- TheThinkTank - lists.bikecollectives.org

Federal Funding - Sibley Bike Depot Bike Library
by Jason Tanzman 03 Jun '10

03 Jun '10

Sibley Bike Depot in St. Paul, MN (www.sibleybikedepot.org) recently received a $193,000 federal grant as part of the Non-motorized Transportation Pilot Program, which provided roughly $25 million each to 4 communities (Minneapolis, MN; Sheboygan, WI; Columbia, MO; Davis, CA) to promote biking and walking. The funding - allocated as part or the 2005 federal transportation bill - mostly went to large infrastructure projects like bike lanes, racks, and government programs, but in their last round of funding they gave out a few "small" grants for education/programming. The funding we got was to implement a Bike Library program - we're building a fleet of 220 bikes, equipped for transportation purposes with rack, fenders, lights, lock, helmet, and bike map to lend out to low-income communities for 6-month loan periods. In addition to bikes, we provide classes in safe cycling, bike maintenance, group rides, and really whatever programming the participants want. We are specifically focusing on making reliable bikes available to communities traditionally marginalized in the bike and transportation world, including women, immigrants, and people of color. We're lending all bikes out through partner agencies - organizations such as affordable housing agencies, job placement centers, community organizations, and more. To see a bit of press coverage we've received for the program, check out http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/89886292.html . The current federal Transportation Bill is expired (it keeps getting short extensions until they pass a new bill) - hopefully Obama and Ray LaHood will pass something that creates more opportunities to support grassroots educational programs as well as infrastructure to promote biking, walking, and transit. Maybe something will happen after the midterm elections...but I definitely see possibility in seeking federal dollars for community education programs. The only caveat - getting a federal contract is a bit of a nightmare. All federal awards are done on a reimbursement basis - i.e. you spend $20,000 then they write you a check 3 months later - which can be hard for small non-profits (we had to get a $25,000 line of credit from a local non-profit bank). There are a number of other hoops that can make it a challenge - but I think there are a lot of potential benefits. The jury is still out as to whether this program was good for Sibley to get involved with... Jason Tanzman -- Sibley Bike Depot Volunteer Coordinator 612-232-2737 (cell) 651-222-2080 (shop) www.sibleybikedepot.org Sibley Bike Depot's mission is to be an open, accessible space to educate and empower people to use bicycles as transportation, helping to build a sustainable environment and community. Volunteer with us to help build a bicycling movement in the Twin Cities!

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TE money
by Sarah Green 03 Jun '10

03 Jun '10

Has anyone received Transportation Enhancement money for educational programs... in this scenario obviously regarding bicycles? I am proposing a program here in Delaware and the guys at DelDOT want to hear from another organization who's received a TE grant for something similar. If you have gotten a TE grant or know an organization who has, please let me know! Thanks, Sarah Urban Bike Project

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volunteer hours
by Sarah Green 03 Jun '10

03 Jun '10

sorry if this is a double post but- this goes out to any organization who does work trade... ie, people can buy things in the shop in exchange for volunteering. -how do you delegate jobs to volunteers who don't know how to work on bikes? -what jobs do you have for that kind of volunteer (drop-in) to do? -is there a space separate from functioning Open Shop space where they work? We have thought about this idea as both a good way to compensate volunteers and also a good incentive to recruit volunteer hours, but we have found that the delegation of tasks, the increased volume in the shop, and the lack of bicycle related knowledge in volunteers has made this more work for us than it is worth. Any ideas or suggestions would be welcomed! Sarah Urban Bike Project

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subscribe
by Sarah Green 03 Jun '10

03 Jun '10

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Working on expensive bikes in your shop.
by Brian 29 May '10

29 May '10

Hi again. Thanks for the replies to the previous thread, hopefully people found the responses useful. Selling expensive bikes wasn't my question though, perhaps I left my question too open ended. Retry: If a customer walks into your shop with a $5k carbon fiber road bike and wants help doing xxx. Do you have any shop guidelines on what is "too risky" in terms of possible damage to the bike? Perhaps it depends if there is a professional mechanic in the shop at the time, etc... Perhaps you don't care what people do and it's all covered under "we are not responsible"? We've debated it among ourselves at SLO Bike Kitchen. Part of our thought is that it's their bike, we are just there to help. The opposite argument is that they expect us to know everything, and it's sometimes/usually hard to keep track of every step someone does, which may result in them doing something unfortunate while unsupervised. In our case, we are 100% DYI w/us to help and we have no professional service side to the shop. We are also 100% volunteer. Thanks! Brian SLO Bike Kitchen www.slobikekitchen.org

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Expensive bikes in your shop.
by Brian 27 May '10

27 May '10

Hi everybody. What policies do you have or not have concerning work/help with expensive equipment. For example, what are the scenarios in your shop when a full carbon Campy Record bike walks in the door? I could be more specific with questions, but perhaps you could just comment on what discussions you've had among your organizations. Thanks! Brian SLO Bike Kitchen Co-Founder www.slobikekitchen.org

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French DIY bike collective launches website
by Cascadian Fox 27 May '10

27 May '10

Hello, Most of it is pictures (go to the photo section) : http://ateliervelo.free.fr/index.php?id=5 We are in Lyon France in a huge hanger. We make a lot of DIY HPVs from almost 100 percent recycled trash bikes. bikes, fox

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Sorting Bicycles
by Ainsley Naylor 27 May '10

27 May '10

hey all, here is a not-so-hypothetical question. If you had to sort a lot of bicycles (I mean a lot, like a few thousand) how would you do it? The purpose would be to sort them in a user-friendly way, so that in the future you could find the bikes you need (i.e. bikes for a youth program, bikes to sell, bikes to strip) as easily as possible. The bikes will be staying in the same location for the most part which calls for a good sort and store method, although dispersal of the bikes to other spaces will also be easier if we sort them properly. The best suggestion so far is to sort them by wheel size but these bikes don't have their wheels attached - what a headache - so I'm looking for other suggestions. Thanks! Ainsley and the FUCKIGOR bicycle collective :)

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Re: [TheThinkTank] Thethinktank Digest, Vol 45, Issue 17
by B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop 26 May '10

26 May '10

After doing 200+ safety checks at a police bike auction last weekend, Sarah and I here at B!KE developed a pretty finely tuned sense of bike triage :) (which, of course, will be no match for yours after this project!) While a positive/negative result in any of these situations doesn't necessarily mean the bike is toast, it's a good way to get a quick sense of how much work is needed - and possible to teach a volunteer who don't have strong repair skills. + is the frame damaged? + try to twist the stem with the F wheel between yer legs. While a twistable stem may just be loose, I'm always amazed at how many quill wedges have been stripped on cheaper bikes. + check the F + R hubs (if present) for knock + check the headset for loose/tight + check BB for knock + would it be hypothetically possible to turn the wheel with a chain? + would it be hypothetically possible to stop the bike with at least one brake (while gently coasting uphill...?) + general state of housing, cable, tires (if any). This is just what my morning brain produces, and is more or less what we were doing in the parade of sad overvalued bicycles coming out of the police auction. I think the general idea would be to make a checklist and, if you're feeling particularly organized, including details like frame type, size and colour has the beginnings of a most awesome database, then add up the number of answers one way or another to 'triage' the bike. I wouldn't get too caught up in trying to sort by wheel size, but if that is what makes sense to you, you could do too things: 1) Guess. most 99% of older steel road bikes 'round these parts are going to be 27 x 1 1/4, older cruisers will be 26 x 1 3/8, mountain bikes with be 26 x [decimal], etc. 2) You could try measuring from centre of dropouts to centre of brake pads. This should (hypothetically) be half the ISO bead seat diameter number listed on the side of of the tire. I.e., 27 x 1 1/4 = 630mm = 315mm from c-dropout to c-brake pad (obviously allow for some margin of error) 700c = 622mm = 311mm and so on. The ones I would most focus on would be the older looking cruisers with their impossibly non-standard tire sizes! Good luck! Clifford McCarten B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop 400 Wolfe St, Peterborough ON (705) 748-6681 http://www.communitybikeshop.org > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 25 May 2010 20:19:23 -0400 > From: Ainsley Naylor <needleandthread(a)gmail.com> > To: The Think Tank <thethinktank(a)bikecollectives.org> > Subject: [TheThinkTank] Sorting Bicycles > Message-ID: > <AANLkTingSliDf0PTNjkVMesgfI20WFmNeajnKidvnOAU(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > hey all, here is a not-so-hypothetical question. If you had to sort a lot of > bicycles (I mean a lot, like a few thousand) how would you do it? The > purpose would be to sort them in a user-friendly way, so that in the future > you could find the bikes you need (i.e. bikes for a youth program, bikes to > sell, bikes to strip) as easily as possible. The bikes will be staying in > the same location for the most part which calls for a good sort and store > method, although dispersal of the bikes to other spaces will also be easier > if we sort them properly. > > The best suggestion so far is to sort them by wheel size but these bikes > don't have their wheels attached - what a headache - so I'm looking for > other suggestions. > > Thanks! > Ainsley and the FUCKIGOR bicycle collective > :) >

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buenos aires
by Jodie Banks 24 May '10

24 May '10

Does anyone know of a volunteer bicycle shop or coop in Buenos Aires? The internet has not turned up much. Thanks! Jodie Off the Chain Bicycles, Anchorage, AK

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