Last week, interns Myra Stevens and Sepideh Azizi completed the tagging portion of the Collection of Abandoned Bicycles project. The tagging process was completed by Friday, May 31st. Across campus, approximately 908 bicycles were tagged. After June 15th, the collection of bicycles still left tagged will begin. 

All, Last week, with the Bike Project, we were able to donate 20 or so bikes to a nonprofit church group that will send the bikes overseas. These were all bikes that would’ve otherwise been in the scrap yard, so it’s less work for us and helps keep more bikes out of the waste stream—a win-win! We continue to donate kids bikes to Habitat for Humanity as we do not have the storage space to keep those until our winter giveaway.

Got a couple more new hires on board and learning the ropes.

This week is business as usual as we try to replenish our sales stock.

The numbers:

Visitors: 28
Sales: $656.00
Bikes (refurb): 2 for $$365
Bikes (B-a-B): 1 for $60
Memberships: 2 for $60
Tires/tubes: 5 for $55

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Coordinator -- Campus Bike Center

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

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

Sarthak sent announcements (to Caitlin Kaparaz) to be added to the ISSS newsletter (publishing on August 25):

1. Reclaim Your Abandoned Bike
   Every summer, F&S tags and removes all abandoned bikes. If you left your bike and want to reclaim it, email bike@illinois.edu and include where it was located, the make/model, color, and serial number, if possible. Bike registration information or other documentation will be needed to prove ownership (e.g., pictures). Deadline to reclaim your bicycle: Friday, September 22. All unclaimed bicycles will be donated after that date.
2. Light the Night – Free Bike Light Giveaway
   The 16th annual Light the Night is Tuesday, Sept. 19, from 4 to 7 p.m., at Alma Mater Plaza, Hallene Gateway, and Ikenberry Commons Quad. You MUST bring your bike to get a light set. Approximately 1,000 bike light sets will be available this year. Remember, bike lights are required by Illinois law when riding at night. If you would like to volunteer for this event, please sign up here.
3. Celebrate Bike to Work Day on September 14 and Receive a Free T-Shirt
   Ride your bike to campus on Thursday, Sept. 14, and get a free t-shirt! Welcome stations will be set up across the area from 7 – 10 a.m., including eight U of I locations. Celebrate Champaign County Bike to Work Day with others by stopping in for refreshments and snacks. You must bring your bicycle and pre-register at https://go.fs.illinois.edu/BiketoWorkDay to get the shirt!

Optional announcement

• Register your bicycle
  Bicycle registration is mandatory for all bicycles parked or operated on campus and owned by students, staff, faculty, University departments, and community members. There is a one-time $10 registration fee per bicycle. All bicycle registrants will enter a raffle for a chance to win a U-lock or a Helmet. Learn more about the bicycle registration raffle. Contact bike@illinois.edu if you have questions regarding bicycle registration.

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

On 07/19/2023, Sarthak, Nathaniel, Christian and Hrushikesh completed the process of documenting and tracking the Abandoned Bicycles On-Campus located/ stored in the Round Barns facility.

On 07/14/2023, Sarthak and Hrushikesh visited the Round Barns facility to get an update on the number of abandoned bikes picked-up by the Parking Department till date. We have identified 300 abandoned bicycles on campus, and they will be transported to the Round Barn by the end of next week. From Monday, 07/17/2023 inventory documentation will begin.