Good idea! To keep from rambling, I will just suggest that the first most important things to check is if your seat post can move freely, and the same for your stem. Then welds/joints. A broken frame and seized piece will frequently land the whole bike in our 'recycle me' pile.

On Sun, Aug 6, 2023 at 11:47 AM Claude Ferron via TheThinkTank < thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org> wrote:

Hello all,

We are going to collect used bikes from the community and while receiving them we will inventory the one we will keep. While making the inventory (using a Google Form) we will check several things on the bike to assign it a "score". This will help us prioritize the repairs. Things we will look for would be loose crankset, rusty chains, brakes (pads and cables).

My questions, what are those things you check when receiving bikes on your side? I want to make sure we don't forget anything.

Thanks,

Claude

--

http://www.lacyclerie.ca

Claude Ferron

Co-coordonnateur

La Cyclerie

claude@lacyclerie.ca

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Claude,

I'll second Luke about the seatpost and the welds, check those first because all else is moot if those are issues, in which case the bike should be set aside to be stripped into parts and scrap.

As for the total checklist, well, it really depends on end use.

If you're selling the bike as a commercial bike shop would, then the list should be exhaustive and complete.

If you're selling the bike as a thrift store would, then you might just check for glaring safety issues and nothing else.

If you're passing the bike along to someone for free as a community donation, then I would use the exhaustive check.

If you're setting aside the bike for the community to come in and work on themselves, that should be self-explanatory.

It's really different depending on your local and shop dynamic.

My personal ethic for places I run is that I will only pass along non-working or malfunctioning bikes to someone who I know is a mechanic. To do otherwise is a) dangerous b) likely to result in that bike just getting given back to you or discarded elsewhere.

Anyway, here's the comprehensive list of checks:

Once the frame and seatpost and stem have been cleared as ok, the very first thing to do is straighten the innertube valve stems, if necessary. Once they are straight, inflate the tires.

Inflating the tires first-thing both initiates the test for flat tubes and enables the bike to be moved around in your storage premises more easily. Unless you get to working on the bike immediately after donation, most likely by the time you get around to working on it the state of the tubes will be telltale. If you inflate the tires at donation time and two weeks later you finally get around to working on it and the tires are still full, you know that you won't have to patch any tubes. If they are flat two days later, you now know some patching is part of your workload.

After the valves and tubes are done, these are the remaining checks:

• Rim (or disc) braking surfaces: convex/indented, or flat?
• Tires: worn down to the grooves or no?
• Tires: severely dry rotted or no?
• Tires: skid wear or no? (usually only for BMX bikes)
• Rims: true or not?
• Rims: flat/high spots, or properly round?
• Wheelhubs: wiggly or secure?
• Bottom bracket assembly: wiggly or secure?
• Headset: wiggly or secure?
• Pedal hubs: wiggly or secure?
• Brake pads: worn down to the grooves, or no?
• Chain: worn or not? (requires chain checker)
• Cog Teeth: worn or no? (requires a tooth checker; I usually only check

the rear cogset)

• Quick releases (wheels, seatpost): tightened or slack?
• Shifting, front derailer: does it move?
• Shifting, front derailer: (if above yes) accurate or no?
• Shifting, rear derailer: does it move?
• Shifting, rear derailer: (if above yes) accurate or no?
• Brake Levers: do they move?
• Braking Action: loose or tight?

That's the majority of the checks you'll want for a non-suspension, non-ebike, non-electronic-shifting bicycle. There are other things to check for, such as whether the bike is fancy and expensive or whether it is some awful worst-of-the-worst department store "bike shaped object", but there are a lot of nuances to those assessments, and beyond the scope of an easy checklist.

~cyclista Nicholas

On 2023-08-06 15:46, Claude Ferron via TheThinkTank wrote:

Hello all,

We are going to collect used bikes from the community and while receiving them we will inventory the one we will keep. While making the inventory (using a Google Form) we will check several things on the bike to assign it a "score". This will help us prioritize the repairs. Things we will look for would be loose crankset, rusty chains, brakes (pads and cables).

My questions, what are those things you check when receiving bikes on your side? I want to make sure we don't forget anything.

Thanks,

Claude

---

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