ABOUT

Table Of Contents

OWNERSHIP
GOAL
WHY
ABOUT
HISTORY
OWNERSHIP
Lumpy Bikes -- is a sole proprietorship and is owned by myself, Charles Gregory (wilbur).

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GOAL
The Goal -- of Lumpy Bikes is:

• To Service and Repair All Makes and Models of Bicycles.
• To give the customer a VERY competitive price.
• To Refurbish Bikes to a very high standard.
• To help you, the customer, become a Bicycle owner!.

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WHY
Why A Bicycle!
A Bicycle is the most Eco-friendly means of transportation. While there may be times when we need conventional transportation, for most of our daily travels around town; and to and from work, school or play, a Bicycle is by far the best mode of transportation. By simply using our Bicycle:

• We get Exercise!
• We don't Pollute!
• Have no problem or cost with Parking.
• Don't have to buy GAS! Have you seen the price of GAS lately!
• We lead the way and set the example in taking care of our planet.

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WILBUR

About: Charlie Gregory also known as Wilbur of Lumpy Bikes or just plain Wilbur..We Love Bikes!
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HOW

History:
Lumpy Bikes started quite by accident...I knew a man who busked on a bench in downtown Peterborough, he is dead now, his name was Bongo Dave..while chatting one day, Bongo Dave mentioned that someone had taken his old bike and he was lost without it...at that time we lived in the country above Rice Lake, there was a bike in one of the sheds that my brother Kevin had received as a graduating gift a few years earlier, it was a CCM Ice, green in colour..Kevin had gone on to purchase a car and no longer needed the bike, I can still see his enthusiasim while riding that bike to the gym, to work, to go fishing...It was a cool day when I brought the bike to town to give to Bongo Dave, he was quite appreciative and said so in his Ottawa Valley drawl...some years past, five or so, I forget and I was helping out at the youth shelter on weekends, doing repairs and I noticed a large number of mostly men who resided in the homes near that poor part of town, men who lived at the Mens Shelter and well, just a pile of people who seemed 'not too well off' and right then, I had this little pang of remorse that I had not done much for my fellow man, while I lived a pleasant life in the more leafy part of town...shortly after (this would have been spring 2009) I found Bongo Dave at his bench and gave him another bike, this was a black inexpensive mountain bike that had been abandoned, my daughter Christine actually found the bike and told me about it...together we took it home and got out some tools and got it running...up to that point, my only experience with bikes was keeping our childrens bikes on the road as well as my own Norco which I used for fitness training, I love riding...Once again, Bongo Dave was very grateful, his smile was infectious, his eyes twinkled...the day after bringing Bongo Dave that bike I visited him at the bench he busked at with his soup can for donations and his tiny Made in Africa drum, that he played silently, you could see he could hear the rhythmn, but his fingers, it seemed did not touch the drum top..when I asked how the bike was he said, "it's got a slow leak, I'm wondering if you could fix it for me as I haven't earned enough money yet today to buy a tube, and you know they are about six dollars." I put the bike in the back of the car, took it home, found a tube and returned it the next day to a smiling Bongo Dave, he thanked me as I tossed a quarter into his tin and I think maybe it was that cool day that I took some nice shots of him on that bench, some of those photos were used in my first photography exhibit called Dark Hallways and Other Lost Places in my Soul...in fact the marquee photo for the event is a photo of Bongo Dave's nicotine stained fingers tapping on his drum...

Later that year, as mentioned I was moved by this feeling deep within me to do some good in town for people, to stop feeling sorry for myself I began picking up bikes from scrap bins and abandoned bikes here and there, purchasing the odd cheap bike, fixing them up so they run, never to make them pretty, just get them running and safe, then taking them all downtown to folk on the corners, at the youth shelter at the mens shelter on Murray Street, which at the time also housed the greatly missed Our Space day centre, there was always someone who needed a bike...by summers end, we had donated upwards of 70 bikes to these folk and I took pleasure in doing so and documented most of the donations by taking a photo of the recipients, as I had thought in the back of my head that I would/might try to get funding to operate a charity bike program, which by the way got waylaid when someone handed me a briefcase full of applications that had to be filled out in order to register the charity...Also, in that first heady year I started to purchase better bikes and refurbish them and resell them using only word of mouth and the internet site Kijiji as my place of buisness...this came about in August when Julia my wife for life suggested "Why don't you sell some bikes, we could use the money!" She didn't say it crudely or critically, just kinda matter of factly and those few words spurred me on so to speak, my inner mind happy that she had the confidence in my bike abiltities to sell bikes...and I liked that, making a couple of dollars on my labours...a hobby had now become a job...I learned quickly how to do all aspects of bike work, the good people at B!ke, the Community Bike Shop then located at Knox United Church were very patient while instructing me how to replace/repair the parts on a high end bike that was donated from Big Sky Design, to take apart and put back together, I learned to be better at wheel truing, bearing greasing and many other skills required to properly put a bike together..Having been an entrepreneur in various fields, bar work, restaurant operator, property manager, I had skills in the buisness world that parlayed into the bike buisness, I became keen and remain very keen on purchasing high end bikes that I think I can make a dollar or two on while at the same time, supply to avid bikers in the community..We stil donate our time and many bikes to those poor amongst us, I don't count the donor bikes anymore, my guess is that we give about 50 or so bikes to the community on a yearly basis, most of the bikes are now dropped off at our garage door, and this is where the expression "It's Raining Bikes" comes from, now and then, I will come home from a bike buying trip and find any number of bikes left, to be donated back to the community and this is why we often write in our Kijiji ads WE ARE LUMPY BIKES, meaning of course that all of you who help out are part of this little charity...It costs a bit to keep this going, every now and then we sell a donor bike and use the funds to purchase locks and chains and tires and tubes, etc to keep the donor program going...If I have not thanked you all for this support over the years, I do so now.

We don't have any big plans for Lumpy Bikes, several bike oriented people come over to give us a hand for free, Ronnie, Hendrik, Mike Taylor, Barry, Craig and Hannah they all pitch in to assist the shop...We all love bikes...Fontaines Source for Sports have been very generous with donor bike gifts over the years, B!ke has been extremely thoughtful in the number of folk they refer to the shop, we try to work hand in hand with the other shops, Wildrock Outfitters have helped out over the years, Spokes and Pedals have always given us good pricing on parts we require, Mike Gorman at Spokes for Folks has been an inspiration.

We will continue to work on classic vintage cruisers, road bikes, high end mountain bikes and unusual bikes as well as antique bikes, we stock tires for most bikes as well as tubes, brake parts and an assortment of parts for older bikes that were culled from the nearly 2000 bikes that have come our way in the five years we have been operating...if we can be of any assistance to you with your bike matters, drop us an email and we can 'Talk Bikes' thank you so much Wilbur of Lumpy Bikes.

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