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CASTRO VALLEY — Inside a two-car garage, nestled in a modest Castro Valley neighborhood with 1960s-era starter homes, Billy Bradford runs a bicycle shop on “zero dollars and no sense.”
Those are his words — a tagline for a hobby that ballooned into a de facto nonprofit: Bad Business Model Bikes, where old bikes get a new life, and new and experienced riders alike get a free set of fresh wheels.
Bradford is the first to admit he’s no saint; he’s just a guy who likes to fix up old bikes. He’s a tinkerer by nature, and restoring bicycles is what he does to relax. But to the people who receive the bikes he repairs, he’s far more than that. He’s providing a pastime for families to bond, a way to get to work and a very low-cost alternative to driving.
But, that’s not what Bradford was thinking when he spotted it: a black-framed Peugeot from the late 1970s. The French-made bicycles are known for their high quality and craftsmanship. And there it was, the same Peugeot Record Du Monde his parents had bought him as a college student, the one that was stolen right out from under his nose as he was buying lunch one day.
He still had a picture of himself standing next to that bike, the sun washing his boyish grin in a hazy glow. Overcome with nostalgic idealism, he bought it — broken and battered as it was — and brought it home, restoring it until it was gleaming and new.
Once it was finished, he found another vintage bicycle and restored that one. And then he got another, and another, and another. So many that he filled his garage with beautiful, polished and perfectly working bicycles that he wasn’t riding.
“It was stupid,” he said.
An ordinary visit with a coworker was the second break for Bradford’s, until-then, solitary hobby. They were sitting in his garage, chatting in the afternoon sun, when Bradford noticed his friend eyeing a bike hanging from the rafters. It was too small for Bradford.
“I asked him, ‘Do you have a bike?’ No? ‘Well, have this one,’” he recalled. “It made him so happy, and that made me happy. It was sort of a Zen moment for me.”
And, Bad Business Model Bikes was born. Bradford, who also spends time volunteering at the local theater, announcing baseball games in the summer and organizing Castro Valley’s annual Pride Parade, found a new calling. That was about three years ago.
Over time, as he’s given away more bicycles, he also started receiving more bicycles and bicycle parts. He set up a Facebook page to connect to donors and recipients. People email him with requests, and if he has a bike that’s the right size, he gives it to them. If not, he asks them to contact him again in a few weeks.
There are no waiting lists, something Bradford said feels too much like a job. But, he often remembers emails he receives and tries to connect people to a bike that will work for them, he said. They come from all walks of life, he said, but they share one thing in common: They could put a bike to good use.
Ciarra Barron, of Hayward, was looking for something to do with her two sons, Joshua, 5, and Caleb, 7. She also had her health in mind. She had lost 71 pounds and wanted new ways to keep shedding the excess weight. She knew she wanted to get into cycling, but buying new bikes for the three of them just wasn’t in the budget.
Barron saw one of Bradford’s posts in a Hayward community group on Facebook and reached out. It didn’t take long, she said, before Bradford responded with bikes for all three of them, with helmets, too.
“As a family thing, it was really such a blessing to be able to get to go outside and ride bikes,” Barron said. “(The boys) are always asking to go. It’s been so exhilarating.”
Ivan Navarro was finding it hard to keep up with the cost of living in Oakland. He works a number of odd jobs, at a bakery, installing art and assisting artists. But, it was getting too expensive to keep maintaining his 1980s-era diesel Mercedes. He found Bradford through a friend on Facebook and reached out.
But, when Navarro showed up at Bradford’s house, the bike was too tall. So, Bradford gave him one of his own bicycles, a French-made Mercier bicycle from the 1970s, red with cream-colored trim.
“It’s a gorgeous bike,” Navarro said. “When someone offers you a free bike, you think it’ll be something that’s been sitting around — a beater bike — but he gave me an amazing bike.”
Navarro uses it just about every day, to get to work and all around town. It’s improved his commute and is helping keep down costs, he said.
Stories like Navarro’s and Barron’s abound on Bradford’s Facebook page. There are students who need a bike to get around, but couldn’t afford a new one; a community organizer who was borrowing a bicycle for LGBT community rides, but didn’t have one of her own; a drummer who had her bicycle stolen and couldn’t afford to replace it; and many more.
On Sunday, Bradford was busy fixing a vintage, gray Giant Perigree, a road bike. In the backyard, dozens of bikes sat waiting for their turn in his shop. Inside the garage, bicycle parts of all kinds lined the shelves.
Bradford isn’t sure where the not-profitable bicycle business will take him. For now, he said, it’s just him, his dog and his garage.
For more information on how to give or receive a bicycle from Bradford, visit: Facebook.com/BadBusinessModelBikes.