Acme Bicycle Company helps revitalize KC's Crossroads District

Someone left a hand-lettered flier on my old bicycle while I visited the Central Library.

The note helped explain some of the changes I've noticed downtown. One is a lot more people are using bicycles in this area than I've seen in 28 years of riding to places near The Kansas City Star.

It used to be that people would laugh and point as I pedaled in a suit and tie. But not anymore. Despite the construction, a lot of others on bicycles are sharing the road with cars.

The note on my bike told of a natural addition. The Acme Bicycle Co. in June relocated from Lenexa to 412 E. 18th St. . . .

Acme is a place for bikers with $3,000 to $4,000 machines as well as people whose only transportation is an old bicycle. Both groups have been riding more downtown.

Will Howard, assistant to the executive director of Kansas City Rescue Mission, a shelter for homeless men at 1520 Cherry St., said a lot more men on the street are relying on bicycles for transportation downtown. Bikes get them to the labor pools where they find work, soup kitchens for food, the library and places in the evening for shelter. . . .

“There are more commuters in this part of town,” Gibson said. “That's one of the things we like to encourage — biking for transportation opposed to recreation.

“We've learned that building more highways and more streets doesn't ease congestion. It just encourages more cars. I try to encourage people to take one trip a week on a bike for errands or something they would normally use their cars for.”