Kimmo 

Well, one reason anyway:

Not bad for $10, huh?


Woot!

krobinson103

Nice frame for $10. Looks like a fun bike to ride.

fietsbob

I did in Eugene, here I am paid so little its like volunteerism.. do get cost +10% on stuff..

only LBS in town , scrapes through winters to stay around in the Summer for the bulk of the revenue.

mconlonx

+1 on volunteering for first pick on fantastic stuff.

I do volunteer work for a Foreign Workers Bike Loan program here in town. They want to pay me, but I tell them I will take bikes in trade...

This Spring? Sweet but rusty Bianchi Volpe in my size. Currently stashing bits and pieces with which to build it up...

bobotech

Not as cool as yours but my favorite score from my co-op is my Motobecane Fantom Cross Team Titanium frameset. Only picture I have of part of it:

RubeRad

San Diego is strangely deficient in the co-op department; only two I know of are Bikes del Pueblo and SDSU, which are "way down in the city" compared to where I am in North County. And if I would have to drive to go volunteer at the bike co-op, well that just doesn't make sense!

I have a dream to retire and found a co-op up here in north county. Currently Poway/RB/PQ etc are strangely deficient of bike shops in general. Nothing between Black Mountain Cycles in Mira Mesa, and Escondido. There actually was a small shop in the middle of Poway, and they recently went out of business!

But a co-op I think could make it. There's a whole strip mall of just thrift stores next to the bowling alley, one of those storefronts would be perfect for a bike co-op!

Sixty Fiver

I volunteer because it is one of the most satisfying things I have ever done... I work for smiles.

Vlaam4ever

Sounds like it may be the better score if it fits.

bobotech

What do you mean? It is a 54cm and it fits fine. I am somewhat odd proportions, first I'm really fat. Then I have short legs but a long torso and longish arms. The Motobecane fits me fine but I also have a 57cm Specialized Sequoia Elite that I put a very short stem on it and it also feels the same. The steep sloping tube of the Sequoia mitigates any issues with not enough standover. I have to be able to easily mount and dismount a bike due to my size and that I have a bum foot that acts weird. No cowboy mounting a bike for me.

I generally try to stay at 54cm to 57cm for modern bikes. For older horizontal top tube bikes, I try to stay with 50cm to 54cm since they are harder for me to standover.

3alarmer 

Please..........anyone who does it knows that the bikes are secondary to the bevy of tattooed hipster chicks by whom you are surrounded.

bobotech

Oh yes. And the Bettie Page lookalikes. Sucks being the old fat guy at the co-op. I volenteer at my co-op for the 3 days a week that they are open every week. I get a nice score like my Motobecane about once or twice a year.

cny-bikeman

I've come to realize that I was extraordinarily fortunate to be in on the founding of a co-op, and not only was able to help organize it but also was paid for the privilege of working there as mechanic, service manager and mechanic course instructor. In fact we only had paid staff - I don't know to what extent other co-ops existed with that model. That was due to the fact that we offered full repair, bike and parts/accessory sales. We also had public repair clinics rather than an open shop concept.

RubeRad

So was yours more like a not-for-profit bike shop then? I picture a co-op as a place where there's a full set of tools and a junkyard worth of bikes to scavenge for parts, and you can leave a deposit or driver's license to borrow tools, and the volunteer can give you advice or help if you need. I imagine this kind of co-op gets by on sale of tubes and nominal prices for used parts, and low cost repairs for the more difficult stuff.

Vlaam4ever

I just mean, you scored a Titanium bike at a coop. That may be better score thant the OP.

I volunteered at a co-op for 2 days. The guy in the back was obsesed with taking all the cool frames. It actually turned me off.

cycle_maven

Good to know. I was thinking I'd donate my perfect (every part buffed to a shine) 1985 Schwinn Tempo to the local Coop, but now I think I'll sell it and donate the money to the Coop.

RubeRad

Alternatively, (in an ideal world) a co-op could be run so that bikes/parts that come in are checked by somebody knowledgeable and valuable stuff fairly priced. Like 50-80% of historical eBay prices, and volunteers can either earn store credit to buy stuff and/or get an "employee discount" off the prices available to the public.

cny-bikeman

It was indeed organized as a not-for-profit but also as a co-op. A co-op is not a type of operating model but rather a type of ownership, meaning that members own the operation rather than an individual. Our model was most similar to a food co-op. Many people picture what you describe when one say's bike co-op but there are many different types.

bobotech

We don't work like that. We get a lot of cool stuff that goes back out the doors. I just helped sell a nice old Peugeot Psomething-10 (not a PX) that came into the shop. I could have snagged it and flipped it but that is against how I think the mission for the co-op works.

If I personally decide to buy something from the co-op, I pay a fair price to the shop that the manager sets and I keep it. I don't buy frames or bikes that aren't my size with the intent to flip on CL. We have a nice Specialized Allez carbon frame in the shop now that is for sale but I'm not going to buy it just to flip it.

I just had to snag the Motobecane just because it was a very nice frame and my size, just couldn't resist. I don't flip the bikes I get from the co-op, they are bikes that I keep for myself.

3alarmer 

Some are.......that's kinda what we try to do (at least in most instances), but
I'm not certain you understand or appreciate what it's like to run one of these
operations with an all volunteer army and on a non-profit basis, particularly
on a day when the place is full and all the stands are busy.

Things happen.....it's a chaotic environment. On my day to manage, I can
usually maintain some order, but I only manage one day a week and not everyone
is either as knowledgeable or as willing to confront as am I.

But what you've just described is essentially how we work in theory and often
in practice.............except we're more along the line of half to 2/3 local Craigslist prices.

E-bay prices are an unrealistic starting point for a small, local, walk in bike shop.

wheelreason

That's not volunteering, that's vulturing...

Kimmo 

It goes pretty sweet. This whole bike owes me less than $50 too!

Pff, it craps all over mine, what are you talking about! Score!

Same, but first dibs on super-cheap parts doesn't hurt, either... and is probably a bit more of a drawcard for folks unacquainted with the satisfaction.

They're a bit too infrequent at my co-op to rate much of a mention, but if I was single they'd definitely be a factor.

WTF do you know? I've donated about 120 days of my time, and you call me a vulture? Piss off.

In that time, I've bagged one other frame, and that's going back to the Shed, complete with a carbon fork I already owned and cut down to fit.

We're not meant to buy stuff on the cheap to flip, and I for one honour that.

So, you know, maybe put your brain into gear before shooting your mouth off.

I was actually asked only $5 for this frameset, but since the smallest note I had was a tenner, I refused the change.

cyccommute 

I don't agree with the way he said it but I do agree with wheelreason's sentiment. It doesn't matter how much of your time that you volunteer, you should pay a fair price for the parts and frames that you get from a coop. The coop should also price their parts fairly. The fact that you have a built up bike for less than $50 sounds like they under value their product.

I volunteer at a coop...and have for about 3 years now...and have scored lots of cool stuff but I always pay fair market price for it because that's how the coop continues as a business.

Airburst

When you've spent hours trying to cobble some battered, rusted heap of junk back into safe operation with working brakes and at least a passably functioning drivetrain because it's some kid's only way to get to school without having to get up at 5 am and walk...

When you've spent an entire evening stripping and cleaning a Sturmey-Archer hub because the little old lady who owns the bike it's on oiled the damn thing with vegetable oil not knowing it would gum it up, but needs the bike because it's the only way she can get anywhere at any kind of speed...

When you've had to break loose a pair of rusted-in BB cups with a knackered adjustable spanner and every ounce of strength you have because the BB spindle had snapped, the bench vice had literally ripped off the bench when you tried to use that on one of the cups, and the bike's owner needed the bike up and running to get between the two jobs he was working to make ends meet...

...maybe then you can criticise co-op volunteers for snapping up a few bargains when they come our way. It's not like Kimmo stole it, and he/she has probably more than paid for it in terms of hours worked.

Rant over

PlanoFuji

+1

It isn't really volunteering if you are doing because you 'expect' something for your efforts.

Kimmo 

Well I don't know how, but the Bike Shed is rolling in dough - which is a slight problem, because it's a not-for-profit. A yearly membership is $5 or $10, and we ask $45-$100 for most bikes, with nicer ones going for $150-$200, maybe $250 for one like in the OP. New tyres are $30 a pair, SS cables $5 each and housing $5/m. Volunteers are entitled to free lunch, and booze at the end of the day. If you're a regular volunteer, any bike is $35, as long as it's for yourself and you promise to use it. Any components are a couple or maybe a few bucks.

It's bloody paradise, I tell ya

We spend $20k a year on booze*, and soon we'll pour a bunch more than that into renovations.

And pff to the notion that volunteers shouldn't be suitably rewarded for their efforts in some way. This is win/win.

Anyway, I guess I need to point out the thread title is a bit tongue-in-cheek; it's a headline.


*EDIT: sorry, that's food and booze, mostly food.