Why sell ’em? Just give ’em away.

A parking lot for bicycles in Niigata, Niigata, Japan

There is no such thing as too many bikes. There is, however, an unfortunate condition known as “too little space.” Because of a chronic case of too little space, I reluctantly made the decision that I would need to clear out a couple of bikes.

I don’t like talking on the telephone. I also don’t care too much for meeting random people. I especially don’t care too much setting up times to meet people that don’t show. So… selling the bikes on classified services like Craigslist was not really appealing to me. I did have a different idea however – why not just give them away?

Probably pedaling...

I suppose I could have just left them on a random San Francisco city corner where they would most likely quickly find themselves in one of the many bicycle chop shops that spring up like weeds. But these bikes had names damnit! I had a personal connection to these bikes. One of them, in fact, had initially been given to me. No, these had to find a good home. These bikes didn’t need to be sold – they needed to be rehomed.

Knobby Mountain Bike TireAnd that is exactly what I did. I reached out to the groups of cyclists that I actually know (Like, in real life. IRL OMG!!) to see if any of them were interested in these bikes. The process was very much like what people will do with pets. I wanted to find a good home for these bikes – not just random stranger. Surely I could have probably sold these for a few bucks and turned that money back around into my touring bike project. But this somehow felt a whole lot better. I got to share in the love of bicycles with fellow cyclists, and these bikes get to continue to make someone happy.

The cargo bike named Sherman went to another Xtracycle convert rider who also just so happens to be the cofounder of SF Yellow Bike Project here in San Francisco. Waldo – the Breezer Lightning mountain bike – will find a home with an old friend from school. We knew each other years ago and almost 800 miles away, but somehow managed to reconnect here in the fair city of San Francisco.

Many will probably think me funny for this approach. Many also think me funny for the way I like to personify and name my bikes. To that I say… I know. Everybody funny. Now you funny too…