geekrunner

I was able to swoop on a great deal today! A FREE Raleigh (of America) Technium bike, alloy frame and cromoly fork. The guy said he was given the bike for free, removed the stem, and just wanted to give the rest of the bike away. I responded to his CL ad 15 minutes after he posted it, and I was the first to respond.

It was complete, except for the stem, cassette, and had no tires. Here is the bits and pieces rundown:

Shimano 105 hubs, rear with Uniglide freehub.
Wolber hard anno 700c rims laced with DT Swiss stainless steel spokes.
Shimano 105 derailleurs.
Shimano 105 non-aero levers.
Shimano sidepull single pivot brakes, nutted.
Sakae alloy drop bars.
Sakae SA alloy crank 52/42.
SR fluted seat post.

The hubs need servicing and a little truing, but appear to be serviceable.

Now for the C&V ethical question: To assuage my guilt for finding a free bike I can make some money on, I donated two whole bikes out of my flipper stock to a church in Indy that has a bike repair ministry, https://www.freewheelinbikes.org/ . Would the bike donation counterbalance the free bike, sort of preventing a disruption in the C&V space-time continuum?

geek

junkfoodjunkie

Yes... The donation will prevent a warp of any kind.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

yep you're in the clear.

now do we get to see the bike?

Luddite

Depends...does this Church use the bikes to evangelize people? I personally find it..morally questionable when Churches use "charity" as a means to turn people to their flavour of Christianity.

-holiday76

I don't see any ethical questions were you to just built the frame and sell it for a profit. You're getting someone on the road for the good price. You performed a service that you both profited from. Where is the ethical issue with that?

Fast Cloud

Yes...Your karma balance sheet is clean.

geekrunner

They help inner city kids learn how to repair bikes. They get to pick a bike, learn to repair it, then get to keep it when they are done. They also sell some of the nicer bikes that are donated. The guy who runs the ministry is an avid biker. As to the evangelizing, I don't really know. I'm sure there is an open invitation to anyone to attend their services.

geek

stringbreaker

I don't think God cares if you make money on this bike. what he cares about is whether the donations you made were made from the heart. God asks us to give not out of guilt but because we want to. God loves a cheerful giver. Read if you will 2nd Corinthians Chapter 9 Ver's 9 thru 15. You be the judge.

vincev

I saw the add on cl but it was too far a ride{3 hrs}.I'm glad someone on the forum scored.

StephenH

"Depends...does this Church use the bikes to evangelize people?"

My church maintains a food pantry, and like most churches gets periodic calls for one kind or another of assistance. But all in all, it seems like an ineffective way of evangelizing members. So far as I know, none of the current members became associated with the church in that way. It seems people are generally interested in physical food or spiritual food but not both at the same time. If a bike ministry got a bunch of new people in the doors, every church would have one.

krems81 

You have karma bonus points. You wouldn't have been astray, karmically, to just take the bike and rebuild it for sale. Any restoration of an older bicycle is karmically sound in this throw-away world. Giving bikes to this church was added good karma, but you were not in karmic debt before you did it. In fact, your mere interest in this 20 + year old bike sat you well with the gods, before you picked it up, even.

geekrunner

Actually I got a few blocks from my house when I realized I was getting blessed with a free bike, so I felt I should return the blessing. So I turned around and retrieved the two bikes, knowing freewheelinbikes was on the way to Broad Ripple. That, and some Catholic guilt worked it's way in there too. Thanks for the Bible reference!

geek

geekrunner

I know, pics or it didn't happen













geek

jamesj

i think thats a cool little program. i checked out the website.

-james

geekrunner

I actually had planned on using some of the parts on a flipper and a SS conversion, and selling the frame. It's too small for me.

geek

USAZorro

I'd be more worried about the karmic effects of letting aluminum into the house.

krems81 

Ahh, the Technium is alright. The stays are chro moly, and I'm not sure but the fork might be too (anyone?). That's friendly aluminum if I ever saw it. Big fan of those bikes.

USAZorro

I've heard some of them had gluing issues. Would be pretty easy to tell from looking though if that were the case.

krems81 

The ones I've seen have all been intact. If there are issues it must be with a very small percentage. They made them for a few years too.

palladio

I have my own religious thoughts but am not a fan of most evangelization efforts. However, I have to say that this program sounds pretty cool. Anyone who helps an inner city kid learn a skill and gives them some pride of ownership is doing a true service to society in my humble opinion. Especially if it puts a kid on a "new" bike!

pastorbobnlnh 

There is so much to say about this thread! But most of it already has been! Great job! And thanks for sharing about the neat bike program the church sponsors.

Do you need UniGlide cogs? I believe I have spares in the basement. They probably are mismatched in color but I'll be glad to send them to you--- and as a possibility that I might evangelize you to my denomination through my sly generosity--- I'll cover postage!!!!

geekrunner

Thanks Pastorbob for the generous offer! I think I have a 7 speed Uniglide cassette on an old mountain bike, but if it doesn't work, I'll take you up on your offer.

geek

miamijim

Ethics, church and money dont belong in the same sentence. You lost points....

leftthread

The multiverse approves of your intention.
Mysteriously, your opposite number in the space-time continuum immediately adjacent to ours has come into a pair of bikes.

pastorbobnlnh 

Jim,

You've watched too much headline grabbing, sensationalized, we don't really like organized religion, national news.

Certainly there are a few unethical churches, pastors, and governing boards scattered here and there. But despite these few misdeeds, every year trillions of dollars pass through the offering plates of churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious organizations, completely accounted for before their congregations and used in 100% purely ethical ways. I would challenge you to find 1 cent misspent or unaccounted for by any church I've served in the last 30 years. If we were unethical, people would stop giving.

Wonderful things happen at churches for purely unselfish reasons. The Bicycle Ministry in Indianapolis is a great example. My church for instance, began what we call "Feed the Freezer" in January. Each week a small group gathers in our kitchen to make casseroles which are frozen. The next day these meals are taken to a Food Pantry to be given away.

As a church we invested a great deal of time and expense to begin this new ministry, one of which was to jump through the NH regulations to license our kitchen. Since January over 1500 meals have been given away through the generosity of one church and its members, all of whom are very ethical, and very generous with their contributions.

Please don't trash what you are not fully aware of.