Email from Jacob Benjamin:

Things are a tick slower now that the temps have dipped. I’ve been pulling from the abandoned bike containers for parts, mostly tires and saddles as those have been most in-demand. We have two bikes on the sales floor with a handful in the queue.  Our supply of checked-over Build-a-Bikes is returning to an acceptable number as well.

This week I’ll tackle the containers of bikes and work to get them organized between bikes we’re keeping and those we’ll have scrapped.

The numbers:

Visitors: 96

Sales: $1,224.39

Memberships: 19 for $570
Tires/tubes: 39 for $353

Thanks!

Email from Jacob Benjamin:

Last Wednesday was Bike To Work Day! It was a success. Had good weather and good turn outs at the stations I visited.

Light The Night is tomorrow evening. Should be good weather—if warm—for that, too!

We are busy but it’s not mayhem anymore—that’s a plus!

We are low on used tires, as is common this time of year. I’ll roll over to the Urbana shop to see if they have any to spare.

The numbers:

Sales: $1,735.35
Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $50

Memberships: 38 for $1140
Tires/tubes: 31 for $286

Not as busy as expecting but that gave us some time to fix up more bikes. We’re currently at capacity in the front lobby area and rearranged things in the back to accommodate some of the For Sale bikes back there.

Got a count of the incoming collection of abandoned bikes, so once those are released to us, we’ll have a good plan for how to handle the influx.

Interviewing for a couple positions and waiting to hear back from a few returning staff this week. And, of course, turning out bikes for the rush.

The numbers:

Visitors: 11
Sales: $179.50
Memberships: 3 for $90
Tires/tubes: 8 for $44

All,
We’ve been working through some old stock of used parts that are too rusty/damaged to be worth keeping and scrapping them—mostly wheels and a few frames. Getting our stock of sale bikes up into the 20s, which is good but won’t be close to meeting demand. We have almost the same number of bikes available for our Build-a-Bike program, so hopefully folks will take advantage of that when our refurbished bikes sell out.

Last Friday morning F&S workers were finishing up repairing the outdoor bike pump—news I’m happy to report. On Friday, we also sold the kid’s bikes we had refurbished. In the high bike season, probably good to have a few of those fixed up, something we can quickly remedy this week.

This evening is the Bike Project Monthly Member Meeting, which I will attend. 

The numbers:
Visitors: 19
Sales: $611.50
Bikes (refurb): 1 for $175
Memberships: 8 for $240
Tires/tubes: 16 for $129

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

All,

To my mind, a bit of a slow week. Sold some bikes and prepped more for B-a-B/sale bikes.

This week I’ll be bringing staff in extra hours to help build more bikes for the inevitable Beginning Of Semester rush. We’re still hovering around 20 for sale now but are building a good inventory of fully-prepped B-a-Bs for when we sell out of our refurbed bikes. We are paring down our inventory of old/bad wheels that are taking up valuable space and creating safety hazards, which will make way for our more valuable and useful parts/bikes.

The numbers:

Visitors: 16
Sales: $499
Bikes (refurb): 1 for $200
Memberships: 6 for $180

Tires/tubes: 12 for $78

Jacob Benjamin
Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center
 

All,
The heat is upon us! The high temps have kept us less busy than we might have otherwise been. Still had some folks in and had a Build-a-Bike completed—which is always especially rewarding. Our new door has been working swimmingly, as folks have been able to enter/exit without wrestling with the door and their bike at the same time.

The numbers:

Visitors: 15
Sales: $525.50
Bikes (refurb): 1 for $200
Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $50
Tires/tubes: 14 for $93

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

All, Been slow but good here, as we’re in a lull between spring semester and summer sessions. Slow times allow us to provide better service to the folks that do come through, so that’s a positive.

Training up new staff and trying to keep on top of builds/donations as the spring and summer clean outs have netted us a good amount of bikes. But of course no matter how many bikes we have for sale, we’ll sell out come August. A good problem to have, I suppose.

The numbers:

Visitors: 31
Sales: $841
Memberships: 6 for $180
Bikes (refurb): 2 for $335
Tires/tubes: 10 for $72

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

Friday was a busy day. First up was the quad event, which despite the rainy weather earlier in the day, ended up being a dry time and quite popular. We’ve had 2 – 3 people come by CBC after having been at the Quad event, so it’s definitely getting some new folks aware of our space. Our open hours were not crazy busy on the bike side of things, but our gear rental partners were positively slammed, which created some logjams at the entrance—nothing we couldn’t handle!

This week we have our last Instructional Class of the semester, and unfortunately the lead staffer for that program is graduating. Replicating that staffer’s expertise and enthusiasm for the work will be a tall order.

Tonight is the Bike Project Members’ Meeting, which I’ll be attending.

Warm weather this week, so we’ll likely be busy.

The numbers:

Visitors: 60
Sales: $1,005.25
Memberships: 9 for $270
Bikes (refurb): 2 for $360
Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $50
Tires/tubes: 14 for $111

On Thursday was another installment of our instructional class, which went well. Friday was our first Bike Center on the Quad event, which also went well. We also received our first end-of-semester/graduation donation.

We have a handful of bikes in the queue which we’ll finalize/safety check this week.

The numbers:

Visitors: 39
Sales: $327
Memberships: 6 for $180
Tires/tubes: 4 for $25