On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 7:38 AM, Bike City <bikecityrecyclery@gmail.com> wrote:

We had the same problem. We worked 18hr days to build bikes that
rusted on campus. We raised our prices, built better bikes, and
started selling fenders, baskets and tubes. There was much internal
debate that it would make us a "real shop" but this move in fact
covered our rent and funded program expansion.

Don't be afraid of the "real shop" syndrome. If you can diversify your
rent strategy beyond bike sales and build working programs, who cares
how you did it?

Joshua
bike city recyclery
fayetteville, ar

On 1/19/09, Ryan Guzy <ryanguzy@gmail.com> wrote:
> We have check sheets that go with each bike, as they work on the bike they
> check off what they've done and also record the date that they last worked
> on the bike. This helps the customer with an outline of what still needs to
> be done and shows the next volunteer what has been worked on already. We
> have a policy that if the bike isn't worked on for 60 days we'll make the
> bike available to other people. To facilitate this we usually only take
> money for the bike at the end of a build.
> --Ryan
> Bike Saviours, Tempe, AZ
>
> On Sun, Jan 18, 2009 at 11:00 PM, Mark Rehder <mark@drumbent.com> wrote:
>
>> On 19-Jan-09, at 12:40 AM, Ryan Guzy wrote:
>>
>> We started, and continue with the concept not to fix bikes for sale.
>>> Instead people come in, pick a bike and we teach them how to fix it up.
>>> We
>>> then sell it to them at a reasonable price when it's done. It's nice
>>> because
>>> the person learns something and also has something invested in the bike.
>>> On
>>> the flip side, bikes take longer to get done and you'll need a good sized
>>> group of volunteers, sometimes almost one volunteer per person.
>>>
>>> --Ryan
>>> Bike Saviours, Tempe, AZ
>>>
>>
>>
>> How do you keep track of all the bikes-in-progress? If someone doesn't
>> complete theirs in one shift does it just sit taking up space waiting for
>> them to return someday?
>>
>> I take it the groups here that are not worried about selling bikes pay
>> their rent and expenses (if applicable) in some other ways...
>>
>> Mark
>> re-Cycles Bicycle Co-op
>> http://re-cycles.ca
>>
>>
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