Many underprivileged kids may remember this Christmas as one of the best.

It’s this season that they’ll be getting their first bikes, and it’s happening today (December 23) at the Britannia Community Services Centre in East Vancouver.

Pinkbike.com, a major mountain biking website, is giving away at least 50 new bikes to children of poor families as part of its Share the Ride charity program.

“They don’t have any way of getting on a bike, and probably will never have a new bike in their entire lives,” publisher Julian Coffey told the Straight in a phone interview on December 20.

According to Coffey, Pinkbike.com raised over $40,000 in donations to purchase bikes for distribution to children in Metro Vancouver and other places outside Canada.

“We just did one yesterday in Kent, Washington. We did another a couple of days ago in Boston. So the Vancouver one is happening on Monday,” Coffey said.

In a September 14, 2010, announcement about Coffey getting on board as publisher, Pinkbike.com described itself as the “world’s mostly highly trafficked online” source for mountain biking news and information.

“We have a lot of manufacturers that advertise with us, so we’re able to take the funds that we’ve raised and buy bikes at wholesale,” Coffey said in the interview.

A Pinkbike.com news release notes that Britannia, and the Family Services of Greater Vancouver selected the children who will receive a new bicycle, helmet, and lock at today’s event at Britannia from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Bikes will also be donated to Britannia and Family Services for their programs. Other bikes will be given to the Richmond Youth Service Agency, Howe Sound secondary school, and Sir William Macdonald elementary school in East Vancouver on separate occasions.

For this Christmas, Pinkbike.com plans to buy over 150 new bikes for poor children. In addition to Canada and the U.S., kids in the U.K., Poland, and Australia will also receive a two-wheel ride this season.