October 2015 - TheThinkTank - lists.bikecollectives.org

Reusable Repair Checklist Tag
by director 02 May '23

02 May '23

Hey All, We just spent some time and redid the tag we use to track repairs on a bike. I'm sure your shops are similar to ours in that many mechanics of varying skill levels will work on a single bike before it's distributed back to the world for use. This make it challenging to ensure a standard of quality on any given bike leaving the shop. As we fleshed out the tag we realized that it could function loosely as a curriculum. For most mechanics, especially students we suggest starting at the top and working down the list. I've come to realize that no two mechanics will do things in the exact same way, everyone has their own style. We've been suggesting that folks do the first two items in order and then address the rest of the repairs at their discretion. Of course we couldn't put everything on a half page so we had to make compromises. You'll notice as you get closer to the bottom of the tag the categories are a little more broad and don't get into the finer details. We're working on a final check list that will include finer details like checking bearing play, tire wear, fine tune derailleurs and brakes... The final checklist won't hang on the bike but it'll be around the shop and part of our training. Stay tuned for this. We print these double sided, cut them in half and laminate them. We hang them on the handlebars and fill them out with a Sharpie. When the bike is done and gone we clean the Sharpie off with 90% rubbing alcohol and a rag. This allows us to use one tag over and over and over. We've been using these tags for about 2 weeks now and it's been awesome. Communication between mechanics is much clearer and bikes are getting done faster. It's really helped orient Earn-A-Bike students to what needs to be done next on their bike. Anyway if you think it's a good idea feel free to adapt it to your shops needs. -- Ride On! Rich Points http://communitycycles.org Executive Director (c)303-589-0597 (w)720-565-6019 Community Cycles is Boulder's only bike shop dedicated to bike commuting. Find us on facebook https://www.facebook.com/CommunityCycles

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no boys allowed zine from bikebike?
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 27 Sep '18

27 Sep '18

hey all, i'm looking to get in touch with the person who wrote/published the "no boys allowed" zine which was passed out at bikebike in san francisco. it was part of one of the oppression and gender identity issues workshops. we're looking to start a women's night here at community cycles, and i'd like to scan my copy as a pdf and email it to potential volunteers, as well as make some copies to have in the shop... if you're on the list, or if you know the person who wrote it (her name escapes me), please get in touch with me off list... thanks! josh. community cycles boulder

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Instruction for Marginalized Communities: Women on Wheels and Multilingual Nights
by Lauren Warbeck 26 Feb '16

26 Feb '16

Oh HEYYYY again... It's a double email kinda day. 1) Multilingual Nights We're hosting our first ever multilingual nights YAYYYYY! We now have a posse of rad mechanics who are fluent in English, Spanish, French, Cantonese, and Mandarin and we are planning to hold a series of multilingual instruction nights. We're about to have our first sub-committee meeting about how we're going to go about the planning of these nights (ie: Do we have a strictly Spanish night, or a Spanish & French night? What is the role of Anglo mechanics in these nights? What are the underlying needs of these communities beyond language instruction?), but first I wanted to find out if any of you have feedback or resource materials about your own experiences hosting multilingual nights. What did you set out to do? Did it work? What did you learn? 2) Women on Wheels We're in the process of reconsidering the reach and name of our women's night, Women on Wheels. This name has been revisited several times by our collective, and again we're feeling the need for change. Those of you who commit energy to thinking about providing services across the gender/sexuality spectrum...I'm looking for your input. The key challenges for us, (and maybe all of us?) I think, are two-fold: First, it's about holding space for those who adhere to identity politics (tangible and named - Woman, Lesbian, Dyke, sometimes Transwoman etc) while also holding space for folks who exist all along the gender and sexuality spectrum (intangible and variably named - Queer, Tomboi, sometimes Transwoman, Genderqueer, etc ). As in, how do we hold safer space for butch grandmas and trans women and gender queer folks all at once? Is it feasible or possible to hold safer space strictly around gender variance? Or is it presumptuous as fuck to try to lump these diverse communities together? Or reductionist to assume gender experience is the key connecting factor between these individuals (and not race, or class, or ....)? Second, it's about negotiating the instances of inclusion and exclusion that emerge as a result of differing levels of awareness and knowledge around these varied philosophies and ways of identifying. This is the crux of why we've called it Women's Night for so long. While in practice our "women's night" is attended by trans-women, cis-women, femmes, masculine-identified genderqueers, tombois, etc etc, we have continued to call it women's night to make sure that people who aren't familiar with the world of post-modern gender identity know they are welcome, and cis-men know easily and clearly that it is not for them. I guess, to make it legible to mainstream communities, while still welcoming to non-mainstream communities. Meanwhile, we've also had interest from femme-identified cis-men and trans men in having services for masculine-presenting folks or folks who are presumed masculine (which again, is on a really broad spectrum). We're in convo with folks about their needs and wants, but it would also be great to have input from other shops. Where I'm really seeking is input about how your shops are drawing the lines around participation in nights for marginalized communities (including communities bonded around race, ethnicity, ability, etc) and/or how to meld diverse communities in appropriate and supportive ways. I know that Plan B has Ladies, Trans, and Sissies Night, and BICAS has Women, Trans, and Femme night. Where are folks at with their organizing process around this? What are other shops doing? You are all so great. Lauren

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Daily Shop Report
by Tom Bilcze 19 Nov '15

19 Nov '15

All, Summit Cycling Center in Akron, Ohio is looking to capture information about our daily shop activities and visitors. One idea that is being discussed is a daily shop report. This would capture things like the number of members and visitors using the facility, what took place in terms of services, sales, volunteers working the shop, and comments. Has anyone created a simple one page document like this? If so, could you share? If not, what items would you like to see on a list like this? What would help the cooperative do a better job and understand the community and member needs? We will share our finished document when we are done. Thanks, Tom Bilcze, Secretary, Summit Cycling Center

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Slack channel
by Andrew Shooner 05 Nov '15

05 Nov '15

I was getting email from several different shops to discuss software. I want to be able to bring other folks into that conversation when they want to, so I created a general slack team for bike collectives: bikecollectives.slack.com If you want to discuss specific stuff without spamming the email list, let me know and I'll add you. This isn't intended to replace the good discussion on the email list; it's more just for immediate collaboration, etc. -Andy Broke Spoke

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CAUTION: parts storage, safety edition.
by Angel York 30 Oct '15

30 Oct '15

>From the minutes at my old bike collective, where they had been using double-wide filing cabinets as parts storage: - Large parts filing cabinet fell suddenly and catastrophically, *no injuries, *single most dangerous thing to happen in shop history, we are very fortunate. - *We CANNOT use double-wide cabinets ever again, *they are too potentially dangerous the way we use them. Beware of storing parts in any kind of drawers that could be top-heavy. After years of working just fine, they could spontaneously come crashing to the floor.

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Community Bike Center at Sports Stadium?
by Jason Tanzman 27 Oct '15

27 Oct '15

Anyone have any experience with a community bike shop or bike center being developed as a part of, or connected to, a sports stadium? St. Paul recently approved - and provided property tax relief (but no direct subsudies) - the development of an 18,000 seat stadium in a mixed residential/commercial area of St. Paul. People are already talking about issues with parking and how to do bike/walk/transit promotion. I can't help but think that this would be a great opportunity to put in a bike center with retail, repair, and classes and programs. But I just haven't seen anything along these lines ever having been tried. Anyone know anything about it? Jason

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Please vote for cargo bicycles
by james bledsoe 26 Oct '15

26 Oct '15

A new project of the Bicycle Kitchen, Re: Ciclos is competing for a grant and the first round is an online voting deal. | | | | | | | | | | | Re:Ciclos a movement by bicycle. A new project of the Bi...Vote Yes, keep me updated on opportunities and news from Goldhirsh Foundation Tweet Copy + About Your Application Organization(s) name(s): Re:Ciclos and Bicycle Kit... | | | | View on myla2050live2015.mak... | Preview by Yahoo | | | | | please follow these links and vote for us thanks jim

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Posting to the Think Tank in English & Spanish // Publicar a Think Tank en Inglés y Español
by Lauren Warbeck 25 Oct '15

25 Oct '15

Hi Yall! An important thing that came up at Bike!Bike! Guadalajara is that it would be useful to post in more languages than English if you have the capacity to do so. Spanish for sure, but also....French? Portugese? ...? Not everyone who uses or wishes to use the Think Tank speaks English, but many Think Tank users speak English and Spanish and/or other languages. More languages = more inclusive! So please, translate your own posts if you can. And nothing is lost by trying your best, either. ----- [ Lo siento...Y pronto usted sabrá por qué ...] Hola a todos! El Bike!Bike! Guadalajara pasó una importante discusión. No todo el que quiere utilizar el Think Tank habla Inglés. Pero personas que utilizan el Think Tank hablan más idiomas aparte del Inglés. Si le es posible, traducir sus mensajes a otros idiomas. Todos podemos simplemente hacer todo lo posible. Más idiomas = más inclusivo! <3 <3 <3 Lauren

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Travel Equity for BikeBike
by erk magosh 17 Oct '15

17 Oct '15

Hey y'all, I have been throwing around ideas about travel equity after our trip to Mexico. For me a citizen of the US it was easy to get down there and was very affordable. I started thinking about why that was, and how it doesn't apply to everybody. Below is some suggestions that I have come up with. Most of these suggestions would really be up to the BikeBike hosts (Detroit in 2016), but the travel fund could be something we could start easily with donations. It is a rough draft and I'm looking for feedback (there has only been 5 minutes of feedback so far). Most of these ideas would take a bit of work, but I think it would be worth it to allow as many people to participate in BikeBike as possible. let me/us know what you think, erk BikeBike Travel Equity: Suggestions to Offset Inequitable Travel Cost and Barriers Summary: In an aim to make BikeBike more inclusive we should help address travel inequities. Travel can be much harder/more expensive depending on what side of some imaginary lines a person was born on or what system they have to live in. We should encourage those with privilege to help those with less. 1. Registration: registration fees should be very malleable. Folx that can pay more should be encouraged to support folx that cannot. a. For some participants the registration fee is very cheap for all the services provided, others it may be a large expense. 2. Travel funds should be created ahead of time to help folx with Visas/other travel expenses. a. Donations or excess registration fees could create these funds. b. Example of need: A Mexican Citizen needs to pay $300 USD just to apply for a visa to the USA. If they do not get approved they do not get the money back. For a US citizen with steady work this might not seem like a huge loss, but that works out to $5,100 MEX, which could be 3 or 4 times a person’s monthly housing cost. 3. 3 meals (and snacks) a day at BikeBike. a. Eatting out is by default expensive, but if you come from a country with an unfavorable currency exchange it is even more so. Even without that exchange, some people don’t have money to blow on a luxury like eating out. b. This creates a bit more work, visiting BikeBikers should be encouraged to help cook and take any other loads off the hosts. c. An alternative may be providing access to the kitchen when meals cannot be provided.

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