Working Bikes Chicago
 

Anybody have any experience with working Bikes Co-op?

http://workingbikes.org/

My daughter wants a "beach bike" and wants me to take her here to pick one out. She likes the charity and recycling aspects of something like this. She does NOT want a new bike. She currently lives in Pilsen.

Go on Saturday mornings. Get there about an hour before the storefront opens to be early in line! There will be a line. Have a mango smoothie from the small Thai restaurant nearby while you wait. Be prepared to do this for a few weekends since the selection is hit and miss. Also, check out the warehouse about 2 blocks north by the auto shop. That is where they keep everything that hasn't been worked on yet.

Working Bikes is a great place if you enjoy scrounging. Denver doesn't have a place like it that I'm aware of. I miss it.

I've been to Working Bikes and can't recommend it. What they do by collecting bikes and shipping them around the world is a great thing, but if you're looking for something to ride and maybe score a deal, go elsewhere.

Beach Bikes, or Cruisers are very popular and go fast. Believe me when I tell you the staff and volunteers snatch up anything decent long before it ever gets on the floor.

Generally speaking, what's left is a lot of steel junk from the 70's/80's that is no fun to ride and will be a waste of money once the nostalgia wears off.

Say you go there 3 times and finally find a cruiser that's decent. It's gonna cost you $100. You've gone there and back with the car 6 times, spent minimum 3 hours looking, and had 6 Starbucks for you and your friend. What did you get: a 25 pound Columbia with steel wheels and hard grease. You'll say it's great for a week because you put so much effort into finding it but one day soon, maybe you're tired, and you've got to lug the thing out of the basement and you smash your shin on the pedal you'll finally admit it's no fun to ride, in fact, it's a chore to ride and I'd rather walk.

A new cruiser will cost $250. It'll be fun to ride.

Old bikes get stolen just like new bikes. The sell them for scrap.

I'm forced to agree. The few bike I've seen there that were not complete junk were overpriced.

Agreed. Most working bikes are $75-100 clunkers. There's a guy named Kevin that sells on CL that has a pretty decent selection of bikes. I'd go there first. His bikes would, on average, be of a higher quality and are in good repair. Prices are fair, compared to the rest of CL. He lives near Belmont and Damen, and his ads either list Belmont and Dame or Roscoe Village as his location. I think that he had an ad yesterday or the day before.

Good luck,
Bob

That reminds me. There is a place called A Nearly New Bike Shop up on N. Clark. Like WB and Kevin, they are one of the few places in Chicago that can sell used bikes.

Well...thanks for all the warnings. She wanted to try anyway and she spotted an old Schwinn Traveller with a woman's frame. No bad noises from the bottom bracket, good chain, clean sprockets, tight caliper (double pull) brakes, and straight frame with nicely wrapped bars. Downtube shifters worked fine through all the gears. Saddle, in genuine imitation leather, in perfect shape with no gel. After riding it for about ten minutes she felt it "needed a home".

$60 bones later we threw it in the back of my wifes car and went to Kuma's for a burger.

It's got nasty red paint and oddly rusted wheels with dry rotted sidewalls on the tires. I'm betting it was in a flooded basement for a couple of days. There's almost a parallel line, about a quarter of the rim, where the wheels are rusted. I've got some new tires and tubes that will fit and she's gonna hand letter some stuff on the frame (she has a master's in art). I'll bring my tools up this week and pull the bottom bracket and headset apart to clean and lube them and all the deraillers, sprockets, cable housings, chain, and seat post. I won't bother with the hubs as I'll get a set of cheap, used 700C wheels and throw them on.

We'll make it a project. Pick up a basket and bell at Kozy's. If she gets a summer out of it we'll hit Craigslist this winter for something else. She can keep "Miss Red" (she's already named it) for anybody that stays over and wants to ride with her next summer.

Again...thanks all.