Farkin Bike Charity

[maxwolfie]

Just throwing this out there.

I'm sure there's heaps of dudes on here with old "crappy" bikes that they don't ride anymore, or parts even.

Perhaps Farkin could start up a Bike Donation Scheme, primarily to help kids out there that aren't as fortunate and secondarily, for a bit more publicity. The parts could be sent in pieces to designated volunteers or bike shops that are willing to spend a bit of their own time to whip a few bikes up out of old pieces. Thinking along the lines of Westmead Children's Hospital, Salvos, Camp Quality etc.

There's been a few times where I've just left bikes on the front lawn for someone to take. I know there's quite a big younger population on Farkin, and I know that mums and dads would just love to clean all the shit out of the garage and put it to a good cause!

EDIT: Hmm - Maybe this would be better suited to Off Topic or MTB General, as I guess it's not exactly "site specific".

[cameron_15]

something like that would be very cool. I've got 2 or 3 bikes someone could have for nothing. It'd be better if they were going to needy kids that can't afford a bike then some pack of kids that are going to use it to jump into a river.

[Toxicity]

You got my support here mate, not only to bring farkin into some more public view, but Downhilling and MTB also, and what better way then to help out kids? we all can help this, if we all pitch in to help eachother, and our sport...this will succeed

[METHOD]

I'm for it, I can put bikes together. So if it goes ahead pm me and i can do a bit of work. :)

[Ryan]

I've thought about this for many, many years now but the logistics and legalities of actually achieving it always seem overwhelming. I wonder if there's anyone on the site these days with any experience of dealing with large-scale charity operations.

Point / Counterpoint

I always thought;

- You'd need a bike shop or suitably talented private individual on side in every major city to handle donations and assembly, to minimise costs for people who are donating. What do the bikeshop / person then do to store thousands of shitty bikes until a suitable recipient is found.

- It would be nice to be able to give bikes to a worthwhile charity in Australia who'd use them for programs for underpriveleged kids. Where does that leave Farkin.net legally when some cobbled together shitter gives way under a kid and he breaks his head?

- In reality though, there are kids in nearby third-world countries who'd benefit exponentially more from getting a free bike than some kid from a low-income family in Australia ever would. How the hell do you get shipping containers full of bikes out of the country for free?

[tupper]

I'm sure there's a few million Indonesian Children that would like to sit on a bike.. let alone own one..
I'm all for a this, because its a great idea. Hard to pull off, but a genuinely nice idea.

[Emmett]

I pledge my $10 donation here. Even if this thing doesn't take off keep the money for Farkin.net upkeep. Which mod would like to set up an account?

[old4dy]

Last year I think there was an organisation that rounded up bikes for underprivileged kids overseas, and one of the local bike shops co-ordinated the show.
I think it was Bellys Bikes at Bathurst, maybe they can give you clues on logistics etc.

Cheers

[Fatman]

Here's a few,

http://www.goodwillbicycles.com/ (http://www.goodwillbicycles.com/)

Wheels4life (http://www.hansrey.com/) click on the green link on the page.

I think it's a great idea, the first one obviously but actually donating money makes sense as well (supporting local industries and economies).
This certainly will require more investigation, a worthy cause.

[Howie66]

I pledge my $10 donation here. Even if this thing doesn't take off keep the money for Farkin.net upkeep. Which mod would like to set up an account?

$20 from here .... 28,000 members (Not all active I know, but hey, u get what im sayin)... just a few bucks from each (some even more) could get a few nice new huffys/malvern stars that we could give. I agree with giving away the old parts etc.. People might give frames with hairline fractures etc.. And yeah, could backfire.. Go with $$$ tho, into an account, and I reckon thats the way to go.

Then have a stickied thread full of pics of wrapped kids with smiles from ear to ear.!! :D

So yeah, $20 donated from me. Let me know an account if you get one set up..

[maxwolfie]

Here's a few,

http://www.goodwillbicycles.com/ (http://www.goodwillbicycles.com/)

Wheels4life (http://www.hansrey.com/) click on the green link on the page.

I think it's a great idea, the first one obviously but actually donating money makes sense as well (supporting local industries and economies).
This certainly will require more investigation, a worthy cause.

If organisations such as this already exist, why not just make use of them? They obviously have the logistical nightmare sorted

[Mr. Pink]

Have you seen the Nunnery Bike Workshop (http://bikeclub.wordpress.com/)? I'm pretty sure they do this kind of thing.