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Projects Updates for Campus Bike Center
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- Associated Project(s):
Weekly Update: Strong Towns, Bike Summit, potentially postponing Working Bikes
Associated Project(s):All, Last week was a busy one. We had Strong Towns talk on Tuesday and the Illinois Bike Summit on Wednesday. Got in some good networking, heard some interesting talks/discussions, and got buzzed by two MTD buses on my bike commute there and then one car on my ride back to the Bike Center. Oh, the irony.
The cooler weather has curtailed our visitors, but we’ve had a few volunteers, too—always nice.
Grabbed some bikes from the warehouse last week and will continue to do so as I can this week. I have jury duty potentially all this week and next week, which majorly mucks up my plans for setting up with Working Bikes since I can’t plan past day-to-day. Likely will have to bump that to early November unless circumstances change.
The numbers:
Visitors: 42
Sales: $266
Memberships: 3 for $90
Tires/tubes: 3 for $20Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Strong Towns, Bike Summit, Working Bikes
Associated Project(s):All, Big week of events! On Tuesday, Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns is speaking at the Illinois Terminal and I’ll attend to see how our work as bike advocates and a non-profit can help bolster a strong and vibrant community. And Wednesday is the Illinois Bike Summit at the I-hotel. I’ll be there all day and reducing hours at the Bike Center to account for that. Accordingly, we’ll be open 4 – 6p on that day. I never fail to learn something at this yearly event and am happy to see it back here on campus.
I’ll be counting/organizing bikes for donation as well this week. Hope to have the Donation Day set by end of the week and so we can begin rallying for some support/help. WB has already agreed to pay for Manolo’s!
The numbers:
Visitors: 51Sales: $1,214.50
Memberships: 17 for $510
Tire/tubes: 8 for $94Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Slower times, Business Hours, Sorting abandoned bicycles
Associated Project(s):All, Slower times here at the Bike Center (in terms of visitors). We’re almost slow enough that we can reinstate the First Visit Free policy. Not quite there, as we’ll have lulls but pick back up again.
It was discovered that the CBC Google Business hours were not updated when we moved to M – F, which explains why we we’ve been so slow on Tues/Thurs. That has since been corrected so we’ll see if that impacts visit numbers this week.
Last week I started sorting bikes at the warehouse for shipment/donation. We’ll be saving even more bikes than usual as we’re critically low on consumable parts like tires.
We managed to rehab a Huffy to an acceptable degree. The frame was in good shape and we piloted a new freewheel system that should hopefully help keep those types of bikes rideable for longer. That bike sold in about 20 minutes. Demand for cheap bikes is evergreen.
This week I’ll do more sorting at the warehouse and coordinating the donation, an interview or two, and otherwise business-as-usual.
The numbers:
Visitors: 78
Sales: $479.50
Bikes (refurb): 1 for $70
Memberships: 5 for $150
Tires/tubes: 9 for $58Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: iSEE interview, Replenishing bike stock, Working Bikes
Associated Project(s):All, With the onset of cooler weather, we have seen a decrease in visitor numbers. But that has also correlated with a decrease in available for sale bikes.
Last week I had an iSEE student come by to interview me and talk all things bikes, so I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for that story. All publicity is good publicity!
This week I’ll start counting/sorting bikes for the Working Bikes donation—actual date TBD—including moving some of the keeper bikes to the Bike Center to replenish our stock of B-a-Bs and For Sales.
The numbers:
Visitors: 72
Sales: $958.25Bikes (refurb): 1 for $135
Memberships: 14 for $420
Tires/tubes: 15 for $70Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: BTWD, LTN, Build-a-Bike, very busy this week
Associated Project(s):All, Real busy times last week. Shop was manageably busy, but we had BTWD and LTN on consecutive days. Both events went well. I spent more time at the DRES stop than the Bike Center station, which was a new experience. Lots of folks on that route, and I was able to talk route-planning and commuting strategy with some people new to commuting. Weather cooperated swimmingly.
We had a deluge of completed B-a-Bs last week. Always good to see the smiling faces of rewarded effort. Marketing folks came by and updated some of our filing cabinets and bins with printed (legible) labels and photos of contents to better help people find and identify parts. We’re still slower on Tue/Thurs as we work to get the word out that we’re now open those days as well.
We’ll work this week on a couple shop builds we’ve been too busy to finish, prep for the abandoned bike giveaway, and clean shop as we’ve been too busy to do much of any of that in the last two weeks.
The numbers:
Visitors: 86
Sales: $1,084.30
Bikes (B-a-B): 3 for $150Memberships: 17 for $510
Tires/tubes: 10 for $59Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Bike to Work Day and Light the Night this week, Abandoned bicycles
Associated Project(s):All, The visitor numbers seem low for how busy it felt this past week. Had a few students step up, volunteer, and enjoy it enough to come back in the last few weeks. That’s always a good sign we’re doing something right.
I was out Thursday/Friday and my staff handled the Bike Center in my absence. No major issues, so I call that a success.
We’ve got BTWD and LTN this week, back-to-back days, on Wed then Thursday. Weather looks good (at this point).
This Friday is the last day for students to claim their abandoned bikes so my staff and I will count the remaining ones that we’ll be able to use. From there, I’ll coordinate with Working Bikes to pick up the rest—potentially as soon as next week. The influx of bikes will be a boon to for our programs as we look to build back stock.
The numbers:
Visitors: 49
Sales: $895
Memberships: 15 for $450
Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $50
Tires/tubes: 15 for $70Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Open weekdays, BTWD, LTN
Associated Project(s):All, This week we begin being open the full week (minus Monday for Labor Day). Hopefully we’ll be able to better help folks, as we’ve had lines for stand time most days during our M/W/F schedule.
We’re out of bikes but have been selling a good number of memberships. I’ll be out on Thurs/Fri but my staff will cover.
We’ve taken a step back technologically and had good results: Printed membership forms are easier for folks to fill out, take less time, and we have more clipboards than computers which means we can get people working on their bikes sooner. Manually entering the forms afterwards and the environmental toll are worth it during these super-busy times.
I’ll do some prep on my end for BTWD and LTN next week.
The numbers:
Visitors: 102
Sales: $1,865
Bikes (refurb): 4 for $655
Memberships: 24 for $720
Tires/tubes: 22 for $144Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: High demand for refurbished bikes, Dangerous driving behaviour
Associated Project(s):All, We’re down to two oddball bikes for sale here at the Bike Center. Demand remains high; donations remain low. We’re still helping plenty of folks, though. Visitor numbers support that.
Had a staff meeting last Thursday and then Friday was quite busy, but we were adequately staffed, which was a welcomed change. Unfortunately, the rest of the days are still in-progress in that department.
Neil St and Stadium Dr remains an ever-dangerous section of campus as I was victim this morning to a dangerous driver barreling past me—on the right, no less—at the underpass.
The numbers:
Visitors: 157Sales: $2,140
Bikes (refurb): 4 for $595
Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $50
Memberships: 28 for $840
Tires/tubes: 28 for $219Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Student rush, Very high demand for sale bikes
Associated Project(s):All, The student rush looms this week. We won’t nearly be able to meet demand for sale bikes, nor for helping with DIY repairs with our current staffing levels but we’ll soldier on. I’ve got a couple interviews lined up this week to help on that front and at least one bike donated over the weekend to help with our sales.
The numbers:
Visitors: 28
Sales: $1,742.50
Bikes (refurb): 5 for $1,080
Memberships: 9 for $270
Tires/tubes: 17 for $91Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Refurbished bicycles, Abandoned bikes
Associated Project(s):All, We’re quickly approaching zero stock for refurbished bikes. One particularly eager patron bought two of our more expensive road bikes back-to-back last week. Thankfully, we received 3 bikes in very-good-to-great condition that should—fingers crossed—be on the sales floor for Wednesday.
We’re in the beginning stages of clearing out abandoned bikes. Approximately 200 will go to CBC/TBP so that’ll help our inventory. The abandoned bikes at the rack in front of the bike center were cut this morning, cleaning up and clearing space for folks to lock there. We’ll be better able to see if any donations have been left, as well.
The numbers:
Visitors: 21
Sales: $1,646.75
Bikes (refurb): 3 for $1,025
B-a-B: 1 for $50
Tires/tubes: 15 for $113Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Social Ride, Build-a-Bike
Associated Project(s):All, Two weeks back we received three nicer bikes as donations which have proven to be quick fixes. Visit numbers were surprisingly low on Wednesday but that gave us some time to catch up on the piles of wheels and bikes we needed to strip down for parts. Sunday was the Bike Project social ride. On Monday we had a Build-a-Bike completed—a decent hybrid is a great improvement over a too-small roadmaster!—and on Friday we had another member start a Build-a-Bike.
Got an interview for a new hire this week, the Bike Project Members’ Meeting tonight, and one more of the nicer bikes to fix up.
The numbers:
Visitors: 19Sales: $800.50
Bikes (refurb): 1 for $170
Build-a-Bike: 1 for $50
Memberships: 8 for $240Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Build-a-Bike, New Hire, Community Bike Ride on Thursday
Associated Project(s):All, I was out Mon - Thurs last week sick. My staff covered admirably but, invariably, there are things they were uncomfortable taking on. Just an opportunity for further training! We had one Build-a-Bike be completed and another almost made it out the door at the last minute on Friday.
On Friday we had a visitor from Danville who is working on an Eagle Scout program rehabbing old bikes and donating them to local charities. We were able to donate 3 bikes and a handful of parts.
We also had a new hire start on Friday, received a handful of nice bike donations earlier in the week, and will process those donations this week. We’ll also work on getting a few more bikes on the sales floor as we approach August. Or maybe more accurately: AUGUST. It’ll be a doozy of a month.
On Sunday, July 31st, The Bike Project is hosting a community bike ride, so we’ll let folks know about that.
The numbers:
Visitors: 18*
Sales: $499
Bikes: 1 for $200
Build-a-Bike: 1 for $50
Memberships: 1 for $30*Likely higher actual #; technical difficulties in my absence.
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Bike sales, Build-a-Bike, Bike Rodeo
Associated Project(s):All, Business as usual this last week. Still can’t keep enough bikes on the sales floor to meet demand but we have had an uptick in Build-a-Bikes. One B-a-B was finished on Friday and another started the same day.
This week we are helping out with a Safe Routes to School Bike Rodeo program by providing the basketball courts for their learn to ride course.
Thanks to Todd for putting a sizeable dent in our scrap pile, as we’ve been getting a lot of non-repairable bikes donated lately (unfortunately).
The numbers:
Visitors: 29
Sales: $862
Bikes (refurb): 2 for $235
Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $50
Memberships: 6 for $180Tires/tubes: 14 for $136
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Bike sales, Build-a-Bike
Associated Project(s):All, Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! We got a load of wheels/tires donated last week that we’ll be working to process this week. We’re up to 5 bikes for sale right now and should have a couple more done by the time we open tomorrow. Had one completed Build-a-Bike, which is always nice. Another person started their own B-a-B project and seems to be enjoying the process.
This week I’ll make a run to the Urbana Bike Project for some parts/supplies for various bike builds here and hopefully get a few more bikes on the sales floor.
The numbers:
Sales: $729.25
Bikes (refurb): 2 for $300
Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $50Memberships: 3 for $90
Tires/tubes: 7 for $82Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Kids bike give away; Build-a-Bike
Associated Project(s):All, Last week we were able to fix up and give away 10 kids bikes to ISCU (Immigrant Services of Champaign-Urbana). Great to pass along valuable bikes to a valuable cause, and nice to clear some space in the Bike Center. We also virtually sold out of bikes, as we were down to a single for-sale bike on Wednesday. Fixed up 2 more for Friday but that’s likely not going to cut it, so we’ll move to finish a few more builds this week.
We had one person start on a Build-a-Bike on Friday. Hopefully should be done today or Wednesday.
Numbers:
Visitors: 31Sales: $1,289.80
Bikes (refurb): 4 for $$675Memberships: 7 or $210
Tire/tubes: 3 for $24Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Closed for Juneteenth, Donations
Associated Project(s):All, Short week with the observed Juneteenth holiday on Friday. We’ve steadily been receiving donations but most of them are doomed for the scrap pile. But at least we’ll get some decent parts off them.
Got a few bikes in the queue that should make the sales floor by end of week.
The numbers:
Visitors: 22
Sales: $568.19
Bikes (refurb): 2 for $215
Memberships: 7 for $210Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Donations, Closed on Friday for Juneteenth
Associated Project(s):All, We’re still working our way through our donations windfall. Open hours have been steadily busy, but it’ll be interesting to see how the extreme heat of the next couple weeks impacts visit numbers.
We are selling bikes about as fast as we can build them, especially since we’ve been too busy to build much during shop hours.
This week we will only be open Monday/Wednesday and closed Friday for Juneteenth (observed).
The numbers:
Visitors: 31
Sales: $915.30
Memberships: 2 for $60
Bikes: 3 for $595
Tires/tubes: 7 for $60Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Bicycle Donations
Associated Project(s):All, We were closed Monday for Memorial Day and so were only open W/F last week.
Thanks to the generosity of a local bike shop, we were absolutely inundated with donations—something to the tune of 15-20 bikes. Then two community folks dropped off even more donations. Needless to say, I’ll be processing these all week.
I dropped off flyers with WRC last week, too, in the hopes of expanding our reach to folks that haven’t already come into CBC.
The numbers:
Visitors: 15
Sales: $557.95
Bikes (refurb): 1 for $180
Build-a-bike: 1 for $30Memberships: 4 for $120
Tires/tubes (new/used): 12 for $76Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center CoordinatorWeekly Update: Grabbing scraps; Safety Checking bikes
Associated Project(s):All, I was out most of last week and my staff ably handled running the shop in my absence. This week we’ll only be open W/F due to the Memorial Day holiday.
Thanks to Todd for grabbing scrap over the weekend as we were getting quite full on that. Still have a few more bikes to strip.
This week I am meeting with a prospective new hire, a U of I dad who is involved with a similar non-profit group in Boise, ID (of all places), and safety-checking a few bikes that’ll help us build our for-sale inventory back up.
The numbers:
Visitors: 21
Sales: $1,043.00
Bikes (refurb): 3 for $550
Memberships: 6 for $180
Tire/tubes (new/used): 10 for $77
Thanks!Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Coordinator