Urn a Bike

[Admin]

We have been tossing around the idea that someone could get a bike at a reduced price if they did all the work on it (ie for someone with low income). As test we let Lev start working on a Diamond Back Sherwood. Some thoughts coming out of this experiment.

Cons

• we just don’t have the space to store someone’s bike while they are the only one working on it;
  
• unless they are an experienced mechanic the support they require pretty much eats up any advantage gained by having them do the work;
  

Pros

• client can fast track a bike that they want;
  
• client acquires some skills;
  
• in theory some might stay on as volunteers
  

At this time I'd have to say the Cons far outweigh the Pros. We just don't have the space or experienced mechanics to do this in the way we did with Lev. I will suggest that we accept people volunteering to fix up a bike that they want to buy, however:

1. the bike is treated as any other, ie once it is on a stand whoever is next in the shop continues the work (unless they have some other project they’d prefer to work on) until the bike is done;
   
2. the client pays the same price as anyone else would for that bike (by volunteering they get the bike they want, plus some skills and experience, but no special deal);
   
3. they commit to working on it at least 3 hrs/week
   
4. once it is ready it is priced and we hold it for them for 1 week (or maybe 2 max ), it is up to them to pay for it and remove it ASAP. After that it goes in the sales area and if someone else buys it in the meantime, c’est la vie.
   

I am not feeling rigid about any of the above per se, just trying to envision a workable compromise between our inability to reliably fast track bikes that someone wants to purchase, the advantage of having a more or less guaranteed sale once the bike is done, spreading skills as per our mandate, and us not having the space to have bikes set aside while one person works on them.

Something like the above may accomplish that, but I can easily see other variations. One dangerous path would be valuing volunteer time (eg $5/ hr therefore 20 hrs gets you a $100 bike) because another volunteer could in all fairness ask for the $100 since they don't need a bike, etc.