ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 22, 1995 TAG: 9512220022
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: HAL SHEIKERZ STAFF WRITER
In the late 1950s, Joe Rieley helped repair bicycles at the Western Auto Store on Main Street. It was just a hobby for him - fixing bicycles, sharpening ice skates and repairing electrical appliances.
Sometimes he got paid. Sometimes he didn't.
Now, some 30 years later, the automotive and appliance store is gone, but Rieley continues to restore bicycles.
This time, though, it's more than a hobby. It's a way to help others.
A few years ago, Rieley took an old bike that belonged to his granddaughter to the YMCA Thrift Shop. While he was there he saw another old bike that needed repair. He bought the bike, took it home, repaired it and brought it back to the thrift shop for them to sell.
More than 500 restored, repaired and recycled bicycles later, Rieley no longer buys the bicycles he fixes at home. The thrift shop collects them and gives them to him.
Rieley estimates he repairs between 100 and 120 bikes during the year for the thrift shop.
These days, though, he's better known as the bicycle specialist for the Montgomery County Christmas Store.
"I've always helped people so this is natural," Rieley said, taking a short break from his work.
The store, which helps hundreds of needy families during the holidays, has never had a budget to buy bicycles, said Joyce Hendricks, publicity chairwoman. So to have Rieley restore the old ones is a real treat.
"It really makes a difference to have all those bikes because a lot of parents who come ask for bikes," Hendricks said.
Ten-speeds, mountain bikes, tricycles.
Most of the bikes are what Rieley calls "rejected bikes." Some have been around for as many as 20 years.
And people still want them.
"They go about as fast as they go out ... the minute they're out on the floor they're gone," Hendricks said.
They're gone from his basement, too, as fast as he repairs them.
Only a half a dozen bikes sit in what his wife, June, calls his "wreck room." His work table is too small to support the bikes, and one is always hanging from a rack mounted to the ceiling, which makes it easier to do repairs.
During the six-week stretch before the Christmas Store opens, Rieley spends as many as 10 to 14 hours a day in the wreck room working on bicycles. Depending on the number of missing spokes, flat tires and faulty brakes, he spends two to three hours on each bike. By the time the store is ready to open, Rieley has fixed 50-60 bikes.
Tires, tubes, seats, new cables, handle bars, binding and reflectors are materials he uses the most - new and used.
Making sure bicycles have reflectors, especially those for younger children, is a priority. Rieley also will take the bikes (at least those he can fit on) for a test spin around the neighborhood to make sure everything's working.
The part that needs replacement on almost every bike he works on is the seat because "they're torn so badly," Rieley said. He tries to put the right seats on each bicycle but sometimes its impossible find the right match. In a pinch, he'll send out a female-type bicycle without a female-style seat (female seats are wider, he says).
Front and back derailers are parts that are the most difficult to find.
Rieley said he doesn't know how much of his own money he spends - he doesn't keep track.
To help him with expenses, bicycle shops in Blacksburg donate used and new parts.
Chris Betz, assistant manager at East Coasters, said that during the year the store collects bicycle parts to give to Rieley that would not feasible for them to use or sell. And as he needs them, Betz said the store also gives new parts to Rieley to use on the bikes he repairs for the Christmas Store.
"The closer it gets to Christmas, the more he comes here," Betz said. "He's a great guy to work with. ... He does a lot of bikes that would otherwise get thrown away."
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. Joe Rieley hangs bicycles from hisby CNBbasement ceiling to make repairs little easier. color.