Queen City Bicycle Collective Helps People Pedal Through Life

Abby Easterly, founding member. (Photo by Scott Merill)

The Queen City Bicycle Collective’s simple mission “to get, and keep, the Manchester community riding bicycles, safely and affordably” hasn’t changed since its founding in 2014. And since expanding at a new location in 2018, the collective is helping even more people in Manchester to pedal through life. 

Located at 35 Elm St., the Queen City Bike Collective provides space, tools and equipment for community members to repair their bicycles at minimal cost, with the help of experienced bike mechanics. The collective also accepts donated bicycles, salvages parts, and recycles them or returns them to working order before selling them at affordable prices. In 2022, it received 1,000 donated bikes.

Treasurer and founding member of the Collective, Abby Easterly, says one message she always tries to impart is that people should buy the best bike they can afford. For some people, she adds, a bike is their car and the way they get to work. “A good bike is a lot easier to repair,” she says. “The truth of the matter is that department store bikes don’t hold up well.”

Easterly says she became acquainted with bikes long ago when her son would bring them home. “He collected them and there was a huge mess in my garage,” she says, half-jokingly, explaining that it was on a ride in Tucson, AZ, where her son currently lives, that a flat tire on a rental bike led her to seek help.

“I’m not good with much but I can change a flat tire today,” she says, explaining the importance of providing a space for people to work on their bikes and to receive expert help. “It can be empowering.”

The Collective began when NeighborWorks Southern NH provided the group with a small space on Union and Spruce in 2014. Eventually a bike mechanic named Tyler Glodt showed up. Today, Glodt is the Collective’s executive director and the Collective has a staff of seven, a board and 10 FixIt Stations (bicycle repair stations) around the city staffed by a team of volunteers. 

The Collective sells refurbished bikes—mostly basic transportation bikes (and some higher end)—in adult and children’s sizes and carries used (and some new) parts to fix bikes. They work with many foundations and business sponsors to raise money and sponsor several long rides of 30 to 60 miles around the city in the summer and fall.

One of the programs Queen City Bike Collective is proud of, Easterly says, is the Earn-A-Bike Program, which expanded from 140 elementary students last year to 235 this year. Since 2015, elementary school children have been able to earn bikes by demonstrating academic achievement and leadership skills. For more information visit qcbike.org.