With plenty of broad, flat streets, West Oakland is a fine place to ride a bike. But for years, the neighborhood has lacked a bicycle store. Bikes4Life, a non-profit near the West Oakland Bart, is filling that niche with a shop where folks can buy a used bike, and have their bike repaired. 

Like many businesses in West Oakland, Bikes4Life offers more than what’s on the sign outside. The corner space on 7th Street has a fireplace, and Anthony Coleman, Jr., whose father founded the non-profit three months ago, says Bikes4Life is a community space, a spot where people can gather and hang out. In addition to the fireplace, the shop boasts some comfy chairs, a TV, and a friendly pit bull named Queen.

Most of the bikes come to the store as donations. They’re then refurbished and put out for sale at affordable prices. For example, a Gary Fisher Big Sur is on sale for only $250. “Somebody can have a nice bike for a little bit of nothing,” says Coleman Jr. Because Bikes4Life is a non-profit, people who donate bikes receive a tax deduction.

In keeping with the mission of serving as a community hub, Bikes4Life offers classes in bike repair and bike safety. Part of the goal is to get more kids on bicycles. “We’re trying to encourage some of these kids to ride their bikes to school,” says Coleman, Jr.

Anthony Coleman, Sr., started Bikes4Life as a way to provide affordable bicycles to people in the community where he’s lived for the past 10 years. A native of San Francisco, Coleman, Sr., is also the founder of One Fam, a community organization that uses education to help people who’ve been jailed.

There are several ways to get involved with Bikes4Life. Coleman, Sr., says that in addition to donations of bicycles, the outfit could use the help of a good grant writer to help put some of the community’s ideas about where Bikes4Life can go into action. “We’re not short of ideas,” says Coleman, Sr.