Nestled on the corner of Southwest Depot Avenue and South Main Street lies an old red brick warehouse which, to the untrained observer, appears to be abandoned.
Inside, The Kickstand bustles with activity.
At 5 p.m. on Monday, in-house mechanic Andy Lievertz and his co-worker, a homeless man who calls himself Joe, scurry back and forth grabbing wrenches, checking tires and adjusting brake cable tensions.
In the back area of the large room, which was converted into a fully functional bicycle repair facility in 2008, nine patrons repair flat tires and replace broken spokes.
The seven other people in the shop peruse through The Graveyard, a messy corner, piled high with the frames of some 50 or more donated bicycles.
The buzzing crowd is diverse, made up of UF students, lifelong Gainesville residents and a handful of homeless men and women with a common purpose: cycling.
Unlike most bicycle shops, The Kickstand is a bicycle collective. Rather than pay a flat rate for bicycle repair, cyclists can go to The Kickstand to fix a flat tire or even take advantage of the "Earn-A-Bike" program, which teaches patrons how to build an entire bike from the ground up in exchange for time or a spare parts donation.
The "Earn-A-Bike" program entails selecting a frame from The Graveyard and working with one of the mechanics to build a bike from scratch, Lievertz said.
"We will assign a value to the bike, lets say $80. We will allow them to work for the bike at $10 an hour, so that $80 bike will be worth eight hours of work," he said.
Many of the people who benefit from the program cannot afford a bicycle. The Kickstand's unique service offers them an opportunity to learn how to build and maintain a bicycle at no cost.
"It's for people who can't afford these sorts of things," Joe said. "Just donate your time."
Joe knows what it is like to be deprived of something because of financial shortcomings - he is homeless.
In the 17 months since opening, The Kickstand's cordial staff has built the shop a reputation as a friend of the homeless.
A bulletin board displays a joint Certificate of Appreciation from The Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless and Hungry and The City of Gainesville/Alachua County Office on Homelessness.
But it's not the recognition that keeps Lievertz coming in to volunteer but rather the feeling of satisfaction he gets from helping out.
"It's a pretty regular thing that someone will come here. Maybe they don't have a lot of money, or maybe they are homeless." he said. "When I can get someone like that set up with the 'Earn-A-Bike' program and put a bike into the hands of someone who really needs it, it's a golden feeling."
