Bikes for Farmworkers in Virgil is reaching out to the public searching for rebuildable adult-sized bicycles.

“Our donations have been steady, but down,” said Ken Eden, the main coordinator at Bikes for Farmworkers. 

“We’re at the point now where we’re pretty tight on inventory to rebuild for sale.”

Currently, the organization only has three bikes for sale and about 15 it’s looking to restore – if they’re able to.

Out of the 15, Eden estimated only about 11 will be repairable – some might be too far gone and others may be good for parts.

It’s always hard to tell just by looking at the bikes, he said, and requires examining them further.

He said he’d like to be at the point where 20 bikes are available for sale. 

When donating bikes, he advises people not to worry too much about things like flat tires. 

“People often get very concerned about flat tires, we don’t worry too much about those,” he said.

“Those are quite repairable.”

However, when bikes are full of rust, that’s when it becomes difficult to fix.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 297 bikes have been sold to farmworkers this season. 

Compared to the 420 bikes sold last season, they’re not doing too bad, said Eden.

“We (still) got another couple of months, but our records show that the bulk of the bikes have been sold,” he said. 

He added that volunteers have fixed about 180 bikes this season compared to 240 last year.

Bikes cost a flat rate of $20 for farm workers.

Bikes for donation can be dropped off at the shop at 1665 Four Mile Creek Rd. on Tuesdays between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. and on Thursdays between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. 

More information can be found on www.gatewaynotl.com/bikes.