TheThinkTank September 2007

thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org

47 participants
27 discussions

Is there a collective in New Orleans?
by Jonathan Morrison 06 Dec '12

06 Dec '12

Email me if you know of one. -- Sincerely, Jonathan Morrison Project Coordinator Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective 2312 S. West Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84115 w: 801-328-2453 c: 801-688-0183 f: 801-466-3856 www.slcbikecollective.org

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Tools for starters
by Ariel raymon 02 Aug '08

02 Aug '08

Hey everyone, Ariel from bikefarm here. We're starting to make our space into a shop, and are looking at the tools we need to purchase. Suggestions on bare minimum tools for a funcitoning shop would be really helpful, as we'll be making a large order from the UBI distributors in a month or so. Also, Are there grants for things like this? Thanks, Ariel

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selling bikes, making bikes for yourself?
by Paul Park 04 Oct '07

04 Oct '07

Hi all, At the Mount Rainier Bike Coop in Mount Rainier, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC, we are working how to sell our bikes that we refurbish. We really don't have any fixed or regular costs; the city gives us the space (a garage), so we just use our money on spare parts and tools. We have an earn-a-bike program so youth can build up bikes for us, learning mechanic skills, and then after fifteen hours of voluteering, the youths can build a bike for themselves. Volunteers who have already put in 15 hours of work can basically just keep refurbishing bikes. No one gets paid anything at this point. Generally, at this point, we just sell our refurbished bikes in one way or another. Do other shops do this? Also, presumably, volunteers could, after working fifteen hours, refurbish bikes for themselves, and then sell them on craigslist or something. Do other coops have a policy with regards to refurbishing bikes for yourself, one after the other, and then selling them for your own profit? Or perhaps a system where you refurbish a bike and then you have to give a certain percentage of the sale to the coop? -- PJ Park http://www.biketobrazil.blogspot.com http://www.imagestation.com/members/pjpark http://picasaweb.google.com/PaulJosephPark

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*5th Annual Bike Arts Show*- To Benefit Neighborhood Bike Works
by Neighborhood Bike Works 27 Sep '07

27 Sep '07

Plain text version, since the pretty postcard wouldn't go through..... *5th Annual Bike Arts Show*- To Benefit Neighborhood Bike Works Weekend Extravaganza & Auction @ *The Power Plant*: on 2nd between Race an Vine *October 5~7 ART SHOW AND AUCTION *on Friday, October 5 at 5pm. Live music by local musicians Cowmuddy and MKMS during members of Philly Slick, delicious food and drink, raffle prizes, and more...all for a good cause! *OPEN GALLERY AND BICYCLE REPAIR WORKSHOPS* on Saturday, October 6. Open gallery starts at 11 am. workshops start at 2 pm. Featuring graduates from the Neighborhood Bike Works Earn-A-Bike Program and technicians from Bicycle Therapy. *OPEN GALLERY AND SOCIAL ACTION FORUMS* on Sunday, October 7. Last chance to buy arts, hear more about SpokesPeople and participate in a Speak Out! at 2 pm. For details about the extravaganza or other artist opportunities, visit WWW.BEASPOKESPERSON.ORG

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my e-mail is steelzebra@gmail.com- un sub scription....
by julie merrill 27 Sep '07

27 Sep '07

i wanted to unsubscribe to the thinktank bike e-mail list... i tried the other way and nothing happened... it is just too many extra e-mails to receive. i appreciate it though... julie lu

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Bike train to Cali!
by Paul Park 26 Sep '07

26 Sep '07

I am going to bike from DC to Central Cali for next year's conference! My first time to Cali, finally. and finally a cross the country trip for me. yeah...and I'll stop at the co-ops along the way, picking up anyone who wants to bike there! The bike train to Cali--coming through your town, Oct. 2008. Anyone want to jump on the train or start another train? PJ -- PJ Park http://www.biketobrazil.blogspot.com http://www.imagestation.com/members/pjpark http://picasaweb.google.com/PaulJosephPark

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kids' earn a bike + structure, less is more?
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 26 Sep '07

26 Sep '07

hi fellow bike geeks. josh from community cycles in boulder, co. i'm one of the directors of our kids' earnabike (EAB) program, and we're interested in making it better. to date, we've just kind of run it like open shop with kids in the shop instead of grownups. i would like to incorporate more structure, a little more consistancy from EAB'er to EAB'er. i heard someone at bike bike say that he had the kids list 27 parts of a bicycle as a sort of "final exam", to show that they'd been paying attention, etc. i've taken this on, but i sort of adapt it to each kid. (i realize that we all learn differently, at different levels/speeds/etc, and want to be sensitive to that. the way i tailor the listing bike parts quiz is to adjust the number of parts, as well as how free-flowing and specific i am with hints ("you sit on this part," vs "it's what screws onto the end of a spoke..."). i really like this activity, since it challenges the kids, they seem to thrive on it, struggling to remember, and usually there's other kids in the shop who are watching, but not taking the "test", so they have to keep quiet, even though they KNOW the lister is leaving out the pedals, etc...it makes for some lively shop activity, and there are usually some laughs going on, as well. anyway, i'm interested in hearing about some other programs that deal with kids specifically. our kids' EAB progam is for 10-16 yrs old, and we've had all of them. we try to keep the EAB'er:facilitator ratio to 2:1 at the most, to keep their attention focused, and to not bore them while they wait for a question/tool help. do you do sit down lesson/lecture type stuff? i've come up with a few visual demonstrations with parts from our parts bins, to help show how a derailleur works, the headset, etc...and i'd like to incorporate more of this kind of thing into our grown-up workshops, like (i think) i saw bicas does in tucson, from the film shown at bikebike...have a bunch of bottom brackets cut off of bikes, with the spindles and cranks and chainrings in place, and have the each take it apart, sort of classroom style. of course, with kids, we'd have to limit this sort of lesson to once or twice per night (3-4 hour nights...) to keep from boring them to tears. but sometimes i think having all the cables and wheels and spinning shiny things on a complete/almost complete bike is too distracting... any ideas or solutions you guys have would be awesome and much appreciated. by us and the kids we struggle to keep engaged. thanks. josh.

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working for parts?
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 25 Sep '07

25 Sep '07

hi everyone, josh from community cycles in boulder, co here. we discussed with many of you at bike bike, and have brought the idea home, that we could offer some sort of work-for-parts deal. right now, we're thinking of some sort of "after you voliunteer 6 hours per week, any hours you work count towards your shop credit at $x/hr" set up. i believe some of you have similar programs. what kind of systems do you all have with regards to this? what kind of problems have arisen? solutions? i believe someone before mentioned cherrypicking. what we're thinking is that once volunteers have reached a set number of hours per week, they become eligible to work for shop credit (most likely not new parts). at that point, they choose a part/parts/bike/bikes they would like to earn, and then begin working towards that with hours spent in the shop, working on other shop/organizational needs. (volunteers couldn't get credit for working on a bike they're going to take home with shop credit earned working on...you get the idea.) obviously some sort of "if you choose a part, work towards it, and then we don't see you in two weeks" policy would need to be in place, but that's not hard to keep track of. thanks for your help, and i'm sure i'm not the only one to see bikebike emails popping up already!!! josh/community cycles

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Fundraising Ideas?
by Jake Liefer 24 Sep '07

24 Sep '07

Myself and several students from the local college are starting up a bike co-op in our town and are looking to raise funds to buy tools and acquire space. The college's homecoming event is next week and we were able to get a vendor booth for free. While we primarly want to get the word out about what we're doing and get some bikes, this seems like an excellent opportunity to raise some funds. There will be several other vendors there selling coffee, drinks, and food. Do you guys have any ideas about what we can sell that will set us apart from the others? We are not limited to food, so if you have any non-food ideas that would be great too! Thanks, Jake The Hub - Beaver Falls, PA

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e-mail list management
by mike eng 24 Sep '07

24 Sep '07

Hey, does anyone have recommendations for e-mail list management systems at low cost? Of course there are always Google Groups and Yahoo Groups, but any other options for a system to manage subscriptions / unsubscriptions to a list? Thanks. -- Mike Eng Recycle-a-Bike 27 Sims Ave. | Providence, RI 02909 www.recycleabike.org

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TheThinkTank September 2007