At Yellow Bike in Austin, it's the same. We sell used bike frames, parts, some basic new parts/supplies and refurbished bikes. It keeps us self-sufficient as we are not city, state or federally funded. We are a 501c3.

That said, the city does provide us with free space in one of it's unused properties. This is a great option as most cities have unused or transitionary city building ready for use. Of course there are lots of non-profits clamoring for this kind of thing, so how did we get the hookup?

1. Originally we provided a loan bike service for the city in return for space. We maintained a small fleet of bikes for the city at a central location for city employees to use on lunch or for travel between city building. The city of Austin has a commitment to green energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions so that fits into their scheme of things.

2. The Public works department of the City of Austin has a bicycle and pedestrian program and master plan. Our community bicycle project fulfills certain aspects of this plan at a fraction of the cost of what it would cost them. they also like us. Hence we get free shop space.

As for your crappy wal mart type bikes, we do not sell them or waste time refurbishing them for resale. Part of our mission is landfill diversion and we consider recycling a final option, so we create "Yellow Bikes". We get them running, single speed them by stripping of the gear levers and leaving the derailers in place, paint them yellow, sticker them "free to ride, but not to keep" and release them into the world, normally at some kind of partner event. it's good pr, the bikes get used as downtown transportation, then disappear, but at least they get used and we're not looking to run a free program such as in amsterdam or copenhagen.

This is an interesting article that appeared in adbusters a while back talking about how self-sufficiency for radical projects is more important than relying on private/state grant funding. may or may not apply to all of you but it's an interesting article...

http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/64/The_Secret_to_Being_as_Radical_as_We_Want_to_Be_is_to_Finance_the_Revolution_Ourselves.html

Cheers,

Simon / Yellow Bike

Rich Points wrote:

At Community Cycles in Boulder bike sales provide nearly two thirds of our total income. The price averages $80-100 per bike but we do get plenty of bikes outside that range as well.

For the most part we do not sell or distribute Huffy, Magna, Next, Murray and other department store toy bikes. This is a perk of living in city with an affluent avid cycling population. However we gladly accept them as donations as they are a perfect tool to start the EAB program. We have EABers strip them down for parts to Africa, artists and scrap metal.

How do other groups deal with department store bikes?

As far as sales go providing affordable reliable bikes is part of our mission as well. One of the biggest barriors to bike comuting is not being able to carry stuff. We install cargo racks, bottle cages and bells on the majority of bikes that go into the showroom. We also have new locks for sale. When someone buys a bike we give them a Boulder bike map and talk a bit about choosing routes and commuting by bike.

The point is we strive to introduce practical rather than recreational bikes into the community.

When we're tight on cash and have bikes in the showroom we'll post some things on craigslist. The last post I did was very generic with the heading "Commuter Style Bikes $60-$120" you can see the post here We sold 5 bikes from this free ad that day. And we raised awareness about the shop. This might be a good tool for the Bike Farm which is just starting.

Peace
Rich

Paul Park wrote:
Hi all,

At the Mount Rainier Bike Coop in Mount Rainier, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC, we are working how to sell our bikes that we refurbish. We really don't have any fixed or regular costs; the city gives us the space (a garage), so we just use our money on spare parts and tools. We have an earn-a-bike program so youth can build up bikes for us, learning mechanic skills, and then after fifteen hours of voluteering, the youths can build a bike for themselves. Volunteers who have already put in 15 hours of work can basically just keep refurbishing bikes. No one gets paid anything at this point. Generally, at this point, we just sell our refurbished bikes in one way or another. Do other shops do this? Also, presumably, volunteers could, after working fifteen hours, refurbish bikes for themselves, and then sell them on craigslist or something. Do other coops have a policy with regards to refurbishing bikes for yourself, one after the other, and then selling them for your own profit? Or perhaps a system where you refurbish a bike and then you have to give a certain percentage of the sale to the coop?

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