Re: [TheThinkTank] Thethinktank Digest, Vol 30, Issue 11
Two semi-related questions:
How do you folks deal with it when it gets crazy busy? i.e., the times
when there are more 2 people per volunteer mechanic, tools all over
the place, and all (or most) of the people need step-by-step, hands-on
assistance?
Do you have a set capacity? Do you turn people down?
At B!KE, I've been starting to put together some exploded parts
displays, along with basic steps, clear dos and don'ts, and examples
of good or bad parts (i.e., severely pitted bottom bracket axles). Has
anyone done this and found this helpful to your members (allowing
people doing more self-guided learning)? Any useful discoveries made
while building this kind of display?
Thanks!
Clifford McCarten Co-Director, B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop 400 Wolfe St Peterborough, Ontario (705) 745-2103 http://www.communitybikeshop.org
we at yellow bike in austin have seen an increasing number of folks using our shops, and have found it very useful to have two or more people work together on a bike. it's most effective when one of them knows a little something about fixing bikes, but even when none of them knows much, they tend to be more willing/able to figure things out without lots of step-by-step instruction from our shop coordinators.
we also have a nice supply of repair manuals available for people to consult
- sutherland manuals to the DIY
Chainbreakerhttp://www.microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/books/2077/book published by some nice New Orleans folks that I hope to meet some day.
shop coordinators move about the shop, checking in on people, but rarely spend more than a few minutes at a time with an individual. if someone comes in who really needs lots of one-on-one help, we recommend they take a more formal, enrollment only class. we plan to teach these ourselves when we get our new shop up and running, but in the meantime, there's informal classes held each semester at the university in town.
in this way, we have been able to effectively handle shops with up to 35 people and three shop coordinators. we have had shops with more people in attendance than that (i think 52 was our record in a given night), and it does get very hectic at some point. our solution in our new shop will be to have a (yet to be determined) shop capacity, and a waiting area with good reading material, coffee, etc. and have people wait for their turn at a workstand. we haven't really tested this idea out yet, since we have not yet built our new shop . . .
hope this helps -
jennifer austin yellow bike project.
On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 5:46 PM, Clifford McCarten < director@communitybikeshop.org> wrote:
Two semi-related questions:
How do you folks deal with it when it gets crazy busy? i.e., the times when there are more 2 people per volunteer mechanic, tools all over the place, and all (or most) of the people need step-by-step, hands-on assistance?Do you have a set capacity? Do you turn people down?
At B!KE, I've been starting to put together some exploded parts displays, along with basic steps, clear dos and don'ts, and examples of good or bad parts (i.e., severely pitted bottom bracket axles). Has anyone done this and found this helpful to your members (allowing people doing more self-guided learning)? Any useful discoveries made while building this kind of display?
Thanks!
Clifford McCarten Co-Director, B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop 400 Wolfe St Peterborough, Ontario (705) 745-2103 http://www.communitybikeshop.org
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At Free Ride we have a waiting list on a clipboard at the front of the shop when it's busy. We also redesigned the front-end of the shop to include display cabinets that form a single narrow entrance and a seat for the greeter/cashier/orientation-giver - this lets us keep control over how many people enter the shop at what rate. Usually once we start to fill up the greeter will check with the mechanics to see if they feel like they have the capacity for another person.
The problem with this scheme is what to do about folks who - 1. just want to volunteer and don't need a stand, 2. just have a flat or a loose brake pad or similar (although more than half the time these turn out to be bigger projects than the person realized), or 3. say they don't need mechanical help to work on their bike (until they get their BB disassembled and spread across the shop floor 20 minutes before closing). We're working on a redesign of our open shop night that may help to fix some of these problems. On the whole though, the waiting list is a lot easier on our staffers than the free-for-all we had before.
Stuart
On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 9:18 PM, yellow bike austinyellowbike@gmail.com wrote:
we at yellow bike in austin have seen an increasing number of folks using our shops, and have found it very useful to have two or more people work together on a bike. it's most effective when one of them knows a little something about fixing bikes, but even when none of them knows much, they tend to be more willing/able to figure things out without lots of step-by-step instruction from our shop coordinators.
we also have a nice supply of repair manuals available for people to consult
- sutherland manuals to the DIY Chainbreaker book published by some nice New
Orleans folks that I hope to meet some day.
shop coordinators move about the shop, checking in on people, but rarely spend more than a few minutes at a time with an individual. if someone comes in who really needs lots of one-on-one help, we recommend they take a more formal, enrollment only class. we plan to teach these ourselves when we get our new shop up and running, but in the meantime, there's informal classes held each semester at the university in town.
in this way, we have been able to effectively handle shops with up to 35 people and three shop coordinators. we have had shops with more people in attendance than that (i think 52 was our record in a given night), and it does get very hectic at some point. our solution in our new shop will be to have a (yet to be determined) shop capacity, and a waiting area with good reading material, coffee, etc. and have people wait for their turn at a workstand. we haven't really tested this idea out yet, since we have not yet built our new shop . . .
hope this helps -
jennifer austin yellow bike project.
On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 5:46 PM, Clifford McCarten director@communitybikeshop.org wrote:
Two semi-related questions: How do you folks deal with it when it gets crazy busy? i.e., the times when there are more 2 people per volunteer mechanic, tools all over the place, and all (or most) of the people need step-by-step, hands-on assistance? Do you have a set capacity? Do you turn people down? At B!KE, I've been starting to put together some exploded parts displays, along with basic steps, clear dos and don'ts, and examples of good or bad parts (i.e., severely pitted bottom bracket axles). Has anyone done this and found this helpful to your members (allowing people doing more self-guided learning)? Any useful discoveries made while building this kind of display? Thanks! Clifford McCarten Co-Director, B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop 400 Wolfe St Peterborough, Ontario (705) 745-2103 http://www.communitybikeshop.org
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-- Web Servant Austin's Yellow Bike | www.austinyellowbike.org
"Be the change you would like to see in the world." - Gandhi "Keep Cycling: it is Undoubtedly the Best form of Activism there is."
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Our shop (1304bikes in Raleigh, NC) has grown so much since last summer, and we too often have to deal with a shop of 35 or so poeple with only a small handful of volunteers. Since our inside space is fairly small and mostly storage, all of our bike repair work gets done outside. This makes it almost impossilbe to limit the shop capacity because there is no way to keep folks from walking up and blending in with the mass. We also don't really want to turn anyone away, or make them wait around all day.
We run an adult Earn-a-Bike program, with the goal being that those enrolled learn something about bike maintenence while they are volunteering to earn their bike. This is done by having them strip bikes, wheels, sort parts, etc. Often times we will pull all the Earn-a-bikers aside, and have one volunteer teach an informal quick lesson like fix-a-flat or brake adjustment. This helps to free up the shop resources (tools/workstands/etc.) for those poeple working on their own bikes, as well as to make the earn-a-bikers a little more self sufficient when it comes time to work on their own bike. Plus, these folks can now assist those who roll up and just need a flat tire fixed, and the shop coordinators can focus on the more involved repairs and keeping the shop functioning.
Utimataly though, it does seem like a crazy mess when you have 35 people running around looking for a 5mm allen wrench, but we make it work somehow.
for 1304bikes, -Doug
On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 9:26 PM, Stuart O Anderson soa@ri.cmu.edu wrote:
At Free Ride we have a waiting list on a clipboard at the front of the shop when it's busy. We also redesigned the front-end of the shop to include display cabinets that form a single narrow entrance and a seat for the greeter/cashier/orientation-giver - this lets us keep control over how many people enter the shop at what rate. Usually once we start to fill up the greeter will check with the mechanics to see if they feel like they have the capacity for another person.
The problem with this scheme is what to do about folks who - 1. just want to volunteer and don't need a stand, 2. just have a flat or a loose brake pad or similar (although more than half the time these turn out to be bigger projects than the person realized), or 3. say they don't need mechanical help to work on their bike (until they get their BB disassembled and spread across the shop floor 20 minutes before closing). We're working on a redesign of our open shop night that may help to fix some of these problems. On the whole though, the waiting list is a lot easier on our staffers than the free-for-all we had before.
Stuart
On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 9:18 PM, yellow bike austinyellowbike@gmail.com wrote:
we at yellow bike in austin have seen an increasing number of folks using our shops, and have found it very useful to have two or more people work together on a bike. it's most effective when one of them knows a little something about fixing bikes, but even when none of them knows much, they tend to be more willing/able to figure things out without lots of step-by-step instruction from our shop coordinators.
we also have a nice supply of repair manuals available for people to
consult
- sutherland manuals to the DIY Chainbreaker book published by some nice
New
Orleans folks that I hope to meet some day.
shop coordinators move about the shop, checking in on people, but rarely spend more than a few minutes at a time with an individual. if someone comes in who really needs lots of one-on-one help, we recommend they take
a
more formal, enrollment only class. we plan to teach these ourselves
when
we get our new shop up and running, but in the meantime, there's informal classes held each semester at the university in town.
in this way, we have been able to effectively handle shops with up to 35 people and three shop coordinators. we have had shops with more people
in
attendance than that (i think 52 was our record in a given night), and it does get very hectic at some point. our solution in our new shop will be
to
have a (yet to be determined) shop capacity, and a waiting area with good reading material, coffee, etc. and have people wait for their turn at a workstand. we haven't really tested this idea out yet, since we have not yet built our new shop . . .
hope this helps -
jennifer austin yellow bike project.
On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 5:46 PM, Clifford McCarten director@communitybikeshop.org wrote:
Two semi-related questions: How do you folks deal with it when it gets crazy busy? i.e., the times when there are more 2 people per volunteer mechanic, tools all over the place, and all (or most) of the people need step-by-step, hands-on assistance? Do you have a set capacity? Do you turn people down? At B!KE, I've been starting to put together some exploded parts
displays,
along with basic steps, clear dos and don'ts, and examples of good or
bad
parts (i.e., severely pitted bottom bracket axles). Has anyone done this
and
found this helpful to your members (allowing people doing more
self-guided
learning)? Any useful discoveries made while building this kind of
display?
Thanks! Clifford McCarten Co-Director, B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop 400 Wolfe St Peterborough, Ontario (705) 745-2103 http://www.communitybikeshop.org
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...
-- Web Servant Austin's Yellow Bike | www.austinyellowbike.org
"Be the change you would like to see in the world." - Gandhi "Keep Cycling: it is Undoubtedly the Best form of Activism there is."
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...
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participants (4)
-
1304bikes -
Clifford McCarten -
Stuart O Anderson -
yellow bike