The bike shop sells refurbished rides and basic accessories, in other words, affordable transportation. It also serves as a positive place for kids from Hyde Park and the surrounding neighborhoods to learn bike repair and safety, get help with homework and gain work experience.

Student Elijah Ransom, 13, has wrenched enough hours at the shop to garner a bike, lock and helmet through the Earn-A-Bike program. "This is a fun place to hang out after school and it keeps you off the streets," he said.

Diamond Chester, 9, and Jemiah Walton, 10, are tag-teaming a wheel, removing the tire and tube for a flat fix. Walton said she likes the challenge of working on bikes. "It's hard at first," she said. "But then you learn and it becomes fun."

Experimental Station is also headquarters for Chicago's Major Taylor Cycling Club. "We want to make cycling more popular on the South Side and promote healthy lifestyles," said club president DeWayne Ferris, adding that naming the group after the African-American racing legend was a no-brainer. "He was such an illustrious human being," Ferris said. "He overcame incredible adversity with great aplomb."

If you tour Hyde Park on two wheels, be sure to visit the University of Chicago campus, which has world-famous Gothic architecture. The university promotes cycling in the neighborhood with its Recycles bike share program, which launched last fall. Students can check out bikes – refurbished and maintained by Blackstone –Bikin at four locations across campus.

In addition, there are plenty of appealing green spaces to explore – the neighborhood is surrounded on three sides by parkland. To the west is Washington Park, which would have been a hotspot for Olympic competition had Chicago nabbed the 2016 games. To the south, the Midway Plaisance – a mile-long strip of parkland – hosts the UC Velo Clubís Monsters of the Midway criterium race and Active Transportation Alliance's Boulevard Lakefront Tour. And to the east lies Jackson Park, the site of the 1893 Columbian Exposition.

Local landmarks worth including in your pedaling are: Laredo Taft's spooky Fountain of Time at 5900 South Cottage Grove Ave.; Robie House, a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece at 5757 South Woodlawn Ave.; and, on the University of Chicago's campus, Henry Moore's 12-ton, skull-like sculpture commemorating the site of the world's first self-sustaining nuclear reaction. But if you want to rubberneck at President Obama's house at 5046 South Greenwood Ave., prepare to be disappointed. The mansion is hidden from view by evergreens, and a Secret Service agent in an SUV blocks access to Greenwood Avenue.

Fuel up for the ride home at one of Hyde Park's iconic eateries. Ribs 'n' Bibs, at 5300 South Dorchester Ave., dishes up South Side barbecue in a storefront lined with photos of local politicians and newscasters. The Medici, a longtime college hangout serving pizza, burgers and bakery goods at 1327 East 57th St., recently touted its presidential connection with "Obama Eats Here" T-shirts. Not to be outdone, Valois cafeteria at 1518 East 53rd St. has a large sign recommending "President Obama's favorite breakfasts."