Help us rebuild The Flying Bike post Hurricane Helene

The Flying Bike is a family-owned electric bike tour and rental business in Asheville, NC. Alice and Torin Kexel started the business in 2017. Over the past seven years, they’ve grown from a one-person operation to a team of over 20 by sharing the best of Asheville with visitors. The Flying Bike’s mission is to move people—through bikes and stories—and they live by the core values of Community, Care, Connection, Freedom, Impact, and Access.

This year they also acquired KidCycle Club, which teaches cycling skills, from learning to ride to advanced mountain biking, and empowers local youth by promoting confidence, health, and outdoor adventure. They had a successful first season and were looking forward to getting more local kids on bikes.

Sadly, Hurricane Helene has devastated their business. Their shop in the River Arts District was completely submerged, and the damage to their beloved city is beyond words. They worked hard to evacuate their belongings and have discovered that although they were fully insured, their insurance policies will be little to no help. They’re now left with no revenue, no utilities, and more requests for refunds than they can currently manage. The bigger picture is that there is no timeline as to when Asheville will be able to accommodate visitors again or when major roads will reopen. It is likely that the Flying Bike will have to find a new location. Presently the only business relief offered is through federal loans which they already had to use to survive COVID. Additional debt is not an option without revenue for an indefinite time.

Asking for help doesn’t come easily to the Kexels. They’ve always prided themselves on being the ones who help others—their team, their community, their guests- but now they find themselves in a place where they can’t recover without support. They are deeply grateful for the help and kindness they’ve already received. Funds will be used to support staff, pay refunds, cover expenses, hire legal help to fight their insurance claims, and restart operations as soon as possible. They know they will survive this and hope to be a part of rebuilding their town and home of 18 years. They are grateful for any contribution and promise to pay it forward on the other side of this challenging time.

*This GoFundMe Campaign was started by Kelli Everidge, a friend of Alice and Torin's. 100% of the funds collected will go to support them and their employees while they recover from this loss.