A good rule is a (new) lock should cost about 10% of the value of the bike. So if you think the bike is worth 100$, then a cheap 10$ lock should be fine. All locks are deterrents, not unequivocal protection from theft. I think a basic 1-minute lesson on how to lock your bike properly goes a long way, I'd say make it conditional to receive the lock & bike.
Snowbank parking is a tough one. Your trash bag idea might work, but only if there is an obvious date when a kid thinks "ok I'm not riding anymore this winter", otherwise removing and putting on the flimsy bag won't be feasible, and it would just end up as windborne trash. Might even ask the kids to return their bikes before winter sets in, so they get a working one in the spring?
Jean-François
On Thu, Jul 16, 2026 at 4:55 PM Jeff Potter via TheThinkTank thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org wrote:
I’m hosting a weeklong bike camp for poor kids in a couple weeks.
We have donated bikes that look mostly in good shape. After I send this email I’m pumping up all tires and beginning the checklist process.
They’ll go home with these bikes if they don’t have a bike. The helmets took a few days to wrangle. I discovered thanks to a firefighter friend that children’s hospitals have an Injury Reduction unit that will give free helmets. I contacted our local one and they have helmets on hand. GREAT!
(Otherwise, for funding has been fruitless even among my die-hard sources — mostly due to our late notice. HelmetsRus.net and others are cheap ($7-15) but HRU has a 25 unit minimum. And ProRider looks to sell in cases of 30 or more.)
Anyway, bike reality is a bit of a rabbit hole, as we all might know. How are poor kids set up for this? Hint: they’re not.
A couple things occurred to me: If they don’t also have a good bike lock the bike will be gone after a day. Bikes are kept outside. Apartments have racks full of bikes and I suspect neighbor teens glean for anything not tied down. Who knows. They do get quickly stolen. These are cheap bikes but I’m not sure what level of lock is needed. So there’s that, locks. How well do kids lock things, though? There’s that, too.
So maybe they end up with a couple-week experience?
We’re in Michigan. Bikes are outside. After the first winter outside every kid bike is rusted to ruin. So there’s also that. But maybe there’s a fix? I note that these are basically NO-income families, not low. What chance do our kids have of getting a can of spray lube? Zero.
In light of such realities, I wonder if there are hacks that no-cash people can use to keep bikes unstolen and functional despite rain/snow?
Hmmm… It just occurred to me: store a whole bike each winter in a heavy-duty black plastic construction-grade trash bag of max size. ? Of course bags cost $ and are only available in quantity so might be $20 when only a couple are needed. Hmmm… Maybe our co-op could buy and distro those?
We do an annual Xmas kids bike giveaway of 100 bikes. We never see the bikes or kids again. They leave w a helmet as well. But no lock. No trash bag. If they live near enough to us they can get air, lube or tube — but we just don’t see them again. Odd. I suppose word of our giveaway spreads farther than our immediate neighborhood, so the kids/bikes go adrift from any support.
Basically we have no thru-process for our youth interaction. We have classes — that don’t include a bike. And free bikes — that don’t include a class. And no bike support except a helmet. Bikes need more. But bike stuff costs $ and is a challenge to both source and to have kids hang on to. Whew…
Well at least this first experience can hopefully prime the pump for these kids getting ahold of a Freedom Machine that they can really use.
All hacks appreciated!
Jeff Potter _______________________________________________ TheThinkTank mailing list -- thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe send an email to thethinktank-leave@lists.bikecollectives.org To view this discussion on the web visit https://lists.bikecollectives.org/hyperkitty/list/thethinktank@lists.bikecol...