Can you imagine a better combo than a mobile library and bike repair shop? Books On Wheels brings free books and free bicycle repair to low-income communities in its hometown of Richmond, Virginia. Even better: Since it’s a mobile non-profit, Books on Wheels can take its operation on the road.

Books on Wheels Spring Tour 2009

If I saw the big blue Books On Wheels bus rolling down my street, I’d flag it down and convince the mayor to let it stay a while. We all know the Chinese proverb, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

The same holds true for bikes of course. Who wants to ride a bike that has sketchy brakes or skips gears every 10 seconds? Even more importantly, how is one to rely on commuting by bike if they don’t know how to fix a flat or make other essential repairs?

That’s where Books On Wheels steps in. In 2008, its fearless leaders—Ward Tefft and Shelley Briggs—set out on a multi-month tour, beginning in Richmond and traveling as far as Austin, Texas, to provide basic bike repair skills to hundreds of kids. Within three years, Teft and Briggs opened Books, Bikes and Beyond, a thrift store in Richmond that accepts donations for Books on Wheels. They recently launched a campaign to raise $10,000 to provide 10,000 new or gently used books to low-income families.

There are countless organizations that accept used books, used bikes and used bike parts, but if you live anywhere close to Richmond, consider donating cash or (bicycle) clunkers to this very cool organization. For those bike parts that are no longer usable—such as spent bike chains or cassettes—consider supporting a rebicycle artist, such as one of the students enrolled in a BICAS art class in Tucson, or a rebicycle manufacturer such as Resource Revival.

Bikes, like so many other things, often get tossed to the curb or stashed in the garage the moment they break down. I’m a fan of any organization working to keep bicycles on the streets rather than in landfills. Know of other innovative bicyclers in the U.S. and beyond? Send us an email.