Let's admit it. Too many bicyclists keep too many unused bicycles in their garages or their basements. I'll include myself among the guilty.
Maybe there's an emotional attachment to an old relic. Or it's difficult to find an alternative to taking the bicycle to the dump, an unceremonious end for a trusty companion.
Several nonprofits are set up to collect these old bikes and redistribute them back into the community or ship them overseas.
One of the most successful is Bikes for the World, which is shipping its 40,000th bike next month. Based in Arlington, Virginia, it's a nonprofit project of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association.
Network
That's a lot of bicycles to ship just since 2005. A lot of the credit goes to a collection network of some 150 churches, schools, scouts and other social and business organizations from North Carolina to Pennsylvania.
Bikes for the World delivers these bicycles to community development programs that assist the poor in developing nations. They're sold at below-market cost or for free to workers, people running small businesses, farmers, health workers and students.
In many cases the partners are self-sustaining bicycle repair operations set up by Bikes for the World. The shops use proceeds from their small business to pay for subsequent shipments of donated bicycles.
New life
What a great new life for a bicycle that's collecting dust in your garage. Not only is it used as a form of transportation, but it can help establish a local business that will distribute more bicycles.
As of October, Bikes for the World has shipped some 8,000 bicycles to Barbados, Costa Rica, Ghana, Honduras, Panama, Uganda and the US. The group operates the Rockville Youth Bicycle Project that helps students learn about bicycles.
Bikes for the World also collaborates with Chicago's Working Bikes Cooperative to distribute bicycles to other countries.
Where else can you take your old bike? Check out the BikingBis list at “Where to Donate Your Used Bicycles.”
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