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Project Updates for collection: Bicycle Related Projects

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  1. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, with the semester under way now things picked up a little at the Campus Bike Center last week. I called in student worker Leah to help on Friday. It proved to be the correct call as we were busy and her help was greatly appreciated.

    This week I have a meeting with Lily and people from Housing to discuss Winter bike storage. I will finish the big shelving unit and start framing out some better support for the tool wall. A Bike Project member was kind enough to loan some tools to help with that. Thanks, Flora! The tail end of the week is supposed to be nice weather and I think a good time to clear out the bike warehouse. I will coordinate with The Bike Project and Parking about that.

    Visitors:  31
    Sales: $301.50
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $165
    Memberships: 0 L
    Tire/Tubes: 3 for $21

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  2. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was still quite slow. TBP volunteer John came on Tuesday and helped build a new shelving unit in the back of the shop, which once finished, will help keep things from forming dangerous piles on the ground. I’ll continue to work on that this week.

    Over the weekend, Todd (another TBP volunteer) came and cleared out the scrap metal. That was super helpful and has cleared space to store more bikes and parts.

    With the student return, it projects to be busier this week. We shall see! I’ll keep a couple staffers on call in case it does get busy.

    Other than that, I will continue to build bikes, organize, and cull the junk.

    Visitors: 22
    Sales: $240
    Memberships: 1 for $30
    Tube/tire: 2 for $9

    Sincerely,

     

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  4. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was exceedingly quiet. I closed up shop on Tuesday due to the wonky heating and the extreme cold. Since then, the heat has been operating at about 30% but that’s enough to get by. Fingers crossed it gets fixed this week.

    This week I will, weather permitting, be able to give final test rides and checks to the bikes I built up last week. I’ll also be building a shelving unit next to the bench grinder in an attempt to maximize some of the vertical space the shop allows for but is currently going unused. Beyond that it is business as usual.

    Visitors: 10
    Sales: $105

    No bike sales (refurb nor b-a-b) last week.

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  5. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Happy New Year! Before the holiday break I only worked a 2 day week. Nothing of note occurred. Although the records show we had 25 people in, so that’s cool.

    On to the numbers!

    Sales: $309.50
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $180
    Bikes (B-a-B): 0 for $0
    Tubes: 2 for $8

    Stay warm!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  6. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was slow and I did not need the assistance of the student staff. Thankfully, a couple of them were flexible enough to agree to an on-call situation if I needed them. That was a great help to know they were available if needed.

    Volunteer presence last week was surprisingly high. On Thursday we had five people in, all to volunteer. Accordingly, a lot of much-needed organizing and deep cleaning happened. For example: all used tubes have been accounted for: good ones sorted and marked, bad ones in their own pile.

    On Tuesday of last week I closed the shop for CPR-certification class. This week I will set up my other certification class for BBP.

    Last Monday I called in a service order as two of the three heater fans wouldn’t turn on. Thankfully, it has been warm enough and the one still operational fan has been putting out enough heat to keep it comfortable in here.

    I’ll be working today and tomorrow and then back at it January 2nd, 2018. (Weird to type!) Hope everyone has a lovely holiday and a happy new year!

    Visitors: 28

    Sales: $141.80
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Misc. small parts: 26 for $26

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  7. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week I was sick and missed work on Wednesday. Other than that, it was uneventful. I’ve kept one student worker on per day to help, as it’s been busy enough to warrant it. That has been a pleasant turn of events—being this busy—but will likely end this week with finals happening and all.

    This week projects to be slow and I should be able to make some real headway with building up bikes for the Spring rush. I’ve got 14 for sale right now but will hopefully have about 20 by end of week.

    I have staff training from 11-4 tomorrow, so the shop will be closed as I cannot guarantee that I’ll be done in a timely manner. I’ll post on the website about it.

    The numbers:
    Sales: 281.25
    Memberships: 6 for $180

    Tubes: 3 for $14

    visitors: 41 for the week

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

     

  9. Kick off meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bike at Illinois Website and Campaign

    Creative Services hosted a kick-off meeting for the Bike at Illinois website.  Lily Wilcock is now working with them to schedule interviews with various stakeholders. She is using the following message:

    In efforts to improve the experience and safety of our programs, we will be reimagining the Bike at Illinois website. Our first step involves learning about our key audiences so we can determine how we can best serve them online. We’re asking for participants who are willing to give 1 hour interview to our creative team, who will be asking a series of questions and collecting some key insights. This will help us determine what services and information is available, how to best present these in a website, and how we can improve your experience with us in the future.

  11. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was predictably slow. I cut back almost entirely on student staff since long stretches of open hours were completely vacant of visitors. Thankfully a few student staffers wanted to work on their own bicycle projects and were able to jump in and help out when it got too busy for me to handle everyone on my own. Those instances were rare and brief, presenting a problem from a staffing prospective: not busy enough to keep someone there the whole day but busy enough that a second person is needed. Something to consider for the future is having something like an on-call staffer for the winter months to pitch in the very few times it gets busy.

    Last week we had a TBP/UIUC/CBC meeting that went well. We discussed the forthcoming Bike@illinois website and brainstormed other participants for their research/interviews. Barry and I talked afterwards about potentially implementing some better inventory-tracking ideas to get a better handle on sales/stock.

    This week I only work today (Monday) and then the shop will be closed until Tuesday, Nov. 28th.  I’ll post on the door and on the Bike Project website (and social media pages).

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 55
    Sales: $396.49
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $70
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $105
    Memberships: 1 for $30

    Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  12. ECS Bike Share Completed

    Associated Project(s): 
    Departmental Bike Sharing
    Campus Bike Center
    Provide Working Bikes for University Employees

    Facilities and Services division Engineering and Construction Services (ECS) has three bikes for employees to share for campus business. Check out is easy and the same as checking out a department car or truck. Two helmets are available for borrowing and lock keys are color coded to the bike they go to.

    Two of the three bikes were purchased through the Campus Bike Center, with locks and front baskets. The helmets came from Neutral Cycle. The whole project cost less than $750 and will have minimum maintenance each year.

    For questions about use please contact Lily Wilcock, lwilco2@illinois.edu.

     

  13. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was surprisingly busy. On Friday we had all the stands full and it was something like 35° outside. That’s encouraging! We even had one person in here in shorts! Our number of for-sale bikes is slowly creeping upward as demand wanes and we have time to build during open hours. From Wednesday to Friday Michael Merriman from Campus Rec borrowed the Bluebird cargo bike for trips between ARC and CRCE (due to construction, there is a lack of car/truck parking) and reported back that he loves it.

    This week I’ll continue to reduce hours for the student workers as well as cull a number of decrepit bikes and pull out the abandoned B-a-Bs. I’ll also begin looking at which student workers are graduating and how many positions I’ll have to fill come spring/summer when it gets busy again. Additionally, I’ll begin designing some new storage and stock solutions to help facilitate ease-of-use for newcomers. More and more I am tucking things away and stacking things upon other things and soon enough I am the only person who knows where anything is. That is bad and quite problematic to the mission and usability of the Campus Bike Center. If people can’t find anything they can’t use the space effectively. I’ll work on labeling/organizing and making things visible this week.

    On to the numbers!

    Visitors: 74
    Overall sales: $493.80
    Memberships: 3 for $90
    Refurb/B-a-B’s: 0 for $0
    Tubes/Wheels/Small Parts: 30 for $179.40

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  15. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, last week was pretty uneventful. Visitor numbers are declining with the weather getting cooler. I’ve begun cutting back on the student staff as we get fewer and fewer visitors. We’ve got 9 refurbished bikes for sale. With fall coming on strong, I suspect we’ll see a lot of the in-progress build-a-bikes abandoned which can then be flipped for sale quicker than usual.

    This week I will coordinate with Parking to pick up the salvageable bikes from the warehouse as well as build bikes and take stock of inventory.

    The numbers:

    Visitors for the week: 62

    Sales: $187.35
    Refurbished bikes: 0 for $0
    Build-a-bikes: 0 for $0
    Memberships: 0 for $0 (Reinstated our First Visit Free policy, which has hurt these numbers.)
    Tires/tubes: 7 for $42

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  16. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, I was out of town yesterday, so this report is a day late.

    Last week was surprisingly busy despite the cooler weather. I thought for sure that the drop in temps would dissuade a lot of people but we still had full stands a few days of the week. More winter commuters, I hope!

    Wednesday afternoon was the Campus Sustainability Celebration that was a lot of fun and very informative. I met quite a few people involved elsewhere in the sustainability world on campus and was able to learn about some of the larger scale work being implemented. Good stuff!

    We’ve outpaced sales in Build-a-Bikes vs. refurbished bikes in the month of October, something that I think bodes well for the CBC. It definitely imparts a larger sense of ownership at the least and certainly more mechanical skill versus  buying our cheaper-than-retail bikes. I noticed this year a few of the bikes that we’ve sold as refurbs made it back in the warehouse after being abandoned; I haven’t found any B-a-Bs there. Obviously that is anecdotal evidence but I think it holds true.

    Last week I was able to rebuild the hanging bike racks in the back to accommodate better the bikes we have. I was interviewed for the New-Gazette story that ran on Sunday to positive reviews, I believe. Bikes are being built faster than they’re being sold now, and that bodes well for the Spring.

    Over the weekend I traveled to Austin, TX and was able to visit a bike cooperative space there and see some of the similarities and differences in their space and model of operation.

    The numbers:
    65 visitors last week
    Sales: $510.20
    Bikes (refurb): 0 for $0
    Bikes (B-a-b): 3 for $185
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Tires/tubes: 4 for $19


    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  17. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, with warm temps last week the shop remained busy. Friday there was even a line for stand time. Wednesday morning was the bike census. It was wonderful weather for it and I think it went well! One CBC student staffer and a CBC volunteer extraordinaire volunteered for the event, which I was happy to see. Thanks, Leah and Rick!

    On Friday, a Bike Project Volunteer came and picked up all the scrap we’d accumulated in the last few weeks, which will help immensely in organizing and storage.

    Programming alerts: This week is the Campus Sustainability Celebration on Wednesday so the shop will be closed for that; and next Monday (30th) I will be out of town. I will post on the website and Facebook for both closings. (And of course, signage on the door.)

    On to the numbers:

    Visitors: 99
    Sales: $1,066.45
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $159
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $210
    Memberships: 10 for $300
    Tires/tubes: 24 for $124

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  19. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All, last Monday we had the bike warehouse move out event on Monday. As I mentioned last week, we moved out about 317 bikes. Some of the bikes we kept and moved back to the CBC have already been claimed as build-a-bikes, which is great. The rest will be cleared out at a TBD date.

    Belatedly announcing this but: Lily and I and Amy tabled at an event at the Union on October 5th.  It was a University employee expo of sorts. The very first person I spoke with was misinformed about safe passing distance for cars, something I was able to correct. It was a welcomed change and challenge to inform a lot of vehicular road users about how to interact with bicyclists and pedestrians, considering all the gripes I heard from employees about walkers and bikers—as most employees drive to work from out of town (or at least the ones I spoke with do). I was also pleased to see a lot of familiar faces of people that have visited the Campus Bike Center.

    This week is the bike census, happening on Wednesday. Hopefully we’ll get good weather and a good snapshot of the state of bicycle parking on campus.

    The numbers:

    Sales: $635.50

    Memberships: 13 for $390
    Bikes (Refurb): 0 for $0
    Bikes (B-a-b): 0 for $0
    Tires/tubes: 10 for $54

    Sincerely,

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  20. Thanks UIUC for all the wonderful bicycles

    Associated Project(s): 
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    Friends,

    Thanks for all the wonderful bicycles that UIUC donated to Working Bikes programs.  We estimate that we received over 330 bicycles from the 2017 collection last week.

    99% of the bikes will be repaired and given away locally or internationally for free.  The other three or four bikes out of the 330 will be fixed and sold to support our mission.

    Most of the bicycles will be sent the Lesotho with Bikes for Lesotho.  These will be loaded tomorrow and Wednesday.

    We also have many local partner organizations that receive free bikes.

     

    Sincerely,

    Lee Ravenscroft

    workingbikes.org

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