Networking and Parts
Hi,
Me and some of the mechanics at our co-op (www.bikekitchen.org) were talking about advocacy, the proliferation of bike collectives, and of course as bike geeks tend to do, parts.
I know some collectives have more parts or material resources of a certain type than they can handle, and others have less. Are there already parts-sharing agreements between co-ops in other areas of the world? If another co-op from 50+ miles away called you up asking if you had, for example, some suntour indexed 7-speed barcons, how would you handle that?
It's just a thought experiment, but I'm curious to find out how other groups already share, or if there are ideas on how to more efficiently share the parts donations that come in, so as to maximize the allocation of available resources.
Cheers.
Hi Bike Kitchen!
I used to work at the Oberlin Bike Co-op in Oberlin, Ohio. We had friendly relations with Ohio City Bicycle Co-op in Cleveland (35 miles away). Being in the center of a metropolitan region, they generally received more and better quality donations than did our co-op. On more than one occasion we hauled off a pick-up truck load of their surplus three-speeds and coaster-brake bikes. These bikes were typically of more use in our small, flat college town than in their big, not-completely-flat city. No money changed hands; it was all good will. (Thanks, Jim!) We also worked together on Co-op-to-Co-op Rides.
More sought-after bits like suntour barcons would probably keep their assigned monetary value in an exchange, but we wouldn't hesitate to call and see what they had in their bins.
Keeping other co-ops in your region aware of any especially large parts surpluses is a great idea. I suppose just saying, "hey, we're here if you need us," is a good place to start.
Tom
On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 4:33 PM, Rigel Christian rigelc@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
Me and some of the mechanics at our co-op (www.bikekitchen.org) were talking about advocacy, the proliferation of bike collectives, and of course as bike geeks tend to do, parts.
I know some collectives have more parts or material resources of a certain type than they can handle, and others have less. Are there already parts-sharing agreements between co-ops in other areas of the world? If another co-op from 50+ miles away called you up asking if you had, for example, some suntour indexed 7-speed barcons, how would you handle that?
It's just a thought experiment, but I'm curious to find out how other groups already share, or if there are ideas on how to more efficiently share the parts donations that come in, so as to maximize the allocation of available resources.
Cheers. _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
well, the idea we had discussed/daydreamed about was along the lines of having an organization/network whose task was to coordinate parts transfers to and from co-ops in different regions or even countries.
it seems like having a way to move parts whose logistical burden is not borne by the shops would be helpful in getting new donation-based co-ops started up, as well as help filling in the gaps for shops that are experiencing lean times, as parts donations go.
On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 2:43 PM, Tom Anderson-Monterosso tommonterosso@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Bike Kitchen!
I used to work at the Oberlin Bike Co-op in Oberlin, Ohio. We had friendly relations with Ohio City Bicycle Co-op in Cleveland (35 miles away). Being in the center of a metropolitan region, they generally received more and better quality donations than did our co-op. On more than one occasion we hauled off a pick-up truck load of their surplus three-speeds and coaster-brake bikes. These bikes were typically of more use in our small, flat college town than in their big, not-completely-flat city. No money changed hands; it was all good will. (Thanks, Jim!) We also worked together on Co-op-to-Co-op Rides.
More sought-after bits like suntour barcons would probably keep their assigned monetary value in an exchange, but we wouldn't hesitate to call and see what they had in their bins.
Keeping other co-ops in your region aware of any especially large parts surpluses is a great idea. I suppose just saying, "hey, we're here if you need us," is a good place to start.
Tom
On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 4:33 PM, Rigel Christian rigelc@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
Me and some of the mechanics at our co-op (www.bikekitchen.org) were talking about advocacy, the proliferation of bike collectives, and of course as bike geeks tend to do, parts.
I know some collectives have more parts or material resources of a certain type than they can handle, and others have less. Are there already parts-sharing agreements between co-ops in other areas of the world? If another co-op from 50+ miles away called you up asking if you had, for example, some suntour indexed 7-speed barcons, how would you handle that?
It's just a thought experiment, but I'm curious to find out how other groups already share, or if there are ideas on how to more efficiently share the parts donations that come in, so as to maximize the allocation of available resources.
Cheers. _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit: http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
the moving of bikes and parts is expensive, since they're either packed very densely, and heavy, or not packed very densely and also not packed efficiently.
the idea of sharing parts and things has crossed my mind, and while i do think there's a place for it, i think some centralized body that coordinates and/or moves the things is a bit out of our reach at the current state of the bike collective network (if indeed that is who is going to oversee this...)
what about some sort of message board or something that is for things like this? some sort of "items wanted/items offered" freecycle style thing that's just for bike collectives?
On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 4:14 PM, Rigel Christian rigelc@gmail.com wrote:
well, the idea we had discussed/daydreamed about was along the lines of having an organization/network whose task was to coordinate parts transfers to and from co-ops in different regions or even countries.
it seems like having a way to move parts whose logistical burden is not borne by the shops would be helpful in getting new donation-based co-ops started up, as well as help filling in the gaps for shops that are experiencing lean times, as parts donations go.
On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 2:43 PM, Tom Anderson-Monterosso tommonterosso@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Bike Kitchen!
I used to work at the Oberlin Bike Co-op in Oberlin, Ohio. We had
friendly
relations with Ohio City Bicycle Co-op in Cleveland (35 miles away).
Being
in the center of a metropolitan region, they generally received more and better quality donations than did our co-op. On more than one occasion we hauled off a pick-up truck load of their surplus three-speeds and coaster-brake bikes. These bikes were typically of more use in our small, flat college town than in their big, not-completely-flat city. No money changed hands; it was all good will. (Thanks, Jim!) We also worked
together
on Co-op-to-Co-op Rides.
More sought-after bits like suntour barcons would probably keep their assigned monetary value in an exchange, but we wouldn't hesitate to call
and
see what they had in their bins.
Keeping other co-ops in your region aware of any especially large parts surpluses is a great idea. I suppose just saying, "hey, we're here if you need us," is a good place to start.
Tom
On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 4:33 PM, Rigel Christian rigelc@gmail.com
wrote:
Hi,
Me and some of the mechanics at our co-op (www.bikekitchen.org) were talking about advocacy, the proliferation of bike collectives, and of course as bike geeks tend to do, parts.
I know some collectives have more parts or material resources of a certain type than they can handle, and others have less. Are there already parts-sharing agreements between co-ops in other areas of the world? If another co-op from 50+ miles away called you up asking if you had, for example, some suntour indexed 7-speed barcons, how would you handle that?
It's just a thought experiment, but I'm curious to find out how other groups already share, or if there are ideas on how to more efficiently share the parts donations that come in, so as to maximize the allocation of available resources.
Cheers. _______________________________________________ Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to
TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org
To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
Thethinktank mailing list Thethinktank@bikecollectives.org To unsubscribe, send a blank email to TheThinkTank-leave@bikecollectives.org To manage your subscription, plase visit:
http://lists.bikecollectives.org/listinfo.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.o...
participants (3)
-
Rigel Christian -
Tom Anderson-Monterosso -
veganboyjosh＠gmail.com