TheThinkTank January 2009

thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org

52 participants
33 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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Re: [TheThinkTank] non-petroleum lube
by Michael Wolfe 04 May '11

04 May '11

Page 13 of the 1992 Bridgestone bicycle catalog has a unique recommendation of using olive oil. http://www.sheldonbrown.com/bridgestone/ On 4/2/08, Bob Giordano <mist(a)strans.org> wrote: > > Indoor air quality is tops on our list for a healthy shop atmosphere. We > do not store anything that gives off harmful fumes. Tooth brushes and > simple green (highly diluted) in a small wooden bowl is our parts cleaning > station. We are even moving away from simple green (i've learned it is > harmful to some)- to a citrus based cleaner. > > I guess tri flow is the only thing with fumes in the shop. Often we ask > people to use it outside. I'd like to find a non-petroleum lube. > > -Bob Giordano, Free Cycles Missoula > > > Michael Wolfe wrote: > > Speaking of liver damage, etc.. Wondering if any shops out there have > had > > issues solvent tanks in their shop? The fumes give me a headache but > others > > don't seem to mind it. Mostly I worry about the health effects on the > full > > time people in the shop. Short of installing a hood or ventalation > system, > > what options are there to locate that stuff outside? > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Thethinktank mailing list > Thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org > > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.… >

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110 Community Bicycle Organizations
by Jonathan Morrison 27 Nov '10

27 Nov '10

We aren't alone. http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Community_Bicy… -- Sincerely, Jonathan Morrison Executive Director 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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your org's policy on working with kids?
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 19 Nov '09

19 Nov '09

we're hard at work on Community Cycles' shop manual, and we're wondering if any of you have any formal policies for shop volunteers and/or staff that you'd feel like sharing. i'm imagining something to the effect of "at least two staff must be present when kids are around..." or something like that. on a somewhat related note, have any of you had any experience with someone--staff, volunteer, customer, etc--being inappropriate around kids, (aside from normal bad language..) that you had to deal with a parent for? i'd be interested in hearing about that experience... thanks! josh.

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tomorrow's bike talk!, 10am-noon on killradio.org:8000
by bike talk 31 Jan '09

31 Jan '09

killradio's been hacked. there's a bunch of gibberish at the web page. you can go to killradio.org:8000 and listen to the show by clicking "click to listen." you wont regret it, hopefully. there's a tandem dating game, the winner of which will go together on a tandem ride with our guest dater, Alesa. Then there is an interview by Jim C that you've got to hear. and Steven Bowers, Larry Hoffman, and an interview with Ryan Bowen, who's decompressing from the inauguration ride. good stuff, give it a listen. Nick -- please let me know if you want to be taken off this list. See Bike Talk! on kpfk: http://www.kpfk.org/programs/170-bike-talk.html

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merch for your shop...what works and doesn't work?
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 30 Jan '09

30 Jan '09

a few of us at community cycles are looking into getting some items professionally printed. shirts, bike/skull caps, stickers... what kinds of items have you all found are popular, or not so popular? we'll be in touch with peacesupplies, as i know he's friends with and does the printing for bicas. any leads or suggestions you all can make as far as things that have worked well or weren't worth your time or money? if the person from freeride who worked on the bikebike!08 merch reads this, where did you get the hats to print onto? does anyone else have a source for blank screenable hats? thanks! josh.

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Money! Autonomy! Ethics! Oh my?
by Alex Rosenblatt 30 Jan '09

30 Jan '09

Hello all! Alright, so I'm sure this has been posted to the list 54 times over. But: How do y'all make money? More specifically: Our bike co-op has traditionally been, on the front end, a completely volunteer based earn-a-bike program. We have paid staff but aside from that money is not exchanged. We are considering selling bicycles, charging a per hour rate, and selling parts but we are afraid of alienating a large part of our population. How do you balance retaining your goals, ethics, ideologies - like promoting bicycle access, providing (largely) free transportation, anti-capitalist leanings, skill empowerment - with keeping your shop autonomous and self sustaining? Thanks all! Apologies if this is an all to often repeated topic and feel free to ask for clarification. Alex Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles. (RIBS)

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Smaller Critical Masses
by 1304bikes 29 Jan '09

29 Jan '09

Doug here from 1304bikes in Raleigh, NC. I was wondering what some of you folks from smaller towns who host critical mass rides do to make them more fun and to attract poeple to come ride in them. We usually only have anywhere from 10-30 poeple in our rides, which i feel is small for a city with a population of 300k. We have a small handful of regulars who always show, but then we get a lot of folks who will come once or twice, but then we'll never see them again. I think maybe a lot people are turned off by the slow pace and lack of excitement at the rides. Maybe we just don't advertise well enough. Either way, hoping for some suggesting as to what other cities without the excitement of a super large mass do to draw people out to their rides. I feel if we can grow the ride large enough, it will become fun in itself, but our mass isn't large enough yet for that appeal. Thanks for all the input! -- 1304bikes 2419 Mayview Rd. Raleigh, NC 1304bikes.org

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Tax Questions regarding volunteer hours.
by Boson Au 26 Jan '09

26 Jan '09

Hi everyone.... Boson from Baltimore's Velocipede bike project here. we're in the midst of calculating our taxes (for the first time........) and we do have an accountant who is graciously helping us out for next to nothing. anyways, he asked about how much profit we make and we got a little caught off guard; besides the random part/bike we sell (for peanuts) we really don't make profit. We are entirely volunteer-run, so we don't need to pay wages. Our landlord is letting us use the place for a song, so beyond utilities and some non-recyclable parts (ie: brake cables) we don't really have much "costs" as for profits: While we do sell some used parts and bikes (of which we def. have records of) the primary way our bikes leave the shop is via the build-a-bike program. A volunteer gives us 3 hrs, and we give them a bike/frame in need of work. they then spend time at the shop fixing it. no money is exchanged. The accountant, not accustomed to this sort of "business" suggest that we consider coming up with something to represent the volunteer hours people give to enroll in the build-a-bike program, after all, they do get a bike out of it. I wanna ask the other collectives out there, how do you handle this?

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potential resource for all of you...
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 26 Jan '09

26 Jan '09

hey everyone in thinktank world. we've been thinking about making some spoke cards for our youth earn-a-bike program, and it occurred to me that with the right materials, we could make them reflective. this way, we're making the bike visible, but with less of a dork factor that kids (and some adults) think come with reflectors. i asked around at many local paint shops, and about the closest they had was some glitter-y spray paint. until friday. one of the old-timers suggested i contact our county's sign shop. the place that makes the road signs, street signs, etc. of course, many of these, like stop signs and one way signs, are made elsewhere and shipped in. but street names, custom "this road under construction until may of 2012" type signs are all done in house. which means they have cutoffs of various colors of sign material. i called and approached them from the angle of running the kids program, and wanting to make the kids bikes more visible and safe. they were super into it. i have yet to get my hands on any, but they said they'd keep a box open for me, and when it gets close to full, they'll call and i can go pick up as much as i want. i don't know how often i'll be making the trip, but i am excited about this stuff. like i said, i have yet to hold it, but from the description i got, it's self-adhesive on one side, UBER

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TheThinkTank January 2009