Hi all-<br><br>Like many shops, The Recyclery has given away free bicycles with helmets and locks as part of the charitable end of our mission for some time.  For a number of reasons, including several new possible partnerships with Immigrant and Refugee groups in the Chicago area and the desire to qualitatively improve some of the long-term outcomes of our Freecyclery program (which currently ends with the bicycle/signature exchange), we are now considering developing a more thorough manual and 2-4 hour class curriculum.  It would cover basic maintenance questions (patching tires, adjusting brakes and derailleurs) as well as bike safety/common sense (avoiding theft, sharing the road) and would, of course, make clear that The Recyclery exists as a place where they can get help if something does go wrong.<br>

<br>However, not wanting to reinvent the wheel, I&#39;m wondering if any other shops have already developed a similar curriculum or handbook.  If so, want to share?<br><br>  If not (but you are interested in the idea), would you be interested in forming an internet working group to collaborate on such a resource we could share?  Right now I am working with one of our potential partners and we are picturing a graphically-intense book, the text of which could potentially be translated by people that work for their organization into a number of different languages.  From there we would recruit some volunteer graphic designers or find someone that knows how to work something like scribus (<a href="http://www.scribus.net/">http://www.scribus.net/</a>) to make a nice little booklet (I&#39;m picturing something that could be reproduced photocopier/zine style or done up more flashy) available to all.<br>

<br>OK.<br>