stickers

We're slowly but surely working on getting stickers to put discreetly on the bikes our volunteers generously refurbish.  We sell them to pay the rent and keep the lights in our shops.  We're a not-for-profit, of course, but there are still costs to keeping the shops open so that members can come in and work on their own bikes during open and diy hours.

Anyway, Bike Project volunteer Janet was kind enough to work up some possible images for the approximately 1"x1" stickers.  Here's some examples:

Any graphic design experts out there want to give us advice?

haulin

Here's another pic of our new bike trailer in action:

You can see more at our photobucket page!

for sale at the campus bike project

Thanks to the generous work of our volunteers (who painstakingly refurbish bikes donated to The Bike Project), we've got some great bikes for sale right now at the Campus Bike Project. They'll only be here while they last, so if you're interested, stop by during open hours and take a look. All bike purchases now come with a one year membership to The Bike Project! And don't forget our General Membership Meeting taking place tonight at the U-C IMC shop at 6pm. Now, on to the show:

AWSOME Huffy, probably kids' sized $45
_________________

Randor hybrid! $SOLD
__________________

Schwinn mountain bike $130

B

BCA USA mountain bike $80

S

Schwinn Frontier $100

T

Trek 820 $140

...and the piece de resistance...

his-n-hers Free Spirit 3-speeds

each with a rear rack

and some home-made looking extra racks we haven't figured out yet

$125 each OR $225 for the pair

Finally, something that isn't for sale but which we're still proud of: our new cargo hauling bike trailer! I'll get Joel to write about more in the future, but we're planning to use it to haul stuff across town from shop to shop. It carried a love seat into the Campus shop over the weekend:

Awesome!

One Less Car hits (virtual) shelves

Zack Furness, a Cultural Studies professor at Chicago's Columbia College, has written a book called One Less Car: Bicycling and the Politics of Automobility. (It's published by Temple University Press. Click the link to order a copy for $24.95 from AK Press, who are doing good work for the cause of anarchy.) Furness will be donating all royalties from the sale of One Less Car to community bike projects in Pittsburgh and Chicago.

Furness will hopefully be coming to Champaign-Urbana in the fall on his promotional tour, but in the meantime, check out his book.

The Bike Project's looking for an Americorps volunteer

The Bike Project's hiring for an Americorps position.  Current Volunteer Coordinator Emma is off to school in Oregon and so we're looking for a new Volunteer Coordinator, based at the U-C IMC.  Here's a link to our pdf announcement.  The pdf includes everything you need to know to apply, but if you have any questions, please feel free to email us. 

The deadline's July 5, so act fast!

cycling movies

Looking for a movie about bikes that isn't Vive le Tour or Quicksilver?  C-U's local video store That's Rentertainment has compiled a long list of cycling movies, including both notable (The Bicycle Thief and Pee-Wee's Big Adventure) and obscure (Velorution).

That's Rentertainment's got many of them available too, in case some evenings are too rainy or humid for bike rides.

PCC, CCB, TBP!

I'm Sue Jones, stepping in to make a summer blog entry. I volunteer in the IMC basement bike project area Saturdays, mostly talking to people coming in to see what they need, and doing cash register stuff, but helping with the occasional flat tire.You can be a helpful volunteer with basically no mechanical skills - I"m proof :) Being a regular volunteer also means that when things aren't busy I can grease my *own* chain.
Scrolling down, there's a LOT going on for bicycling this summer - and, of course, there's more than The Bike Project. For a little while longer, I"m president of the Prairie Cycle Club. August 14th we'll have our CU Across the Prairie ride. THis is a big ol' social ride where a hundred fifty or so riders come out to Mahomet -- this year to the HIdeaway restaurant as the starting point. Rides are 17, 35 and 65 miles -- I'm still exploring routes so those mileages are estimates (hoping to find the guy with the huge art in his yard). We'll mark the routes and have rest stops and tbe bicycle blender will be there and I've found new recipes.
Doing things from the HIdeaway means that when you're finished, you can have the kind of cool and refreshing beverage on the patio that you'd have to forego at Lake of the Woods. Hope to see you out there!

urbana & champaign producing a bicycle safety video

At Smile Politely, Joel splogged (it's a special form of blogging) about a News-Gazette article about a bicycle safety video our fair twin cities are jointly producing:

The cities of Champaign and Urbana are collaborating on a bicycle safety video that will provide information to both cyclists and drivers on the proper ways to deal with various traffic scenarios.

They are working with a bicycle safety consultant with the League of Illinois Bicyclists, Donnie Miller, who has done bicycle safety training in Champaign-Urbana before. The cost of making the video is about $1,200.

Let's hope it includes something capable of teaching grumpy men in the passenger seats of Toyota Corollas not to curse at me for taking the lane beneath a bridge on Springfield as their young daughters watch everything from the backseat!  We are traffic, &c....

next tuesday: the bike project general meeting!

Next Tuesday, 29 June at 6pm, The Bike Project shop at the U-C IMC will host The Bike Project's general membership meeting.  Our wiki has an agenda.

All members are welcome.  Food and drinks will be served.  Last time we had sandwiches -- which was cool -- but usually it's pizza, like so:

Hope to see you there!

Bike!Bike! coming soon; want to go?

The annual gathering of bicycle cooperatives, Bike!Bike!, will be in Toronto from August 12 to 15, 2010. Want to go? The Bike Project will be sending at least one car-load, and maybe two, and we'll sponsor most of your expenses (it's super-cheap). It's a great way to learn more about how other co-ops do things, and it's great fun, too. Here's the blog that Phil Graff and I put together about last year's conference. Let your friendly local Bike Project volunteer know if you'd like to go with us.

Save the Date: Mustache Ride II: Saturday, August 21

More details and a new logo will be forthcoming soon, so stay tuned:

c-u fruit map

I already wrote about this here yesterday, but in an article about tomorrow's Tour de Fruit, Smile Politely featured a really great Champaign-Urbana fruit map, made collaboratively using Google Maps.  Here's what it looks like:

Here's a link to the interactive, reality-augmenting C-U Fruit Map.  Even if you can't make Saturday's group ride, the map's a good guide for other, well, fruitful bike rides around town!

saturday: tour de fruit

This Saturday, 19 June, C-U will host an impromptu Tour de Fruit, departing from the space outside The Bike Project's U-C IMC shop at 6:30pm.  Details from an email announcement:

Join local bicycle riders and fruit lovers as we excursion through the area. We'll visit a variety of fruit trees, including pears, apples, paw paws, persimmons, plums, apricots, peaches, mulberries, cherries, and juneberries.  Each stop on the route will have time for activities and discussion, and will end with a delicious snack at the end. The purpose of the ride is to share knowledge of trees, identify native edibles, engage with the community, and talk about new ways of navigating our landscape.

The group ride will begin at the IMC Bike Project and end at La Casa, a co-op house where the residents are working on a permaculture food forest.  

3-4 mile ride. Bring a helmet and containers to collect fruit.

Here's a link to the blog entry announcing the Tour. And here, some pix of fruit from around town.

(Update: Smile Politely just posted a C-U Fruit Map!)

new design plus links

If the blog looks prettier lately, it's because I just redid it with blogger's new design templates.  Here's hoping it's now more legible.

I also just added a collection of links to (mostly) local blogs and other (mostly) local sites, both bike-centric and not.  Find them by scrolling down and checking out the righthand column, beneath "archives" and "labels."

If you've got a site or blog you'd like us to link (and want to link us back in return!) email us!

Campus Bike Project Update - June 14 (well, 16)

THANKS

This week's appreciation goes to Aaron from Champaign Cycle, who donated a bunch of used 700c wheels last night. They're much appreciated and will be put to good use.

IN THE NEWS

As Kelly mentioned earlier this week, we got our picture in the News-Gazette on Saturday.


BIKES FOR SALE

Sorry, I still haven't got the picture-taking thing figured out. Next week, I promise. We have several ready-to-ride used bicycles for sale, all of which come with a one-year membership to TBP and CBP (and if you're already a member, then it'll be extended for a year). Sizing is approximate, and stock changes on a daily basis.

• Trek 820 Single Track Men's Mountain Bike, dark green, probably would fit someone in the 5'8" to 6'0" range -- $140
• Randor Women's Mountain Bike from the '80s, white and blue, for someone 5'4" to 5'8", $80
• Schwinn "Women Inspired" Mountain Bike, nearly new, pink and black, for someone 5'4" to 5'8", $120  SOLD!
  
• Schwinn Frontier Women's Mountain Bike, burgundy and white, for someone 4'10" to 5'2", $100
• Huffy Women's Cruiser Bike, nearly new, neon green and black, for someone 5'2" to 5'6", $60  SOLD!
• Men's & Women's matching burgundy Free-Spirit 3-speeds with coaster brakes -- these were donated last week as a pair, and we'd like to sell them as such. They have some hardware installed for side-by-side tandem use. $125 each or $220 for the pair.
• BSA Mountain bike, red, for someone 5'8" to 5'10", $75
• Huffy boy's mountain bike, for someone 5'2" to 5'6", $35

BUILD-A-BIKES

Summer's a great time to work on a build-a-bike project. Come in and check out what we have in the back and get started on an inexpensive bike that you can call your own. You can repair a bike yourself and purchase it for just half the price of what it would be for an already-repaired bike. Including a student membership, that's usually around $50.

VOLUNTEER

If you're interested in volunteer opportunities (or just want to help in general), email Joel at campusbikeproject@gmail.com. We can use all types of assistance, especially from those without strong mechanical skills.

STUFF WE NEED

We've had many excellent donations that have helped CBP get off the ground, and we're still at the point where we can use a few things. First among them: a large box or cage fan. Most days, there's enough of a breeze to keep things relatively cool in the shop, but lately it's been pretty steamy and there's only so much that the wind can do. If you have a big fan you'd be willing to part with, we'd sure appreciate it. Shoot Joel an email.

"biking on the cheap"

Yes, it's kind of hidden, but we do have a wiki.  Besides hosting various organizational docs, the wiki also contains cycling info, some C-U specific, some good for anywhere. 

My favorite are the links collected under "Advice - Biking on the Cheap."  There you'll find links to instructions for all sorts of DIY bike projects, like making your own LED lights, fenders, panniers, studded tires, messenger bags, repair stands, and even porter racks, such as this one from bikecommuters.com:

(photo from bikecommuters.com!)

the bike project in the news, again!

Joel and I appeared on page B3 of the local paper this past Saturday.  A photographer made our picture Friday afternoon at the campus shop, as we conferred about a bent brake on an old BSA mountain bike:

(photo credit to John Dixon/The News-Gazette)

(I replaced the brake and the BSA's now for sale at the Campus Bike Project!)

weekend bike events?

We've got some!

First, the Art Gallery Bicycle Tour, which was rained out last weekend, will take place rain or shine this Saturday, 12 June.  It's a self-paced ride around town, punctuated by visits to some of C-U's art galleries.  Entry fee is a $10 and you'll get a discount on food at some participating restaurants. Check out the Champaign Cycles page for more details.  (And read a preview I wrote for last fall's iteration of the Tour.)

This weekend Champaign will also host Taste of C-U in West Side Park.  Some Bike Project volunteers will be volunteering at the bike corral and if you get there by bicycle, you'll get a free drink ticket good at one of the Pepsi tents.  The Champaign Park District website has more info.

(And if you'd like to see some live theater, the U-C IMC's hosting a "woven collage of music, theater, and dance" called Aquatown: A Future Hydrohistory.)

The Bike Project's also got a bunch of open hours this weekend if you'd like to stop by our shops.  The U-C IMC shop will be open 2-5pm on Saturday and Sunday; the Campus Bike Project from 5-9pm on Sunday.

Hope to see you out and about!

pix of the urbana shop

During open hours last night, Bike Project volunteer Carl made some pictures of the U-C IMC shop.  I showed up just in time to appear in one:

You can find more photos of both our shops (and some of our recent trip to Kickapoo) over at our photobucket page.

how can employers encourage bike commuting?

This article from Inc. magazine offers some answers, along with check-lists to decide how best to incentivize bike commuting.  Bikes aren't just good for the environment; they promote employee wellness (and happiness) too!  As the article puts it

There may be several reasons to encourage your employees to seek alternate transportation to work. Whether it's carpooling, taking public transportation, walking or biking, the benefits of not driving a car everyday are substantial. The most notable benefit is the reduced strain on the environment. Cutting back on driving not only reduces our countries dependence on crude oil, but also reduces our carbon footprint. However, by taking an extra step—and asking your employees to ride a bike to work—your company will have pride knowing that its also contributing to the physical health and well-being of the employees that participate.

Besides the checklists, the piece also offers some helpful links like this "Employer's Bike to Work Guide" from Bike Iowa.  The lessons in it are good for here, too.  We're fortunate to live in a place where commuting by bicycle is just as easy (or even easier!) than commuting by car.

If you run a bike-based business in C-U, we'd love to hear from you -- and perhaps to write about you.  Get in touch!

"sharrows" coming to philo road

Later this week, Urbana will start painting "shared lane markings" or sharrows on Philo Road, as part of the Urbana Bicycle Master Plan.  Campus shop manager Joel wrote about the city's press release for our favorite local website.

Here's some good lines from the city's press release:

there are several purposes for the shared lane markings on Philo Road south of Colorado Avenue:

• Let motorists know they can expect bicyclists on the road;
• Help bicyclists position themselves in the travel lane (i.e. “take the lane”) since it is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel side-by-side in the lane;
• Positioning the bicyclist in the lane will encourage safe passing by motorists (if a bicyclist rides too close to the curb, they risk being squeezed by a motorist trying to pass without leaving their travel lane)

Campus Bike Project Update - June 7

Some of you reading this may not realize that The Bike Project recently opened a second location, known as the Campus Bike Project. It's located at 608 E. Pennsylvania in Champaign, which is bordered by the Law Building to the west, the Natural Resources Building to the north, the Stock Pavilion to the east, and that huge cemetery to the south. Hopefullly, that'll be easier to get to for some of you. Anyhow, I'll be chiming in each Monday on this here blog to let you know what's new at the CBP. Today was a big day, so I'd better get started:

THANKS

I'll try to start each week with a big thank-you to someone who's helped the Campus Bike Project. This week I'd like to thank Don Rudder and Tina Demoss and the rest of the employees of the U of I's Parking department. Don and Tina have the thankless task of cutting off the locks and collecting all the abandoned bikes after classes end in the summer (as well as impounding illegally-parked bikes throughout the year). Don and Tina get a lot of grief from people just in the course of doing their job, and that would make a lot of people grouchy, but they're always very friendly and helpful. In fact, last week they noticed that their pile of cut locks was getting pretty tall, and they contacted me to pick the locks up and take them to the scrap yard before someone else grabbed them.

As you may or may not know, in 2008 the U of I decided to discontinue their bike auction and donate all the impounded/abandoned bikes to The Bike Project after students and staff have a chance to claim them. That's been a huge benefit to our organization, and we greatly appreciate the help. The legwork to make that happen on the University's side falls on Parking, and they have been great to work with. Don and Tina are who we deal with face-to-face, but working behind the scenes are: Michelle Winters, Tom Skaggs, Stacey Rudolph, Mike Fitzgerald, Gary Williamson, Anita Gardner, and several others.

So, the next time you get a parking ticket or hear about someone getting towed, remember that they're just doing their job. Thanks guys, for all your help!

ON THE TEE-VEE

I see that Kelly already mentioned it, but the fine folks at WCIA Channel 3's The Morning Show (Nichole and her cameraman Scott) interviewed Emma and I this morning about all things Bike Project, at the Campus Bike Project:


Part 1 (3 minutes): http://illinoishomepage.net/fulltext/?nxd_id=153265

Part 2 (4 minutes): http://illinoishomepage.net/fulltext/?nxd_id=153275

Hey, it could have gone more smoothly, but at least no one got hurt. We've been getting some great media coverage lately, as a News-Gazette photog showed up later in the morning (I'll post a link when and if anything comes of that), and Tom Cyrs wrote this nice article about recycling bikes in Smile Politely last week.


BIKES FOR SALE

I intended to take some pictures, but descriptions will have to suffice for this week. We have several ready-to-ride used bicycles for sale, all of which come with a one-year membership to TBP and CBP (and if you're already a member, then it'll be extended for a year). Sizing is approximate, and stock changes on a daily basis.

• Trek 820 Single Track Men's Mountain Bike, dark green, probably would fit someone in the 5'8" to 6'0" range -- $140
• Randor Women's Mountain Bike from the '80s, white and blue, for someone 5'4" to 5'8", $80
• Schwinn "Women Inspired" Mountain Bike, nearly new, pink and black, for someone 5'4" to 5'8", $120
• Schwinn Frontier Women's Mountain Bike, burgundy and white, for someone 4'10" to 5'2", $100
• Huffy Women's Cruiser Bike, nearly new, neon green and black, for someone 5'2" to 5'6", $60

BUILD-A-BIKES

Summer's a great time to work on a build-a-bike project. Come in and check out what we have in the back and get started on an inexpensive bike that you can call your own. You can repair a bike yourself and purchase it for just half the price of what it would be for an already-repaired bike. Including a student membership, that's usually around $50.

VOLUNTEER

People are starting to find out about CBP, and we are getting busier all the time. We have several fantastic volunteers that have helped to get the Campus shop off the ground (thanks a bunch Carl, Gillian, Hasib, Jen, and Kelly! As well as the core volunteers at the Urbana location), but we could always use more help. Here are some areas where volunteers could provide assistance:

• Assisting members and walk-ins with repairs during open hours. This is our biggest area of need, especially heading into fall. Your mechanical skills don't need to be that advanced - the main thing is that you want to help people learn how to fix their own bikes.
• Greeting visitors during open hours. Don't feel comfortable working with bikes but want to help out when the shop is open? This is super-valuable, and something that anyone can do with a friendly attitude and a little training. Especially when the shop's busy, having a greeter (or even two) is invaluable. You'll help visitors and members sign in, give a little spiel to first-time visitors about what we do, and sell used bikes and new parts.
• Scrap old bikes for parts. Some bikes are too far gone to be repaired, or they have frame damage that makes them unsafe. So, we strip off what's usable and take the rest to the scrap yard. Need a break from intense mental work? Patching tubes, scavenging spokes and nipples off old wheels, or just tearing down crummy bikes can be a great way to relax and blow off some steam.
• Publicity. Want to visit residence halls and hand out fliers about CBP or give a presentation to campus groups? We get a lot of requests for this kind of thing, and it's a great way to share your enthusiasm for The Bike Project.
• Art projects. One of the coolest things about bike collectives (and one of the great things about the IMC location) is that they often are able to combine the practical with the beautiful, with a bike-centric theme. Gillian is off to a great start with our sandwich-board sign and some other signage for around the shop, but there's room for others to help, too. What about a coat tree welded out of old scrap frames, or a table made from old chainrings? Let your imagination run wild, and let us know what you have in mind.

If you're interested in any of these volunteer opportunities (or just want to help in general), email Joel at campusbikeproject@gmail.com.

the bike project on tv!

(We cleaned the campus shop especially well last night because...)

This morning, Campus Bike Project manager Joel and The Bike Project's Volunteer Coordinator Emma appeared in two segments on WCIA's morning show!  WCIA's Nichole Szemerei spoke with Joel and Emma outside the campus shop and then Emma showed off the shop itself, including our collection of build-a-bike possibilities.

• Here's the first video, in which Joel and Emma talk about The Bike Project.

• And here's the second, in which Joel undertakes a brake repair while Emma shows off the shop and talks about the co-op.

PS: if you want a Bike Project tee shirt like those Joel and Emma are wearing, come by the U-C IMC shop in Urbana and get one for a $10 donation!  And if you'd like to become a member or to check out The Bike Project, stop by either the campus shop or the U-C IMC shop during open hours.

PPS: Thanks to Joel and Emma and thanks, too, to Nichole and WCIA!

and we're back

We've been on vacation from blogging, spending time scouring rust off old Schwinns with steel wool and elbow grease.  We really should get a Dremel.

But last week we heard that we "should totally blog about the shop!" ... and we agree.

Despite our laxity, we're still in the news!  Smile Politely (our incestuous sort of sister site) featured an article by a U of I journalism student about how we recycle old bikes.  And next week, probably on Monday, 7 June, C-U tv station WCIA's morning show will feature a segment on The Bike Project live from the campus shop.

And if you're looking for some bike-related fun this weekend, check out C-U's Art Gallery Bicycle Tour.  (Here's a preview I wrote for Smile Politely for the last iteration of the Tour.)

One last PSA: if you'd like to contribute to the blog, please email us and let us know.