The Bike Month Planning team met on January 14th, 2020. We discussed the Roles & Responsibilities and the Weekly Tasks list for the Bike Month. Please see attched the Weekly Tasks list for the planning team.
All, What a week! Last week (and weekend) was a TBP meeting, Bike To Work Day, the Bike Rodeo, and picking up donations from the Community Bike Sale. Lots of extracurricular activity! All of the events went well but not amazingly well. Attendance was on the low side for BTWD and BR but the weather is a major culprit there.
Since 2pm on Friday we’ve gotten (rough count) 20 bike donations, so we’re pretty inundated right now. With bad weather in the forecast and the busyness of finals for most students, we’ll be able to process the donations this week—hopefully.
Last Friday was the last Fix-a-Flat class and we had our first attendee! Maria and Jacob taught the course well and the gentleman seemed happy to have come. Also on Friday the student staff hosted an impromptu Friday ride of sorts for one of our graduating staffers. This upcoming Friday will be the last official one for the season.
I’ll be out of town Thursday and Friday so Chris will open and run the shop in my absence.
The numbers:
Visitors: 73
Sales: $750.20
Bikes (refurb): 2 for $295
Memberships: 7 for $210
Tire/tubes: 9 for $64
Thanks!
All, Big but also kind of micro news is that there’s been a noticeable uptick in donations here at the Bike Center. While I’d love to attribute that to our awesome Bike Abandonment Prevention program, it’s really just been local community members who’re cleaning out their garages--most prominently two white bearded men, not the graduating seniors that we’re hoping to attract.
But that’s a good segue into what our Bike Abandonment Prevention is trying to do: reduce and abate the number of abandoned bikes left by students leaving campus around this time of year. In turn we hope Parking will have to collect fewer bikes that’ll end up in our hands in the end anyway. We’ve got signage and a bike rack set up outside the Bike Center to allow students to donate their bikes and, to incentivize the donation, in return they can get a water bottle (but the water bottles are only available during open hours). We’ll track how many students are donating and obviously won’t be turning away community donations. There’s already been a social media push and advertising done by Campus Rec to help promote and get the word out!
We’ve got our Fix-a-Flat class this Friday and of course Bike To Work Day on Wednesday. The weather isn’t looking great but we’ll get the dedicated folks come through, I’m sure. Jeff Yockey dropped off the BTWD shirt last week and we’ve been hanging it by the register to showcase the event. Over the upcoming weekend we’ve got our Bike Rodeo event which will also double as a drop-off spot for the Bike Abandonment Prevention program. May is looking busy but it is Bike Month!
Numbers:
Visitors: 73
Sales: $812.50
Memberships: 6 for $180
Bikes (refurb): 3 for $500
Thanks!
Ride your bike to work on Wed., May 1, and get a free t-shirt! Welcome stations will be set up across the area from 7-10 a.m. to help you travel to campus. Celebrate C-U Bike Month by stopping in for drinks and snacks. Stations will be hosted by Campus Recreation, Campus Bike Center, University High School, F&S, VeoRide and the Research Park. Register at https://go.fs.illinois.edu/BiketoWorkDay
Sign up for Bike to Work Day on May 1
Sarthak Prasad . Facilities & Services
All, last Tuesday was BIKE TO WORK DAY! It was great! Great weather, great turnout, great conversation, great blindingly bright Vision Zero t shirts. I even sold some tubes and lights here at the Bike Center during the event and helped with some minor tune-ups. Peak times—no surprise—was 8:30 – 9am. After that a few stragglers hung around until l0.
On Saturday we had the Bike Rodeo at the ARC parking lot. While we didn’t have the huge turnout we were hoping for, the event ran really smoothly and we were able to educate and teach a lot about bike safety and bike-handling skills. Nothing beats showing a kid who’s barely taller than a bike pump how to air up their tires. Needless to say, that was a team effort.
This week will be a major shop clean and purge as we’ve received another 8 or so bikes from Champaign Cycle that are on-the-whole quality bikes that need somewhere to be stored. And last week with the doors open a lot of leaves and debris got blown into the shop, so that’ll all need cleaning up as well.
Numbers:
Visitors: 70
Sales: $828.60
Bikes (refurb): 1 for $160
Memberships: 5 for $150
Tire/tube: 16 for $89
Thanks!
All, last week we totaled 99 visitors to the Campus Bike Center (I blame the rain). Our sales were at $1,104. We sold one Build-a-Bike; three refurbished bikes for $570; five memberships for $150; $102 in tires/tubes; and $93 in locks.
Beyond the numbers, last week was a doozy! We had Bike To Work Day on Tuesday and it was a great success. While I haven’t heard any official numbers, I estimated about 50 or so people at our station. There were 400 official registrants online as of 6am the morning of BTWD. And of course, the chilly and windy weather probably kept a few people home. Lorenzo, a CBC staffer, was interviewed for a Fox Illinois news piece during the event.
On Wednesday we had a CBC staff meeting/pizza party. 7/8ths of the CBC student staffers were able to make it and we had a good discussion and reflection on the experiences of working at the Campus Bike Center and how we can improve looking towards the future of the Center.
On a sad note, Friday I got news that staffer extraordinaire Logan will not be able to work at the CBC this summer, as he’s taking a job up in Minnesota. I will have to scramble a bit to find his replacement (an impossible task, given his skills and familiarity with the Center).
This week I will be interviewing for summer help, building bikes, checking on our Housing donation racks, and juggling all the weird finals scheduling mess that throws off everyone’s normal shifts for working here.
Sincerely,
Campus Bike Center Manager, James Roedl, was recognized after the C-U Bike Month for his contributions, leadership, and service to the Champaign Urbana cycling community.
Hello all, this past week was slow, but that was good because it allowed for us to get ready for Bike to Work Day. We sold 1 bike for $110, 1 build-a-bike for $50, 2 memberships for $50, and grossed $690.50. We built a lot of bikes and got a lot of work done.
This coming week we will participate in Bike to Work Day, host a special wheel building class and continue to build bikes.
From the Campus Outpost,
James Roedl
The fourth annual C-U Bike to Work Day has been set for May 1, 2013. This year the event will be the first of a month-long series of events in coordination with the first Champaign-Urbana Bike Month. Registration, a calendar of events, and more information is available at http://cubiketowork.org/.
