A bit hacked off, but don't want to upset anybody.

[Norm]

I don't know if you have been reading my posts or Crankarm's interpretations of them but I am not just out to get a free bike and report a charity if they don't give it to me.

I'm not sure if it helps at all, but I read your OP to be that you were frustrated that the tip reserved all their bikes for the charity, even though they couldn't do anything with them, and that you were frustrated with the charity themselves not responding to your offer to help. Both of which I thought were reasonable.

 

[xpc316e]

Bikes ought not to end up in landfill - fact. If a charity is unable to make effective use of what could be very useful to others, it ought to cease stockpiling bikes it can never deal with and let them go to someone else - fact. It seems hard, but the Charity Commissioners are in place to see that charities are well run - the fact that they are fluffy charities doesn't make them immune to poor practice.

 

[srw]

It seems hard, but the Charity Commissioners are in place to see that charities are well run - the fact that they are fluffy charities doesn't make them immune to poor practice.

The Charity Commission is there to make sure that charities fulfil their core objectives. If the core objective of this charity was to make refurbished second-hand bikes available, the OP may have a point. But it isn't.

 

[Crankarm]

I think you're getting the wrong end of the stick. The Charities Commission comment was me saying that I doubt I could do that because it's so distasteful and I repeated it last post because Crankarm had also taken it out of context. Again I have said I'm not after a free bike and I'm sorry if I come across as an "annoying pest". I have also said I'm happy to give them a week or so to hear back from them and then go from there, with my ultimate solution me being able to help them long term.

I don't know if you have been reading my posts or Crankarm's interpretations of them but I am not just out to get a free bike and report a charity if they don't give it to me. I take umbrage at the grumpy condescending remarks I have come in for because I dared to criticise the way a charity is managing its resources. Whilst I would really enjoy helping them out, which I have stressed many times, I think the first thing they need to work out is that they don't need to take all of the local scrap bikes, why don't they take a break on collecting them until they start to eat into some of their vast stock? You're quite right that those suffering from abject poverty should come before those only relatively poor, however, the way they are currently operating is depriving many local poor people from getting access to a bike.

Why don't you go to your local tip and negotiate a good price of an old bike? You could offer the charity a tenner or £20. If they have so many it will effectively be making a donation which you can then gift aid meaning they get the tax relief as well. I suspect your outrage is born out of not being able to get a bike for nothing or next to nothing. Sorry but I am rather cynical. You could even dontate a couple of hundred quid so the charity can take some of their beneficaries on a nice day out ..................

 

[Dave Davenport]

Our club was approached by the Salvation Army to help them with restoring bikes and two of us arranged to meet them. When we arrived at the appointed time the bloke who contacted us wasn't there, someone said they'd get him to call us but we never heard from them again.
I then contacted the local Emmaus site as I'd heard they had lots of bikes donated but didn't know what to do with them, was given a guys name and left it that he would contact me. He hadn't after a couple of weeks so I called in when I was passing on a ride. He was there and seemed very keen on getting some help with the bikes but was about to go on leave so said he'd call me in a couple of weeks, never heard back from him. As it happens I've since met a bloke who was in a Emmaus home for a while and after what he told me I'm glad I didn't get involved with them anyway.

I'm pretty sure I didn't mention I was an atheist to either of them!

 

[d87francis]

Why don't you go to your local tip and negotiate a good price of an old bike? You could offer the charity a tenner or £20. If they have so many it will effectively be making a donation which you can then gift aid meaning they get the tax relief as well. I suspect your outrage is born out of not being able to get a bike for nothing or next to nothing. Sorry but I am rather cynical. You could even dontate a couple of hundred quid so the charity can take some of their beneficaries on a nice day out ..................

Yes I suppose I could. Ha ha

 

[Electric_Andy]

They're a homeless charity, with a large second hand store. They showed me round the workshop, it seems they used to fix them up and then sell them to raise money, but are now having problems finding volunteers to do that, so I have said I'll help.

I'm just annoyed that the local tip won't let me buy any old bikes as they all go to this charity who then don't do anything with them. I can't afford to buy something new for my girlfriend to go touring on, nor overpriced second hand stuff on gumtree as it all seems to be refurbished. I've watched freegle like a hawk for the last few months and have yet to get a reply about a bike even when emailing the same day. It will ultimately mean we won't go away later this summer which I think is a real shame as there are so many people chucking out bikes.

Have you tried putting a "Wanted" ad on gumtree? Now is the time that people are clearing their garages out and getting rid of unused bikes. I did exactly the same thing yesterday and took an old MTB to the tip. I would have preferred giving it away to someone like you who could have used it, but I was desperate for the space.

 

[rvw]

If you are still looking, and willing to source new front forks, there's an old Viscount going begging in our garage. Obviously quite heavy, but with racks front and back. It was my main bike until my employer offered the cycle to work scheme and I got a new Specialized: the forks suffered in a collision with a car but I believe the frame and wheels are still fine.

Yours if you want it, and can collect it. (Sorry, can't find the photo at the moment.)

 

[d87francis]

Yours if you want it, and can collect it. (Sorry, can't find the photo at the moment.)

That's a very kind offer, but I have just about managed to piece together something and am heading off a week today. Thanks again.

 

[rvw]

Glad you have found something - enjoy the trip!

 

[Drago]

Having volunteered for a charity in the past I can confirm they are über conservative about protecting themselves from litigation, and there won't be anything you can do to change that unless you have a cycle repair/maintenance qualification that their insurers recognise and volunteer to do the work yourself.

Or else go help them recruit someone who is.