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Hello, Everyone.
I'm still in that weird time-warped world of new parenthood,
so I have not mananged to post our pictures and specs for the mobile bike shop we made earlier this spring and summer.
We did not use a rickshaw cart. We made a bike trailer, and
we used rubbermaid tubs containing smaller tubs, all nicely labelled with the contents-- contents labelled in English, French, and Cree. We strap the tubs to the trailer.
I'm told that it is working pretty well. Now that it is up on
reserve, I haven't seen it in months. But I'm told it is working. One tub is getting pretty dirty, but we designed it so that the really messy stuff would mostly mess up only one tub.
We have a laminated checklist on the inside lid of each tub,
and a master list, also laminated, to help with restocking the shop. (Yes, folks, we needed to leave some space for PAPERWORK even in our mobile shop--volunteer hour binder, manuals, etc.)
(Ideally, we would have a different way of coping with the
bike stand; it is OK, but it could be better. We'll keep thinking about that.)
If the tubs needed to be moved to another type of vehicle--
car, truck, train, bus, snowmobile, boat, etc.-- that would work, too.
Doing it in tubs does localize and simplify cleaning tasks.
It is also easier to store the mobile shop at someone's house
or at a shop, etc., as you can reconfigure how all the tubs are stacked depending on what space you have available, and if the trailer is relatively flat.
It is going to be hard for you to store a rickshaw-shop, but
it will look so pretty-- please send pictures.
The trailer cost under $100 to make. The tubs, some of them we
had in our houses, some we bought. It was a reasonably economical way of doing everything.
Filling it with tools and supplies was the expensive part-- we
put ads requesting unused tools or small donations to buy tools in lots of places-- free weeklies, neighbourhood papers, and lots of church newsletters and school newsletters, posted our needs on boards at local co-ops and grocery stores, at Mountain Equipment Co- op and other sporting goods stores-- they were helpful.
People were generous to us; we were lucky. If we had not had
so much loving help from so many people, it would have cost us much more.
We made a book to go inside the mobile shop listing who gave
us what, so that we could remember their contribution.
I added writing thank you notes to them to the list of baby-
related thank you notes I am still writing, three months (! Outrageous! I'm suprised people are still talking to me!)) later.
I had more help with the bike thank-yous, so they are done
already. We did send pictures of the bike shop to everyone who had helped us, so that they could use it for their own promotional purposes, or just to make them happy.
My best wishes to you. Good luck. I am excited by all these
mobile shops that people are making!
We put a great first aid kit-- kindly donated by the good
people at St. John's Ambulance-- in ours so it could also be used at races, should anyone up there decide to have races.
Apparently that is going over well.
My best to all of you
Sasha
On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:04:57 -0400 Erik Ryberg ryberg@seanet.com wrote:
Maryland is a long way away from Mexico, but I have bought two Mexican cargo trikes in Nogales, Mexico (right over the border from me) for $220.00 each (yes that is two hundred and twenty dollars) and ridden them off the shop floor and back into the U.S.. Here's the link:
http://www.bicicletasmercurio.com.mx/carga.htm
They aren't super high quality but they are definitely good enough!
Erik
Matt wrote:
I have Haley Trike which I think is quite well suited to the
task of
carrying tools for a mobile bike shop. They are built to order,
and you
can order them with many custom box options, and the optional
umbrella
holder can actually hold a post for a bike stand provided it's
the right
diameter. if you have a bike stand you would like to use, give
Stephen
the post diameter, and I'm sure he could add a mount for it for
a
reasonable price. http://www.haleytrikes.com/options.html
Matt
On Sep 15, 2008, at 11:00 AM, adam schwartz wrote:
Here at the Renaissance Community Youth Bike Shop in the DC/MD
area,
we are looking to develop a mobile bike repair stand for
events,
farmers markets, festivals, etc.. Does anyone know where we
can
acquire a pedal rickshaw cart like found in most "developing"
parts of
the world.
-- Adam Schwartz Program Coordinator, The Renaissance Youth Bike Shop Center For Educational Partnership 6200 Sheridan Street, Riverdale, MD adamgs@umd.edu mailto:adamgs@umd.edu (301) 405-3213 _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-
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-- Erik B. Ryberg Attorney at Law 445 West Simpson Street Tucson, AZ 85701 phone: (520) 622-3333 fax: (520) 792-6677 _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank- bikecollectives.org