center as an extension of Link-Up. He regularly shuttles restored bikes from Link-Up’s shop to the church/community center to be retrieved by parishioners. Church members are also great contributors of bikes, which is what they need most besides new tires, cables and inner tubes.

With their helmets and front-mounted reflectors pointed toward the future, and several dozen bicycles hanging on the wall in need of repair, Whisenhunt is eager to start using the space to educate people on how to repair bikes. Donald Jones, another volunteer, recently started holding brief weeknight repair demonstrations for local students via a separate program. 

“I would say Link-Up bridges the transportation gap for people and it also inspires people to find the joy in riding a bicycle,” Whisenhunt said. “It doesn’t matter if you want to ride out of joy or necessity, we just support people who want to ride.”

Corrections: A previous version of this post misspelled Brian Hintz’s last name. The post also incorrectly stated that James, a bike recipient, heard about Link-Up Bike Ministry from the Metanoia Center. He learned about Link-Up at the West Side Catholic Center.

Whisenhunt encourages Clevelanders willing to spare cycles, volunteer time or funds for donation to email him at linkupbikeministry@gmail.com and ask how to help; he is also open to texts and calls on his cell phone at 216-215-3327. The Ohio City Bicycle Co-op also offers affordable bikes through its used bike sales, and work-trade and pay what you can programs. They can be reached by phone at 216-830-2667. Bike Cleveland accepts donations to continue its advocacy work via this page.