miss kenton

My husband and I attended our first meeting as volunteers for a County Bike Share program that is in development here. We are going to be working Wednesday nights and Saturdays repairing and reconditioning donated, used bikes. Area bike mechanics will be on hand to teach the repairs. After the refurbishing, the bikes will be distributed to municipalities within the county that wish to participate in the program.

The program is being developed by the county’s Director of Environmental Affairs and supported by the county as a means of advocating the use of our bike trails and cycling as an alternate means of transportation. I met him last night, and was not surprised to learn he is also a cyclist.

Our first repair day is Saturday and I am so excited to be part of it.
I like doing volunteer work, I’m sure to learn a great deal about bike repair, and I’m looking forward to meeting a good number of other cyclists!

We are starting with two hundred+ bikes in need of repair. As it is a new program here, they have asked us to bring any ideas we may have to make the repair process function as smoothly as possible.

I am wondering if anyone has worked in a similar situation and if so, do you have any tips or suggestions?

qcpmsame 

Maybe have a few persons for wheels and some responsible for cables and ders,etc., like an assembly line. I imagine they want each person to take a bike and repair it to safe use status but its an idea. Hope this works out and is successful Miss K' you and the Mr. are really doing a great thing for everyone.

Bill

miss kenton

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Thanks, Bill. I think I am really going to like it. The people involved seem to be a really good group of people. There was some talk about exactly the things you suggested and having a person just to organize the parts salvaged from bikes that can't be repaired. I know my current skills lie in being a skilled organizer, but my heart wants me to be in there repairing bikes!

qcpmsame 

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/820400-N-132

Here is the first load Miss K', courtesy of BigbadWulff's post.

Bill

miss kenton

Well; that's not far from it! I saw the bikes last night. Just picture those bikes lined up in the halls, stairwells, and all rooms of what I believe used to be a TB sanitarium in the 60's!

Durockrolly

Miss K.
Good for you and your husband. I love seeing when people get involved.

Louis

Kudos, Miss K, to you and The Mister for donating your time and efforts to a good cause.

Gravity Aided

Wow! You really have your work cut out for you . Let us know how this project progresses . Bring Jersey back to the bicycle.

Retro Grouch 

I'd be interested in hearing how it goes. I'm thinking that rear wheels, pedals and brake parts are going to be in short supply. Do you know what the distribution system is going to be?

wobblyoldgeezer

What a great thing to be doing.

It sounds like you and your co-volunteers are quite on top of things and already in advance of what I'd suggest

Which was a bit of emergency room or MASH 'Triage'

Bikes almost good, just need a tweak, let 'em sit a while
Bikes needing parts and time, major focus of volunteer attention
Donor bikes, with servicable parts into bins of reusable components by type

Have a lot of fun. It's a good thing you and your team are doing

miss kenton

Thank you all for the kind words and tips, Gentlemen. I believe I will get more from it than I will be able to contribute. I think tonight I will bake some cookies to take to the others tomorrow. That way, they'd feel bad about kicking me out if I turn out to be a lousy mechanic.

RG: In addition to the grant the program has received, I am happy to report that the LBS that I frequent has contributed free replacement parts such as cables, pads, tubes and such. I will post on our progress.

WOG: I think there will be a great deal of triage going on tomorrow. I think you are correct in that the bikes need to be sorted by the extent of needed repair.

qcpmsame 

Well how did the Saturday learning/organizational session go? Inquiring minds want to know.

Bill

miss kenton

So. My first day as a bike mechanic. I spent the day stripping irrepairable bikes for parts: removing saddles, seat-posts pedals, derailleurs, wheels, chains, brake cables--you name it! Any bit of aluminum will be recycled, as well. We took apart a LOT of bikes today and I loved every minute of it.
I learned to use a chain-breaker and a pedal wrench. I am going to learn how to true a wheel!
As mentioned, I made cookies to share with the group and they were well received.
I am (bike-repairing) woman! Hear me strip a brake cable!

bluegoatwoods

Makes me wish I lived in New Jersey............there is simply no interest in bicycles around here. It's lonely.

Congratulations misskenton. It sounds like a lot of fun.

Gravity Aided

Plenty of interest in bikes in Central Illinois , we're just stealthy .

Retro Grouch 

I'm still interested in the distribution system and how well it works. Honestly, I'm thinking that may be the weak link in the whole idea.

miss kenton

Hello RG,
I'm not sure if you are asking about distribution to the municipalities or to the people who want a bike, or both. Essentially, the mission is to get people out riding. Any interested municipality in the county can request bikes from the program to offer their own program. One town already has their own very successful program up and running.
Citizens can obtain a membership to the program for a small fee that will enable them to use a bike for a day, week or month. Volunteers will work as, for lack of a better word, "librarians" for checking out and returning the bikes.
Again, the goal is to get people out riding, so I get the impression that as long as the bikes are being ridden, it is all good. As I stated in a prior post, it is a new program here and the directors are very open to suggestions.
A subset of the program enables kids to join the group, use a Bikeshare bike to learn bike safety while riding with a coordinator to the facility where they will choose another bike, rehab it, and then providing they meet their end of the deal, keep the bike they have reconditioned!
If you are interested, here is a link to an article that gives more details:
https://www.newsworks.org/index.php/n...ors&Itemid=248

CraigB

I love the way you think.

Barrettscv 

A great project, Miss K!

The idea is spreading and needs support. You are in good company, including David Byrne: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/op...WT.mc_ev=click

miss kenton

Well, it worked! As I left, they said, "See ya Wednesday!!"

miss kenton

Thanks so much for sharing this link! I have posted it on the Bikeshare FB page. (I have always liked Talking Heads.)

qcpmsame 

Glad things went well and you learned something. You will appreciate knowing how to true and eventually lace up wheels when you do get to this. I actually enjoy doing these tasks and need to acquire some tension and truing tools again. You could make enough cookies for all of us and have us over to show us what you and Mr. K' have learned

Bill

Durockrolly

Perhaps you may want to mention the name of that LBS so locals can show their appreciation by supporting it!!!

miss kenton

I had considered it in my earlier post, but wasn't sure it was appropriate to do so here. However, since you mention it, they are Danzeisen & Quigley in Cherry Hill, NJ. It is where last year, I won this bike, this year I won the helmet (which, by coincidence, matches my bike perfectly,and where I bought these shoes. Picture from today's 22 mile ride.

presydent

Hi, my name is Josh Forrest and I am an Honours Student at the University of Queensland in Australia and am completing a degree in Regional and Town Planning. As part of the Honours program, I am conducting thesis research to understand the relationships between perception and Public Bikeshare Program (PBS) adoption patterns. Specifically, researching what and how perception variables affect PBS demand between different cycling and PBS user/non-user groups.

As this site has a direct correlation to my topic, could you please complete this survey. It would be much appreciated and help us understand how we can improve the public perception towards Bikeshare Programs.

Survey link: https://publicbikeshare.weebly.com/

Kind regards,
Josh