OGDEN, Utah (September 30th, 2021) — The early days of the pandemic provided plenty of challenges for traditional bike shops, but even more so for a bike shop whose model is based on gathering community members and volunteers in a collaborative indoor space.
Contemplating how to move in-person, hands-on youth bike mechanics programming virtual during last summer’s lockdown, two employees at the Ogden location of the Bicycle Collective joked about a Sesame Street style kids program about bicycles as a way to continue and expand programming.
Juan “JP” Orquiz, head mechanic, took the joke seriously and went home and made the first puppet.
A year and several puppets later, Orquiz and Location Director, Dustin Eskelson created “Dusty and the Wrenches”, a nine episode YouTube series about maintaining and repairing bikes. The series covers the component systems that a child will need to know in order to fix a basic coaster brake bicycle. “We’re excited to launch the bicycle industry’s first mechanic video series targeted to a youth audience.
“We never could have made this a reality without the support of Quality Bicycle Products, The David Kilby Johnson Memorial Foundation and The Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development,” said Eskelson. The first episode launches on October 1st on the Bicycle Collective’s Youtube Channel.
Following the initial release, a new episode will be released weekly.
Link to the Channel: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcwT-l_DtQyBA0CGc3-9mnxoyUUKnBUzH
