I'm not sure if this is totally similar, but we got a pretty big donation of new parts from the warranty department of a relatively small bmx bike manufacturer. They were being saved to fulfill warranty claims, but the parts we got were pretty old (well, a few years old, so ancient in industry terms) and no longer being claimed.  If this company had more or less a shipping container full, then I imagine Trek has a boatload, and I could see how that would help fill a few bike shops and be a way for them to unload (and write off) stuff they couldn't readily sell to their dealers.

-Paul Nagel

The Bicycle Tree

P.O. Box 881
Orange, CA 92856

http://www.thebicycletree.org

info@thebicycletree.org




Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 06:27:53 -0600
From: kevidwyer@gmail.com
To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org
Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Dream Bikes

Dream Bikes is a Trek Corporation project. It is heavily underwritten by their warranties department.  They've had a bit of difficulty maintaining consistent management over the past couple of years.

Kevin Dwyer
Chairman, Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective Board of Directors

On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 6:29 PM, Jonathan Morrison <jonathan@slcbikecollective.org> wrote:
Just from their website, partners and franchise structure -- Dream Bikes (http://dream-bikes.org/) looks like they are poised to be the type of polished organization that the cycling industry would be most comfortable dealing with.

Much like customizing cars, lighting computer cases, or building fixed gears bikes -- you can buy a tricked out Scion online, a glowing Dell computer online, and a Schwinn fixie from Walmart.  When an idea adopted by an underground population turns lucrative and consequently mainstream, eventually someone will create a mass production business model around it.

The big question mark for me would be where the supply of used bikes comes from, having a big glossy store requires more overhead than the average community bike shop.  I could see a shop having to buy or trade bikes to feed the overhead, at which point it risks turning into a pawn shop business model.

OR

It could be what the Bike Collective Network never ventured to, and dream bikes could be a channel for helping existing community bike shops access the cycling industry.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Morrison
Executive Director
Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective
2312 S. West Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
w: 801-328-2453
c: 801-688-0183
f: 801-466-3856
www.slcbikecollective.org

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


On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 2:03 PM, Patrick VDT <fivespeed_@hotmail.com> wrote:

Anyone have any relationship or past history working with Dream Bikes,

Thanks 

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--
Kevin Dwyer
ThinkLaw
Utah State Bar #11235
Washington State Bar #37740


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