Bob Knill/Special to The Gazette Luis Cardenas of Frederick removes the pedals from a donated bicycle Saturday at St. Johns at Prospect Hall in Frederick. Cardenas collected donated bikes and prepared them to be shipped to Central America.

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Bob Knill/Special to the Gazette Luis Cardenas (left) of Frederick, and Julio Valcarcel of Walkersville prepare a bicycle for transport Saturday at St. Johns at Prospect Hall in Frederick. Cardenas and Valcarcel collected donated bikes to be shipped to Central America.
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Bob Knill/Special to The Gazette Luis Cardenas of Frederick removes the pedals from a donated bicycle Saturday at St. Johns at Prospect Hall in Frederick. Cardenas collected donated bikes and prepared them to be shipped to Central America.
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Bob Knill/Special to the Gazette Luis Cardenas of Frederick prepares a bicycle for transport Saturday at St. Johns at Prospect Hall in Frederick . Cardenas collected donated bikes to be shipped to Central America.

Bob Knill/Special to The Gazette Luis Cardenas of Frederick removes the pedals from a donated bicycle Saturday at St. Johns at Prospect Hall in Frederick. Cardenas collected donated bikes and prepared them to be shipped to Central America.

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Donated bicycles leaned against a tree, their spindled wheels destined for new type of terrain thousands of miles away.

The bikes, including an orange Kent 10-speed, could be shipped to Costa Rica as early as Nov. 19, through Bikes for the World, an organization that brings the two-wheelers to people overseas for transportation and economic needs.

The Knights of Columbus San Juan Bosco Council No. 14726 collected about 30 bikes Saturday through a donation drive at St. Johns at Prospect Hall in Frederick for the Arlington-based bicycle nonprofit organization.

The 10-speed belonged to Tonya Fitzwater of Walkersville.

“The bike ended up in my mom’s garage and it wasn’t being used,” she said. “Now I have a mountain bike, so I don’t need the 10-speed. I saw the event last year, but wasn’t able to make it, so I went on the [Bikes for the World] website and saw there was a local collection.”

Jose Rector, grand knight of the Knights of Columbus Bishop MacNamara Council No. 1622, said he introduced the San Juan Bosco Council to Bikes for the World organization because he thought the destination of the bikes would hit home with group members.

“Most of the bikes wound up in their home countries of South and Central America,” Rector said. “I thought it would be near and dear to their hearts.”

Bikes collected in 2010 were shipped to Ghana, Uganda, Costa Rica, Panama and Barbados, according to Bikes for the World’s website, BikesfortheWorld.org.

But bicycles collected will have mostly new destinations this year. They will travel to Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica or El Salvador, said Keith Oberg, Bikes for the World director.

In 2010, the nonprofit shipped more than 9,000 bicycles, Oberg said. The group hopes to ship more than that this year, Oberg said.

Donation drives organized by religious groups are only some of the collection resources, Oberg said. Universities, Scouts organizations and community events contribute to the success of the bringing bicycles to developing countries.

John O’Connor of Frederick said he found out about the drive through his church bulletin.

“I’m a senior citizen and I didn’t use it as much as I thought I would,” he said. “I’ve had this bike eight to 10 years, but I’m not in the bike mode. It’s in pretty good condition because it’s sat in my garage. It was taking up space so I brought it in.”

The turnaround time from donation to distribution depends on the destination. Typically, the time frame is one month. Saturday’s collection will be shipped out of Lorton, Va., but if the bikes don’t make that boat, they could end up sitting at the Lorton collection site for a couple of months waiting for another one, Oberg said.

“Of course, the faster [the bikes ship] out, the quicker they get used,” Oberg said.

Regardless of shipping time, people like knowing their bicycle has a second chance, Rector said.

“People are more happy that the bicycle they’re donating is going to a developing nation, where it will be used as a mode of transportation instead of taking it to a Salvation Army or Goodwill where it will wind up at one of those places after a few years,” he said.

Bikes have more value in other countries than in the U.S., where they sometimes are seen as a surplus, Oberg said.

A bicycle make a world of difference in every day lives of people in other countries.

“These [bikes] will wind up in developing nations where it will provide income for someone who fixes it and sells it at a reasonable price to someone who would rather pedal 20 miles to school or work rather than walk,” Rector said. “What we take for granted, the recreational aspect of a bike, is their family vehicle.”

For information on donating a bicycle, go to www.BikesfortheWorld.org.