Home
How To - Overview


How To







Contents:



  • Orgainise a bike collection for Re-Cycle

  • Repurposing bike bits (including tools)

  • Fundraising

  • Maintainence

  • Volunteering
 Helping others set up similar projects, make use of old bicycles and work together is a key part to Re~Cycle's work. This page should give you a comprehensive guide on how you can get started, be it running your own collection point, fundraising for a similar organisation, constructing tools from old bike parts (including our famous bike trailer), or just learning a bit about how to look after your own bike.

 


How to organise a bike collection in your local community …


 


We need 400 bikes to fill a container … some local people have managed to collect more than 100 bikes very quickly … there are so many unwanted bikes in people’s sheds and garages!


The secret is organisation … a rural community in The Chew Valley near Bristol collected over 500 bikes in 3 weeks … a local business donated transport to get the bikes to us … collection day was every Sunday between 9 am and noon.


How did they do it? One person got a team together to organise the main activities …


Publicity


 



  • Prepared and distributed posters and leaflets (link coming soon to Vanessa examples)

  • Involved local newspaper (link coming soon to example press release and three press articles)

  • The local radio station advertised the event every Saturday morning

  • Spoke to local service clubs, Rotary, Round Table, Lions and faith groups (link coming soon to ‘Where do you get the bikes from’)

 


 Collection


      oThe village hall was booked for the Sunday mornings


      oLarge cars were needed to collect bikes from people’s homes


 


Storage



  • A local farmer donated space in a barn but an unused warehouse would do for short term storage

 


 


Transport



  • 100 plus bikes will need an articulated lorry

  • 80 bikes fit into a 7.5 tonner

  • 35/40 – need a Luton van

  • 20 bikes will go into a long wheel based transit

  • You need help to pack the bikes onto the vehicles

 


Fund-raising



  • To help with transport costs, make and sell cakes in the village hall

 


 


 


 




Repurposing Bikes & Bits (top)


 


Adapting Cycle Technology


Re~Cycle has a fantastic trailer design made from unwanted bike parts and cheap materials. Overseas, partners manufacture the XtraBike, a simple device that greatly increases the load capacity of a bike. This makes bikes suitable for many tasks including fetching water, taking goods to market, mobile vendors, and collecting recyclables. The potential for turning a discarded bicycle into a labour saving, job-creating tool for change is enormous. Re~Cycle sells a fantastic 'Western version' in the UK, to raise funds.




Make tools and contraptions from 'dead' bikes:



  • DIY bike trailer-

    We set out to design a robust, low cost, simple trailer made from globally available materials and unwanted bicycle parts.


  • DIY Workstand

    • One of our volunteers designed a bicycle workshop stand made of repurposed bike parts.


  • Electricity Generator- Use your old bicycle as a generator


  • Water pump


    • Mayapedal have a impressive instructions for a rope pump and mobile pump, as well as a video of the mobile pump HERE

  • Mill/Thresher

    • Mayapedal have designs and instructions for a cycle powered mill/thresher on their website HERE.

  • Blender

    • Mayapedal have designs and instructions for a cycle powered Blender on their website HERE.

  • Nut Sheller

    • Mayapedal have designs and instructions for a cycle powered Nut Sheller on their website HERE.


How To make Bike Art out of 'dead' bikes and parts:


Projects like Re~Cycle generate a phenomenal amount of spare bike parts, some are sent along as spares in our shipments, others stay at our depot to use ourselves. However, they do hold other uses! You may well want to give some of these ideas a try yourself.




  • Art

    • Picasso made a bull's head from a saddle and handlebars, have a look at it here!


    • Kenneth Armstrong has a blog showcasing his amazing bike art HERE

Chains are surprisingly versatile, why not try...



  • House 'numbers'?

  • Coat hooks?

  • bottle openers such as the ones here and here (or maybe try making one from a crank arm?)

How To make clothing and related items from 'dead' bikes and parts:


belts such as the ones here and here


 


Fundraising (top)


Sponsored bike rides


We've got a great page devoted just to sponsored rides, you can check it out HERE.


You can see who's fundraising for Re~Cycle at the moment on our JustGiving page. Why not show them your support with a donation?


more coming soon...


 


How to look after your bike (top)


These are some links to helpful guides on how to take care of your own bike



 


Set up and run a collection point in the 'west': (top)


In simple terms, the three main things that make Re~Cycle work are donations:



  • donations of bikes

  • donations of money

  • donations of time from our team of volunteers

Without these nothing can happen, but there are other things to think of too. Here we aim to explain, step-by-step, how to set up and run an operation similar to ours.


First and foremost you need to decide whether to run a 'permanent' or 'pop-up' operation. Each have advantages and disadvantages but the main factor is time: do you have the time to commit to running what is effectively a full-time job, or are you only able to commit one or two days each month? If you want to run a pop-up style operation then Bikes Not Bombs have a fantastic Bike Drive guide you can read HERE. Remember, you're going to also need to find an organisation to receive the bicycles you collect so have a look at our UK and International registers for something nearby.


If you're still interested in running a full-scale Re~Cycle style operation then read on...



Our main advice is to gather a team of people to help. Make sure everyone knows what they're getting into and how much time they'll need to commit. It's hard work but very rewarding so bear this in mind. Short term enthusiasm is great but people who are committed for the long haul are invaluable.


Then you can start to plan...



  • Premises - Somewhere to store the bikes and to act as a workshop

  • Volunteers - You need people to help run the operation and prepare bikes

  • Fundraising - The costs add up pretty fast, such as rent, bills, and the cost of the shipments themselves.

  • Sourcing bikes, parts and tools

  • Finding recipients in Africa (Re~Cycle may be able to help you out with this, please get in touch)

  • Getting feedback from recipient groups

  • Running basic and advanced mechanic training course if possible

  • How to:


    • Prepare bikes for loading/storage

    • Load a container with bikes.


      • Re~Cycle uses 40-foot high cube containers which are 1-foot taller than standard, so we can get 3 layers of bikes in!

    • Get bikes

      • liaise with bike clubs, bike shops etc

        • charity collection pots and flyers

        • donation of "worn out" tools and bikes

    • Write a press release

Bikes not Bombs have a great guide on this HERE.



 


 


And remember: everything on this page is free, for anyone, for ever. So share it around!