i know community cycles is not the only shop on this list that has space issues, nor shortness of volunteer hours....
i'm wondering if any shops out there have some kind of "we're all filled up, we can't take any more bikes" policy.
we've got connections with our local police department, so when they sweep through the public bike racks and clean up abandoned bikes, we get them. this brings us several loads of 100-300 bikes per year. we've also got a similar hookup with the university of colorado at boulder, which is 30,000 students strong. this yeilds about the same number of bikes, but in fewer loads.
these are in addition to all our other donated bikes from individuals, smaller groups, etc.
we're already using cheaper, department store bikes, or those who are beyond repair specifically as stripper bikes, for parts, or for lessons.
we don't have a problem getting bikes to use/turnaround, as i'm guessing most of you also don't have this problem.
my question is, when do we say "sorry, we're all filled up, we can't take your bike right now"?
do any of you have some creative ways that you've solved the "we've got too many bikes and not enough space to keep them while they're waiting for a home"?
we have done some work with a couple of different groups that have sent bikes abroad, but we don't want to make this a regular part of our program, for various reasons. to date, we don't have a set policy, but we tend to only participate in those kinds of programs when we're busting at the seams, and getting rid of 300-500 bikes would help tremendously.
we've gotten in touch with our local recycling yard, who pretty much takes everything that can be recycled. i personally know that they see several bikes per week in their dumpsters, but they don't have any way to pull those out once they're in, once people dump washing machines, fridges, etc, on top of them. i'd like to see a seperate "bike dumpster" for people to drop them off, and we go and reuse them.
the problem is we're gonna need some better way to sort them and keep them until someone can get to them...
thanks for reading this far.
josh.
On 11-May-08, at 12:19 PM, veganboyjosh@gmail.com wrote:
i know community cycles is not the only shop on this list that has
space issues, nor shortness of volunteer hours....i'm wondering if any shops out there have some kind of "we're all
filled up, we can't take any more bikes" policy.
(snip)
We've come close, but have always managed to stave that off somehow.
That said, we do not absorb police or campus bikes, or even advertise
in our City's "Take It Back" recycling program, because we would be
buried in bikes.
We do readily respond to any group that asks for free bikes, as long
as they take them as is and no work needs to be done by our
volunteers. We also donate bikes for shipment to Africa twice a
year. See:
http://www.re-cycles.ca/bfh2007.html
That helps get rid of bikes AND parts, especially knobby mtn. bike
tires.
we've gotten in touch with our local recycling yard, who pretty
much takes everything that can be recycled. i personally know that
they see several bikes per week in their dumpsters, but they don't
have any way to pull those out once they're in, once people dump
washing machines, fridges, etc, on top of them. i'd like to see a
seperate "bike dumpster" for people to drop them off, and we go and
reuse them.
Sounds like it would be good to try and talk the recycling yard into
creating a separate bike drop-off spot. That way you guys could get
at them, or just people dropping off other stuff could grab a bike
for themselves.
Mark
one thing that hasn't been brought up:in relatively wealthy, high-density areas--especially near universities--, it can appear that there are, in fact, too many shitty bikes to deal with. At the same time, folks in rural areas have no access to even basic tools/tubes/parts. It seems to me that there must be a way to house bikes off-site temporarily until they can be moved to a rural facility (where space is less of an issue). BICAS has a number of highly informal connections with folks that buy our beaters (real cheap) and take them to Nogales, Mexico. The Bike Church in santa cruz tries to partner with orgs in agricultural (chicano/latino) communities to spread knowledge and (bike) resources. Much more could be done on these fronts. Though the notion of shipping bikes to africa is, obviously, nobel and worthwhile for some orgs, it feels totally overwhelming to other projects. These sorts of semi-local connections might prove more manageable, and most rewarding. -kyle
On Sun, May 11, 2008 at 11:46 AM, Mark Rehder mark@re-cycles.ca wrote:
On 11-May-08, at 12:19 PM, veganboyjosh@gmail.com wrote:
i know community cycles is not the only shop on this list that has space
issues, nor shortness of volunteer hours....
i'm wondering if any shops out there have some kind of "we're all filled up, we can't take any more bikes" policy.
(snip)
We've come close, but have always managed to stave that off somehow. That said, we do not absorb police or campus bikes, or even advertise in our City's "Take It Back" recycling program, because we would be buried in bikes.
We do readily respond to any group that asks for free bikes, as long as they take them as is and no work needs to be done by our volunteers. We also donate bikes for shipment to Africa twice a year. See:
http://www.re-cycles.ca/bfh2007.html
That helps get rid of bikes AND parts, especially knobby mtn. bike tires.
we've gotten in touch with our local recycling yard, who pretty much
takes everything that can be recycled. i personally know that they see several bikes per week in their dumpsters, but they don't have any way to pull those out once they're in, once people dump washing machines, fridges, etc, on top of them. i'd like to see a seperate "bike dumpster" for people to drop them off, and we go and reuse them.
Sounds like it would be good to try and talk the recycling yard into creating a separate bike drop-off spot. That way you guys could get at them, or just people dropping off other stuff could grab a bike for themselves.
Mark
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veganboyjosh＠gmail.com