September 2009 - TheThinkTank - lists.bikecollectives.org

admin of the bike collective wiki
by Boson Au 24 Sep '09

24 Sep '09

can you block/ban user "Massage"? dude's a spammer....

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weird auction mentioned at bikebike, cumulative bidding?
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 21 Sep '09

21 Sep '09

I don't remember who it was who brought this us, but it was during the grantwriting workshop in the rehearsal room that I think the folks from Fargo put on. At some point, someone got up and explained a rather interesting take on auctioning off something. They suggested using a crappy department store/trashed bike that's headed for the scrap heap anyway. When you have the group of people bidding, they put their bids into the hat as they make them. Ie, the first person bids $5, and puts $5 into the hat. The next person bids $10, and puts $10 in the hat. The third person bids $15, and puts it in the hat. At the end of the auction, the hat now has $30 in it. The last person winds, but the early/low bidders don't keep their money. Does anyone remember who it was who offered this suggestion, or is anyone familiar with it? I'm intrigued, and didn't get a chance to follow up with the guy who brought it up. Thanks! josh.

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Cycles Apc invited you to the event "Free Third Anniversary and Benefit for Cycles of Change APC"...
by Facebook 20 Sep '09

20 Sep '09

Cycles invited you to "Free Third Anniversary and Benefit for Cycles of Change APC" on Sunday, September 27 at 1:00pm. Event: Free Third Anniversary and Benefit for Cycles of Change APC Start Time: Sunday, September 27 at 1:00pm End Time: Sunday, September 27 at 4:00pm Where: 650 W. Ranger Ave, Alameda, Ca 94501 To see more details and RSVP, follow the link below: http://www.facebook.com/n/?event.php&eid=277076415205&mid=11fd24bG56058d43G… Thanks, The Facebook Team ___ This message was intended for thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org. Want to control which emails you receive from Facebook? Go to: http://www.facebook.com/editaccount.php?notifications=1&mid=11fd24bG56058d4… Facebook's offices are located at 1601 S. California Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304.

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Anyone have an internship position?
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 19 Sep '09

19 Sep '09

Feel like answering some questions off list? We've been presented the possibility of hiring an intern at no cost to us, aside from coming up with the position. I'd be interested to hear from someone who's set up a similar position from scratch, and what hurdles/successes you found, or can steer us around/towards. Thanks! josh.

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What benefits do you offer your members?
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 16 Sep '09

16 Sep '09

Hey Everyone. We're doing a big membership push this winter--we just mailed out about 450 membership renewal letters today--and we're looking at what benefits we offer to members. To be clear, our standard membership is the only one someone could do work-trade for. All of the others are cash based. We're open to the idea of someone working more hours to gain better benefits, but haven't seen that much interest in it from our community, and so haven't come up with a structure for it. Here's what we're thinking about offering: $20 - low income membership. same benefits as the standard membership. $35 or EAB student or paying Mech's class student - basic/standard membership. - Use of bike tools whenever the shop is open, access to experienced mechanics and our library of bike repair books to work on your own bike. - Access to the same during "Members only" time/days. - (Dalyn suggested that the phrase "access to the shop" was too vague, and someone like a lot of our members who don't know what a shop includes wouldn't know that it also includes access to exp'ed mechs.) - Membership in Bike To Shop, once that's up and running. - 3 Free 36-hour bike trailer rental per year $100 membership "Century membership" - Same benefits as standard membership, plus: - Members only Preview day for Major bike sales. - Discount on one paid mechanics class per year. - Unlimited Free 36-hour bike trailer rentals per year. $500 membership "Golden Membership" - Same benefits as EAB Sponsor, plus: - Free tuneup on your birthday. - Free access to one paid mechanics class per year. $1000 membership - "Lifetime Membership" Same benefits as Golden Membership for life, plus: We don't have any Lifetime Memberships just yet, but we're hoping to soon....Perhaps with the right benefits package? I'm interested in hearing what other groups are offering to members. What have you had success or failure with. Anyone have any feedback on our plan? Thanks. Hope you're all doing well. josh.

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Directors and Officers Liability Insurance?
by Boson Au 13 Sep '09

13 Sep '09

Hi all, we're in the process renewing our regular liability insurance and came across the Directors and Officers Liability Insurance. To be on the safe side, we decided to purchase that for now, but we're in the midst of deciding if we need it. in my brief understanding; I'm not part of the committee that determines our insurance policy, it seems to be liability for the directors/officers, ie our decision making body aka collective, which is seperate from general liability. this insurance would cover "us" ie if someone wants to sue me due to my actions in the project, rather than the 'project'. I might have this wrong, I'm not sure. so basically, the question posed by members of the collective was, "do other bike projects do this?" so hence this fragmented email. so, if anyone else ran across this I'd love to know how you handled it and why. If you wanna answer in private, that's cool.. if not, post it? thanks in advance. -Boson Au Velocipede Bike Project Baltimore, MD velocipedebikeproject.org

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experienced bike mechanics as volunteers - issues.
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 12 Sep '09

12 Sep '09

Josh here, also from Community Cycles. Sort of in addition to Rich's email, but expanding on it a bit, and bringing in some other cans of worms... We have 3 paid staff members, and the rest are volunteers, or get paid as contractors for teaching one class at a time. I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking about bikebike, and have come to what looks to be some hard decisions. I was brought on as the latest paid staff person, as the "Development Director". Essentially, I'm responsible for 3 things, listed in order of their importance. 1. Membership tracking, coordinating, and communication. 2. Grantwriting and fundraising events, etc. 3. Volunteer Coordination. I'm realizing the more I read about horizontal power structures and consensus based org's that while our issue of volunteers not wanting or able to commit to anything other than dropping by when it suits them could just be that we have a bunch of flaky volunteers, I'm slowly coming to the realization that our model of paid staff and unpaid volunteer staff is flawed. I've started and come super close to sending an email to this list several times asking how we can get more out of our volunteers. I realize the inherent issues of our paid staff requesting more of volunteers. There's all kinds of issues here, but it's the model we're in, and I'm not sure how to address it in a positive, productive way. (Of course, job security for myself and two other people also comes into play, for if we get rid of the paid staff positions, then we've put 3 hard working people out of work.) I'm almost done reading "The Revolution Will Not Be Funded", and would LOVE to continue the discussion we starte at bikebike! online, once some more people have had a chance to read it. (To those of you who asked at bikebike about whether there's any resolution at the end of the book to address whether there's any ways to pay for revolutionary social change org's without funding from foundations, there is. Not some silver bullet magic answer, but they do address the question somewhat.) I'm interested to hear from other org's that have one or more paid staff members how that structure plays out in the dynamics of your staff, volunteer or paid. Do tensions arise? How do you address them? For those of you at the shops with no paid staff, when I bring up that model to friends outside of radical activist circles, the response is often "yeah, but if they're all volunteer run, don't they have jobs aside from the bike shop work? wouldn't having a paid staff person working full time on things allow the org to do more work?" this seems like a logical response. If I personally wasn't working full time at Community Cycles, I would be working full time somewhere else. Two things come to mind. 1. I wouldn't be as happy as I am doing the work for the organization I work for. 2. I wouldn't have as much or any time to devote to Community Cycles as a volunteer. Am I missing something? I'm not looking for a critique of capitalism. Is the major reason why a lot of shops don't have paid staff because of the weird power dynamics it brings? Thanks for taking the time to read this ranting. I hope something fruitful comes of it. Also, if you're still reading this, feel free to call me an idiot. josh. On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 12:17 PM, Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE < urbanbikeproject(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Cool Rich thanks....here is our volunteer structure: > > *Types of Volunteers and Volunteer Structure at UBP* > updated 8/3/09 > > *Drop-In or Unscheduled Volunteers* > -Limited to sorting parts, patching tubes, organizational tasks. > -May be turned away if the shop is too crowded. > > *Scheduled Volunteers > *-Sign up in advance for full shifts in one of the following roles: > -*Greeter* signs people into the shop, answers basic customer questions, > answers phone > -*Parts/Back Room* assists mechanics and customers with finding parts in > the back room, organizes and keeps the back room neat. > -*Sales* assists customers who are looking to purchase a bicycle. > -*Mechanic*(s) assist adult customers who are repairing bicycles. > -*Youth Mechanic*(s) assist youth who are repairing bicycles. > -*Head Mechanic* overseas all activities in the shop and assists Mechanics > with difficult repairs. > > *Core Volunteers* > -Scheduled volunteers who complete 3-4 full shifts per month and 2 tasks > from the Core Volunteer Task Sheet. > -May keep a project bicycle in the shop longer than the standard 2-week > period. > -May attend Core Volunteers only shop time and Core Volunteer meetings. > -Receive discount when ordering parts from J&B Importers catalog > > And this is our experimental Volunteer "Ladder" for moving people up the > chain as it were. The idea being, unskilled volunteers can work up as > slowly or quickly as they want (most greeters end up quickly learning tube > patching during shop time and also basic wheel truing since the truing > station is directly behind the greeter). Same for "skilled but new to the > shop" volunteers. If they really want to work as a mechanic they can see > right in front of them what needs to be done first. > > *Skills Checklist* (head mechanic/volunteer coordinator to sign off on > each requirement) > > *Requirements for Greeter:* > -Attended Volunteer Orientation? Date:______ > > *Additional Requirements for Parts Sorting/Salesperson:* > > -Basic identification of parts > -Pedal removal/installation, Stem/Seat adjustment, Tire Pumping > -Basic Bicycle Sizing Knowledge > > *Additional Requirements for Youth Tire Pumper/Patcher:* > -Wheel Removal/Installation (coaster, freewheel, derailer) > -Tire Removal/Installation, Tube Patching > -"How to work with youth" Basic Training? Date:______ > -3 *full* shifts at other position (date and position): 1)________ > 2)________ 3)_______ > > *Additional Requirements for Mechanic:* > -Attend/Pass Advanced Mechanics Class or Test? Date:_____ > > *Additional Requirements for Youth Mechanic:* > -3 *full* shifts as Mechanic (date): 1)________ > 2)________ 3)_______ > -1 *full* shift as Youth Tire Pumper/Patcher: Date:_____ > * > Additional Requirements for Head Mechanic:* > -3 *full* shifts as Youth Mechanic (date): 1)________ > 2)________ 3)_______ > -1 *full* shift shadowing Head Mechanic (date): Date:______ > -Approval from Collective of Core-Volunteers: Date:______ > > > It's just been hard to convince people with tons of experience that they*really do > * need to (and are required to) be greeter or parts sorter for at least 3 > shifts before they can even think about working with customers. > > Please share thoughts and ideas! > > Brian > > Urban Bike Project of Wilmington > -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- > 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) > Wilmington, DE 19802 > > Hours: > Thursday 6:30-9:00 > Saturday 1:00-4:00 > > Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org > > > On Fri, Sep 11, 2009 at 11:28 AM, R Points <poster(a)richpoints.com> wrote: > >> Hey Brian, >> Yeah we have similar issues at Community Cycles. We have a dozen or so >> core volunteers who show up each week for a three hour shift, we call the >> facilitators. Most of these folks have worked in bike shops or are advanced >> shade tree mechanics. By and large most of our facilitators are limited >> when it comes to people skills. In addition, even though these facilitators >> show up on a regular basis it's been almost impossible to schedule them for >> a shift. And a lot of times facilitators show up and don't even work on >> bikes they just hang out. We do have a monthly facilitator meeting which >> has been sparsely attended at best. >> >> Currently we don't have a mechanism for interested volunteers to become >> facilitators or high level volunteers. The result is our facilitator pool >> has become old, stagnant and untrained. To address this we've been working >> on developing a facilitator training process. >> >> The training process, still in it's first draft, is broken into four >> training sessions. The trainings are focused on admin/greeter, daily shop >> ops, mechanics and community outreach. Once you've gone through the >> training you'll be qualified to schedule a three/four hour facilitator shift >> each week at the shop or work on a special project/event. >> >> As you mentioned a lot of enthusiastic volunteers are not particularly >> mechanically inclined. One perk we've talked about is if a new facilitator >> commits to 6 months of shifts they can take our Bike Mechanics 101 class for >> free http://communitycycles.org/programs/classes.html >> >> We'll be launching this new training program at our next facilitator >> meeting at the end of this month. Wish us luck. >> >> Ride On! >> Rich >> >> >> *CC Facili(Tator) Training Manual* >> To become a facilitator or high level volunteer at Community Cycles, you >> need to go through a series of simple trainings. Once you've gone through >> them, you're qualified to represent Community Cycles at events outside of >> the shop. Facilitators gain privilege to order from our wholesalers at 10% >> over cost. >> >> *Criteria* >> >> 1. To be a facilitator you must have completed the training and commit >> to one shift per week for a minimum of a three month period. If you are >> unable to make your shift it is your responsibility to have it covered by >> another facilitator. If you cannot cover your shift please let staff know >> asap that you will not be able to attend. >> 2. Attend a mandatory monthly facilitator meeting at the shop. >> Usually the third Tuesday of each month. >> >> * >> Trainings* >> You'll need to schedule to complete four trainings during open shop >> hours. Each training session is 3 - 4 hours. You must complete the >> trainings within two months of your start date. >> >> >> 1. * Greeter* >> The greeter is one of the most important roles in the shop. >> Functioning as greeter is a quick way for you to get oriented to Community >> Cycles and what we do. We've put together an awesome Greeter manual that >> will help you answer the most common questions we hear in the shop each >> day. >> >> 2. * Kids Bikes and New Donation processing* >> - Strip bikes for parts as needed >> - Check - Frame and wheels for cracks, dings and bends >> - Fix Tubes - patch tubes and replace as needed >> - Replace - Rotten tires, seats, grips, frayed cables and rotten >> cable housing >> - Remove - light and lock hardware, seized rusty chains... >> - Clean - Drive train, wheels and hubs, frame, handle bars... >> - Install - Missing reflectors, valve caps >> - Flatten Bikes >> - Sort parts >> >> 3. * Shadow Facilitator* >> Shadow a certified tater for a shift helping EABers in progress, tune >> ups or sale bikes. Shadow taters will do one tater chore; i.e. clean >> bathroom, take out trash, sweep... After this shift you will be "qualified" >> to help EABers and work on in shop tune ups. >> >> 4. * Grab Bag - Would be taters can choose from any of these >> activities.* >> >> Repeat any of the first three trainings >> Greeter Trainer >> Finisher/Sales >> Community tabling event >> Street team >> UCAR >> CHaRM >> Farmers Market >> North Storage staff assistant >> Tune Ups >> RBC >> Special event >> >> *Super Facilitator* >> Volunteers who demonstrate mastery of bike mechanics and/or volunteer >> beyond one shift per week. Super facilitators gain access to the key code >> on a case by case basis. >> >> - Complete the six week bike mechanics course or other bicycle >> mechanics training course. >> - Demonstrate bicycle mechanic mastery >> - Complete a bike safety instruction course >> - Demonstrate bicycle safety and be capable of teaching a short bike >> safety seminar >> - Volunteer for 2 or more shifts per week >> - Be active on a sub committee of the CC board of directors >> - Work on a special event or campaign. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Urban Bike Project Wilmington, DE wrote: >> >> Hi All, >> >> Since we opened shop I've observed that our best volunteers are those that >> hardly know anything about the mechanical side of bikes but have enthusiasm >> and a desire to learn. They end up being the most patient with customers >> and eventually the best teachers/passers on of bike knowledge. On the flip >> side are experienced bike mechanics. Most, but not all, are pushy, >> completely disregard our "hands off the tools philosophy" and don't >> understand when we ask them to "please attend volunteer orientation" if you >> would like to volunteer as a mechanic here ("but i'm already a mechanic!"). >> >> Recently a bike mechanic of thirty years came in because he heard about us >> and wanted to observe what went on. To make a long story short, he did >> everything BUT observe and I had to ask/tell/almost yell at him several >> times to let people in the shop "do it themselves". The last time I told >> him to "let him do it himself" he responded with "but i have so much >> knowledge to share!", to which I replied "here we let people get that >> knowledge themselves and don't watch over them constantly or take tools out >> of their hands", which he didn't seem to understand ("what if they make a >> mistake and something breaks?!"). To lighten the mood (they'll probably >> laugh, or cry...), bring a hammer out and explain that this is your "rim >> straightener" or "frame alignment tool". >> >> My questions to the other collectives out there: >> >> 1.) Do you have a similar issue? or is it just us, haha >> 2.) How have you gotten experienced mechanics (like the above example) to >> "buy-in" to your system if at first they resisted? >> >> Brian >> >> Urban Bike Project of Wilmington >> -a 501(c)3 non-profit bike shop- >> 1908 N. Market Street (entrance is in the parking lot behind the building) >> Wilmington, DE 19802 >> >> Hours: >> Thursday 6:30-9:00 >> Saturday 1:00-4:00 >> >> Visit us online at http://urbanbikeproject.org >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Thethinktank mailing listThethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org >> To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave(a)bikecollectives.org >> To manage your subscription, plase visit:http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollec… >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Thethinktank mailing list >> Thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org >> To unsubscribe, send a blank email to >> TheThinkTank-leave(a)bikecollectives.org >> To manage your subscription, plase visit: >> >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.… >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Thethinktank mailing list > Thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org > To unsubscribe, send a blank email to > TheThinkTank-leave(a)bikecollectives.org > To manage your subscription, plase visit: > > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.… > > -- Thanks for supporting Community Cycles, Boulder's first and only non-profit bike shop! Ask me how you can sponsor a Youth Earn-A-Bike student for just $100. www.communitycycles.org

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Community Partners Bike Library
by Jason Tanzman 12 Sep '09

12 Sep '09

Hey everybody, I just wanted to send an email and let folks know about an exciting project that Sibley Bike Depot (St. Paul, MN) is beginning. Sibley received funding in full on Tuesday for a $200,000 program to run a Community Partners Bike Library! The funds were approved by Transit for Livable Communities, a not-for-profit transit advocacy group in charge of allocating a $21 million federal Non-motorized Transit Pilot program in the Twin Cities. This funding will allow Sibley to build up a fleet of 200 bicycles – outfitted for transportation purposes with a rack, fenders, lights, lock, and helmet – to lend out to community members for up to six months. The bike lending will be coordinated through Community Partners – other agencies, such as affordable housing organizations, job placement centers, homeless shelters, and more – who will help identify patrons who will benefit from reliable transportation. Through this program, Sibley hopes to increase the availability of bicycles within working class and poor communities, thus helping to increase access to bicycles and diversify the bicycling movement in the Twin Cities! I am interested to hear any thoughts/feedback/suggestions from anyone who has 1) coordinated a bike library program; or, 2) handled large federal or other government grants (rumored to be a tremendous pain in the ass). Jason Tanzman -- Sibley Bike Depot Volunteer Coordinator 612-232-2737 (cell) 651-222-2080 (shop) www.sibleybikedepot.org Sibley Bike Depot's mission is to be an open, accessible space to educate and empower people to use bicycles as transportation, helping to build a sustainable environment and community. Volunteer with us to help build a bicycling movement in the Twin Cities!

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this list
by Macho Philipovich 12 Sep '09

12 Sep '09

anyone else concerned that the volume of emails has gone way up and the signal-to-noise ratio is way down over the past week or so? in the early days, i understand things were kept fairly open to encourage discussion. that doesn't seem to be a concern anymore, so maybe the list could benefit from some guidelines (rather than 'rules')? it would be nice to avoid flaming, "me too" responses, responses to the whole list that should have gone to an individual, "remove me plz" posts, way off-topic discussion, etc. it hasn't reached a critical point yet, but the problems seem to be similar to ones in the early days of the internet & usenet, so maybe we could borrow a solution from them: a FAQ sent out to new subscribers, and periodically over the list. other thoughts? macho

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biking dog capitalist pig bikes
by an undercover cop 12 Sep '09

12 Sep '09

hey ross, i'm going assume that your final question was in earnest. i'm also going to assume you know full well the answer is "none." (unless someone out there is somehow working on circle a's and bike systems strike bikes in their bike project.) the world we live in is capitalist, therefore bikes are made by capitalists, therefore the bikes we have available to work on are bikes made by capitalists. so, in all seriousness: what difference does it make? -ben > Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:22:06 -0400 > From: "Recycle Bicycle of Harrisburg, Pa" <recyclebicycle(a)verizon.net> > To: "The Think Tank" <thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org> > Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] experienced bike mechanics as volunteers - > issues. > Message-ID: <7CE02DFB260B456181784E9EB9DF3436@VALUED9133F4FA> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Ross from Recycle Bicycle Harrisburg, Pa > > Reference below whether there's any ways to pay for revolutionary social change org's without funding from foundations, there is. Not some silver bullet magic answer, > > Most of our core volunteers are retired and are being paid by that capitalistic system that seems to get bashed on this forum. > I am awed when I see these gray/no hair guys/gals kneeling down and teaching inter city youth bike repair / safety / physics and pushing higher education. > Please send more of those self motivated, financially secure, tool owning volunteers my way. > > Then a question: What percentage of bikes that you work on come from a non-capitalistic factory?

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