Shining a Light on the Bicycling Community
As the summer evening sky turns from orange to purple to navy, traffic in the Los Angeles bike lanes dwindles until just a few riders remain toodling by, their path unaffected by the surrounding darkness thanks to a single bulb mounted to their forks—a Dynamo light.
This bicycle-mounted beacon is powered by its passenger’s energy to illuminate the road ahead—for the rider and everyone following them. Bike mechanic Jimmy Lizama custom-fits these lights for cyclists out of his Koreatown shop called Relámpago Wheelery, where he builds wheels by hand as well. But according to him, those services just help pay the rent for what he’s really doing there.
“Ultimately, Relámpago is social engagement within the bicycle community,” he said. A Dynamo light of a shop, if you will. Fueled by Lizama’s passion and his surrounding community’s enthusiastic response, Relámpago is illuminating the future of energy use, mobility, and human connection in downtown Los Angeles.
One such way the shop fosters human connection is by hosting mobile karaoke nights. Oh yes, mobile—they hook up a bike trailer to two tandems to serve as the stage, complete with speakers and a microphone. As they tow their singer through the streets of Los Angeles, the audience pedals along behind on their own bikes laughing and singing along. Usually, Relámpago teams up to host these events with other community programs raising awareness for a cause like women’s rights, immigration rights, or water rights. People meet each other, make friends, and find ways they can help each other live better in their community.
Lizama’s goal is to energize his community in the most accessible, sustainable way possible—after a bike. “It amplifies its human’s energy,” he said. His favorite way he sees this concept in motion is on a cargo bike: With simply the power of your legs, you can transport yourself as well as another person, or a bikeload of things.
He knew Koreatown needed these, but as most cargo bike prices start in the thousands, Lizama knew that regular sales would be an unrealistic way to bring them to his community. So Lizama created Re:Ciclos, a non-profit bike building program that also empowers the people he hires to help build them.
For the very first Re:Ciclos build, Lizama hired a 17-year old named Aiden through a local gang-prevention organization. The two of them designed, cut, fabricated, and welded together parts of recycled frames and parts to build the cargo bike.
When it was finished, the bike had a pink frame, a big basket up front, and, of course, a dynamo light. A local baker came to pick up her new bread-hauling bike and was smitten. “The kid really got a full experience inside the space that he wouldn't have otherwise gotten,” said Lizama. “And the client got an affordable mode of transportation to carry her goods.”
Selling the bike isn’t the point. “They may pay for it, they may not—I don't care,” said Lizama. “It’s not about bicycles. It’s about building.”
If you’ve ever ridden through the dark with a Dynamo light, you know just how clear forward progress becomes, and how much it benefits the people around you. If you’ve ever ridden with Jimmy Lizama, you’ve ridden with a Dynamo light of a human being.
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