2CB History | Bike Clinic | Lesson | Trailer | Veteran |
Last Saturday I participated in an
event held by a local church. Their youth group held a "bike clinic"
in which people bring their bike for the group to clean, oil, inflate,
and then
to one of three "experts" for a safety check and any related
adjustments needed. The pastor had heard about SeconChancBikes
2 years ago, and donated a bike that
had been abandoned in their parking lot. They asked me then if I would
be
interested in being an "expert" at the next clinic, and I agreed.
Well, that one did not happen because of the pandemic. This year they
worked out a
methodology - people had to make reservations so the crowd was limited;
masks and distancing were enforced. They set up a circuit where people
moved
from station to station getting bike worked on, then on to one of us 3.
Here's a
shot of their group just as the first couple
of
customers arrive:
and here's my setup. I had my
tools and a thermos of coffee on the tailgate. I used up
my business cards a while ago
and keep forgetting to order more, so I just told people who asked to
take a
pic of the sign on my truck.
Several people donated cash to 2CB - total
of almost $200. Not too bad for 3 hours work. I managed to
fix quite a few small
problems
that people had, making their bike safer and
more enjoyable. A couple of them had so little braking ability they
really were
unsafe. I told a few they needed brake shoes, showed them what that is,
how to replace. They can get them at a hardware store, Target, or a
bike shop.
They literally did not know why bikes stop
when you squeeze those handles, so of course did not understand why
their bike
no longer did. So I must have seemed like some sort of wizard!
Two had
loose handlebars
which make riding in a specific direction a challenge, to say
the least. A simple tightening with a
large allen wrench takes care of it in a jiffy, but who has one of
those? I
told several they needed to replace cables to alleviate the stiffness
in
shifter. Uh Huh. Not gonna happen. Some day their bike will be donated
and I'll
do it. I agreed to do additional work for 4 people, pretty clearly
folks who
would be in my target market with beater bikes that needed cables and
such I
told them to text me and we'd make an appointment. All in all a very
satisfying
morning.
Then I rushed off to rent a van and help my Syrian friends
move, at
long last, to a new home - a very nice end unit townhouse. I made 4
trips with
the van as they and their friends who pitched in to help them all
loaded and
unloaded. Two trips Sat. then two Sunday morning. After the last trip I
turned
in the van, got my truck, got the four bikes (all from me) from the old
garage
- one in the bed and 3 on the rack, and delivered to the new home. The
youngest
boy's bike is way too small for him - its the 2d one I've given him;
now he
gets a 3d. I told him I'd send photos and he can pick.
Today I got a
call from a woman who
said she's a friend of one of my bike recipients - he was one of the
first, and
has sent 6 or 8 people my way for bikes since then. She said she has
two bikes
that don't work and I can have them if she can get one that does! I
love it. I'd have given her a bike on John's
sayso but am happy to do a deal. Edit: I fixed her bike; she clearly
was fond of it but thought it was hopeless, that I'd just use it for
parts. She was clearly pleased to have "Ols Paint" back in
fine fettle!
Business is heating up! Incidentally,
I
updated the website to once again accept cash donations in addition to
in-kind
through the wish list. I activated the Bikeguy@secondchancebikes.org
email to accept Zelle payments. This replaces
the previous Paypal method, which the newe tax law had
arranged to tax
me on.
Zelle is slick. I got $685 in donations to pay for emergency
dental work
for a friend in need a few weeks back, from a group of Arab women who
do things like that for folks in need. I had found
her a Medicaid dentist; that visit determined the need for an oral
surgeon
(good luck finding one who takes Medicaid!). So I found a surgeon,
tapped the
charity group for $ and got her issue fixed less than 48 hours from
learning of
it. She'd been sitting home in excruciating pain not knowing where to
start.
Two weeks later I gave her and her two kids bikes. Their smiles still
light up
my life.
-finis