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By Jason Lewis<\/p>\n
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The global bicycle market size was estimated at $84 billion in 2025, with $15 billion of that coming from the U.S.\u00a0 The market is gaining momentum driven by an increasing adoption of cycling for daily mobility, fitness, and short-distance community riding.\u00a0 Like many lucrative industries, Black communities tend to be priced out or left out.\u00a0 Los Angeles native and Dorsey High School alum Damon Turner has stepped up to ensure that younger people in the greater Crenshaw district are aware and have access to this industry. <\/p>\n
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Through the Los Angeles Bicycle Academy, a nonprofit organization, youths ages eight to 18 attend a bicycle education and youth earn-a-bike program.\u00a0 The eight-week curriculum teaches the students how to repair and refurbish bicycles.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThey\u2019re taking a bike completely apart and reassembling it,\u201d Turner said.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019re also making adjustments to the bike.\u00a0 The curriculum relates to every aspect of the bicycle.\u00a0 They go from brake adjustment, to gear adjustment, to flap repair, to disassembling a chain.\u00a0 It\u2019s broken up into several parts and they learn it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Students learn brake adjustment, gear adjustment, flap repair, disassembling a chain, and every aspect of repairing and refurbishing bicycles. Shop photos courtesy of the Los Angeles Bicycle Academy
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At the end of the program the students get to keep the bicycles that they worked on.\u00a0 The bicycles that are used in the program are donated, and this program can always use more bicycles.<\/p>\n
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\u201cEverybody has a bicycle laying around in their garage,\u201d Turner said.\u00a0 \u201cAnd that\u2019s primarily where most of the bikes that were earned by young people, were donated bicycles.\u201d<\/p>\n
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This program also gives the students information about careers in the bicycle industry.<\/p>\n
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\u201cEverything related to where you can go in the bicycle industry in a career,\u201d Turner said.\u00a0 \u201cWe connect the careers that exist in the bicycle industry and show young people the possibilities that are around their interests.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Careers in racing can be lucrative and can come with perks. <\/p>\n
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\u201cMechanics for a pro tour team that races in let\u2019s say the Tour de France, they\u2019re making $80,000 a year on top of traveling all around the world,\u201d Turner said.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s just one position and within a team.\u00a0 There\u2019s also career opportunities in the bicycle industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Turner is a Los Angeles native who is from Leimert Park.\u00a0 Like many people, he started riding bicycles as a child around his neighborhood, and he held a job as a bicycle messenger in downtown Los Angeles. <\/p>\n
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\u201cI was getting paid to ride a bike to deliver legal documents,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cI continued to ride bicycles.\u00a0 I competed a little bit, and that evolved into me starting a successful team with a partner, and that evolved into me starting my own team.\u00a0 That led me to starting the youth bike program.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/6S8R1965_web.jpg\")
Turner coaching a youth cycling team. Photo by Jason Lewis
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Turner leads the students on community bike rides where they learn traffic laws and how to ride safely on cycling routes. <\/p>\n
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A program like this is important because cycling has heath and fitness benefits, and it is a means of transportation.\u00a0 Creating spaces for bicycling are not as prevalent in Black communities as it is in other communities.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis is a normal thing that exists outside of Black communities,\u201d Turner said.\u00a0 \u201cBike lanes that are as wide as a car lane.\u00a0 That\u2019s what we\u2019re fighting for.\u00a0 To create those spaces in our community and normalize it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Career wise, Turner points out that there is not a lot of Black representation in the bicycle industry, but he also points out that there are so many Black people who ride bicycles that they should be a larger portion of the industry.<\/p>\n
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Setting children on a career path can be life changing and after-school and weekend programs in Black communities can function as gang prevention programs because it occupies their time with something positive.<\/p>\n
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\u201cDoing this after school is a critical time,\u201d Turner said.\u00a0 \u201cDuring the spring and summer months when you have longer days, you can go out and do an hour ride easily.\u00a0 The impact of that is unbelievable.\u00a0 There\u2019s been a lot of stories of transformation around a kid who learned how to ride a bicycle and it changed everything about them.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Turner continues to ride his bicycle multiple times a week, heading up to Griffith Park or along the beach to Malibu or Palos Verdes.\u00a0 He partners with local cycling groups such as We Major LA for community rides that his students participate in. <\/p>\n
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