Bicycle Program Puts the Pedal to the Mettle : Education: Youngsters who successfully complete school-related tasks, such as improving their grades, earn refurbished bikes as their reward.

Some of the used bicycles showed rust; others had dents. But none of that mattered to the nine South Whittier fifth- and sixth-graders who had worked two months to own the two-wheelers parked on a lot near the corner of Carmenita and Lakeland roads.

For 10-year-old Consuelo Perez, the job was to quit fighting and pull up her grades. She chose a blue Oceanside cruiser after two months of As and Bs.

“I really wanted a bike,” she said. When her friends went bike riding, “I always had to ride on the handlebars or on the back,” she said.

Sixth-grader Steve Silva got his bike as a reward for continued good grades. He had once owned a bike, but it was taken by a robber who threw off the 11-year-old and sped away.

To get bikes, all the students signed contracts at the start of April that had to be honored through the end of May. The agreement for some was to improve their grades; for others to turn in their homework every night. A few had to maintain good grades. All the students attend McKibben Elementary and come from families that would be hard-pressed to afford bikes.

Angel James Cabral, a 51-year-old forklift repairman, thought up the bike program after realizing that neighborhood children had few healthy diversions. Many were getting into trouble with local gangs.

“I’m just taking spray cans out of their hands and putting handlebars in them,” he said. “So they’ll burn up some of that energy, not join gangs, keep up their grades and get a sense of pride.”

Principal Pam Lopez is looking forward to expanding the program. McKibben Elementary serves an area of South Whittier with many low-income families. More than 80% of the school’s students, for example, are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.

“We’re already starting our list of students for next year,” Lopez said of the bike project.

“There has been a change of behavior in these students,” she added. “There’s a tremendous amount of pride they have from being able to earn this. They couldn’t earn the money, so we gave them another way and they took it very seriously.

“It’s very unique,” Lopez said. “Most programs tend to give things out to the needy without there being some kind of obligation back on the part of the child.”

Cabral started the program by buying bikes at garage sales and police auctions, repairing them in his back yard and offering them to neighborhood children. He expanded the effort to McKibben this spring with the help of area residents and the South Whittier Community Coordinating Council, a local volunteer organization.

The council donated about $600 for parts. Cabral and two other residents did the major repairs. Numerous families donated bikes.

“Each family that gives me a bike tells me a little history of it,” Cabral said. “There is usually a little boy or girl who used to drive it all the time. And now that little boy or girl is grown up.”

Cabral has assembled about 75 bikes and about 60 were on display recently for children and parents to choose from. Sheriff’s deputies were on hand to register the bikes. Volunteers taught the children how to adjust seats, brakes and handlebars, and inflate the tires to the proper pressure.

“I picked this (bike) because it doesn’t have gears, and you have to use your own body strength to go fast,” said Marc Valmar of his gray BMX. “I’m thinking about sanding it and painting it black.”

The 11-year-old had earned his wheels by paying more attention to his teacher.

“Maybe all the unfortunate kids that don’t have bikes could get one,” he said.

Community correspondent Candis Fields also contributed to this story.