While his mother doesn’t necessarily see the family’s deck as the ideal spot for a bike repair business, it is the best location Jackson Jones has come up with so far. Under a small covered area, he’s got bikes of all sizes and a unicycle. His mother, Donna Kreutzer-Jones adds, there are bike parts throughout the house.
Jackson Jones Bike Maintenance and Repair officially launched towards the end of this summer. The seed for the business were planted two summers ago, when Jones, now 14, took a bike repair course organized by….
“I really loved it,” he says. “After the course, I got a few old bikes and re-did them completely on my own. I also got involved with Bicycles for Humanity, based out of Whistler. People from Bowen donated 14 bicycles for this, and we put together a shipment of bikes that got sent to Columbia with extra parts, and someone who accompanied the bikes to teach people in the community how to maintain them.”
Jones says that two of the bikes were not suitable to be sent to Columbia. One of those he has taken on for himself, and uses to ride almost every day from his home in Bluewater to IPS.
“I’m hoping that by offering a bike repair service on Bowen more people will get out on the road,” says Jones. “The more people are out biking, the more awareness there will be among drivers. When I bike in the winter, the roads don’t seem so bad, but in the summertime it seems like there are more drivers who aren’t.”
For a basic tune-up, Jones says he charges less than a trip on the ferry would cost, $25.
“But I do run into a lot of warped rims on Bowen, because bikes tend to be left outside a lot,” he says. “This can make a simple brake tune-up a lot harder.”
Jones has a repair sheet where he lists all the possible extras that might be required alongside a tune-up. He’s also established a relationship with Tantalus Bike Shop in Squamish.
“They’re selling me all these parts wholesale, which really helps me keep costs down,” says Jones.
Jones is also asking for bike donations. Once they’re fixed up, Jones says he will give away the donated bikes to help get more islanders riding. Also, he will continue to work with Bicycles For Humanity.
