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aka_locojoe

aka_locojoe

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Mazdaflyer, Ratfink1962 and myself assembled some of the 800 new Huffy bikes that a local church will be giving away this Christmas to needy/less-fortunate/underprivileged kids. I put in 4 hours and built 28 bikes. I had to leave early to attend another club event.
Maybe the other 2 will chime in and tell us the outcome of the day.

Kids unloading semi trailers full of boxed bikes.
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my work station.
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Ratfink1962 and Mazdaflyer.
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Assembled bikes waiting for air for the tires.
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Kids reloading trailers with assembled bikes.
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thats awsome !!! but 800 bikes ...how does one get 800 brand new bikes ??? r they all the same ??? where do they go ...in ur state,world wide ???? just askin !!! :mrgreen:
 
mikesbikes36 said:
thats awsome !!! but 800 bikes ...how does one get 800 brand new bikes ??? r they all the same ??? where do they go ...in ur state,world wide ???? just askin !!! :mrgreen:
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I think in the past they all came direct from Huffy but this year I notice some had Toys-R-Us tags so not sure what that means. As far as paying for them the church who does this gets donors and holds fund raisers I guess. I think 750 of the 800 will be given away right here in our town. The other 50 at the church's other location in a near-by town. Last year we helped build 400 I think it was.
I'm pretty sure they are all one of 3 styles of bikes. Girls and boys 20" and then a smaller either 12' or 16"
 
Very cool. That would be nice playing with new bikes. The BBP(bike coop) will give away 350 bikes that have all been rehabed from donated bikes. The 1 day giveaway is really fun to watch the kids.
 
A couple bike shops here do the refurbish thing for Christmas too. I always say there shouldn't be a single kid here in town without a bike considering how many are given away each year.

Really got sick of those blue and pink girls bikes.

And as you can imagine, the Huffy, Chinese bike and Walmart jokes go on all day long.

Oh and that reminds me. I forgot about this photo of Ratfink1962. Taken after someone caught his errors.
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aka_locojoe said:
A couple bike shops here do the refurbish thing for Christmas too. I always say there shouldn't be a single kid here in town without a bike considering how many are given away each year.

Really got sick of those blue and pink girls bikes.

And as you can imagine, the Huffy, Chinese bike and Walmart jokes go on all day long.

Oh and that reminds me. I forgot about this photo of Ratfink1962. Taken after someone caught his errors.
P1070933.JPG
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Well there's a walmart joke right there :lol: :lol: was hoping to be there but had to go to kc. Sorry that I missed it I know you guys made it fun
 
I also lost count of number I assembled. I was there from 7:00 AM until 4:30 PM when Bicycle Bill put the last bike together. We did 20" girls and boys and 16" girls and boys with training wheels. The 16" boys bikes had front and rear caliper hand brakes and a coaster brake. Four different colors were assembled in our room. Good warm all over feeling along with a few aches and pains, fun stuff.
 
Local CBS channel 12 gave credit to Autocraft for assembling 750 bikes. They assembled only 150 to my knowledge. Dream Center volunteers including Coasters assembled 600 last Saturday. Can't believe what you hear from the news media. Fuzzy math.
 
MazdaFlyer said:
Local CBS channel 12 gave credit to Autocraft for assembling 750 bikes. They assembled only 150 to my knowledge. Dream Center volunteers including Coasters assembled 600 last Saturday. Can't believe what you hear from the news media. Fuzzy math.
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Yes I just read that on their website :x I started to post a correction in the comments but decided against it.
 
That's our local media! First to break the story, even if the facts are not correct or all there! Happens at least once a week, if not daily! :x

Very cool thing you guys did! 8) :D Every kid needs a bike!
 
I attended the giveaway event yesterday, it was my first time and it was very eye opening. The look on the kids faces was priceless, even after standing in line for hours on end, they were excited to be getting a bike they could call their own.

I arrived at 6:45 a.m and there was already a line that was several hundred yards long and growing fast! Once they let us inside at 7am, the group of us got to work doing a final inspection and last minute repair on whatever needed fixing. It took me close to two hours to check each and every tire to make sure they all had air. (800 bikes = 1600 tires!)

We did find a few that had gone flat, part of the crew worked on changing tubes, while I kept searching for flats. When the event officially started I spent a lot of time tightening handlebars, raising or lowering seats, making final adjustments, and finally handing out as many bikes as I could.

Come to find out 800 bikes wasnt enough! we ran out of bikes to give away and there were still a couple hundred kids in line. From what I understand they didnt go home empty handed, They also handed out food boxes, and bags of Lego toys along with various wrapped gifts.

All in all it was a very interesting day, went home tired but had a warm fuzzy feeling for sure.

Overall view from the seats.
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Rotten Ralph posing with the new Coasters banner.
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Me... in a Sea of Huffy's
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Ralph again, he probably wont like this one...
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One of me, before the festivities begin.
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What made the event for me was seeing those kids faces light up, some would come busting down the line all smiles while others were more reserved... almost holding back their emotions, till you made eye contact with them and handed them the bike, their faces just lit up like a Christmas tree.

One kid in particular stood out to me.... he came walking down the line with his parents and he was crying his eyes out, why? I dont know. I thought maybe he had misplaced his wristband? (no wristband... no bike) but he kinda just kept walking by and crying like he wasnt going to get a bike. Then one of the other guys got him stopped and asked him if he wanted a bike, and he immediately stopped crying and started smiling, and the moment his hands latched onto the handlebars, he was BEAMING. And come to find out, he didnt lose his wristband, he had it on.... never did figure out what he was so upset about, but he left happy :D

So thats the part that got to me, was watching the kids faces.... it was priceless! And with the horrific news we've had lately, a little good cheer really helped take my mind off of all the bad in this world, even if it was only a few hours, it was a nice escape.
 

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