November 2023 - TheThinkTank - lists.bikecollectives.org

E-bikes
by Andy Ballentine 01 Dec '25

01 Dec '25

Hi -- How are bike co-ops dealing with e-bikes? We are all-volunteer at the Bicycle Co-Op of Williamsburg (Virginia). We have several very fine mechanics, but none of us is expert in the motors and batteries of e-bikes, and we don't know whether we should accept them as donations or sell them. I'd be interested in others' experience and policies. Thanks -- Andy Ballentine

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Webhosting/domains
by Bike City 24 Mar '25

24 Mar '25

Well, I recently threw together some hand-written HTML and slapped it onto a free (and ad-less) webhost. This seemed great at first, regardless of the weird URL. But after lots of other publicity and potential traffic, I've seen it get hacked twice (by a radical Islamic group after the whole host, nothing personal), and lately it's either painfully slow to load or completely down. So, I haven't done this for about a decade and I'm out of the loop. I'm really not willing to suffer any ads, but since our budgeted is obcenely limited for such fluff, does anyone have recommendations? Are there any more reliable ad-free free hosts? (Probably not, for obvious reasons.) Otherwise, how do you guys handle web hosting? How much does it cost? What's a good balance between reliable and affordable? How much is domain registration nowadays? We don't have our 501(c)(3) status yet so we won't get a deal until later this year, by the way. Anyway, please help. It's rough to find time to FTP an update and find the site's down. Thanks, andrea Bike City Recyclery of Fayetteville, Arkansas http://bikecity.uuuq.com/ (hahaha)

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Next Bike!Bike! ?
by Bayley Vanderpoel 04 Jan '24

04 Jan '24

Does anyone know when the next Bike!Bike! is? Bayley Velocity Bicycle Coop in Alexandria & Arlington , VA. Bayley Vanderpoel Volunteer, Spokesperson, & Board Member Vélocity Bicycle Cooperative http://velocitycoop.org/ | http://www.meetup.com/VeloCity-Bicycle-Cooperative/ | https://www.facebook.com/V%C3%A9loCity-Bicycle-Cooperative-361337181517/tim… | https://twitter.com/velocitycoop | http://www.instagram.com/velocitycoop Phone: tel:7035491108 Del Ray Shop Address: https://goo.gl/maps/h7zenNZ2Ksu9XrVu8?coh=178573&entry=tt Hours: Tues, Thurs, Fri 10-4pm | Wed 10-8pm | Sat 10-4pm Clarendon Shop Address: https://goo.gl/maps/urc4V3Ytn9dc54sPA?coh=178573&entry=tt Hours: Tues, Wed Thurs, Fri, Sat 10-4pm

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Liability
by Bike Cave 02 Nov '23

02 Nov '23

Hi All, Chelsea here from the Bike Cave in Duluth, MN. We're a pretty informal community bike shop that is open two days a week from April-October and we are 100% volunteer and donation operated. We use the basement and backyard of a Catholic Worker house. We recently received an email from someone who is interested in donating bikes that have been returned to their business but they are concerned about liability. This has sparked some conversation around the need for a release of liability that folks sign before they adopt a bike here. Because we are not formally incorporated we don't have any sort of coverage outside of homeowners insurance. I don't really even know who would be liable if there ever was an incident involving one of the bikes that we fixed up. Anyone have any experience or recommendations around this? Thanks in advance! Peace, Chelsea for all of us at the Bike Cave https://www.loavesandfishesduluth.com/bike-cave https://www.facebook.com/BikeCaveDuluth

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