- TheThinkTank - lists.bikecollectives.org

Freehub database
by andrew lynn 05 Sep '09

05 Sep '09

a few people brought up 'Freehub' database application (i believe developed at the bike kitchen?) in various contexts at BikeBike. Does anyone know how to get any more info on it? Is it free? does it require a dedicated server? is it modular? is it web-based? what is it useful for? Andrew Troy Bike Rescue -- andrew lynn | 518-573-7947 | troy, ny digital media | bike repair | tree work http://www.breathingplanet.net http://www.troybikerescue.org http://www.mediasanctuary.org http://flickr.com/photos/breathingplanet

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Think Tank, and Uniting the Rebels.
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 03 Sep '09

03 Sep '09

Hey Everyone, Thanks for coming to bikebike! and being so participatory. I got home, went over my notes, and realized I have two lists of email addresses. Apologies to everyone who's already on the thinktank list for receiving this twice. Just wanted to get this out to as many of you as possible. Please forward to those you think might be interested. One is folks who didn't know about or how to sign up for the Think Tank email listserv. To do that, just click the link below this paragraph, and you'll be added. It's not moderated, so if ever you decide that you don't want to receive emails anymore you'll need to unsubscribe yourself. <TheThinkTank-leave(a)bikecollectives.org> To manage your subscription, plase visit:http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollec… The other list I have, and I suspect some folks who aren't on ThinkTank will be interested in, is those of us who spoke about joining forces as collective bike shops into one big organization, or a federation, or something. The three big things this organization would do are: - Serve as a (501c3) fiscal sponsor for startups. Of course, this would only be offered to bike projects in the US, as other countries have other systems and requirements. Insurance also was mentioned as a possible benefit. - Be able to potentially approach tool and/or part manufacturers directly for lower cost for frequently ordered consumables like cables, brake pads, etc. - Offer some sort of structure for a "Woofing <http://www.wwoof.org/>" type program, where mechanics and organizers from one organization could visit and stay with another organization to check out their systems and organization. - Lastly, and the most easily doled out benefit this group could offer would be startup help for burgeoning projects. Either in the form of money that's collected from existing projects, grants, sales of parts to for-profit shops, etc...; and/or wisdom through offering sample paperwork from other orgs, such as sign up sheets, flyers, curricula, etc. The last one there seemed like the easiest place to start, since a knowledge share wouldn't require all that much infrastructure to establish. In fact, it's already in the works. There is a google spreadsheet here<http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=tEo1aMT9rFo0CgB_ESvW5JQ&hl=en>that hopefully will grow as folks add their information and add columns to track info for other shops, and we can use this to network with shops doing similar work, or with similar programs. Please add your project's name, and it's details when you get a chance. I've volunteered to be the lead person in getting this process started, but I have no experience organizing a group of existing organizations, so hopefully someone else can step in and offer up some expertise and keep the momentum going. Thanks to everyone who came to the workshops, discussed options and potential conflicts. I don't think any of the bulleted list above is out of our reach, but navigating through some of the trickier bits via email could eat up some time. josh.

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bike bike 09 on Flickr?
by Boson Au 03 Sep '09

03 Sep '09

So I uploaded my personal bike bike pics up on flickr w the tag bikebike2009 if no one objects, perhaps we can all do that for this year's pics? I'd love to show people back home how awesome this was. -Boson Au velocipede bike project baltimore md velocipedebikeproject.org

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BikeBike Northeast!?!?
by andrew lynn 02 Sep '09

02 Sep '09

hi everyone. mad props to the grease pit!!!! Mnpls rawked. what do people think about a possible BikeBike NE????? Our long ponderous car trip back combined with numerous people expressing interest in visiting us here in upstate NY hatched the idea of BikeBike Northeast April 2010. This is the email where we put it out there and see what kind of feedback comes back. Why BikeBike Northeast? 1)we dont have to wait a whole year for that bikebike feeling. 2)there is bikebike southeast, right? 3)there are a bunch of shops in these here states over here that werent represented (consciously or unconsciously) at the nat'l conference. 4) hosting bikebike NE would help us jumpstart our summer building bicycle culture and community because it would be a local event as well as a broad regional one. 5)this bikebike would show off our lack of infrastructure and midwestern motorist niceness, thereby strengthening bikebikers urban riding skills and temporarily importing cycling culture to help people understand what we are talking about. What would happen at BikeBike NE? workshops & discussions for fledgling shops, mini film festival, more welding, trailer building, exploring urban ruins on bike, an Albany-style alleycat, and bla bla bla. whatever you all want to happen? Where would this go down? primarily at the Sanctuary for Independent Media (http://mediasanctuary.org), our awesome, volunteer-run community media center. When? Seems like April 23-24 is OK. before bike month, but most of the snow will have possibly maybe kind of melted. Who? Delaware, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Ithaca, Montpelier, Burlington, New Hampshire, Boston, State College PA, Providence, Worcester, NYC, various known on-campus projects..... and??? OK. So this is really just the notes of an earlier brainstorm. what do you all thinks???? Andrew & the TBR crew http://troybikerescue.org

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bike bike 2010?
by Boson Au 01 Sep '09

01 Sep '09

hey everyone, first of all, I just want to say that bike!bike! was rad. I'm happy that I met some new people and reconnected with others. I know that next year's will be held in toronto, but I was wondering if we know what date(s) this will take place? A collective member here works as a nurse and due to that, she has to schedule days off as early in advance as possible. So if the toronto folks can give even an approx week that it will happen itd help her out a lot. thanks in advance -Boson Au velocipede bike project baltimore, md

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Our Booth at Interbike 2009
by Jonathan Morrison 26 Aug '09

26 Aug '09

The Bike Collective Network booth is scheduled for Interbike in the same place as last year. It wasn't in the cards for me to go to Bike!Bike! this year, but if everyone can bring materials from their shop to Bike!Bike! and entrust them with someone who is going to Interbike to drop off at the booth, we we gladly display them. Feel free to send pictures and videos (with labels) to me and we can make a display of them too. Everybody loves pictures. In addition, if you are going to Interbike, let us know, we need people to staff the booth. A large group is staying at Circus Circus and you can get a room with two beds for $22 a night right now on hotels.com. We are cramming as many people in a room as possible to keep the costs down. Sincerely, Jonathan Morrison Executive Director Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective 2312 S. West Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84115 w: 801-328-2453 c: 801-688-0183 f: 801-466-3856 www.slcbikecollective.org Get Addicted to Crank! http://www.slcbikecollective.org/crank/ The mission of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective is to promote cycling as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Bicycle Collective provides refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community, focusing on children and lower income households. On Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 10:24 AM, Jonathan Morrison < jonathan(a)slcbikecollective.org> wrote: > Like last year the Bike Collective Network will have an advocacy booth at > Interbike (www.interbike.com) from Sept 24th until Sept 26th. Yes, they > scheduled Bike!Bike! on top of it this year. So if you are not planning on > going to Bike!Bike! this is a great opportunity for grants, tools, parts, > sponsorships, manufacturer seconds, networking, professional workshops that > will put your head in a whirl for months, and not to mention tearing up the > Vegas strip on a bike. So three things: > > 1) This booth is for all of us, and people with deep pockets ask where the > closest community bike shop for a donation, it is helpful if we can give > them your info. So please mail any materials you want handed out before > Sept 22nd to: 2312 S. West Temple; Salt Lake City, UT 84115. If you have > photo albums, they would be great and we will mail them back after the show. > > 2) We will be printing out copies of the Bike Collective Network Directory > (not the wiki) to hand out, so please make sure you are listed. > http://www.bikecollectives.org/component/option,com_sobi2/sobi2Task,addNew/ > > 3) If you are planning on going to Interbike, please contact me (off the > list) so we can establish some volunteer shifts at the booth. If you are > coming alone feel free to room and board with us, we usually get a bunch of > rooms at Circus Circus and pack as many people in as possible. > > -- > Sincerely, > > Jonathan Morrison > Executive Director > Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective > 2312 S. West Temple > Salt Lake City, UT 84115 > w: 801-328-2453 > c: 801-688-0183 > f: 801-466-3856 > www.slcbikecollective.org > > Get Addicted to Crank! > http://www.slcbikecollective.org/crank/ > > The mission of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective is to promote cycling > as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone > of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Bicycle Collective provides > refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community, focusing on > children and lower income households. >

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Re: [TheThinkTank] Thethinktank Digest, Vol 36, Issue 33
by Emily Lindberg 26 Aug '09

26 Aug '09

Recycle-a-bike in providence will be working at Interbike east coast outdoor demo, as well running Roller races and raffle, a bike in movie, and bike vallet. Anyone interested in helping out email emily(a)recycleabike.org, or come by for the events in the evening! happy biking! On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 4:07 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. Our Booth at Interbike 2009 (Jonathan Morrison) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:52:29 -0600 > From: Jonathan Morrison <jonathan(a)slcbikecollective.org> > To: The Think Tank <thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org> > Subject: [TheThinkTank] Our Booth at Interbike 2009 > Message-ID: > <4dd29fd10908260852md8d9408s3df4ed77b453df19(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > The Bike Collective Network booth is scheduled for Interbike in the same > place as last year. It wasn't in the cards for me to go to Bike!Bike! this > year, but if everyone can bring materials from their shop to Bike!Bike! and > entrust them with someone who is going to Interbike to drop off at the > booth, we we gladly display them. > > Feel free to send pictures and videos (with labels) to me and we can make a > display of them too. Everybody loves pictures. > > In addition, if you are going to Interbike, let us know, we need people to > staff the booth. A large group is staying at Circus Circus and you can get > a room with two beds for $22 a night right now on hotels.com. We are > cramming as many people in a room as possible to keep the costs down. > > Sincerely, > > Jonathan Morrison > Executive Director > Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective > 2312 S. West Temple > Salt Lake City, UT 84115 > w: 801-328-2453 > c: 801-688-0183 > f: 801-466-3856 > www.slcbikecollective.org > > Get Addicted to Crank! > http://www.slcbikecollective.org/crank/ > > The mission of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective is to promote cycling > as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone > of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Bicycle Collective provides > refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community, focusing on > children and lower income households. > > > On Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 10:24 AM, Jonathan Morrison < > jonathan(a)slcbikecollective.org> wrote: > > > Like last year the Bike Collective Network will have an advocacy booth > at > > Interbike (www.interbike.com) from Sept 24th until Sept 26th. Yes, they > > scheduled Bike!Bike! on top of it this year. So if you are not planning > on > > going to Bike!Bike! this is a great opportunity for grants, tools, parts, > > sponsorships, manufacturer seconds, networking, professional workshops > that > > will put your head in a whirl for months, and not to mention tearing up > the > > Vegas strip on a bike. So three things: > > > > 1) This booth is for all of us, and people with deep pockets ask where > the > > closest community bike shop for a donation, it is helpful if we can give > > them your info. So please mail any materials you want handed out before > > Sept 22nd to: 2312 S. West Temple; Salt Lake City, UT 84115. If you have > > photo albums, they would be great and we will mail them back after the > show. > > > > 2) We will be printing out copies of the Bike Collective Network > Directory > > (not the wiki) to hand out, so please make sure you are listed. > > > http://www.bikecollectives.org/component/option,com_sobi2/sobi2Task,addNew/ > > > > 3) If you are planning on going to Interbike, please contact me (off the > > list) so we can establish some volunteer shifts at the booth. If you are > > coming alone feel free to room and board with us, we usually get a bunch > of > > rooms at Circus Circus and pack as many people in as possible. > > > > -- > > Sincerely, > > > > Jonathan Morrison > > Executive Director > > Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective > > 2312 S. West Temple > > Salt Lake City, UT 84115 > > w: 801-328-2453 > > c: 801-688-0183 > > f: 801-466-3856 > > www.slcbikecollective.org > > > > Get Addicted to Crank! > > http://www.slcbikecollective.org/crank/ > > > > The mission of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective is to promote > cycling > > as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a > cornerstone > > of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Bicycle Collective > provides > > refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community, focusing > on > > children and lower income households. > > >

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Non-Profit Industrial Complex
by Macho Philipovich 24 Aug '09

24 Aug '09

Hi everyone, It looks like I'm not going to make it to Bike!Bike! this year, but there was a discussion I was really wanting to initiate. It mostly comes out of lived experience, but is well-articulated by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence in a recent book they wrote called "The Revolution will not be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex" I would love for people, especially those in shops with an anti-capitalist/non-hierarchichal/anti-oppressive bent to them to have a look at that book and then to have discussion around some of the points raised, specifically of limitations in 501(c)3, state funding, and foundation funding models. If people have had a chance to look at the book and would like to discuss it here, that would be great, but even better would be if there were someone willing to lead a discussion next month in Minneapolis. Macho http://bike-dump.ca

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Re: [TheThinkTank] Thethinktank Digest, Vol 36, Issue 28
by Clifford McCarten 24 Aug '09

24 Aug '09

Before I get into the distributer stuff, I want to SINCERELY THANK the bike!bike! organizers for sending us the BEAUTIFUL poster and invite. We received it a while back and have affixed it to the wall for good. It made us so happy to feel included in the bikey community (and the poster was gorgeous). We can't make it this year, but have applied for funding that might send us next year. -- Distributer stuff: This is a really exciting project that some of you are taking on, and I echo Geoffrey's comments below about the need for such an org in Canada. The relative ease with which an account can be had through Babac (Quebec distributer) does little to make up for the fact that they're stocked with bottom of the barrel parts. This and the annually increasing minimum to place an order makes a less-than-ideal situation. co-op/shop needs -low volume supply of basic, quality parts -ease of account acquistion (a way to give ordering accounts to orgs that haven't incorporated yet) -ability to sell parts without having a pristine storefront (a requirement for many brands) Obviously, this is a complicated situation, because the bike shop and its users buck the familiar way that capitalism mediates buying/ selling privileges. But nothing we do is easy, right? Shimano's Canadian headquarters is in my city, there is potential to talk with them directly. I'm keen to stay a part of this discussion: are there other canadian shops on this list that see a need for a co-op distributer? Clifford McCarten Co-Director, B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop 400 Wolfe St, Peterborough ON K9J 2P3 (705) 748-6681 http://www.communitybikeshop.org On 21-Aug-09, at 6:01 PM, thethinktank-request(a)bikecollectives.org wrote: > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:01:01 -0400 > From: Geoffrey B <vous.je(a)gmail.com> > To: The Think Tank <thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org> > Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Distributors and interacting with the > profit model > Message-ID: > <6ff82e30908211501y557c22e7y9b7d9a453b4194a9(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > In canada, the need for a community operated distibution network is > much > needed. > > I have been frozen out of accounts with big distributors because of > our > close proximity to other bike shops. I was even thinking about > creating a > mail box outside of our city to take on bigger distributors...thus > your idea > of a community operated distro. > > We send out about 3k a month to local Qubec based distro such as > Damco, and > Babac, even a West Coast distro wants our orders...Asama. > > Creating a go to for up and coming community shops is a must. We > need to > make accessibility to basic parts and tools a priority for small > community > initiatives in Canada, America and the United Mexico. > > Geoffrey > Bike Pirates > Toronto, Canada > > ********************************************

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Distributors and interacting with the profit model
by Rigel Christian 21 Aug '09

21 Aug '09

Hi, I had an interesting discussion with someone who worked at a smaller distributor today. I had called in order to try and cultivate a business relationship for our local co-op, which is in desperate need of tools and consumable parts like bearings and cables. He mentioned that a lot more co-ops were inquiring about accounts. He also told me the reasons why co-op/DIY shops were problematic from his end, and it's a reasonable criticism from that perspective. Individually, we simply dont do the volume of business necessary to be attractive to a business interest. The time necessary to administer and verify an account that does maybe a couple hundred dollars worth of business a month for the higher traffic shops kind of burns your profit margins, which are not large at that level. distributors count on reliable, volume business to stay afloat, and take a smaller cut of profit on the assumption that that's the type of business theyll be doing. I've know that some of the longer running co-ops and collectives have relationships with distributors, but clearly many of the newer ones do not. I'm curious about a couple of things. 1) Does your collective have a relationship with a parts distributor? 2) Regardless of the answer to #1, roughly how much does your shop spend on tools/consumables/things-that-one-would-get-from-a-distributor? It seems to me that in the first few years of a co-op/nonprofit/collective situation, lots or most of these organizations leverage either existing ties to, or the goodwill of LBSes. My suspicion is that in some edge cases, where the bike or DIY culture isnt all that strong, this can be a fairly significant issue for a fledgling operation, in terms of both finances and social capital. The idea that i'm trying to push here is that of a sort of buyers club. Disregarding for the moment the perfectly valid criticisms of the legal structure of 501(c)3s, if there was a nonprofit that could act as a go-between for a parts distributor and a number of regional shops, that would serve the needs of both the for-profit distributors AND the co-op shops. distributors wouldnt have to deal with as much volatility from taking on co-ops as charity cases, and co-ops banding together could drive the price of a lot of the most necessary consumables and parts down even further than their current distributor relationships can offer. in the ideal case, of course. I would appreciate any input people have. I dont know if this has been suggested before (I suspect it has), but i didnt see anything in my archive of the last year or so. If I'm totally off base in my assumptions I'd like to know that too, where i went wrong, and what the real deal is. cheers.

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