Luckily, it turned up outside the Aloha Bar down the street. The would-be thief, who was at the bar, was too drunk to care when Bloch reclaimed his bike.

But from that day on, Bloch started keeping his wheels at a more secure indoor bike station nearby.

"I totally love it," said Bloch, 35, who lives in the Fruitvale and works in San Francisco for a labor union.

Since the free service started in November, use has grown to an average of 40 bikes a day, said Gene Oh of Alameda Bicycle, whose staff operates the station 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays.

There is room for many more bikes. With a capacity of more than 200, the bike station is the largest of its kind in California, said Laura Timothy, program manager for BART.

But officials with BART and the city of Oakland, who found grants to open the station, say they are pleased with the progress so far and expect the idea to really catch on when the weather improves in the spring.

"It takes a pretty serious person to ride their bike in the wintertime," Currey said.

This past week, biking conditions were ideal.

One rush-hour morning, customers were trickling into the station, which is in the Fruitvale Village right outside the BART station.

They would sign in their bikes and Mike Currey would "valet park" them behind a locked door made of black iron bars.

The shop sells bike equipment and offers bike repair services that can be done while the bikers are at work.

Diana Snodgrass, 45, who lives in San Leandro, stows her bike at the station three days a week while she commutes between two Oakland schools. She likes to know her bike is safe since she's had two bikes stolen in two years, including one that was ripped off the front of a public bus.

"It was heartbreaking," she said.

In addition to the kickstand job for Snodgrass, Currey said he had three other bike repair jobs going that day. When he doesn't have enough orders to keep him busy, he assembles bikes for the store's main location on Park Street in Alameda.

State grant money paid for construction of the station and for the first year of its operation. After that, its future is uncertain.

It's always challenging to find grants to operate bike stations, officials said.

Even the most successful bike station in the Bay Area, located in downtown Berkeley, has recently had to cut back its hours because of money woes, Timothy said.

That's one reason officials hope it will eventually become self-sustaining, said Kathryn Hughes, bicycle/pedestrian program manager for the city of Oakland.

For some riders who live in the neighborhood, the bike station is not only a convenience, but also a building block for the community.

Loren Clemens uses the station while she works in a San Francisco sign-making shop. But it also reminds her of growing up in North Carolina, where bike shops served as a gathering spot where biking enthusiasts planned their next ride.

"It just feels good to have that as part of a community. A bike shop is a good way to bring people together," she said.

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