March 2025 - TheThinkTank - lists.bikecollectives.org

E-bikes
by Andy Ballentine 02 Dec '25

02 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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Last week´s Bike Bike meeting and invite to join in next Wednesday´s call / La reunión Bici Bici de la semana pasada e invitación a sumarse a la reunión del próximo miércoles
by Angie Libertad 23 Jul '25

23 Jul '25

Hi everyone, Last Wednesday we had an online meeting to discuss the next Bike Bike with attendance from folks in Mexico City, Texas, Arizona, California, Guadalajara, Argentina, Colombia and Canada . It is the first of several planned meetings to discuss how to better communicate and organize collectively the next Bike Bike gathering(s)in 2025 and as a wide network of bike collectives. The most up to date minutes from this last week´s meeting can be found here: https://pad.riseup.net/p/BIKEBIK32025-keep Also if you´d like to learn what B!B!E! has been up to since 2021, check out the bike collectives wiki: https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes#November_2021 The next meeting will be next Wednesday November 13th at 5PM EST (Tijuana)/ 7PM CDMX-CST (Texas)/ 8PM EST (NYC). You can join the meeting using this link: https://i.meet.mayfirst.org/BB2025 . The plan is to share the meeting agenda a few days before next Wednesday here and on the rest of the channels. Thank you to everyone who participated in last Wednesday´s meeting and for your patience as we get over some humps and bring back the wide Bike Bike community together. We look forward to everybody joining in the call next week! ******* Hola a todes, El miércoles pasado tuvimos una reunión en línea para discutir el próximo Bici Bici con asistencia de personas de CDMX, Tejas, Arizona, California, Guadalajara, Argentina, Colombia e incluso Canadá. Es la primera de varias reuniones planeadas para discutir cómo comunicarnos mejor y organizarnos colectivamente la(s) próxima(s) reunión(es) de Bici Bici en 2025 y como una red amplia de bici colectivos. Las minutas más actualizadas de la reunión de la semana pasada se pueden encontrar aquí: https://pad.riseup.net/p/BIKEBIK32025-keep También si quieren saber lo que B!B!E! ha estado haciendo desde 2021, échale un vistazo a la wiki de colectivos de bicis: https://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/Meetings_and_minutes#November_2021 La próxima reunión será el próximo miércoles 13 de noviembre a 5PM EST (Tijuana)/ 7PM CDMX-CST (Tejas)/ 8PM EST (NYC). Puedes unirte a la reunión usando este enlace: https://i.meet.mayfirst.org/BB2025 . El plan es compartir la agenda de la reunión unos días antes del próximo miércoles aquí y en el resto de los canales. Gracias a todos los que participaron en la reunión del miércoles pasado y por su paciencia mientras pasamos los baches y volvemos a reunir a la comunidad amplia de Bici Bici. ¡Esperamos que todos se sumen a la llamada de la semana que viene!

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MEMT 2025 Ejercicio de ciencia ciudadana con potencial de impacto social / Citizen science exercise with social impact potential
by Angie Libertad 26 Mar '25

26 Mar '25

El año pasado se amplió a Norte América la Medición de Eficacia en Modos de Transporte, un ejercicio de ciencia ciudadana con mucho potencial de impacto en cambiar la priorización de vialidades locales, con participación de ciudades en Canada, Estados Unidos y México. Este año se esta repitiendo y lxs impulsorxs desde Chile están convocando hoy mismo a una sesión informativa. ¡Súmate para conocer más sobre la Medición de Eficiencia en Modos de Transporte (MEMT 2025)! La cita en línea es: Hoy martes 25 de marzo 19 hrs Chile/Argentina 16 hrs México : https://meet.google.com/kpa-tmex-fvi --------------------------------------------------------------------- Last year the MEMT, a citizen science exercise with great potential for impact on changing local road mobility priorities, expanded to North America with the participation of cities in Canada, US, and Mexico. This year it is being repeated and the promoters from Chile are calling for an informationalsession today. Join us to learn about the measurement of efficient modes of transporation (MEMT 2025)! The online meet is: Today Tuesday March 25th 19 hrs Chile/Argentina 16 hrs México : https://meet.google.com/kpa-tmex-fvi

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Webhosting/domains
by Bike City 25 Mar '25

25 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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Renaming the Think Tank
by Josh Bisker 22 Mar '25

22 Mar '25

Hi buds, let's talk about renaming the Think Tank in order to increase its value as a communal resource. *español abajo* As we talked about during our Bike!Bike! meetings last autumn, the Think Tank is an incredible resource but a clunky and imperfect tool. A main challenge is participation: many collectives do not participate in the Think Tank, and it's hard to bring new collectives on board, so its reach, impact, and value are limited (and maybe even decreasing). The name is one barrier we identified to participation: "The Think Tank" is a confusingly generic name for a listserv about bike collectives, and organizers with limited time and capacity are unlikely to engage with a resource that doesn't seem clearly relevant to their needs and objcetives. So: - Can we rename the Think Tank without losing the backlog of listserv messages? - Who is in a position to actually institute such a change? - What are the practical steps involved in doing so, and the consequences? - What would be a better name? "BikeCollectives" seems like perhaps the easiest, and although it's in English I imagine it's a fairly accessible phrase. "Bike Collectives Think Tank," while fun, is pretty long, and probably less linguistically accessible for non-English-speakers. - While we're at it, is anyone knowledgable about (or interested in looking into) migrating the Think Tank's archive and users from its ancient listserv platform to a more up-to-date, user-friendly replacement, like groups.io or something? I imagine there could be great tools around, like maybe even automatic translation for messages. Ok, what's your thoughts? Josh / he/him / Brooklyn *** Hola amigos, hablemos de cambiar el nombre del Think Tank para aumentar su valor como un recurso comunitario. Como comentamos durante nuestras reuniones de Bike!Bike! el otoño pasado, el Think Tank es un recurso increíble, pero una herramienta torpe e imperfecta. Uno de los principales retos es la participación: muchos colectivos no participan en el Think Tank, y es difícil conseguir que se unan nuevos, por lo que su alcance, impacto y valor son limitados (e incluso podrían estar disminuyendo). El nombre es una barrera que identificamos para la participación: "The Think Tank" es un nombre genérico y confuso para una lista de correo sobre colectivos de bicicletas, y es poco probable que los organizadores con tiempo y capacidad limitados interactúen con un recurso que no parece claramente relevante para sus necesidades y objetivos. Entonces: - ¿Podemos cambiar el nombre del Think Tank sin perder la acumulación de mensajes en la lista de correo? - ¿Quién está en condiciones de implementar realmente dicho cambio? - ¿Cuáles son los pasos prácticos para hacerlo y las consecuencias? - ¿Cuál sería un nombre mejor? "BikeCollectives" parece quizás la frase más fácil, y aunque está en inglés, imagino que es bastante accesible. "Bike Collectives Think Tank", aunque divertido, es bastante largo y probablemente menos accesible lingüísticamente para quienes no hablan inglés. - Y ya que estamos, ¿alguien sabe (o está interesado en) migrar el archivo y los usuarios del Think Tank de su antigua plataforma de listas de correo a una alternativa más moderna y fácil de usar, como groups.io o algo similar? Imagino que podría haber herramientas geniales, como incluso la traducción automática de mensajes. Bueno, ¿qué opinan? Josh / él / Brooklyn Josh Bisker | 914-500-9890 <http://voice.google.com/calls?a=nc,%2B19145009890>

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power tools at the Co-op
by weogo＠liveedge.net 21 Mar '25

21 Mar '25

Hi Folks, We currently have a 5" side grinder, 6" wheel grinder and corded and cordless drills at the Co-op. When we get back in to a larger space, we'll get the drill press out of storage. We have access to lots of construction tools when we need to build something. What power tools do you use at your Co-op? Anybody using other big tools, like a bearing press, or arbor press? Thanks and good health, Weogo

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When is Bike!?Bike!?
by bikebikesmtx2025＠gmail.com 06 Mar '25

06 Mar '25

I've had a few folks in the community reach out to me over the past few weeks asking about when Bike!Bike! Is this year and I've got nothing to tell them and that doesn't sit right with me. I checked the Facebook page the Bike!Bike! Website and here on this thinktank but there's only been one post (a post I'm incredibly excited by) in the month and a half plus since the meeting. I know a some people myself included need to request off well in advance if they want to make it or time to budget save and plan. Is there somewhere else I should be looking for an official announcement? Does anybody have any information? Let me know! En las últimas semanas, algunas personas de la comunidad se han comunicado conmigo para preguntarme cuándo se celebrará Bike!Bike! este año, pero no tengo nada que decirles y eso no me parece bien. Revisé la página de Facebook, el sitio web de Bike!Bike! y aquí, en este grupo de expertos, pero solo ha habido una publicación (una publicación que me entusiasma muchísimo) en el mes y medio que ha pasado desde la reunión. Sé que algunas personas, incluido yo mismo, deben solicitar una cita con bastante anticipación si quieren asistir o si necesitan tiempo para ahorrar y planificar. ¿Hay algún otro lugar donde deba buscar un anuncio oficial? ¿Alguien tiene alguna información? ¡Avísenme!

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Asheville Recyclery page
by weogo＠liveedge.net 05 Mar '25

05 Mar '25

Hi Folks, I'm a mechanic with the Asheville Recyclery. I tried to edit the page for the Asheville Recyclery and it would not work for me, kept getting messages that there were newer edits since I tried to update, but there isn't anything there. How do I make this work? Thanks and good health, Weogo

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Organizing a Bike!Bike! : organisational guidelines and up-to-date financial cues
by martin_labrosse.gabriel＠courrier.uqam.ca 02 Mar '25

02 Mar '25

Hello fellow CBS organizers and volunteers, I won't beat around the bush, there is a good chance a Montreal bid will be proposed at B!B!CDMX '25. Alain Deschamps and I wanted to propose in Tijuana but we stepped down seing the already great bids placed and the big conversation that ensued. We already had some sort of idea of how a B!B! is organized but I would like to see org charts, sheets and docs used for preping this wonderfull event- I've seen the docs from the B!B! in Colorado on here, but would love to see other ones. Would also like to know how much we can expect to pay to organize the B!B! in 2026. Is there any money left if the fund to help the orgarnizers or it's empty? Thanks and hopefully we see eachother in August! Gabriel ML, BQAM-E

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