[TheThinkTank] giving away free bikes?

[Bob Giordano]

It's a valid concern- why have someone put in time/effort/(and maybe a
small donation) for a broken 70's bike?  But when you have a nice shop,
tools, all the parts, a volunteer structure for helping that person learn
to fix the bike, and then they can literally get out of car culture, it
starts to make some sense.  I'm glad we did the 'no requirement' thing for
9 years- it really built up some altruistic bike culture.  But this latest
move has been good (requiring the vol time and class).  No one has
complained, everyone has really liked it.  We have 3 trained vols that
offer the class.

A positive factor is that people have to be serious about wanting a bike,
not just the 'drop in throw parts together and try to ride off.'

Here's another possibility- ask for 2 volunteer hours, and give them a
brief pamphlet on the local bike laws and issues.  Create your own text-
do not simply hand out the official City brochure (or start with the city
brochure and quickly adapt your own).  -Bob, Free cycles.

ps. we concentrate most people doing the 2 hours into one wednesday night
session, and then if that does not fit their schedule, we find tasks
during open shop.

Graham Stewart said:
> We sort of follow the unstructured festival approach at the Bike-dump.
Not sure it is really the best approach.  I'd like to find some method
which encourages people to contribute more, while still recognizing that
a free 70's 10-speed missing half it's parts isn't worth all that much.
>
> Graham
>
> Bob Giordano wrote:
>
>>I'm curious what other community programs are doing (can't get to bike
bike this year)...
>>We give away a free bike (not complete) after someone volunteers 2 hours
and takes a 'bikewell class' (covers safety, laws and repair).  We got a
$10,000 city grant for helping low and moderate income people, and they
really liked the emphasis on creating bike commuters, not just giving
>> away
>>free bikes.  For 9 years we ran the shop like a festival- people filled
the shop everyday and built bikes and rode them away (over 3,000).  This
change we made has worked well- it has created just enough structure
without losing the grass roots feeling.
>>Who else does a program like this?  (I'd happily send anyone the grant
we
>>filled out- I think most cities have funding like this.  Though I think
it's best to minimize any govt funding.)  -Bob g.