Freewheel Bicycle Co @freewheelbikesmadison@sunbeam.city
- website:
- https://freewheelbikes.org
a nonprofit open bicycle shop offering free classes and bike giveaways. Transportation access and maintenance should be in our own hands. Madison, WI USA
Joined Feb 2019
Freewheel Bicycle Co
boosted
http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-06216-7.html I just finished "Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice", which came out a few years ago. Definitely worth a read, it's somewhat dense but it contains a lot of info on organizations that are still in operation.
Freewheel Bicycle Co
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Is hierarchy the enemy of co-operation?
https://www.thenews.coop/112205/sector/hierarchy-enemy-co-operation/
"Suma operates equal wage rates for all workers
Co-operatives should be about co-operation not hierarchy, says Bob Cannell, formerly of Suma workers co-operative. How can co-ops create alternatives to hierarchical management structures?
Many people treat hierarchical authority as something as natural as breathing and deride those who dream and practise ways of living and doing business ‘sans’ hierarchy."
Freewheel Bicycle Co
boosted
If you want to seriously change inequality there is a small thing you can do. Support a small southern US black owned coop so they can pasteurize their awesome pecan milk to have a longer shelf life so they can ship it. https://pecanmilk.com/ This coop must survive but they are in a catch-22 where they do not make enough to qualify for a loan. Their product is so good that it will be a sustainable coop venture. Without us they have no real way out. Ideas are welcomed.
folks who rely on volunteer labor to make things go:
How do you reward your most reliable volunteers?
folks who volunteer:
How do you like to be recognized for your work? What do you need to keep coming back?
Today:
cleaned: one haystack of donated bikes and wheels into neat little useable rows
given away: one rack, two wheels, one axle, several hours of volunteer mechanic time
sold: two tires, two brake pads
sorted: scrap into separate piles of recyclable steel and aluminum and tires
taught: four!! students in need!! from commuters-to-work to crashed Iron Man racers on a non class day
seen: equal amounts of new and old faces
Proud of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Freewheel Bicycle Co
boosted
When people narrow their relationships to hierarchical relations they risk to leave a large part of their brains inactive. They become blunt. The reason why hierarchical systems in history did lead to disasters is not only because of the stupidity of autocrats but also because of the brain laziness of their followers no longer practicing reverse dominance hierarchy. To step after a flag is that more easy than maintaining reciprocated relationships of trust and obligation.
https://bit.ly/2ZdSqEv
now I'm watching TV Lenny commercials and learning -- at some point he got some good looking Peugeots with decent parts and was giving those away too :o I wonder how many Wisconsin Peugeots come from American TV...
some local history: "Crazy TV Lenny" banked on the reputation of Italian bikes when he had 100,000 "Firenze" bikes (NOT Italian) produced to give away as an advertising stunt... theyre still popping up out of people's garages and making it to our recycle pile.
He runs an e-bike store these days and we use his secondhand cardboard for shipping :)
Freewheel Bicycle Co
boosted
I herd some of you are in the madison area: come volunteer Sunday to break down and recycle damaged bikes! #bikeshop
Met with a visiting volunteer-friend-of-the-shop to talk about grant applications and fundraising strategy :o #bikeshop #nonprofit #hockeystickgrowth
! Batch Bakehouse did a genuine apology on social media just now, with a promise to fund a city driver/cyclist safety education program.
I worry about cancel culture, because material amends like this means they could turn out to be a good ally in the city.
(jokes about paying us off with very good bread are still allowed, but I'm excited to see something positive come out of this) #bikesafety #conflictresolution
Two big donations of parts and tools yesterday, thanks to some neighbors who heard about us for the first time on TV recently, or from their friend who saw us on TV :D
That vote-getting week was intense, but it's still paying off !!!
turns out there's a lot of cyclists on FB.
the batch bakery guy is on the phone, being encouraged to make material amends
direct action gets the goods!
Freewheel Bicycle Co
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@lawremipsum @freewheelbikesmadison some hackers did that in Hull, Northern England in the 1990s (with the end result a real zebra crossing was built *and* cycle paths!)
breaking: we've discovered that FINALLY everyone in the shop can agree on irish punk music.
the delivery driver and co-owner of https://www.facebook.com/BatchBakehouse/ deliberately threatened and endangered a cyclist's life yesterday, because they were unhappy with this person driving lawfully in the full lane width of a bike boulevard. Please help us call them to account until this person takes responsibility for what he did and makes amends. Negative reviews on yelp, google, etc mentioning this episode will help show them consequences of these actions.#bike #cycling #velopunk #bikeshop
40 adult and kids' bikes, various 26 24 and 20 inch wheels, and a big crate of spare parts dispatched today to the Gambia :) Glad we got them sorted or that could have been a huge pain...
Freewheel Bicycle Co
boosted
@freewheelbikesmadison I painted a crosswalk in the middle of the night once, and ten years later they actually improved the crossing.
- website:
- https://freewheelbikes.org
a nonprofit open bicycle shop offering free classes and bike giveaways. Transportation access and maintenance should be in our own hands. Madison, WI USA
Joined Feb 2019
