Anyone who wants a bike can have one at Unwholly Bikes

LAKELAND, Fla. (FOX 13) - You could walk out of Lakeland’s newest bike shop with a bicycle that you didn’t pay a dime for, at least not with cash or credit.

The price of a bike at Uwholly Bikes is sweat equity.

Unwholly Bikes believes anyone who wants a bike should have one.

“If you don’t have a bike and you have a willingness to build, just show up,” said William Shaffer, one of the three founders of the new non-profit. “We’ll provide you with the frame of the bike, or a bike that’s not complete, if you’re willing to put in the work, you’ll ride off with a bike.”

Unwholly Bikes will give you the parts, tools and guidance you need to construct a bike from the ground up, or fix the one up that’s been gathering dust in your garage for ages.

The organization works on donations. The Lakeland Police Department just made a sizable one, 40 or so bikes that were sitting around in storage.

“We get them as abandoned property,” said Laurie Parkes, a department employee. “Some of them are evidence.”

Unwholly Bikes is now rehoming them with people who need or want a bike, no questions asked.

John Fengler uses the bike that he refurbished at Unwholly Bikes to ride the mile and a half from his home to work every day at Florida Southern College.

“It is basically my lifeline,” he told FOX 13.

In the coming months, Unwholly Bikes hopes to save a lot more people the hassle of not having transportation.

Its grand opening is this Saturday, September 14, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 925 East Rose Street in Lakeland.