TheThinkTank March 2014

thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org

59 participants
38 discussions

Baltimore youth bicycle program
by bykecollective 16 Mar '14

16 Mar '14

Hi, I am starting a non-profit youth bicycle program in Baltimore, and would like to send word out for support from then bike collective community. The Baltimore Youth Kinetic Energy (BYKE) Collective is a youth empowerment organization designed to develop personal and professional skills through learning bicycle mechanics, safe ridership, community values and respect. For our video and more information, check us out at http://fusionpartnerships.wordpress.com/sponsored-projects/baltimore-youth-… Like us on Facebook for updates! Thanks, Chavi Rhodes, MPH Baltimore Youth Kinetic Energy Collective bykecollective(a)gmail.com (410) 989-3806 https://www.facebook.com/BYKECollective https://twitter.com/BYKECollective

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Re: [TheThinkTank] Building Bikes as Corporate Team Activity?
by Henry Dunbar 15 Mar '14

15 Mar '14

Regarding having to rescue corporate bike builds when they get cheap bikes, I think this is where the League can be of great service. When we were approached last year about participating in the exercise, i asked where they were getting the bikes, the corporate HR person said, "I don't know. Amazon." After picking up the phone from the floor, I begged her to let me buy them through our supplier. She agreed, and though they got fewer bikes, we were all better served by the experience. The League can help educate potential partners that they do us no favors by buying the cheapest bikes available and then dumping them on a local coop. -- Henry T. Dunbar Executive Director Phoenix Bikes 703.575.7762 Shop 703.517.5017 Cell phoenixbikes.org We are One of the Best, as featured in the 2012-13 Catalogue for Philanthrop<http://www.catalogueforphilanthropy-dc.org/cfpdc/index.php> y.

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Re: [TheThinkTank] Building Bikes as Corporate Team Activity?
by Henry Dunbar 14 Mar '14

14 Mar '14

I think each local group will need to tailor these to get what they can. I could see the League as being a broker to match up Corporations with local youth programs. Then the onus is on them to cultivate the relationship. We did this last year with a major construction company. We actually asked them to do the exercise with adult bikes that were donated to us to put in our sale stock. They still had to be gone over by youth and staff mechanics as a quality control check, so the kids learned from the experience, and got the rare (at least in our shop) chance to work on new bikes. Plus we benefited from the revenue boost of getting 12 very gently used bikes to sell, and started a great relationship with a company that we hope will pay dividends later. I agree with Karen that we're not about just giving bikes to kids. -- Henry T. Dunbar Executive Director Phoenix Bikes 703.575.7762 Shop 703.517.5017 Cell phoenixbikes.org We are One of the Best, as featured in the 2012-13 Catalogue for Philanthrop<http://www.catalogueforphilanthropy-dc.org/cfpdc/index.php> y.

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Brief, clear traffic safety sheet?
by Paul Nagel 14 Mar '14

14 Mar '14

Hello, We're about to donate our first small batch of refurbished bikes to a women's shelter along with locks, lights, and helmets. We would also like to include a simple paper that communicates some bike safety essentials, as we might not have the opportunity to do an in-person discussion. This sheet should mention riding with traffic, being visible, staying aware. Clear visuals should be clear as literacy or attentiveness may be an issue in some cases. Guides such as "Bicycling Street Smarts", we feel, would not be read by most recipients in this situation, and the important points would be lost among the detail. Does anyone know of a simple, clear sheet already available? We don't believe everything can be boiled down to a single sheet, but hope that we can communicate some important basics in this way. Thank you, Paul Nagel The Bicycle Tree shop: (714) 760-4681 811 N. Main St. Santa Ana, CA 92701 http://www.thebicycletree.org info(a)thebicycletree.org

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Re: [TheThinkTank] Brief, clear traffic safety sheet?
by christopher＠holisticcycles.com 14 Mar '14

14 Mar '14

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Building Bikes as Corporate Team Activity?
by Adonia Lugo 14 Mar '14

14 Mar '14

Dear collectivistas, I'm looking for advice from folks who use bike repair as a community building tool. What do you think about building bikes as a corporate team building exercise? I work for the League of American Bicyclists, and someone pitched a project to us called Bikes for Goodness Sake<http://bikesforgoodnesssake.org/> that does this; they have teams build kids' bikes and then give them away at the end of the day. The dude doing this, Mark Smith, wants to partner with the League in some capacity to help hire a staff person who could coordinate these activities around the country, including hiring local mechanics to do quality control and connecting with local kids' groups. Does this seem weird to you? I told my boss I'd ask around about this model because something about it raises my hackles a little. I like the idea of paying local mechanics to participate, and it seems like there could be a more formal relationship with co-ops or community bike shops as partners. Then maybe participating in an activity like this could be an avenue for the corporate types to get involved with the bike community. At the same time, I'm wary of a model that frames needy kids as some tool for corporate team building. Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts. Thanks! -- Adonia E. Lugo, Ph.D. Bicycle Anthropologist www.urbanadonia.com

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Fwd: FW: [bike-equity] Scholarship opportunity for female mechanics
by Sarah McCullough 14 Mar '14

14 Mar '14

Apologies if this was already posted and I missed it in the archives. Great opportunity! From: Carolyn Szczepanski <carolyn(a)bikeleague.org> Date: Friday, March 14, 2014 at 5:20 AM To: "bike-equity-network(a)googlegroups.com" < bike-equity-network(a)googlegroups.com> Subject: [bike-equity] Scholarship opportunity for female mechanics Up to $4,000 in Scholarships Available SRAM, QBP and UBI are jointly offering two scholarships for female mechanics to attend United Bicycle Institute (UBI). This opportunity is open to aspiring or experienced bike mechanics and women that would like to increase their technical knowledge to further their career in the bike industry. This scholarship will cover either the 1 week Advanced Certification Seminars (ideal for more experienced mechanics) or the more intensive 2-week Professional Shop Repair and Operations class for those with little or no mechanical experience. This open call for applications opens February 21st and will close March 22nd. Scholarship winners will be notified via email by April 4th. More here.<http://www.qbp.com/femalemechanic/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&u…> * CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI*, *Director of Communications, Women Bike* CAROLYN(a)BIKELEAGUE.ORG | 202-621-5452 *THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN BICYCLISTS* WWW.BIKELEAGUE.ORG/WOMENBIKE <http://www.bikeleague.org/womenbike> TWITTER <https://twitter.com/BikeLeague> | FACEBOOK<http://www.facebook.com/leagueamericanbicyclists> | YOUTUBE <http://www.youtube.com/user/bikeleaguevideo> *Make every ride count in the National Bike Challenge <https://nationalbikechallenge.org/> -- it's fun, free and ALL NEW in 2014! Register today! <https://nationalbikechallenge.org/> * -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Bike Equity Network" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bike-equity-network+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to bike-equity-network(a)googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- Sarah Rebolloso McCullough, PhD Associate Director for the Center for the Humanities UC San Diego 530-601-1149 smcc(a)ucdavis.edu

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Re: [TheThinkTank] Photos of your workshop for Bike!Bike! Southeast
by christopher＠holisticcycles.com 11 Mar '14

11 Mar '14

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Loomio is crowdfunding!
by Jesse Doud 10 Mar '14

10 Mar '14

A handful of bicycle collectives have been using Loomio for a while now. We use it at Mechanical Tempest, and the last co-op I was a part of, Adelaide Bike Kitchen, uses it extensively. It's free and open source, and built by a small worker-owned co-op in new zealand, of which I'm proud to be a member of. We have an amazing global community of contributors who have translated loomio into 17 languages, most recently ukrainian and russian. We're aiming achieve the big vision of creating a world were everyone is a part of decisions that affect them, while staying free and independent from corporate and political interest. If you have a moment, check out the video at love.loomio.org. If the project fits your values, or think it could work for your shop, join us to be a part of this thing by sharing it around / contributing any way that feels right. Bike Love from Aotearoa New Zealand, Jesse

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Photos of your workshop for Bike!Bike! Southeast
by Justin Pogge 10 Mar '14

10 Mar '14

We are doing a workshop on setting up your work space. If anyone has nice photos of their organization solutions please send them along to me at oldfieldcycles(a)gmail.com . There wasa great slide show in new Orleans. Cannot remember what shop it was from.

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TheThinkTank March 2014