So like a hundred years ago i created the "bicycle recyling division" I'd drag home very bike i found and try to get
it back in running order and back on the streets. I originally had plan to do a sort of bike library, but i figured
the Yellow Bike Coalition had that covered pretty well. So i tried to fix them up and give them a new home.
I didn't have much luck giving them away, and i didn't like selling them (too much work). So i ended up with a 2 "car" garage
FULL of bicycles. That worked out okay when we started the Scallywags Bike Club and started building all kinds of crazy
bikes. We used my garage as a sort of supplyhouse for raw materials.
However, when we moved i went from a "2 car" to a "single car" garage (not that we've ever had a car in either of them.)
Not only that, i used to have my workshop and extra storage in the basement. My wife got fedup though and
refused to let me take over the basement again, which is reasonable anyway because our house is half the size too. I used to keep
extra bikes and parts in the yard, but my neighbors don't appreciate my passion as much as i do. So every time there were a few bikes
hanging around, they'd call the cops and they'd show up and give me a notice saying that if i didn't clean up my stuff in
10 days, they'd show up and clean it for me and send me the bill. I built a bike rack out of an old bed frame and some spare bikes,
so I could leave a few locked up in the driveway, but the city showed up to inform me that i wasn't allowed to keep bikes
in the driveway. So instead i built a shed in the driveway. (Actually, a few of the Scallywags did most of the building
because i had a broken collarbone and couldn't do much of anything... So THANKS!)
So now i keep a small stockpile of frames in the garage & shed, as well as a few parts. I still drag home bikes i find in the trash,
but i can't drag them all home anymore. I'm still building "freak" bikes,
but i mostly focus on practical stuff these days. I do ride a tallbike around quite a bit, but i've mostly been thinking
about cargo bikes:sidecars, trailers, long bikes with cargo areas, cars & trucks (4 wheel bikes). I recently designed a trailer that
can be built for about $5 out of bed frames. There are plans for that in Resist #46. I'm actually working on
a DIY bike which should have plans for a few of these cargo bikes i've been mulling over. I'm hoping to get some
more organized builds & semi-organized rides started when things warm up again, sort of to take the place of the now defunct
Scallywags Bike Club. In the meantime, i'll just be working on the designs for my book.
As far as this section of the website, i'm not sure where it will go. I don't really have the room for an organized
recycling operation anymore (or the time for that matter.) I'm guessing that this section will mostly focus on the "garage"
where i'll probably post pictures of projects i'm working on, or finished bikes. We'll just have to see where it goes.