My goal is to take bikes that have been discarded, bikes that would otherwise end up in a landfill, get them running and back on the street.

Once in a while i get a donation. I like to get bikes out of the garbage, because i know those wouldn't have made it to a thrift store, or into another persons hands. They'd be in a landfill. However, it's nice to not carry bikes home on my shoulder. Also, bikes that are donated are usually in better shape. Usually a bit of work will have them back on the road. With ones you drag home, you might think the only problem is a broken derailer, but after tuning up the whole thing find out that the forks are slightly bent and it won't ride straight. Then it's matter of trying to fix the forks, finding new forks, or building something out of it that doesn't require the forks. With the afforementioned bike, i build a 3 frame high tallbike.

That's where most of my unrepairable bikes end up. Bent forks or stays (rear "forks") can be used as top frames on tallbikes or front frames on choppers. Stuck seatpost? Frozen bottom bracket you can't remove? Perfect bottom frame. You weld two unusable bikes together and come away with one really fun bike! Or turn them into a trailer, a sidecar, a chopper, or whatever.