The Northwest Arkansas Emerging Leaders bought 25 bicycles for public use in the Rogers trail system. The Community Bike Program lends people bikes for free.
They had a ribbon cutting Friday (May 2) at the Horsebarn Trailhead in Rogers to show off the new bikes. The lending process is based on the honor system.
"The bikes are just in the bike rack," said Whitney Yoder, with the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce. "They are not locked down or anything."
"We just really trust our citizens to do what’s right, we want these bikes to be utilized and they do get utilized during the season quite a bit,” she said
The Community Bike Program started in 2011. The program would use bicycles the Rogers Police Department picked up and no one would claim. They would place them on the Rogers Trail system. But this is the first time they have new ones.
The bicycles are cruiser style.
"They don’t have any gears and they have breaks in the foot pedals so that means lower maintenance on city staff to keep them going because they don’t have to deal with gears," Yoder said.
The NWA Emerging Leaders raised the money the Race for the Spike event where cyclists race the train during the Frisco Festival. Each bike cost $3,000.