- TheThinkTank - lists.bikecollectives.org

JA Stein and boutique
by Leslie Peteya 24 Jul '14

24 Jul '14

Hi everyone, Has anyone ordered from JA Stein lately? We have several specialty tools we'd like to order from him (frame and fork jig) and haven't heard from him since December. If he's not making tools anymore, does anyone know of any other toolmakers who can produce the more uncommon tools? Best, Leslie Durham Bike Coop

5 5

Earn-a-Bike documentation and reporting?
by Lauren Warbeck 21 Jul '14

21 Jul '14

Hey Folks! When not immersed in planning an Ohio-themed Bike! Bike! fundraiser dance party (!!!), I'm actually doing other for real work. Including the exploration of formats, documentation, and reporting for our youth volunteering and Earn-a-Bike programs. Here in British Columbia, high school students are required to complete something like 30 hours of work experience (ie free labour) to graduate, and we get a lot of youth completing this requirement at our shops. We also run pretty informal Earn-a-Bike programs for youth who are in unconventional education settings, accessing social services, in alternative programs, or can't access our in-school programming for any variety of reasons. Lots of these kids are really focused on getting a job, but we can rarely accommodate that. I'm in the process of creating a checklist/worksheet of mechanical and interpersonal skills acquired by youth as they volunteer in our spaces. The idea is that it would include gradients of skill, becoming increasingly more complex as time goes on. It would be used to guide their time in the shop, and also document what they've learned. It would be the youth's responsibility to fill the checklist out over time and have staff sign off on it, and when it's completed, we would write them a letter of recommendation to be used in applying for jobs, school, whateva. So....do yall have anything like this in place? Or any other relevant Earn-a-Bike or alternative youth programming materials I can creep and reap? SEND THEM TO ME! Thanks buddiez! Lauren @ OCB

4 5

Bike rental advice
by Jennifer Kay 21 Jul '14

21 Jul '14

Hello, We - La Bikery Cooperative in Moncton, NB, Canada - are writing a business plan for a small-scale bike rental business. *If your bike organization rents bicycles*, *we would LOVE your input !* *The survey is found here: * https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LaBikeryBikeRental Just fill in what you know. It should take about 15 minutes. We are asking for your responses by this *Friday July 25*. *Thank you!!* *[image: Inline image 1]*

1 0

Disabling frames to be scrapped?
by Andrew Shooner 21 Jul '14

21 Jul '14

Our shop recently changed our procedure regarding scrap bikes: any donated bikes that we conclude we will scrap rather than rehab & redistribute are now disabled by cutting the frame of the bike. Recently, some donated bike that had been put in our scrap pile appeared on Craigslist. We had two concerns: first, that donors would be unhappy that their donations were being sold by another party, and second that we could develop a reputation as a source of scrap bikes to be picked and sold elsewhere (and usually those bikes were beyond safe repair). I'd like to hear other perspectives. Is controlling the use of donated bikes (to maintain the integrity of a donation as well as the safety of bikes coming through the shop) worth disabling a bike that might otherwise be reused downstream? Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY

11 11

Ride club curriculum
by Cweibel, Rebecca 20 Jul '14

20 Jul '14

Hi folks, I'm also new to this resource, but loving it! Forgive me if this sort of thing has already been asked, or if you're getting this a second time because I've already emailed you personally. I'm working with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia and Neighborhood Bike Works to create a curriculum toolkit for a month-long youth ride club. We'd love to hear from everyone with youth ride clubs (or even adult programs, if they're not endurance training-based), and we're especially interested in projects concerned with environmental stewardship. Do you have any sort of curriculum materials for anything in these areas? I'd love to see comprehensive curriculum, but even week-by-week topics/bullet points would be really helpful. Many thanks in advance! Rebecca

3 3

membership/donor management software
by Falls City Community BikeWorks 17 Jul '14

17 Jul '14

Hey all, I'm new to this community resource, but love it already. Such creativity out there! I'm trying to find some free/cheap software to help organize our new community bikeshop's mushrooming files. I've looked at BigTent, GroupSpaces, MemberPlanet, and SilkStart...they don't do what I need them to, and really just create more work... Features wishlist includes: - Membership management (with admin ability to add members, a way to attach a signed waiver to each member account, and easy option to send out membership renewal reminders) - Shop calendar (with sign-up options) - Donor management (with option to track donations) - Online payment option (or ability to link to PayPal) Any advice (pro/con) about the software you've tried would be greatly appreciated. With gratitude, Bella Isabella Christensen & John Krueger (FCCBikeWorks) 502-558-3157 / 859-221-5329 https://www.facebook.com/FCCBikeworks http://bicyclingforlouisville.org/#fccb

9 12

Volunteer Scheduling and Hours Tracking
by Andy Bakker 17 Jul '14

17 Jul '14

Hello everyone, We're looking to improve our system for both scheduling and tracking volunteer hours. Right now we have a spreadsheet in google docs but it doesn't get used very often and can be confusing for new folks. Does anyone have a good system for volunteer hours, either electronic or that we could use in the shop? Thanks! Andy Bakker http://www.velocitycoop.org

5 4

Announcing: Peterborough Youth Bike Summit
by Tessa Nasca 16 Jul '14

16 Jul '14

Greetings from up north in Peterborough, Ontario! I am writing to announce Peterborough is gearing up to host its first ever Youth Bike Summit. The summit theme is "People Powered! DIY Bicycle Friendly Communities", and the event is scheduled to occur on October 4, 2014. The summit will feature youth-lead workshops and discussions, a DIY bike maker's space, bike maintenance courses, and youth advocacy opportunities. The summit will run concurrently with our 4th annual Peterborough and the Kawarthas Cycling Summit, but the Youth Bike Summit will be entirely youth-lead and youth-oriented. We are currently seeking workshop facilitators, presenters, and maker's space contributors. A call for proposals is attached to this email, and we gladly accept out of town proposals. We have a small budget to help cover speaker costs, and are happy to help arrange billet in Peterborough if your presentation is selected. If any young people from your respective organizations are interested in attending, the summit registration is FREE, and we would love to have you! :) Don't hesitate to contact me with questions or workshop proposals. Cheers, -- Tessa Nasca Program Coordinator B!KE: The Peterborough Community Cycling Hub communitybikeshop.org

2 1

San Diego's Bikes del Pueblo needs your help!
by Olivier 15 Jul '14

15 Jul '14

Hello! We are Bikes del Pueblo, San Diego's bike kitchen! We've been operating since 2008 from member's garages and basements, doing clinics and workshops with a lot of local organizations, and have been present at our Farmer's Market every Saturday since 4 years! We also went to Bici!Bici! in Oakland last year and many of our members have visited and been inspired by other Bike Kitchen in the US and other countries. Now we want to get a permanent workspace so we could be open more days, do more workshops, accommodate more people at the same time, store more donations, etc... I am sure you know how having a space is important for a bike kitchen! We started an online crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bikes-del-pueblo/x/8096365 The goal is to raise $10,000 to secure 6 months of rent, cover some moving expenses and have a reserve for rainy days! So please check our video, donate if you can and most of all share with your networks of friends and bike supporters! Thank you so much for your support! Bikes del Pueblo!

1 0

Re: [TheThinkTank] Good parts storage?
by Gordon Hamachi 15 Jul '14

15 Jul '14

Some good ideas for bike storage are here: http://bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/1221/diy-wooden-bike-rack-looki… On Jul 3, 2014 1:35 PM, <DCoppley(a)intercitytransit.com> wrote: > Hey bike folks, > > > > I am trying to whip the bike and parts storage space for our program into > shape. I scored some nice industrial shelving hand-me-downs, but I need > smaller storage containers (boxes, crates, etc) to store parts in. I don’t > particularly want to use plastic, as I’ve found most of it breaks. Does > anyone have any good solutions for sturdy, stackable storage? Thanks for > reading, > > > > David >

3 2