DUMBO — It's been 20 years since Karen Overton started teaching kids the art of being a bike mechanic in a Washington Heights classroom.
In 1994, the urban planner didn't know much herself about fixing bikes, but she was an avid cyclist who saw them as a tool for healthy living and youth empowerment.
So she learned along with them.
Today Overton is a skilled mechanic who runs the non-profit Recycle-A-Bicycle, teaching students in 30 New York City public schools how to rebuild and fix bikes. The group also rides bikes together.
On Dec. 9, the group is celebrating its 20th anniversary at an event in DUMBO, where Overton opened a shop 14 years ago.
In the past year alone the group, which also has a storefront in the Lower East Side, has taught 1,000 students to repair 500 bicycles and together they have pedaled 24,000 miles, she said.
On average Recycle-A-Bicycle salvages 1,800 bicycles each year.
Overton opened her DUMBO shop, at 35 Pearl St. in 2000 when most people thought she was crazy to move into the waterfront neighborhood that was primarily home to industry and warehouses.
"In the early days everyone asked "Why are you going there?" she said.
Overton's peers thought the neighborhood was rundown but she was excited about the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, a bike lane that was then in the planning stages, and the fact that the neighborhood didn't have a bike shop.
"It's been wonderful in DUMBO," she said. "Now people wonder how a community-based organization got such a great spot."
Recycle-A-Bicycle will honor members of the City Council's Brooklyn Bike Caucus at their 20-year celebration — including Brad Lander, Stephen Levin, Antonio Reynoso, Carlos Menchaca, and Robert Cornegy, who Overton says have been on the cutting edge of improving conditions for cyclists.
Overton noted that when she first started to offer classes, teachers were hesitant.
"I was very hard to get schools to host a program that had to do with bicycles," she said. "Their first flag up was 'liability.'"
But now, bicycling has become more commonplace and safer.
"By increasing the traffic safety schools now demand our programs because they see their students are already on bicycles and they want them to be safe — so the circumstances have really flipped," she said.
And after so many years of work, Overton is still head-over-heels for bicycles.
"They are all-American but also subversive somehow," she said. "That's what I love about them."
The celebration takes place on Dec. 9 from 6-9 p.m. ay Superfine Restaurant located at 126 Front St. in DUMBO. For more information check the Recycle-A-Bicycle website.
