- TheThinkTank - lists.bikecollectives.org

tracking statistics
by Mark Rehder 03 May '10

03 May '10

Chris or I have mentioned in the past that re-Cycles has always kept track of certain stats. And these past couple of years it has really paid off in showing how much growth we've had to cope with. As an example, in the old, windowless basement that we occupied until early 2008 we had about 1,500 people use our shop. This includes volunteers, folks doing DIY repair, and people buying stuff. In 2008, in our most recent location, that number jumped to 2,500. In 2009 that soared to 4,400! No wonder we felt a bit constrained and needed to move AGAIN. So we are now ensconced in our new digs (right beside the previous place) and we'll see how things add up this year. We also know that last year we took in at least 1,200 bikes! Many were scrapped, some donated away, and the rest built up for sale. And the last of those are selling fast. We'll exhaust our inventory of ready bikes in the next week or so, then back to our usual game of bikes going out the door as fast as we get them ready. Mark Rehder - General Manager re-Cycles Bicycle Co-op http://re-cycles.ca

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Funding
by charlie madden 01 May '10

01 May '10

To Whom... I am looking for grant funding (or any other source of funding) for Worcester (MA) Earn-A-Bike, Inc. Is anyone aware of such. I'm on the list of a number of the usual RFP postings but as of yet not come across anything even worth submitting a request to. Thanks, Charlie Madden Board Member Worcester Earn-A-Bike, Inc 34 Cambridge St Worcester, MA bikewithcharlie(a)gmail.com 206-669-2356 _________________________________________________________________ The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multicalendar&ocid=PID2…

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bikebike northeast happened
by andrew lynn 26 Apr '10

26 Apr '10

heres the growing bank of evidence. thanks again to all participants and supporters. http://www.mediasanctuary.org/blog/bikebike-northeast-weekend-media-roundup there are some really amazing photos and videos here. andrew --

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Bike!Bike! Northeast this weekend
by andrew lynn 23 Apr '10

23 Apr '10

bbne is happenin this weekend! http://troybikerescue.org/bikebikene wish us luck! tbr crew

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Building cargo bikes in developing countries
by Bob Giordano 22 Apr '10

22 Apr '10

Very cool and practical... We have a fleet of 'pixie' bikes- kids bikes with big handlebars and raised seat with reinforcement. Everyone loves riding these bikes, in parades, for jousting, to cruise. i can see easy modification for all sorts of utility bikes like the one you picture. Another reason to not recycle all the extra bikes we all get! Please try to save bikes, unless rusted. Space is an issue for all of us, but we all have a duty to try hard to reuse things. You can _always_ find free garages for storage, if you ask for a firm time line, like 6 mo. to a year. ben depp wrote: > I just wanted to share a couple easy to make cargo bikes plans. > http://annbekan.blogspot.com/ > My idea is to just show them off here in Haiti and sell a couple and hope > the idea catches on. There are plenty of old bikes and old welders > perfectly > capable of making them so I don't see a reason to set up a workshop. > -- Bob Giordano Free Cycles Missoula Shop: 732 S. 1st St. West, 541.7284 3PM-7PM Mon-Thurs & 11AM-3PM Sat Missoula Institute for Sustainable Transportation www.strans.org, mist(a)strans.org, 406-880-6834

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anyone have a good solution for old dirty rags?
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 21 Apr '10

21 Apr '10

We've got a big pile of the, waiting to be cleaned or tossed or something. What do you all do? Thanks! josh.

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Building cargo bikes in developing countries
by ben depp 21 Apr '10

21 Apr '10

I just wanted to share a couple easy to make cargo bikes plans. http://annbekan.blogspot.com/ My idea is to just show them off here in Haiti and sell a couple and hope the idea catches on. There are plenty of old bikes and old welders perfectly capable of making them so I don't see a reason to set up a workshop.

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Re: [TheThinkTank] anyone have a good solution for old dirty rags?
by winter.snowy.rose＠gmail.com 21 Apr '10

21 Apr '10

What about getting a big pot and boiling the rags? Then you can just keep a reserved pot for the purpose. Just a thought, as I've never tried it. Chloé ------Original Message------ From: Christine Bourgeois Sender: thethinktank-bounces(a)bikecollectives.org To: The Think Tank ReplyTo: The Think Tank Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] anyone have a good solution for old dirty rags? Sent: 21 Apr 2010 11:37 Yes, you will gunking up your washing machine. I tried: not a good idea... Best, Christine Education Coordinator for the Santa Barbara Bicycle Community www.sbbike.org www.bicicentro.org www.cycleMAYnia.org On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 8:32 AM, Matt Brittenham <mattface(a)gmail.com> wrote: > I don't know, but was wondering the same thing as we have the same issue. I'm thinking maybe wash on hot with bleach, and maybe some citrus based solvent, but I'm worried about gunking up my washing machine. Anyone have any firsthand experience laundering greasy rags? > > On Apr 21, 2010, at 11:24 AM, veganboyjosh(a)gmail.com wrote: > >> We've got a big pile of the, waiting to be cleaned or tossed or something. >> >> What do you all do? >> >> Thanks! >> >> josh. >> _______________________________________________ >> 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.… > -- Christine http://cbarreb.smugmug.com/ _______________________________________________ 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.… Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

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Re: [TheThinkTank] bike rental suggestions
by Corey Grazul 19 Apr '10

19 Apr '10

I'm sure the topic of bike rental has been discussed here before, but if anyone has a link, personal experience, or just some solid advice to share, I'd really appreciate it. I am part of a non-profit community bike shop in Jackson, MI and we are looking into starting a bike rental service through our shop to get more people riding and to generate a bit of income to resource our work. The primary purpose of our rental will be recreation, not transportation. What I'm looking for are some starting points in the insurance/liability/waiver arena. What are my choices, what is most cost effective, what are some specific companies worth looking into, should I just look into a rider for our current insurance, does anyone have a good template waiver to share, etc...? Any other info. about starting a bike rental service would be super helpful. Thanks, Corey Grazul The Fitness Council of Jackson On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 4:11 PM, <thethinktank-request(a)bikecollectives.org>wrote: > Send Thethinktank mailing list submissions to > thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.… > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > thethinktank-request(a)bikecollectives.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > thethinktank-owner(a)bikecollectives.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Thethinktank digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Suggestions for paid work (Chris Wells) > 2. Re: Suggestions for paid work (Scott Gibson) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 08:20:25 -0700 (PDT) > From: Chris Wells <re-cycles(a)rogers.com> > To: The Think Tank <thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org> > Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Suggestions for paid work > Message-ID: <510696.86702.qm(a)web88207.mail.re2.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > At re-Cycles we decided since (at the time) all of our labour was volunteer > that we should only consider paying wages for a service that we we unable to > accomplish with volunteer labour. So far we have applied this to?4 services. > ? > 1) Day to day contact with other organizations and media which tends to > occur during 9-5 weekdays. Most of our senior volunteer resources have full > time jobs which make them unavailable weekdays. > ? > 2) We needed to find a new shop location, move and incorporate. Arranging > all that was a significant effort that needed corrdinating and was beyond > the amount of time of any of our senior volunteers was able to donate. > ? > 3) Corrdinating the day-to-day running of the organization and doing all > the stuff that no volunteers offered to do in a timely manner. Again a > significant effort that needed corrdinating and was beyond the amount of > time of any of our senior volunteers was able to donate. > ? > 4) Extending our hours to days and weekends. We were getting overwhelmed on > the evenings we were open as well as getting many requests to be open > outside of our evening hours. We knew from past experience we did not have > any senior volunteers available/willing to work days or weekends so we > decided to offer some paid hours. > ? > Services 1-3 ended up being combied into a Director's Honararium allowing > Mark to dedicate the hours required to accomplish those tasks. The need for > service 4 is reviewed twice a year. Thus far no volunteers have come forward > to work those shifts and the work accomplished has relieved some of the > pressure from the evening shifts while also proving to be revenue positive > (after paying the wages). > > Chris Wells > (Email Handler & one of many Volunteer Head Mechanics) > > re-Cycles Bicycle Co-op > 473 Bronson Ave. Ottawa > info(a)re-cycles.ca > http://www.re-cycles.ca/ > > --- On Sun, 4/11/10, Ainsley Naylor <needleandthread(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > From: Ainsley Naylor <needleandthread(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [TheThinkTank] Suggestions for paid work > To: thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org > Date: Sunday, April 11, 2010, 10:55 AM > > > Hey folks > We have been avoiding the very loaded *paid position* conversation for > about 2 years here at Pirates. As we are getting even busier than every > before, and making more than enough money to cover our operation costs, I > think it is time to start hashing out various ideas for ways to pay for > certain tasks to be done. > > I don't think we are in the market to have a paid coordinator or shop > manager, as it would be too likely to lead to authoritarian issues and would > take up too much of our extra cash. Do folks have suggestions or examples of > small-scale employment or honorarium models that have worked for them? > > To give you a guideline let's talk about paying out less than $600 a month. > > thanks! > ainsley. > > -----Inline Attachment Follows----- > > > _______________________________________________ > 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.… >

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using soft words to explain someone has a crappy bike?
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 18 Apr '10

18 Apr '10

Hey Everyone, In the past few days, I've had several bikes people have brought in which are department store bikes of the worst kind. Pressed dropouts, steel cranks, etc. I'm sure you all know the bike of which I write. When explaining mechanical issues to the owner, sometimes the answer to "why do I keep having problems with this bike?" really does come down to a quality of manufacture issue. Of course I don't think anyone here wants to disparage someone's bike, or make them feel not worthy to be in our shops, but buying a bike at Target or Walmart does sometimes come down to a class issue. How to explain this in a way that's not as harsh? Any experiences you've had where it went wrong, or where it went really well? We really do want to encourage people to ride bikes, and getting them on a craphole Roadmaster is pretty much going to just discourage it and frustrate them after about 100 miles. Thanks, y'all. Hope you're all doing well! josh.

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