The latest at ACME BICYCLE COMPANY:

If you've read below you know the goals we've been working towards. Now we are closer than ever. Acme will soon be incorporated into the Greater Kansas City Bicycle Federation and be fully non-profit. Christi and Sarah will continue to build Acme customs frames on a for-profit basis, but the rest of the business will be non-profit. We feel it's the best move forward to really creating bicycle culture and accessible resources for our community. Once the transition is official, all donations of bicycles, parts, tools and of course your hard earned dollars, will be tax-deductible. We want to thank our kind and generous supporters and friends. Together we are going to continue to make Kansas City a more bicycle-friendly community.

Acme Bicycle Company attempts and wants to meet the needs of our customers whether they want a one of a kind, custom built wonder bike or they have no resources at all. Many people come to us for basic transportation needs when, through poor choices or difficult circumstances, their options are few. We try to maintain a stock of bicycles that we can give or sell cheaply to people who otherwise would have to walk or try to use a public transportation system
that is outdated and inefficient. This service requires not only bicycles, but also a stock of tires, tubes, cables and other parts to maintain these bicycles, as well as the time and space to service and store them. Since these bicycles are used to get back and forth to jobs, etc. they are many times parked outside at night and so also require a good lock. These bicycles can make a huge difference in someone's ability to function in our highly mobile society. Your generous donations in the form of money or used bicycles or parts help us to maintain this service to our fellow human beings, and are highly appreciated.

Along with what we're doing right now, the gals at Acme have a broader vision of what can happen. But we need your help. We have the vision, the determination and the energy to make this happen. Just wanted to share with you how we saw this coming together over 2 yrs ago. Our main obstacle to completing this vision has been physical space(the current location of Acme can barely contain what we're doing now) and finances. One thing we are looking for right now, a building. Much larger( we currently reside in a 2500 sq ft space-we need more like 6000-10000 sq ft that could include office/mtg space for the Greater Kansas City Bicycle Federation) and better suited to meet the needs of the cycling community.

Just wanted to share with you all a recent article in the Kansas City Star. It reflects some of our goals at Acme. huis is the proposal we put together when we first began the process of creating Acme. Remember this was a cupla yrs before the actual Greater Kansas City Bicycle Fedration as born.

Kansas City Alternative Transportation Center (KCATC)

What is it?

The KCATC is an umbrella organization that will house:

1. Kansas City Bicycle Federation. The Kansas City Bicycle Federation will be organized as a member-based entity dedicated to making bicycling a safe, efficient and fun transportation option for people in the metropolitan area. Joining with the Missouri Bicycle Federation that has already been an effective voice on the state level regarding bicycling as alternative transportation, the Kansas City Bicycle Federation will be concerned with rider safety, bike commuting to work, and promoting and encouraging bicycling as transportation. The Kansas City Bicycle Federation will seek 501c(3) nonprofit status in order to encourage individual and grant-based contributions in support of its mission.

2. Acme Bicycle Company: A full functioning bicycle retail and repair space to further support the community that uses bicycles as their primary or supplementary means of transportation. Acme would include the only complete bicycle frame building and repair operation in Kansas City. This could include a public repair space where individuals can come in and work on their own bicycles with someone available for assistance and all the tools and parts they would need to facilitate repairs. Bike repair and maintenance classes will be offered to teach basic repairs for those who would like to learn to do their own repair work. Not only would there be new Acme bicycles and frames made for those who want new bicycles, but a selection of used, functional for commuting/city riding bicycles would also be available at reasonable cost.

3. An active arts center for creative work pertaining to alternative modes of transportation and creating better urban living space focused on environmental alternatives. The arts center could include including studio space for rent and conceivably with volunteer staffing offering workshops and classes.

4. An education and resource center for Kansas Citians to learn how to work within their own neighborhoods and with city officials to create a better quality of life within their own living environment. The center would provide meeting space to gather for generating energy and methods for creating better transportation options within Kansas City. It would also include a book exchange for the arts, transportation, cycling, repair, and community activism.

5. Buddha and the Bicycle. Kansas City's first bicycle specific 'zine. This is an alternative publication directly relating to the linkage between bicycling and community well-being in Kansas City. KCATC could actively support small press and self -publishing regarding alternative transportation and better urban existence.

What do we want to do?

Kansas City is at a crossroads. City planners across the metropolitan area know we can not build more highways nor make more room for motorized traffic within our city. This has been acknowledged not only in Kansas City but in large and small cities across the country. There is nowhere else for us to go as a community in regard to the personal automobile. From here we have no alternative but towards acknowledging, creating and investing in the creation and growth of more environmentally and humanly sound means of moving about our city. We know and understand that the bicycle is only one possible means of safely and efficiently moving throughout the Kansas City metro area. There are other means that must be further developed, supported and implemented, including the bus system and light rail. At this point the bus system within Kansas City is almost useless except for those who live within short distances from their work and other resources (grocery shopping, school, doctors, recreation etc). Light rail has been stalled here for varying reasons for years now, even though city planners understand it is no longer physically nor logistically possible to expand automobile travel. Also many city dwellers are fed up with the pollution, noise, congestion and safety issues surrounding the personal automobile. People want safer, more human friendly communities to live and raise their families in. There is also the reality of the finite source of oil reserves throughout the world. Kansas City is ready for something different. And the KCATC can become a gateway and resource center for these alternatives.

Where are we?

The downtown corridor is ideal for such an endeavor. Not only is there a very active arts center within the "Crossroads" district, but there are beginning to be more and more residential living situations in the area between Crown Center and the Missouri River. Many of the folks living in this area are already community minded, tend to be younger and more open to alternative living and commuting. Being within an active arts area, KCATC could easily become part of that community through art and studio space. There is already a good deal of bicycle commuting in that area and it could be enhanced by the close location of the KCATC as a comprehensive bike shop/education center. The location would also provide easy and visible access to downtown government offices.



Who are we?

A small but dedicated group of individuals who believe Kansas City is a great place to live. A group with vision for the future and the willingness to put their own time, energy, hard work and financial resources into doing our part to actualize the friendliness, livability, health, safety and beauty of our fair city. With the support of a much larger group, who might be more or less visible but who believe in us and this effort and would contribute support as they can.

What is needed?

Space! Plain and simple. A building with enough room to house the arts and education center, a retail and repair business, framebuilding and repair. Possibly space for studio or living to be rented/leased.

What do you get out of supporting KCATC?

The hope is that you too are not only community minded but know and understand the importance of directing the energy of this city and all its citizens towards the future and quality of life for all of us who live here. This is a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of this movement.

What do we get from engaging in such an endeavor?

The opportunity to put all our thoughts, ideas, hopes and ideals into action not only for Kansas City but for each one of us personally. We would all like to enjoy the benefits of living in a forward thinking city and utilize any and all public transportation options available. We want to have a sense of belonging and safety while bicycle commuting. Of course there will be a certain amount of satisfaction and hopefully modest livelihood from creating Kansas City's first ever bicycle frame building business. The fact that these frames will be made by two women makes it another first. There simply does not exist, anywhere in the US, a frame shop owned and operated by women. KCATC will be the result of years of visualizing the opportunity of being part of transforming Kansas City into a community focused on the humans who live here as opposed to the personal automobile that moves us.

We thanks you for your support.

Here's one guys opinion bout Acme
Bicycle shop fits eclectic Crossroads District
*LEWIS W. DIUGUID*

Someone left a hand-lettered flier on my old bicycle while I visited the Central Library. The note helped explain some of the changes I've noticed downtown. One is a lot more people are using bicycles in this area than I've seen in 28 years of riding to places near The Kansas City Star.
It used to be that people would laugh and point as I pedaled in a suit and tie. But not anymore. Despite the construction, a lot of others on bicycles are sharing the road with cars.
The note on my bike told of a natural addition. The Acme Bicycle Co. in June relocated from Lenexa to 412 E. 18th St. It's in a one-story brick building that's painted gray. A convoy of bicycle rims appears to roll along the outside wall toward the front door. A whimsical mobile of bicycle parts is bolted to the brick wall outside. A chopper bike also appears to ride down the side of the building. All of it stands out like art. A sign in the front window says “Ride Thy Bicycle.” I parked my bike and walked inside. The place with the concrete floor had parts and bicycles of all ages and sizes arranged from the floor to the ceiling. Old furniture also made the place feel like home. It's the kind of yesteryear, folksy bike shop that existed when I was a kid.
Co-owner Sarah Gibson explained that she and her business partner, Christi Lynne, used discarded wood and pallets to make display racks for the bicycles. They also built the more traditional front door and windows to the place in what had been an overhead door opening. The shop is unique because it custom-makes and repairs bicycle frames.
The shop fits the eclectic, growing Crossroads District of art, artists and people who live and work in a close-knit community. “This is a developing neighborhood,” Lynne said. “We have a chance to sort of shape the development.”
Lynne bikes to work; Gibson often does, too. “People know each other, recommend each other for things and support each other,” Gibson said. “I like this area a lot. It fits my framework.”
In the back of the shop are couches, an espresso machine and a TV playing videos of bike races. It's where people can drop by, socialize and enjoy the films. Gibson calls it “bench racing.” Stuart Baillie, a customer of the shop, calls it the area's community center. Folks also bring in canned goods and get Acme discounts. The food is available for homeless people or others in need who stop by. Acme is a place for bikers with $3,000 to $4,000 machines as well as people whose only transportation is an old bicycle. Both groups have been riding more downtown. Will Howard, assistant to the executive director of Kansas City Rescue Mission, a shelter for homeless men at 1520 Cherry St., said a lot more men on the street are relying on bicycles for transportation downtown. Bikes get them to the labor pools where they find work, soup kitchens for food, the library and places in the evening for shelter. Fences and light poles outside of the shelters become bicycle parking lots at night. “Bicycles are an inexpensive mode of transportation,” Howard said. Gibson and Lynne let the men pick up second-hand tires and inner tubes and use a few tools to keep their bicycles running. The free canned goods are in a crate by the door.
“There are more commuters in this part of town,” Gibson said. “That's one of the things we like to encourage — biking for transportation opposed to recreation. “We've learned that building more highways and more streets doesn't ease congestion. It just encourages more cars. I try to encourage people to take one trip a week on a bike for errands or something they would normally use their cars for.” The other neat thing about the Acme Bicycle Co. is it marks a return of a retail business to the area, providing products and services to customers on the street. That used to be downtown's hallmark. The photo supply companies, department stores, hardware stores and barber supply places that I used to frequent downtown are long gone now. Andy Surface, a property owner in the area, hopes the Acme bike shop is the start of more service-oriented businesses finding places to thrive in this community. “I think it's going to be a good thing for downtown,” he said. It will help make the old business district “the place” to walk, shop and bike in the 21st century.

Lewis W. Diuguid is a member of The Star's Editorial Board. To reach him, call /*(816) 234-4723*/ or send e-mail to / ldiuguid@kcstar.com <mailto:ldiuguid@kcstar.com>./

and check out what The Pitch has to say......

PEACE