November 13, 2014 (Vancouver, BC) – My ask; we need bike parts… lots of bike parts. As you may know I run a program called Bikes for Tykes and have done so for 8 years. In B4T we fix ‘previously- loved’ bikes at Christmas and give them to less fortunate kids so they can enjoy the love of cycling as we do. The program has grown from 30 to 250+ bikes last year.
The bikes are all given to kids in the lower mainland through social services including Family Services of the North Shore, Hollyburn Family Services and the Salvation Army Chapel on 11th and Lonsdale. Other agencies and Foster families have also benefited from our work.
We have a simple problem – the supply of bike parts. I can donate the labour, and logistics but the program is now a bit of a beast and frankly I cannot afford to donate parts as well.
My direct ask of you is; Help us by checking in with your customer service reps , warranty managers – anyone who has a handle on extra parts and ask what you have or can write off to help us make these refurbished bikes – awesome!
Work on the bikes has already begun and I can tell you we need – children’s bike parts including:
– barrel gear shifters (these break all the time !)
– chains; single speed and 6, 7-speed
– tires, 12,14,16,18,20 and 24,26. – (kids skid!)
– V-brakes, noodles and brake pads
– grips for little and big hands
– kids saddles
– gear cables, brakes cables
– wheels (kids jump)
– Helmets (these must be new)
and …. BIKES. We can take your warranty bikes and use all kinds of parts to build others.
We work on many adult sized bikes as well as most kids are near adult size by the time they are 15.
The bike parts can be shipped or dropped off at Obsession: Bikes between 10-5 until Dec 1st , but frankly the sooner the better as we are working on bikes now. Call me if you have questions, require pick ups or can help out in any other way. As well please specify if you want your efforts to be anonymous or if we can show our thanks through our Social Media channels.
Thank you for considering and affecting the lives of so many kids in such a positive way !
James Wilson
www.obsessionbikes.com