Bike-swap fundraiser helps kids ride into larger world

The Seattle Bike Swap is a thrifty cyclist's paradise, but this year it also offered enthusiasts an opportunity to help a program that lets kids in disadvantaged neighborhoods learn the joy of cycling.

The swap, sponsored by the Cascade Bicycle Club and held Sunday at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, featured 81 used bikes that were being sold to benefit the expansion of the Major Taylor Project, an after-school bike club for students living in low-income areas.

The Major Taylor clubs help kids get exercise, learn how to safely navigate the area by bicycle, learn how to maintain a bike and work toward a goal.

Major Taylor clubs are already in four locations, and the program is expanding in March to four more. New clubs are being formed at the Seattle Urban Academy, Garfield High School and jointly at Chief Sealth High School and Denny Middle School.

Marshall "Major" Taylor was an American cyclist who set seven world records in 1899 and was one of the first African-American athletes to win a world sports title.

The club hoped to raise several thousand dollars from the bike sale.

Students who join the club learn bike-safety skills and rules of the road, said Ed Ewing, the founder and director of the program. They figure out how to plot a safe route to a destination.

Those who show a great deal of interest in cycling receive support and encouragement to ride in the Seattle-To-Portland (STP) bicycle ride in July.

The club reaches kids like Yonas Kiflemariam, 17, a student at Global Connections High School in the Highline School District, who was helping out at the bike swap Sunday.

Kiflemariam rode the STP last year; "It was the best experience ever," he said. He plans to do it again this year.

Ewing said one of the best things about introducing kids to cycling is it allows them to get out of their neighborhoods and travel to new places, under their own power. Many have never taken a ride into the countryside or visited the area's tourist destinations.

"They've never been in Pike Place Market before and now they're doing it on a bike," Ewing said. "It's pretty cool."

Katherine Long: 206-464-2219 or klong@seattletimes.com