Last month, Recycle & Reuse Director Steve Gadingan wrote an essay about the increasingly wasteful bicycle industry and the concept of a forever bike, a bike that is resistant to wear and tear and if treated well, will last, well, forever. What follows is the story of a Bike Works customer and his purple forever bike.
Mark Epstein retired from teaching history at Rainier Beach High School back in 2019 and reflects that his legacy is riding his bike to work every day. But perhaps he’s being modest. He started teaching for three reasons, namely: the energy of kids, the desire for union work, and a secure job. The fourth reason, he says without missing a beat, was to activate kids for the future.
“I still substitute once or twice every few weeks,” he says. “And I usually get four or four and a half minutes of undivided attention. I want students to make sure they’re aware of what’s going on in the world and be alert to the historical possibility of their involvement.”
Mark helped with the Major Taylor Project at RBHS and maintained the habit of riding his bike to school from Seward Park. “It was five easy minutes downhill in the morning, and twenty struggling minutes back up the hill in the evening. I’d have to zigzag.”
“I want students to make sure they’re aware of what’s going on in the world and be alert to the historical possibility of their involvement.”
Mark Epstein
Mark’s Trek 920 doesn’t have a name, at least not that he’s aware of, but it has endured. He brings it to the shop for repairs ahead of summer or winter for a tune up, and he’s stopped trying to fix flats himself. His wife rides a nice Cannondale and has encouraged him to just get a new bike for himself, but he says his Trek is fine. “Why get rid of it when I can get it fixed by competent mechanics?”
Bike Works is the only bike shop in South Seattle, and it’s also where Mark purchased his bike back in 1998. It’s only ever been serviced by Bike Works, and when something breaks or malfunctions, the mechanics do what they must do to keep the purple bike as high functioning as his wife’s newer and “classier” Cannondale or Kona e-bike.
Over the years they’ve replaced wheels, handlebars, the drivetrain, and consumables like tires and cables. It’s also the only shop in Seattle with a community-based pricing model for refurbished bikes. Whenever somebody buys a bike, they are asked to choose which of the three price options are best for their budget, whether that means a lower price, or a higher one that supports bike access for a neighbor.
Each year, Bike Works diverts around 6,000 bicycles from the waste stream. We refurbish some, we sell some as-is at our warehouse sales, and we donate or responsibly recycle the rest. By choosing to be happy with his perfectly serviceable bike, Mark is actively participating in this secondary economy. A steel bicycle built in the 1980s or 1990s will often outlast its rider if given routine maintenance and kept from the elements. A good bike does not need to cost a month’s wages.
“We see a lot of adult bikes re-donated” says Recycle & Reuse Outreach Manager Seth Short. “And it’s a conscious decision, too. People understand what we do and they know their bike has plenty of life left even though they may be done with it.”
A few months ago, Mark was at a protest organized after the ICE arrest of labor leader David Huerta in Los Angeles. Through the noise of many voices heard one he recognized, a former student and participant in the Major Taylor Project.
“I want to express my solidarity with immigrant workers,” she said. “No hardworking person should be snatched from the streets and taken from their family, just because they look like they might not have the right paperwork.”
When the speech was over, Mark found the student—now a labor leader herself— and she pointed at him and said, “you taught me how to ride a bike!”
But it was more than just bikes, it was a foundational understanding of the need for resistance and strength in the face of adversity. As they continued to visit, the former student said, “You taught us things nobody else could show us, and I see it now!” Mark tells this story like it could have happened without him, but it could not have. A good teacher’s work can impact a person for an entire lifetime, building self-confidence, resilience, and curiosity for the unknown.
Bike Works Executive Director Ed Ewing says that when you teach a person to ride a bike, they start to realize that they have choices. They can decide to go fast or slow, they can decide where they want to ride. “And through the process of learning, they become more equipped to see opportunities they otherwise may not have recognized.”
Many scientific studies have found youth who start riding their bikes to school at a young age continue to ride as they grow older. The impact this has on a person is undeniable, but there are greater implications. More people riding bikes means not only are there fewer cars on the road, it means more people are moving through their communities without a barrier, connected.
“Riding your bike everyday changes how you perceive the world,” says Mark.
“Some of my former students now work at Rainier Beach, and some of them are now parents themselves.” Mark says he remembers being in the classroom with them and catching their attention for four minutes here and there. “Now, my former students are teaching. But kids have always been the best teachers.”