Marcus Bryant, a volunteer at Second Chance bicycle shop, works on a miniature tricycle, Sept. 6 in the shop’s storefront. Bryant has been volunteering at Second Chance for three years. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Aurora Sentinel 
Bobby Hill, a volunteer at Second Chance bicycle shop, adjusts the height of a seat post, Sept. 6, in the workshop of Second Chance. Hill has been a volunteer at the bicycle shop for three years, repairing donated bikes. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Aurora Sentinel 
Ernie Clark, owner of Second Chance bicycle shop, stands for a portrait, Sept. 6, in the storage room which shares a wall with the Second Chance storefront. Photo by Philip B. Poston/Aurora Sentinel
AURORA | Standing in the Second Chance Bike Shop, it’s tough to imagine someone needing another frame, set of handle bars or bike tire anytime soon.
In one row, a white Schwinn leaned against a grey Diamondback which leaned against a red Magna. In a room designated for newly arrived bikes, an old white frame with a banana seat affixed on top sat near a purple Schwinn with white tires — just a small fraction of the hundreds of bikes that fill the shop.
But even with that collection spread up across several rooms, Ernie Clark and his volunteers need more.
“I figure by Thanksgiving all of these will be gone,” Clark said, pointing to one of those rows of bikes.
That timing puts Clark and his team of volunteers at the local charity that repairs unwanted bikes and gives them to needy children in something of a bind. Clark is aiming to give between 500 and 550 bikes away this Christmas, but he needs some help to make that happen.
“We need bikes,” he said bluntly while strolling through the shop at East Alameda Avenue and South Sable Boulevard.
Already in 2017, Clark estimates the charity has distributed between 1,500 and 2,000 bikes, mostly to children but also to a local group that works with homeless veterans.
Over the roughly 15 years Clark has been running the charity, he said they have donated thousands upon thousands of bikes, including one Christmas a few years ago when they donated around 750. That year, a few weeks after Christmas they were inundated with requests and gave away another 100 shortly after the holiday.
When he started, Clark said he set out to donate 50 bikes in one holiday season, a number that these days seems paltry.
“I thought, ‘Oh, 50 bikes is okay,’” he sad. “But no, 50 bikes ain’t nothing.”
Clark said that beyond the need for bikes, Second Chance has the same needs any charity does.
“I hate to say it, the other bad word is money, everybody needs money,” he said.
The group, however, could use some volunteers.
In the early days, Clark’s team of volunteers included several local homeless men who, in exchange for tinkering on a few bikes for young people, got a bike of their own — a valuable possession for someone living on the streets.
These days, Clark said none of his volunteers are homeless — they’re just a team of people who like bikes and want to help.
“It’s all volunteers that say one way or another, ‘I want to come down and help,’” he said.
One of those volunteers on a recent afternoon was Marcus Bryant. Bryant said a few years ago he heard about the charity and thought it might be a fun place to hang out.
A native of San Jose, Calif., Bryant said he has always been passionate about bikes, and especially likes making sure that young people have one of their own.
“Bikes are my thing,” he said.
After tinkering with a novelty tricycle, Bryant shifted his attention to helping a mom who brought in her son and daughter’s bikes, both of which had banged-up rims after run-ins with local potholes.
Bryant said if the mom wanted to give a donation, the shop would appreciate it. If not, he said they’d still get a straightened-out rim on each one and make sure the kids could keep riding.
“It’s all about giving,” he said.
These days Second Chance is enjoying a bit more stability than it once did. The shop’s home has bounced around Aurora over the years. There were some chilly winters when they toiled in a garage behind the old Aurora Warms the Night headquarters on Dayton Street north of East Colfax Avenues. And for a stretch they operated out of the basement of Kim Robards Dance Studio on Colfax. There was also some time spent in a hallway at Community College of Aurora and a storage unit on the north end of town before Clark found the permanent home a couple years ago.
The shopping center where the shop operates from has seen some businesses leave in the past year or so, including a Mexican restaurant and 7-Eleven, and could undergo further change in the coming years now that a light rail stop is nearby.
But Clark said after years of fretting over where the charity will operate from, he keeps his focus on getting bikes fixed and into the hands of kids who want them.
“Right now I’m not gonna worry about it,” he said.