randyjawa 

As a Bicycles for Humanity volunteer, sometimes it is necessary to perform unpleasant tasks. For example, trying to decide what to pitch and what to keep.





The piles of this and that are on shaky ground. The bikes, literally heaped, in these piles are about to be subjected to one last look see, before deciding to keep, strip or send to the Scrap Metal Dealer...

And last Wednesday evening, for three hours, half a dozen volunteers tackled the pile, sorted and striped and started hauling away. Next, back to the Dump - the bikes are still flowing.



Make no mistake about it. At B4H we try to use as much as we possible can but there are limits to how much can be saved. The more hands sharing the work load, the more gets done and the better the cycle recycling goes.

Amesja

Definitely strip if they are going to be trashed anyhow. Throw the department-store stuff away without much thought (although some of the seats might be OK.

I see some nicer alloy parts in there like V-brakes, never levers, handlebars, seatposts. I'd love to see the BB spindles saved -especially the ones that could be used for older Raleighs to convert them to square-taper. Many of the alloy rims are salvagable. Cranksets, If a whole wheel isn't worth saving then save the rim/hub/freewheel/cassette. Some of the framesets might be worth saving if they are nicer or at least the forks.

Any IGH or coaster-brake hubs should be saved too. In a couple of hours with a few tools that pile that covered a 500 square feet of space could fit into a 4x4 pallet of parts. If you were close to me I'd love a chance to pick through that "junk." Maybe you could have a free day and invite people to come pick through the pile after you were done. I'm sure there are a few people who are close to you who would appreciate the opportunity to pick through the scrap.

randyjawa 

We do salvage most of the components that are still useful. Bits and pieces from hundreds of bikes are boxed and included in our shipments to Africa. Wheels are often sent complete unless total junk (rusted, busted or whatever). Wheel parts, particularly spokes, are great to include for newly formed bicycles shops across the big pond.

At the end of the day, there is still stuff to be sold as scrap. Not a complete waste, and certainly better than just throwing it into the Landfill Site. If we had more volunteers, I would even like to have our scrap metal segregated in steel and clean aluminum, but resources, even human ones, are always scarce.

Amesja

We have a similar place here in chicago called Working Bikes. Unfortunately they aren't so open with giving/selling parts to people like me. I guess if I were a volunteer I'd get more access. They tend to want to sell complete bikes to the "consumer' of bicycles rather than be resource for people who build/repair bikes which is a shame.

Bikedued

WHAT is that green bike in the middle of the last pic? Looks to be half decent?,,,,BD