"Bicycle access for all" initiative

[Nocash18]

So I've had an idea for some time now to buy a bunch of kids bikes from goodwill. Anything for $10 and under. Take them home, do a quick overhaul on them, and put them out for the community (I live in a trailer park with plenty of kids).

Well I made a baby step and fixed up one bike just now. It was a 16" girls Walmart bike wrapped with a sign that said, "everyone's bike, please share". I'm going to do more when I can, but it had me thinking. Has anyone else done this? Does anyone want to get behind a trend like this? There are a lot of bicycle lovers and enthusiasts that are typically pretty selfless people.

All of this is kind of coming to my head as I type. any comments on this subject?

 

[RustyGold]

Sounds like a great idea...a 'random act of kindness' type a thing.

A group in our church does a yearly trip to Sierre Leone and takes a bunch of building supplies and such with them. I'm going to talk with the pastor to see if there is a way to stuff a few bikes in as well.

Jason

 

[franconuevo]

So I've had an idea for some time now to buy a bunch of kids bikes from goodwill. Anything for $10 and under. Take them home, do a quick overhaul on them, and put them out for the community (I live in a trailer park with plenty of kids).

Well I made a baby step and fixed up one bike just now. It was a 16" girls Walmart bike wrapped with a sign that said, "everyone's bike, please share". I'm going to do more when I can, but it had me thinking. Has anyone else done this? Does anyone want to get behind a trend like this? There are a lot of bicycle lovers and enthusiasts that are typically pretty selfless people.

All of this is kind of coming to my head as I type. any comments on this subject?

Good for you.does a heart good..I like your name....NoCash...I can relate, let me tell ya.
Kids bikes are on the curb here all the time.matter of fact,a guy just brought me two little ones today for parts or whatever..so I have a bunch of little bmx types...12",16", 18", 20" on hand. I usually fix em' up...sell them cheap on Clist, but every now and then I'll load up three or four in the Ford Focus wagon and take them down to the po' side of town....leave them for the kids. especially on the recent holidays..gave several away.

I don't know if they 'share' , last I heard kids really don't have the sharing thing perfected yet....

 

[Fv2]

I've fixed up several "junk" bikes and left them at local homeless shelters. Some of the people there really appreciate that.

 

[Nocash18]

Sounds like a great idea...a 'random act of kindness' type a thing.

A group in our church does a yearly trip to Sierre Leone and takes a bunch of building supplies and such with them. I'm going to talk with the pastor to see if there is a way to stuff a few bikes in as well.

Jason

Good for you.does a heart good..I like your name....NoCash...I can relate, let me tell ya.
Kids bikes are on the curb here all the time.matter of fact,a guy just brought me two little ones today for parts or whatever..so I have a bunch of little bmx types...12",16", 18", 20" on hand. I usually fix em' up...sell them cheap on Clist, but every now and then I'll load up three or four in the Ford Focus wagon and take them down to the po' side of town....leave them for the kids. especially on the recent holidays..gave several away.

I don't know if they 'share' , last I heard kids really don't have the sharing thing perfected yet....

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I've fixed up several "junk" bikes and left them at local homeless shelters. Some of the people there really appreciate that.

Well that is very good to know there are others like doing things along the same lines. Try to pass habits like that along.

I saw the bike I left out today. It was in the same area as where I left it, which was the playground inside my community. It was laying in an awkward position, but I suppose somebody used it!

There will definitely be more to come.

 

[Bicycle808]

I've worked as a volunteer at a couple of different local bike co-ops, and I've also helped wrench a few via work for one of these "send bikes to Africa" initiatives. I think that the distribution of local unwanted bikes to local folks in-need is a better use of resources, as it reduces the cost being spent to ship low-value bikes across the globe, but either option is far better than the landfill or the scrapper.

If your area has a bike co-op, you might find that working with the co-op is far more efficient than working out of your own space. If your area doesn't have one, maybe you could look into starting one? It's been a while since i looked into it, but there are grants available and your local gov't might help in other ways to get you space, tools, and resources. Some co-ops even have a small budget to offer the coordinator a stipend to offset costs and hours worked....

Either way, it feels good to see otherwise junk bikes live again as transportation or just recreation for kids or local adults with "no cash..." One thing I've found is, in the case of both co-ops i've worked at, we quickly run out of adult bikes, and always have a massive surplus of kids' bikes on-hand. To a large degree, "parts is parts," but it's rarely time-effective to build wheels for a 'share bike, and all those 16" and 20" wheels pile up quick....

 

[Nocash18]

I've volunteered at one of the co-ops before. All of them are located on or near ASU campus, so they get really busy with repairs and "build a bikes". I'm a bit south of there in chandler (Arizona). The best you can get in this area is a pricey bike shop. As I appreciate them, there isn't much charity associated with them.

My long term goal is to open a type of bicycle, uh, place. Idk what it would be called, as it would be a little bit of everything. Maybe a bicycle studio? I haven't gone into the details. It's just an attainable dream right now.

As soon as I get some more cash together, I'm going to find a couple bikes to put out all at once. I'm going to put a little more thought and execution into it. I'll report back

 

[franconuevo]

Yeah, I think any bike is worth saving, considering we have more poor folk in this country than most people realize...people who can't even come up with 20 bucks for a clean refurbished bike for their child at Holiday time.

And, here in Florida...(I'm sure it's the same just 'bout everywhere.)..the homeless get around on bikes...although, that can be dicey because I know some homeless dudes, and you'll see them on a bike one day, the next day , they sold it to buy some nip bottles or md20/20.
DUI bikes...there's a slot open there..cuz dudes or dudettes have to still get to work, even if they lost their license for 90 days or so

Ya gotta get 'em before they make it in to the landfill...I've lived all over and you used to be able to pick at the landfill..metal pile...now, the dump nazi's won't let you in..or out without weighing your vehicle. Same with scrapyards...I've gone into a few offering to buy some bike frames before they were shredded....."we don't sell to the public"...

OK...then..that pretty much narrows it down to roadside finds, Thrift shops, Ebayy, Clist..online sites like Offer up, bike sites, like this one...or just plain dumb luck when some pricer has a brain fart at Goodwill..that's how I got a vintage Trek and a Univega road bike for $8 bucks apiece...Today , I stopped at Goodwill, there's a 'nothing' mountain bike in poor condition, they're asking $38.99. That's why I stop almost daily at several thrifts...you never know who's pricing that day.


How do some of you source your bikes ?

 

[Nocash18]

I do pretty much the same thing. Stop at goodwills when I can and other local thrift stores. I actually picked up a trek and univega at a goodwill, but at $40 and $50. They both only needed tubes I think. I sold the univega for $100 to a lady who didn't want to have to buy a car. The trek, I still ride today.

OfferUp is almost always a good bet, but the bikes usually need a little bit more love. I've also found a few on the job cleaning pools. It proves that you need to be out meeting and talking with people to make any progress. There are a lot of people happy to give their neglected bike to somebody who will treat it right.

 

[Fv2]

The guy that runs one of the local scrap yards here keeps bikes to sell, fortunately he thinks a Walmart Mongoose is valuable and sells old bikes for next to nothing.
Unfortunately, the local scrappers are realizing the old bikes are worth more than a few cents a pound. I haven't been able to get anything good from the scrap yard lately.