Getting in Gear on Environment

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Traveling by bicycle is already environmentally friendly, but Bryce Edmonds is trying to kick the concept into a higher gear. His Redondo Beach startup ReCycle Cycles LLC has created a bike made completely from recycled aluminum.

ReCycle Cycles, co-founded in 2011 by Edmonds and his business partner Jason Cave, has made six prototypes; three have been safety tested and are ready to ride. The aluminum, from a smelter in Santa Fe Springs, is repurposed metal from sources such as truck rims and airplane parts. Edmonds and Cave worked with a designer in Portland, Ore., to give the bikes a distinctive style.

The look can serve as a conversation starter, said 44-year-old Edmonds. It got people’s attention when he rode it around New York recently.

“People were chasing me down the street to find out what my bike was and where I got it,” he said. “Then you get to tell them it’s also made of recycled material. Once you have that moment of dialogue, they’re hooked.”

This is the first business venture for Edmonds, a freelance magazine writer. He came up with the idea for the recycled bike while doing yoga exercises near a recycled grocery bag and noticed the bag listed the materials used to make it.

The bikes are not cheap, starting at $2,000 and sold through the company’s website. A typical single-speed bike made of standard aluminum might sell in the $250-$350 range. Edmonds said he wants to make less expensive models available as they get enough orders. He’s now moving production to Los Angeles from Oregon.

Fred Clements, executive director of the National Bicycle Dealers Association in Costa Mesa, said he had not heard of anyone making a bike from all-recycled aluminum.

“Usually what recycling means in our industry is to take a bike that’s been used and sell it,” he said. “I would be very impressed to see what they’ve come up with.”

Edmonds and Cave are self-financing the project, and they’re looking for venture funding and potential manufacturing partners. The two plan to sell largely through independent bike retailers.

He said he’s still surprised no one had beaten him to the idea of the fully recycled bike.

“In 2013, that’s just incredible,” he said. “We need to think about sustainability.”

– Ryan Faughnder

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