The oddest parts we ever had donated just appeared in the shop in a bucket. Nobody knew where they came from. They were beautifully machined sealed bearing sets, gears, and universal joints that appeared to fit into each other. We couldn't figure out where they came from or what they could be used for, but we all agreed somebody had worked very hard at creating them.

Over the years, we've had some odd donations. Homemade bikes tend to stand out. We've had:

a recumbent made from parts of full-suspension Huffys by a novice welder;
a chopper with a fork so long that it was difficult to push around, much less ride;
a functional tall bike with the rebar used to extend the steering tube exposed by the angle iron used to extend the head tube.

We've also had some beautiful bikes made by our members, but they haven't donated them yet.

From: "thethinktank-request@lists.bikecollectives.org"
From: David Eyer Davis <davey@bicyclecollective.org>

Hi All,
The Bicycle Collective here in Salt Lake has been given the
opportunity toexhibit a piece in the Leonardo Center's upcoming
show <http://www.sites.si.edu/greenRevolution/> centered around resource
conservation, it'll be a great PR/Exposure piece for collectives and is
shaping up to be a lot of fun.

Our concept for the show is to do is build up a badass/utilitarian 80's MTB
intentionally from as many different sourced parts as possible. The
finished bike is meticulous and considered from a functional and aesthetic
perspective but is a total mongrel. The bike will hang in the exhibit on an
old great Park Tool stand we've had donated recently.

Behind the bike, we'll hang a full-size printout of the bike taken apart,
all its parts exploded. Every part will be numbered, and correspond to a
legend to the right of the picture. We're making up a narrative for the
parts that typifies the Bike Collective experience: This fork came in on a
crashed bike, this frame was from the police impound, this wheel from a
local shop, derailers from a dusty box donated by an ex-racer, etc. We'd
give the provence and era of the parts and anything significant info on
them.

What we'd love from you are the oddest part stories: Where did the
strangest thing from your shop come from? Who donated it? why? did they
make it themselves?

If you could forward this around your organizations and have people send us
their stories at info@bicyclecollective.org I'd appreciate it.

Here're some previews of the project:
http://instagram.com/p/b4B1RruA3f/
http://instagram.com/p/b7S90oOA-u/

Thanks,
David Eyer Davis
Executive Director
Bicycle Collective
c: 801-230-6308
www.bicyclecollective.org

The mission of the 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 Collective provides refurbished bicycles
and educational programs to the community, focusing on children and lower
income households.

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