Recipes for Disaster: an anarchist cookbook

Much can be improvised when it comes to bike collectives, but you're definitely going to need some bikes. Luckily, they're generally pretty easy to come by. Universities and police departments often collect abandoned bikes; landfills and dumpsters see their fair share; and once the word gets out about your organization, you will get more bikes than you will ever need from middle-class families whose kids have grown too big for their old Huffys, or who no longer ride those nice commuter bikes that have been sitting in their basements for fifi:een years. If you establish a good relationship with a bike shop, they may send everyone on to you who hopes to sell an old bike that isn't worth enough for any shop to be interested; having been rejected by the shops, people will ofiien be eager just to get the bikes (which are usually in better shape than the ones you dig out of a dumpster) off their hands, and v^U drop them off wherever you tell them. A lot of the bikes you get wall be of low quality and in horrible shape, and many should go straight to the dump (clean metal recycling, if they offer it), but before long you vrill have more than you can keep up with that are perfectly good machines.

Also not negotiable is at least one full set of bike tools. Expect some of these tools to

disappear every once in a while, especially if you're working with kids, and be prepared

to replace them. You can do without a few things (a truing stand, bike stands, a headset

Bicvcle Collectives press) to Start out, but you will definitely need a full array of wrenches (cone, box, Allen,

94 Spanner), pliers, tire levers, chain tools, wire cutters, freewheel removers, screwdrivers.

bike pumps, lubes, etc. You can improvise substitutes for some tools, like using an adjustable wrench to remove pedals, but ideally you should be able to repair an entire bike with whatever you've got. Tools, you will discover, especially the specialized tools needed to repair a bicycle, are very expensive, which is one reason that most people vnll never learn to repair a bike, and will instead continue to rely on bike shops. Coming by these tools cheaply is not easy You can hope for generous donors, a miraculous day at the bike shop's dumpster, serendipity, an experienced and fearless shoplifter, or whatever form of Robin Hood you prefer, but it may turn out to be necessary to buy some things with your own money at first?in time, donations your organization receives will probably be enough to pay back anyone generous enough to lend some money for start-up costs. Such are the laws of karma.

Luckily, you do not necessarily need bike parts. I say "not necessarily" because if you desperately need to cut comers, you can always cannibalize parts from other bikes. Keep in mind, however, that this will probably not be very effective on a large scale. If you decide to do it when you're just starting out. instead of purchasing [also expensive] bike parts, or wheedling them out of someone, make sure that the parts you're taking off that old junker are actually safe and functioning pieces. Cracking tires, worn brake pads, crusty chains?you're not doing anyone any favors by keeping those parts in circulation! Also, if you do this for any length of time you vnll inevitably discover that certain parts tend to be wrong more than they are right {rear wheels waffled, cables and chains rusted beyond usability, tires dry rotted), and you will end up not fixing a lot of bikes because you can't get parts for them. Bike shop dumpsters are good places to look for parts, but keep an eye out for tires with shts in them from a careless box cutter, and other common ways that parts are damaged?they're probably thrown out for a reason, after all. It may just be company policy to discard any returns, no matter how pristine, but safety is an important consideration when other people are relying on your services. Also, if there's

You can establish a "yellow bike" program foryourtown: geta bunch of cheap bicycles, paint them all an ugly yellow color, and leave them around town at specified drop off points so people can ride them from one point to another?voili, free and autonomous public transportation]

Bicycle Collectiues 95

a distribution warehouse for bike parts in your area, it may be a good source for gently used (or, sometimes, apparently untouched) parts,