Does anyone recognize this Dean?

[TreaderSteve]

You should have locked it up, and left your number. They call you with the hump, you unlock it for them, educate them, then offer them a few bucks/ quid. win win win win!

 

[bikeworkshop]

You should have locked it up, and left your number. They call you with the hump, you unlock it for them, educate them, then offer them a few bucks/ quid. win win win win!

I suspect the person that left it there wasn't very attached to or invested in it.
If they'd found it locked, they would probably have ridden off on another bike...

 

[NigelFinnighan]

I honestly thought about that too, but didn't feel right holding the bike for ransom. We have a massive homeless population that rely on bikes for transportation, and most don't have cell phones to contact anyway. It's amazing seeing some of the bikes they're rolling around on. I saw one dude walking a pristine 86 Haro Master BMX a few years ago, no clue that it was worth north of $2500. Most of the bikes they're on were once stolen, and now just basically have become "community bikes" until they're picked up as abandoned by the police then auctioned off.

I've made a few "bike friends" in the homeless community because of where my production facility is located. I help them out with parts, or tools to keep them riding, and try to keep them comfortable in the summer and winter months with water, clothes and of course lots of caramel popcorn. In exchange they keep an eye out on my facility and sometimes bring me bikes they know I'd want, I have a few guys looking for this Dean. I hope it'll turn up.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Great post @NigelFinnighan . I've struggled with the ethics of buying bikes from the homeless people in town. I've toyed with the idea of providing another bicycle in exchange for the one they're using along with some cash. At least they can keep rolling

 

[bikeworkshop]

If you give them money for a bike, they will go get another one.
One day it will be yours.

 

[vtwinvince]

Oh dear, don't get me going on bike thieves and the ethics of helping these scumbags.

 

[NigelFinnighan]

My eventual goal is to open a bike Coop here, so everyone that wants a free bike can have one that's safe. I think that would solve a lot of the problems everyone has around here, including the problem of me finding these amazing bikes and ethically getting them into the hands of those who'd appreciate them. Issue is, I'm in the middle of scaling up my current business over the next 6 years, I won't have the time until I sell this thing. Until then I'm looking for partners, so if anyone wants to move to Lethbridge... lol

 

[bikeworkshop]

It seems that many "free bikes" get sold on for a little cash asap unfortunately.

One of Bristol's bike charities used to collect bikes "for Africa", but actually auctioned off anything useful to raise cash, and scrapped the cheap stuff because Africa doesn't need broken bikes.

 

[NigelFinnighan]

Most bike Coops or charities either run as (or should be running as) a not for profit organization, where auctioning off/ selling anything with decent value to keep the lights on, and paying non volunteer staff. There are a few chrities around here too that also collect and ship bikes to Africa. I love the idea of that on paper, however the caliber of bikes that are being sent aren't anything that are going to stand up to any sort of punishment and low maintenance, we're pretty much just sending over our scrape metal, like recycling, it makes us feel good, but does nothing and just kicks the problem down the road. There are solutions to these problems, unfortunately those solutions won't make anyone rich, so we need rich people who want to solve them.

 

[vtwinvince]

Don't ever look to rich elites to solve anything.