You may have seen him pedaling up and down the streets of Atlanta, but he’s not just riding to exercise. He’s also saving your tires.
Alex Benigno, 45, has spent the past 10 months riding his ElliptiGO stand up bike around town, picking up nails, screws and other little annoying things that cost drivers tons of money. He’s doing it with the help of a magnet that he crafted and attached to the back of his bicycle.
His journey started during the COVID-19 pandemic. Benigno said he was still making deliveries for his job at a camera shop, which made him one of the few people on the roads.
Fewer drivers meant more opportunities to pick up pesky items.
“In two months, I picked up three or four nails per tire in both my car and motorcycle,” Benigno said. “It made me realize that if I’m not picking all this stuff up, normally, everybody else would be picking this up in their tires.”
So Benigno decided to start his project, picking up the nails by hand.
“I was like stopping every five feet,” he said.
He then came up with the idea of attaching magnets to a trailer, and then attaching the trailer to his bike.
He started small, with about 10 magnets. He added a couple of more every month, until he was satisfied with how much metal he was collecting.
“I went through a lot of trial and error, trying to figure out what would be the best configuration,” Benigno said.
Credit: Ben Gray
Credit: Ben Gray
He rides at least 10 miles each day, venturing all over metro area. He doesn’t take a specific route, but instead rides wherever his bike takes him. He’s traveled from his home near John Lewis Freedom Parkway to Marietta Boulevard in west Midtown, Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway and South Cobb Drive.
Last fall, he stopped riding to adjust the magnet design because he wasn’t picking up as much metal as he wanted. After adding a few more magnets, and settling on a new design, he was set to go.
“In December, I started up again with a brand new configuration that changed everything. The amount that I picked up was just amazing,” he said.
With the new design, he was able to pick up more than 50 pounds of metal in 10 days, he said.
Although his project may be rewarding, it’s not always easy. Before every ride, he has to clean the excess metal off the magnets, which is an arduous task.
“I take a putty knife, a spatula thing, and I scrape everything off as best as I can,” Benigno said. “I’m not looking for the easy way out. This does take effort and work because I have to clean off the magnets.”
Credit: Ben Gray
Credit: Ben Gray
He’s now trying to pick up other items.
Earlier this year, Benigno started a GoFundMe campaign, asking folks to aid in the purchase of a new bike lane sweeper that would also help grab glass, gravel and other “tire popping debris.”
It arrived this month, and the first place Benigno went was the Krog Street Tunnel — a place he said he’s been wanting to hit with a vacuum cleaner. “I’ve been wanting to do it for years,” he said.
He was left speechless with the results.
“I don’t think Krog Street Tunnel has ever been so clean in any of our lifetimes,” Benigno said.
He shared a video of the work on his Instagram page — and received tons of praise.
“Literally the greatest person in the city,” one supporter said.
“Not all heroes wear capes. Good job,” another said.
Last week, Benigno decided to gather his collection from the past month and take it to a metal recycling facility. The haul weighed about 280 pounds.
While he typically picks up plenty of nails and screws, he said he’s also gathered some unexpected items along the way, like jewelry and a palm-sized dream catcher.
“It was very, very well done,” he said.
Benigno said he isn’t slowing down anytime soon. His goal? That in 20 years, no one will know what a flat tire is.
“If I get to that point in life where people say they don’t need me anymore because they don’t know what flat tires are,” he said, “then I’ve won.”
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