KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The reach of a small, local business in downtown Knoxville stretches across East Tennessee.
Two Bikes has been open for about three years, working to make the benefits of bicycling accessible to people of all backgrounds.
It's all in the name—Two Bikes. For every bike sold, a bike gets donated to someone in an underserved East Tennessee community. Through its Pedal It Forward program, Two Bikes partners with local nonprofits to serve people across the region.
"Two Bikes is a little different from your traditional bike shop. We operate as much as a community space as we do as a bike shop," Two Bikes co-founder Matthew Zingg explained.
Zingg realized the benefits of biking early in life. "I grew up around bicycles a lot," he said. "My dad did a lot of amateur racing. All throughout college, I commuted by bicycle into my post-college years."
He also realizes the barriers many people face in finding reliable transportation. "For some people, it's a matter of having a job or not having a job."
Before helping open Two Bikes in 2021, Zingg was a part of DreamBikes in Knoxville—a nonprofit with a similar mission. After DreamBikes shut its doors in 2020, Zingg was inspired to continue offering affordable bikes to the community.
Recently, Two Bikes donated bicycles to 10 teen interns at the YWCA Phyllis Wheatley Center in East Knoxville.
"Oh my goodness, they were so excited," said the center's assistant director Gabby Anderson. "Mind you, these are all teenagers. They're 14, 15-year-olds, but I felt like in that moment, they just turned back into the little boys and little girls that were just riding around in their neighborhoods; they were so excited."
"Having this is helping me go more places and exercise. I can go to the store without asking anybody and I don't have to pay for an Uber," said Karmen Tribble, a soon-to-be Austin East High School freshman.
Before receiving a bike, Tribble said she had to use an Uber to get to and from her internship every day over eight weeks.
"The bicycle, you don't expect it to be such a significant thing, but for some folks, it is," Zingg said.
On average, Two Bikes donates roughly 250 to 300 bikes every year to people across East Tennessee, according to Zingg. The bike shop also serves as a community space, offering tools and workbenches for people to work on their bikes for free.
The nonprofit also has a workforce development program called Bike School, hiring teens from underserved communities and paying them to learn how to work on bikes and basic customer service skills.