DreamBikes of Madison is a nonprofit business model that Wisconsin organizers hope to fine tune and duplicate.

The nonprofit bike business, which opened in March at 4611 Verona Road, hopes also to be a boon to the Allied Drive neighborhood, to people who need bikes and to teenagers who need job skills.

The concept is simple: refurbish donated bikes, sell them at reasonable prices, put the profit back into the business and hire members of the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County to staff the shop.

"They do a little bit of everything — talking to customers, fixing bikes, managing inventory, planning store events," general manager Kevin Short said of his nine young workers. "It's not just teaching someone how to fix a bike. It's showing them how a bike shop is run."

In addition, the shop offers a personalized payment plan for purchasers that need it. "It's a microcredit program," Short said. "The goal is to get a bike in the hands of someone who needs a bike that can't necessarily afford it. (Payment options) are kind of dealt with on a case-by-case basis."

The business is the brainchild of Trek Bicycle Corp. president John Burke.

Trek marketing coordinator Eric Bjorling said Burke and his family have worked closely with the Boys & Girls Club, and Burke is a bicycling advocate.

A job skills program, funded by CUNA Mutual Group, already was in place at the club, he said. "It was a perfect fit for the DreamBikes staff," Bjorling said.

Bjorling said Burke gave the idea to Roger Bird, Trek's director of retail services, who is now president of DreamBikes. Other sponsors, including Madison-based Saris Cycling Group, signed on.

"Our great hope for DreamBikes is to bring cycling to people that might not otherwise have access to it," Bjorling said. "But it's also about providing opportunities. I think it's a model we'd like to see happen in a great capacity. We decided we could test it in this community."

Because DreamBikes is a federally recognized nonprofit charitable organization, "donors can use donations as tax write-off," he said. "And any profits generated go right back into the shop."

Short, who worked as service manager at the Far East Side Trek store before joining DreamBikes, said more than 100 bikes — all donated — are available ranging in price from $20 to $1,000. "They range from a department store kid's bike up to a carbon-framed Trek racing bike," Short said

In fact, Bjorling said, "DreamBikes will not turn anybody's bike away — it's a great opportunity for Madisonians, if they have old bikes taking up garage space. They can be refurbished. It just takes a little bit of care, a little bit of love to get that bike rolling."