January 17th bike give-a-way planned at the Hornell American Legion
By Andrew Harris, photo by Steve Harrison
The value of a kid riding a bike around the neighborhood is hard to over-estimate. As screentime becomes more and more of a worry for us all, kids need bicycles more than ever. If a kid doesn’t have a good working bike they will spend more time staring at a screen, a reality we all understand.
Larry Pelkey of Hornell has been working tirelessly for several years to make bikes available to any kid who needs one, earning him the nickname “The Bikeman.” What started as dozens of bikes given away, turned into hundreds, and now stands at nearly one thousand two hundred bikes!!
Larry is the first to tell you that he didn’t do this alone. Pictured is Larry’s porch, full of bikes:
“Bike drop offs continued at a steady pace all summer and even kept going through the fall. Finally slowing this winter, still having some donated. I received emails, phone calls and of course bikes left along my front porch.
Had hopes of getting 20-25 bikes, which would have been great. Instead residents gave a whopping 172 bikes, Unbelievable!!”
Larry is partnering up with Cozy Cats and Kittens Rescue on January 17 to start giving away even more bikes in 2025! This event starts at 5:30pm at the Hornell American Legion on Seneca Street featuring BINGO/Silent Auction/Penny Social. Larry will be setting up bikes to giveaway at about 4:30pm.
After doing sixteen events in 2024, “The Bikeman” is hoping to use the increased donations to do many more events this year. Anyone can drop bikes that Larry can restore and giveaway at 18 State Street in Hornell. Larry is very accessible and is happy to pickup donations and is ready to join your event in 2025. Contact him anytime via Email: larrysbikes@yahoo.com.
When you think about the sheer volume of bikes and the impact of such a mission, one has to wonder: How does Larry do all this repair work, advocacy, events, and outreach? Well he isn’t doing it alone. The Pelkey family are bicycle fanatics, riding and repair together both in Hornell and Canisteo.
“All of my grandkids (he has 10) ride bikes as well as my daughter! My 15 year old grandson Jonah and 13 year old granddaughter Piper spend time working on bike repairs along side me! Granddaughter Mylah (10) and grandsons Daggar (8) and Arrow(6) help with bike loading and unloading and bike cleaning.
Great times indeed!”
Learn more about Larry and his mission to put kids on a bike. Hornell celebrity Steve Harrison did this full interview and feature about Larry for the Sun in 2022:
