"Bike People of Indy" Ep.#2 - John Franklin Hay

"Bike People of Indy" Ep. #2 - John Franklin Hay

Bike People is a friendly community-oriented bike shop coming late 2024 to Factory Arts South in Downtown Indianapolis.

“Bike People of Indy” is a new podcast interview series by the shop featuring both new and familiar characters you may spot rolling the streets of downtown Indianapolis. If you enjoy this series, please become a Bike People Cycling Club member today, all proceeds directly support the opening of Bike People, a friendly community-oriented bike shop coming late 2024 to Factory Arts South in Downtown Indianapolis.

Check out the above interview with John, where we discuss various topics including:

• His career of service to the near eastside community

• John’s bike rides at home and abroad

• The role of bike shops in communities

• The cycling infrastructure progress in his eastside community

• The current safety challenges of cycling downtown.

• A couple of local bike people John recommends talking to for this series.

We lost some of the discussion due to poor audio (the doggies were rightfully excited, as were we!) In these lost parts, John described his discontinued and unique Surly Long Haul Trucker model that has stainless couplers allowing the frame to be disassembled into a compact TSA-compliant sized luggage, making his bike vacations easy. Surly also had a de-coupling Crosscheck model called a Travelers Check for a time.

John showed me his upstairs bicycle-themed, super-vibey & cozy airbnb bedroom he hosts as part of his near east side residence. This is a true Airbnb experience as the company originally intended in their partnering with local hosts. John’s is personalized with a well-curated collection of bike items and memorabilia setting it apart from your typical thrown-together Airbnb you’ve grown accustomed to nowadays. He offers a $10 rebate to any guests brave enough to perform a song for the house on his instruments. This is the way to do it, folks.

(Above: John and his lovely partner Jodi, and of course Sheffield, in their bike themed airbnb room in their home. I almost missed until now Roger the table crasher hiding behind them.)

The morning light coming through his historic home’s stairway window shined through and around an artistic upcycled bikewheel, fitted with translucent colored plexiglass panels, adding additional magic to the heavy bike theme of the upstairs. Hanging atop the stairway was John’s lightest and most seldomly used bicycle, a carbon Orbea road bike ideal for one of his favorite Indiana rides: The Hilly Hundred in south central Indiana.

A tour of John’s backyard garden hinted more at a healthy obsession with bicycles that I like to see; another upcycled bikewheel art statue, as well as an impressive antique bike rickshaw John looks forward to restoring some day, or maybe just leaving as a flower pot shelf as it’s currently used, rather beautifully I must say.

We hope you enjoy our chat!

Follow John on instagram @johnfranklinhay