- TheThinkTank - lists.bikecollectives.org

getting organized, growing from one event to the next.
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 13 Dec '09

13 Dec '09

Something I've been working on lately is a template for organizing an event and/or a program. It seemed like every time we put on a class, or a workshop or an event, we had to reinvent the thing, since no one had taken notes on what worked or didn't work last time. We've come up with a pretty simple multi-page spreadsheet that helps parse out tasks, duties, and timelines for things. It allows us to document the procedure for setting up an event or class (say, an open house, or a workshop) and then keep track of everything that needs to happen, what allies you can rely on, what their contact info is, other resources, food donors, space resources, all of it. After the event, it's also vital to do post-event evaluations, and include that information in your spreadsheet. What went wrong, what went well, what did you forget? Then, the next time someone, or you, wants to do the event again, all you have to do is call up your template, and do what's on the list of tasks. This time, you'll have your notes on what you forgot the first time, who helped you last time, who was good at what task, etc. Every time we start a new project here at Community Cycles, we draw up one of these templates, and start plugging in dates and names and tasks. We use a simple Google spreadsheet, which makes it easy to delegate and share responsibilites, and see waht people are up to. We're getting to the point now where we're able to rely on the spreadhseet info to do the event again, and it's proven SO helpful. When it's time to put the class on again, you just get the plan out of the box, and go down the list. You've taken notes on it already, so you know that if you do everything on the list, then it will be at least as successful and professional as the last time you did it. This isn't specific to bike projects, either. I've imagined it fitting with my old office job for projects or campaigns that we worked on. I think it could even work on personal around-the-house projects if they're sufficiently big enough to warrant their own planning process. I'm working on a "demo model" that has comments explaining some of the inner workings of it. I would love to share it with anyone who's interested. If you would like to check it out hit me up off list and I'll share the sample I have, which does not have comments just yet. Sorry this email is so disjointed, in case anyone's still reading. I didn't plan on mentioning/releasing this thing, but got excited with all the bikebikes happening, and wanted to share. Thanks everyone. josh.

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Re: [TheThinkTank] 4 Bike Bikes
by Ainsley Naylor 12 Dec '09

12 Dec '09

Actually there are 5 - Montreal hosted the first "Velo Velo" conference this past September. Personally I can understand wanting to get together with folks who share your region, climate, state motto, etc. - there are probably a dozen projects in the smaller cities around Toronto we could share ideas with! - but I can also see the drawbacks to having these separate events. There can be a drain on energy and resources (five groups spending several months organizing something on top of their ongoing bike-project work instead of just one group making the sacrifice), as well as the potential to feel competition and folks having to decide which event to attend. We can only get so much time off of work, afterall. Anyhow, maybe we can all keep this in mind to discuss at any and all of these conferences. Or continue discussion here! high fives, Ainsley Pirate.

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Mountain States Regional Bikebike in Boulder, CO! Mark your calenders! March 19th through the 21st, 2010
by veganboyjosh＠gmail.com 12 Dec '09

12 Dec '09

If you're reading this, you are invited to Boulder to the first ever Mountain States Regional bikebike! It'll be held from March 19th through March 21st, 2010, in Boulder, Colorado. We don't have the registration site set up yet, but when we do, we'll post it. This email is just to let you know it is happening, and to mark your calenders. We're also accepting suggestions for workshops, activities, and any other suggestions you may have. Please know this is not in any way meant to take away from the big Bikebike that's happening in Toronto. We had a bunch of comrades here who couldn't make it to Minneapolis, and we wanted to get together with them. We figured while we're planning this thing, we could invite as many folks as want to come. Anyone is welcome to come to our little version bikebike. No bike shop or organization is to small or large. If you're interested, or have ideas, please let me know. We'll be doing some digging to find some of the smaller projects in the area that either don't know about the international network/movement, or haven't made it to a bikebike yet. Thanks, everyone. Can't wait to see you locals, and I can't wait to see everyone else in August! Josh and the crew at Community Cycles.

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Re: [TheThinkTank] Thethinktank Digest, Vol 40, Issue 7
by Jason Tanzman 09 Dec '09

09 Dec '09

Sibley Bike Depot in St. Paul, MN periodically gets donations of police department bikes. They are usually given to us by small suburban communities (St. Paul and Minneapolis auction their bikes off to raise money). Our police dept bikes come with no programmatic strings attached - we can do whatever we want with the bikes. For small or start-up coops, police departments can be reliable sources of bikes. Often they want you to be either a 501c3 or have a sponsoring organization but not always. Especially for small townships, it isn't worth their energy to auction the bikes off - it just doesn't make enough money to be worth it (distinctly different than a place like Toronto or Minneapolis or other medium to big cities). I would warn folks that police department "donations" can be useful but can also be a huge pain in the butt. 2 month ago, we got a load of like 75 bikes of which they were pretty much all worthless and we had to remove the rubber and such to recycle all of them - basically it was a bunch of extra work for us to process abandoned junk. In terms of bike acquisition - I think that doing "bike drives" of various sorts - with churches, businesses, neighborhoods, etc can be a more effective way of acquiring decent bikes for all your different bike coop programs. It also gets the word out to lots of individuals who potentially become supporters of your organization in different ways. 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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anyone know of a nonprofit bike depot that handles unclaimed stolen/impound bikes?
by Andrea Smith 09 Dec '09

09 Dec '09

Hi Everyone, I'm looking for an example of a city where a community bike shop handles all impounded bikes at a central location and then refurbishes and sells the ones that aren't claimed. I work on cycling issues in Vancouver and Victoria on the west coast of BC, Canada, and the current situation (where if the cops can't find the owner of a stolen they sell it and keep the money) is seriously messed up. I'd like to propose an alternative where a nonprofit could be set up to handle the whole impound process, and it'd be great if I could point to an example where it's already done this way. Thanks, Andrea

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joining list
by Kelly Martin 08 Dec '09

08 Dec '09

Hi there! I have tried to both subscribe and create an account and got the attached error. And I tried calling the number for Jonathan Morrison under "contact us," and it doesn't work! Help! Thanks, Kelly Martin, Operations Facilitator The Bicycle Kitchen/La Bicicocina 706 N. Heliotrope Dr., Los Angeles, CA 90029 W 323.NOCARRO | M 213.210.5631 kelly(a)bicyclekitchen.com | www.bicyclekitchen.com http://www.bicicocina.blogspot.com

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Bike Collective Network on Crabgrass
by Fhar Miess 07 Dec '09

07 Dec '09

Is anyone doing anything with the Bike Collective Network on Crabgrass? https://we.riseup.net/bikecollectivenetwork Any other bike co-ops who are on Crabgrass? Fhar

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Bike to Bike! Bike! (and from Bike! Bike!)
by Angel York 04 Dec '09

04 Dec '09

Hi y'all, I'm biking from California to Bike! Bike! 2010 in Toronto! Woooot! Now I just need a few good biking buddies. Are you one of them? About me & my touring style: I have about 5,000 miles of longer touring experience with 3 different touring buddies. You don't have to have ever toured in your life, so long as you have a functioning bike (and I bet you do!) An average of 50-60 miles a day is a nice pace, leaves time for some reading and picnicking. I've a preference for doing it on the cheap, maybe splurging for a campsite/shower/laundry/hash browns every few days or so. I know a thing or two about bike mechanicry, but not so much that my wheels are true after I've just trued 'em. ;) If you've any interest in coming along for all or part of the adventure, drop me a line, and we'll interact a bit, see if we might get along for the ride. I'm in Davis, California (on I-80 near Sacramento) and planning to leave more or less around June 15th. The route hasn't been established yet. I'm leaning toward using Google Maps or AdventureCycling.org. I might also be pedaling down to New Orleans after Bike! Bike!, so if you've interest in that leg o' the journey, that's a potential option, too. -Angel P.S. If you're from the Bike Project in New Orleans, hi! See you next winter!

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New discount at german brothels if you arrive with a bike!
by Cris Shirley 04 Dec '09

04 Dec '09

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5821953/German-brot… On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 1:36 AM, Cris Shirley <cgshirley(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hey! > If you go here: http://maps.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=suggestions.cs > you can suggest to google to add bike directions option to their maps > I found out about this here: http://googlemapsbikethere.org/ > xoxo > cris >

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Tell google to add bike directions to their maps!
by Cris Shirley 03 Dec '09

03 Dec '09

Hey! If you go here: http://maps.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=suggestions.cs you can suggest to google to add bike directions option to their maps I found out about this here: http://googlemapsbikethere.org/ xoxo cris

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