In this small Ohio city, volunteers turn old bikes into reliable transportation

Today from the Ohio Newsroom, recycling bicycles. Support comes from Ohio CASA. Ohio CASA's mission is to ensure children experiencing abuse and neglect have a caring, trained adult in their corner. Information about CASA volunteer work is at Ohio C-A.org. Support comes from the James at Ohio State, cancer. For some, it's one of life's fiercest foes, but not at the James. where a team of nearly 300 specialists and over 1,500 researchers are working together to create a cancer-free world. Today from the Ohio Newsroom takes you around the state connecting you with news and neighbors from all over Ohio. I'm Claire Roth. Taking the bus or the street car to work is a luxury often limited to larger cities. Ohio's rural areas and small cities have few to no options. 25 Ohio counties have no public transit system at all. In a northwest Ohio community, a group hopes a different set of wheels can fill the gap. The Ohio newsroom's Kendall Crawford takes us there. It's been a long time since Brian Bale and Bethany Likens have hopped on a bike. But outside a church and Lima, they cautiously steer a set of handlebars toward a bike path as Tammy Joseph looks on. Have to wear a helmet. Just for safety. So red blue is when we want. Helmets on, they tear down the trail without a wobble. When they're done with their test drive, Joseph is waiting for the couple with questions. How did it work out? They're all good. Okay. You don't think your seat needs raised at all? You like it where it is? What about you? Mine's fine. Joseph isn't a bike salesperson or a cycling instructor. She's a volunteer for the wheelhouse, a nonprofit that pairs adults in need of transportation, like Bail and Likens, with bikes to get them where they need to go. Bail says they want to work, but there's few jobs within walking distance from their tent encampment. Because we can only walk very far. We're hoping to get further so we can get a job somewhere. Ginny Crest says that's the case for the majority of people who step into the nonprofit. Many times, buses don't line up with clients' shifts or make a stop near their homes. Some have to take taxis to work. When you're making minimum wage, that's a big amount of your salary to pay for that taxi. A bike, you can do it free. Ginny founded the wheelhouse a decade ago with her husband Larry Kress. They didn't have enough money to buy people cars, enough time to taxi them to work, or enough power to extend bus routes. But Larry says they figured they might be able to use YouTube tutorials to refurbish some old bikes. We were expected to do 50 to 75. We ended up doing 150 bikes the first year. Local social service agencies started referring residents in need of transportation. And the Lima Police Department started gifting unclaimed bikes from their impound. And then the public is just, we've become the place to empty your ship. Ten years of donations and demand later, their own bike number 1,797. Each is repaired by a small team of volunteers like wheelhouse manager Tim Jim Himes.

Before the wheelhouse, he'd only ever made small adjustments to his own road bikes. Now his grease-smeared gloves can move confidently across any set of gears. Let me check the brakes. Make sure the wheels not loose. The crank's not loose. He says he often sees the bikes he's repaired, parked outside the local grocery store or chugging along the main road. Feels great. I'm always checking. Look, is it tire? Do you need air? You know, I'm thinking, okay, I always want to help them. Past clients can come in any time and receive maintenance on their bikes. Clemens Miller stopped in to get his tires checked today. He's put a lot of miles on his bike in just a year. I call this my Subaru. Your Subaru? Yeah, it's my Subaru. Miller wasn't able to afford the actual car after being released from incarceration. But he says his two-wheeler gets him to his two jobs just as well. And it comes with an added benefit. You know, I used to have high blood pressure. I don't think I have it. I still have it, but I don't take the pills because this is my workout every single day. I ride about five miles a day, every day. After incarceration, Miller says he wanted to head down a new path. He found one. And with petals under his feet, he's moving forward faster than he imagined. For the Ohio Newsroom, I'm Kendall Crawford in Lima. That's all today from the Ohio Newsroom. We'll talk with you tomorrow.