Bay Area BikeMobile is on a roll, 1 bike at a time
When 12-year-old Eric Austin got a Mongoose Rebel bike for his birthday a year ago, he flew around his neighborhood with a new feeling of freedom and adventure - until he blew out a tire. The bike was out of commission for months until the morning the mechanics of the Bay Area BikeMobile pulled into the parking lot at the Salesian Boys and Girls Club on Filbert Street in San Francisco. Helping kids like Eric is the reason Tommy Bensko, 33, helped start the BikeMobile pilot program in Alameda County in 2011 with grant funding from the Alameda County Transportation Commission and a grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. With a crew of mechanics and a parts-filled 2008 Dodge Sprinter that with its swirly graphics resembles the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine, he's now working on bikes throughout the Bay Area. [...] if a kid's bike has wheels, Bensko figures, he can get it rolling again - and maybe inspire the kid. Bensko lowered the seat, sat on the bike himself and, with a big bearded smile, showed her a few pointers.