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Projects Updates for Campus Bike Center

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  1. Weekly Update: Kids bike giveaway, Staff, Winter break

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, We’re down to a skeleton crew here as a lot of staff have departed for the semester. We’ll be fielding/repairing donations for the Kids Bike Giveaway this week, as a few last-minute folks have been reaching out thanks to mentions in E-week and the like. We’ll close after hours on Friday for the semester and reopen Tues, January 16th.

    Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all!

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 23

    Sales: $264
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Tires/tubes: 7 for $40

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

  2. Weekly Update: Thanksgiving break, Kids bike donation

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Hope everyone had a good holiday break! Mine extended into Monday, so this is a day late.

    We got a few more kids bike donations come in the Friday before we closed for the break, so we are full steam ahead in soliciting donations and fixing them up. With the nippy weather we should have plenty of time to work on the donations we have so far and tackle some cleaning/organizing that always gets pushed to the slower and colder months. We’ll also continue to make progress on the barn bikes.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 24

    Sales: $476.50
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $180
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Tires/tubes: 6 for $61

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

  3. Weekly Update: Kids bike giveaway, Cranksgiving

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Busy week on the sales floor as the weather warmed up and we sold a few bikes. Also, got a half dozen or so kids bikes repaired for the KBG event in December.

    Over the weekend the Bike Project held their Cranksgiving bike food drive. Riders were able to collect ~400 lbs of donations to Faith UMC Food Pantry!

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 43
    Sales: $1,173.75
    Bikes (refurb): 3 for $530
    Memberships: 7 for $210
    Tires/tubes: 26 for $229

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

  4. Weekly Update: Cranksgiving, Halloween last week

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Halloween was last week, and we are still awash in candy and Halloween-themed cellophane.

    Weather bumped back up, too, and we had a wait for stands on Friday. As the mercury goes, so do we. Accordingly, Monday and Wednesday project to be busy. 

    Getting some bikes on the sales floor and tackling some organizational projects; will continue to do so this week. Will also tackle some more kids bikes as we ramp up production for that.

    This coming Saturday (11/11) the Bike Project is hosting Cranksgiving, a bicycle ride/food drive to collect donations for a local food pantry. I’ll mention it to my staff and patrons this week.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 43
    Sales: $484
    Memberships: 9 for $270
    Tires/tubes: 8 for $59

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

  5. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Made some headway on the abandoned bikes and already have six on the sales floor. We tabled at the Green Quad Day last week as well. This week I’ll work on tallying inventory--and the marketing/publicity—for the Kids Bike Giveaway as well as getting regular bikes up for sale.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 47
    Sales: $862
    Build-a-Bike: 1 for $40

    Memberships: 14 for $420

    Tire/tubes: 17 for $131

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

  6. Weekly Update: Abandoned bicycles, new staff

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

    All, Big news of last week is the abandoned bikes. Bike Project folk and I were able to take an inventory of the bikes that are available and given the number of bikes—fewest in my tenure!—we are not partnering with Working Bikes this year. I communicated as much last week and no hard feelings. If anything, they’re happy to hear we have less bike waste—and they would know, they’ve got a 3 story building full of bikes.

    This week we have a couple new staff members starting here. We’ll do some off-hours training with them.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 40
    Sales: $1,030.50
    Memberships: 18 for $540

    Tires/tubes: 27 for $212

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

  7. Unclaimed abandoned bicycles donated to the Campus Bike Center

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

    Following the deadline day to claim impounded bicycles, Sarthak Prasad reached out to Jake Benjamin, campus bike center coordinator, to inform that these bicycles are now considered donated to the Campus Bike Center and the Bike Project of Urbana-Champaign. See the email below:

    Hi Jake,

    The deadline to claim impounded bicycles have passed, so you can start checking the bicycles in the barn now. These bicycles are now considered donated to the Campus Bike Center and the Bike Project. I have the serial number information for almost all of those bicycles in the spreadsheet as well. We had about 240ish bicycles to start with and 24 bicycles were returned this year.

    Thank you,

    Sarthak

  8. Weekly Update: Busy times, Light the Night, abandoned bikes

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

    All, Pretty standard week. Busy with some wait time on stands/repairs most days. Had a Build-a-Bike completed—always a good thing. My team and I did Light the Night on Tuesday at the Ikenberry Quad area. First time in a new location always gets us some looks and questions. Not as busy as we hoped but again, it’s not yet familiar to folks. No word yet on numbers. 

    We were dangerously overloaded on scrap by Friday, but Todd pick it up over the weekend—always appreciated.

    This week I’ll do inventory of the abandoned bikes to see what’s worth keeping. Of note: Easily the fewest abandoned bikes in my tenure. I think my first year there were over 500 bikes left over. Maybe bike shares are really helping that issue (and maybe creating others)?

    This week I’ll have two new staffers start. It’s apparently midterms, so reinforcements are paramount.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 62
    Sales: $1,122.50
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $50
    Memberships: 20 for $600
    Tires/tubes: 26 for $192

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

  9. Weekly Update: Bike to Work Day, Light the Night

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, I was out sick all last week with some combination of flu/cold/sinus infection. My staff handled operations in my absence. However, there were some issues tracking visit numbers, unfortunately.

    Last Thursday was Bike To Work Day. Some very awesome people stepped up and filled in for me. Sounds like it was a banner year! Congrats to all involved.

    Tomorrow evening is Light The Night. We’ll be hosting at a different location this year. Should be a better spot for folks to get their lights.

    We were inundated with donations last week. I’ll bring in staff off-hours to help scrap the junk bikes and reorganize this week. Hopefully we’ll have our space in better shape by our open hours on Wednesday.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 8*
    Sales: $1,242.50
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $215
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $40
    Memberships: 17 for $510
    Tires/tubes: 9 for $55

    *See above issue with visit numbers.

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  10. Weekly Update: very busy week

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Another doozy of a week. Long wait times for stands, cash offers to “hold” bikes, and my favorite: “When will you get a new shipment of bikes?”

    This week promises to be a little better with more staff on board, and presumably fewer folks coming for their registration sticker. We’ll also have our first Friday Ride of the semester. Weather looks good for it!

    Tonight is the Bike Project Members’ Meeting. I’ll mention it to all the new members we sign-up today.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 142
    Sales: $2,631.38
    Bikes (refurb): 5 for $855
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $100
    Memberships: 28 for $840

    Tires/tubes: 37 for $263

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  11. Weekly Update: Students are back, Illini Frenzy

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, The semester has officially started! People are knocking on the doors at all hours, we’re almost out of sale bikes, the 529 registrations are a near constant, and there’s a wait for stand time by 3p every day. Demand is never higher than this time of year.

    On Saturday, we had the Illini Frenzy, and our spin-a-prize bike wheel was a huge hit. Something Pavlovian about the act of spinning a wheel. Even when we were out of all our freebies, people spun it anyways, and a line formed almost immediately. I’ll need to work out a couple of things with it, but I think it’s a keeper for outreach events and the like.

    On Friday, Daniel and Rick—two experienced volunteers—came by to lend a hand—and boy did we need it! Many thanks to them. Also, thanks to Todd for grabbing scrap over the weekend.

    This week I’ll try to throw some bikes together during our off hours, send out some offer letters for new hires, and do some trainings for our new/returning staff.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 156
    Sales: $3,127.75
    Bikes (refurb): 13 for $1,840

    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $50
    Memberships: 21 for $630
    Tires/tubes: 10 for $84

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  12. Weekly Udpate: Interviews for CBC

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Short week for me as I was out Wed – Fri last week. My staff covered in my absence.

    In the couple days I did work, we got the rest of the bikes out of the barn and began some Tetris-like work in reorganizing our space and bikes. Got a deluge of applications since I was out, which is great. I’ll schedule interviews for this week.

    Likely will get very busy this week as students return. I’ll build bikes as I can.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 20
    Sales: $1,021
    Bikes (refurb): 3 for $480
    Memberships: 8 for $240
    Tires/tubes: 4 for $52

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  13. Monthly Meeting with Jake

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    On 08/07/2023, Sarthak and Hrushikesh had a monthly meeting with Jake.

    Meeting Notes:

    - Actively promoting Bike Registration to students or commuters visiting and using the Campus Bike Center.

    - Campus Bike Center should have printer QR code sticker/ flyer for Bike Registration.

    - Bike Friendly Application will be submitted on 08/08/2023.

    - Light the Night Event near Ikenberry Hopkins Hall and ARC.

    - Bike Lights including the screw fitting types will be used for the events.

    -  Bike Safety Quiz is recommended to be promoted by the Campus Bike Center.

    - Merchandise purchase order is placed.

    - How to use Outdoor Pumps video can be made by the Campus Recreation marketing team.

    To do for Sarthak:

    - Find out Campus Bike Center Built-up area for UIC recommendation.

    - Try to get the merchandise before August 20th for the Campus Bike Center events.    

  14. Weekly Update: Calm before the storm, getting ready

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, These days feel like the calm before the storm. Starting to get phone calls and emails from families and folks looking for bikes as they plan to come to town. We’ll sell out of our supply of bikes before the semester begins, if past demand is any indication.  We’ll work on getting a few more B-a-Bs prepped and ready to go, as demand looks to increase in the absence of refurbished bikes.

    I’ll be out of the office Wednesday – Friday this week. My staff will cover open hours on those days.

    The numbers:

    Sales: $572
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $345
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Tires/tubes: 6 for $43

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  15. Weekly Update: Less abandoned bikes, Kids' Bikes

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

    All, Slow visitor-wise, but busy otherwise. Moved almost all the bikes out of the round barn, and the very last of them I’ll get this week. Sounds like we’ll have less bikes from the round up than in years’ past, something I am happy for. Hopefully, it means more people are caring about and actually riding their bikes—a guy can dream!  Irrespective of the reason, less bikes means less grunt work, and that’s a huge plus in my book.

    We are still up to our ears in kids’ bikes, as the ones we have are not coming together as I’d like. Lots of short-supply parts are needed. I’ll need to dedicate some off-hours time to this as these kinds of projects are not well-suited to student staff/volunteers, apparently.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 25
    Sales: $890.34
    Bikes (refurb): 3 for $535
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Tires/tubes: 5 for $50

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  16. Weekly Update: Abandoned Bikes, potential new hire

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Calm and slow week. All the abandoned bikes out front of the Bike Center were removed. We had a few people in wondering where their bikes had gone, so there’s some “educational” opportunities around the process still.

    As the abandoned bike removal process is underway, we still have around 30 bikes to get out of the round barn, which we’ll tackle this week with the help of Bike Project volunteers.

    I’ll be interviewing a potential hire this week who’s a PhD student from the Netherlands. I’m eager to get their perspective on ways we can improve our community—or ways we’re already doing well!

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 32
    Sales: $569.45
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $325
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $50
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Tires/tubes: 5 for $ 50

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  17. Weekly Update: e-bike questions

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, I’m having more and more conversations with folks about e-bikes. One older woman I spoke with last week said the nearest place able to service her e-bike is in Springfield, IL. Anecdotally, folks don’t seem aware of just how big and dangerous e-bike batteries are from an insurance perspective and thus why bike shops can’t work on them. I see myself having a lot of similar conversations over the next few months…

    We’re hovering around 20 bikes on the sales floor, but we’ve got almost 20 kids’ bikes taking up real estate, too. Plan this week is to fix a dozen or so of those and move them along, hopefully to some of the groups/orgs we’ve worked with in the past.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 21
    Sales: $711.65
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $400
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $60
    Memberships: 3 for $90
    Tires/tubes: 7 for $98

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  18. Meeting with Jake

    Associated Project(s): 
    2024 Campus Bike Plan
    Campus Bike Center

    Sarthak and Hrushikesh had a meeting with Jake about improvements in the resources available on campus for bicycle and pedestrian friendly access.

    Notes from Meeting:

    - Total 9 Bike Repair Stations, including 5 new Locations namely Grainger Library, Foellinger Auditorium, Smith Hall, Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), and  Loomis Laboratory Of Physics

    - Giveaways/Incentives for students that visit the Campus Bike Center or during any event related to Bicycles.

    - Events such as Learn to Ride, Light the Night, Bike Classes (Fix a Flat), 

    - October can have a few events as it is the month of Sustainability.

    Discussion on Bike Plan 2024

    - Bike Audit (can be held in Fall): 

    The Audit will cover: 1) Connection of Bike Network within the Campus and the Community

                                     2) Condition Assessment of Bike paths and lanes

                                     3) Bike Racks (Only with Campus Limit)

     

  19. Weekly Update: Bike Repair Stations, Parade for 4th of July

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Last week was the TBP member meeting, which I attended. A new bike fix-it station/pump was installed here at the Bike Center, as well. It is much more compact than the previous iteration and the pump is much more robust; hopefully, it’ll provide years of trouble-free service.

    Tomorrow is the 4th of July and Champaign County Bikes will be riding bikes in the parade, so I’ll mention that to folks today. Otherwise, looks to be a slow week.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 23
    Sales: $798.50
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $140
    Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $60
    Memberships: 6 for $180
    Tires/tubes: 6 for $54

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  20. Weekly update: Donations, Illini4K

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Pretty chill week overall. Great weather but not very busy. Got some donations from Champaign Cycle last Tuesday.

    One student worker that just graduated did a bike trip down the western border of Illinois last week and is headed to Iceland for another biking trip tomorrow. He bike-commutes and also did I4K. Great to see folks explore all the different ways to have fun with a bike.

    Another student worker is scaling back here as they were offered more hours at Champaign Cycle. Always good to see staff move on to bigger and better things.

    Thanks to Todd for grabbing scrap over the long weekend.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 28
    Sales: $904.42
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $360
    Memberships: 9 for $270
    Tire/tubes: 7 for $44

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

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