News and Events
Recyclery Hiring Experienced Bicycle Mechnic
The Recyclery Collective is hiring a part-time bicycle mechanic to fix bicycles both for sale and donation. Read the rest of the post for more info!
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Mission Statement: "The Recyclery Collective seeks to build community through the restoration of donated and discarded bicycles. We share resources and knowledge in order to support an affordable, independent, and sustainable mode of transportation. In this spirit of education and mutual aid, we encourage discussion about how our transportation choices affect the health of our communities and our environment."
Description: The Recyclery Collective is hiring a part-time bicycle mechanic to fix bicycles both for sale and donation. The mechanic will work between 10 and 20 hours a week with a semi-flexible schedule. Working with one or more collective members, this person will be responsible for:
* Evaluating bicycle donations for repair or scrapping
* Transporting bikes between the storage location and the shop
* Making necessary repairs to used (sometimes abused) bicycles in a timely fashion, ensuring they meet The Recyclery's standards
* Reporting work to the Collective, either in weekly meetings or through a liaison
* Maintaining records of bikes fixed and repairs made
Working with the Collective: The Recyclery's governing body, the Collective, meets weekly to decide issues impacting the direction of the organization and operates with no formal director using a consensus process. The person hired for this position will not be required to attend these unpaid meetings, but occasional attendance to communicate directly with the Collective is encouraged. After several months with The Recyclery, anyone who has shown a commitment to The Recyclery and its mission may be eligible to join the Collective.
Schedule: This position is temporary and subject to the availability of bicycles to fix and sales rates. The mechanic will be able to set her or his own hours within parameters set by the Collective. A collective member must be present during the scheduled hours. Scheduled hours may not overlap with program hours during which the shop is open to the public, so available evening and weekend work hours are limited.
Necessary Qualifications:
* Minimum of one year's mechanical experience, references requested
* Experience working on a wide range of bikes, familiarity with bikes and components from the 1960s through the 1990s a must
* Willingness to work under The Recyclery's safe space guidelines and within its Code of Conduct
* Strong work ethic and a willingness to ask for assistance when needed
* Interest in promoting the mission of The Recyclery
* Must have a valid driver's license.
The Recyclery Collective is an equal opportunity employer: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, national origin, or disability. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear, sit, use hands, reach with hands and arms, stand, walk, walk up and down stairs, lift and/or move up to 40 pounds.
Please send resume and cover letter to the following:
Email: info@therecyclery.org OR Fax: 773.751.5241
NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE
2010-07-07 09:00:42
Old T-shirts and Toothbrushes Needed
Our clean rag bin is not full of clean rags. If you have old t-shirts, we'd love to take them. Our volunteers and students need them to clean frames, chains, hubs, bottom brackets, headsets, and all sorts of bike parts. We can also use your old toothbrushes to clean bikes. Bring them by the shop and we will be very grateful!
2010-06-16 14:41:20
Open Shop Photos
Open Shop has been a busy, fun time of sharing mechanic knowledge and learning new skills. Thanks go to Northwestern University journalism student Kaitlyn Jakola for these photos.
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2010-06-08 08:39:18
Ride of Silence
Please join the Wednesday May 19th annual Ride of Silence, an organized annual cycling procession honoring those that have been injured or killed. Check the website for Chicago, Evanston, and other rides.
2010-05-12 12:26:50
Thank you volunteer Dave Skogley!
2010-05-12 09:51:42
The Recyclery in Momentum
The Recyclery and a number of our volunteers are featured in a Momentum magazine story on Rogers Park. Read it!
2010-05-10 12:30:31
Gear Up for Biking in Wilmette invites The Recyclery
by Mark White, Recyclery Volunteer
Wilmette families and children learned about safe, comfortable, stylish and efficient bicycling, as well as planning bicycle vacations, at the second annual bicycling program on Saturday, May 1, 2010 at the Wilmette Public Library. Co-sponsored by the Wilmette Bicycle Task Force, Go Green Wilmette and Wilmette Public Library, the event included participation by the Recyclery with a bike drive in the parking lot and information table in the auditorium. Library staff greeted cyclists and would-be cyclists at the door with water bottles and literature, guiding them to the auditorium where representatives from many local organizations and businesses provided them with all the latest information on cycling trends, or to the lawn where Wilmette Police helped properly fit bike helmets.
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M. Michel Legere was the featured speaker at 1:45 pm. M. Legere leads Velo Quebec, and is known in Canada as the father of the Route Verte, the bicycling route through Quebec that the National Geographic Society has designated as the most beautiful bike path extant. Photos from the presentation showed just why as M. Legere explained how bicycle tour companies support multi-day trips. The speaker has Wilmette ties through his daughter Sylvie Legere and son-in-law Todd Ricketts, partners in the Higher Gear bicycle shops located in Plaza del Lago and Highland Park. Velo Quebec's role parallels in part those of the Active Transportation Alliance and the Evanston Bicycle Club, two other participants in the event.
Wilmette Bicycle and Sport Shop's Larry Versino recalled his employee Adam Anderson when sharing a table with the Recyclery. Adam was one of the most skilled and admired volunteers for the Recyclery, and we share Wilmette Bicycle's loss from his recent untimely demise. We also appreciate Wilmette Bicycle's support of the Recyclery's mission through the years with their many donations of bicycles. Higher Gear joined in with a bike donation on Saturday, as did several Bike Drive participants who dropped off bicycles for recycling in the parking lot area that the program co-sponsors set up for the Recyclery. These gifts support Freecyclery donations of bicycles to prospective riders referred by social service agencies as well as the low-cost bicycle sales that keep the Recyclery's doors open for community use, volunteer activities and classes for youth and adults from beginners to advanced. We at the Recyclery especially thank Wilmette Bicycle Task Force chair Tim Perry and members Beth Drucker, Michael Pechnyo, Wendy Rice and Nancy Schofer for their efforts to organize the event and for reaching out to include the Recyclery as part of Wilmette's wider bicycle community.
2010-05-10 12:21:43
Washington School Gets Bikes
Photo and news item by Mark White, Recyclery Volunteer.
Students at Washington School in Evanston were delighted Friday, April 30th, 2010 by the bicycle sale that parents and staff organized, with the Recyclery's support, as part of the school's International Day event.
Washington School parent Vickie Jacobsen, who previously organized Walk and Roll day to promote active transportation by students and families, saw a need for bicycles that could allow more students to participate. Working with social workers Paola Flores and Rose Ibarra, Vickie arranged for students to receive affordable bicycles from The Recyclery. Some students lined up right after school to get best selection when the sale started at 6pm.
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Bicycles were available to all interested students, who paid with either vouchers, $20 or a mix of cash and voucher. The Recyclery brought a pickup truckload which parents quickly unloaded to wide smiles from the students. Tools were available to adjust seats and handlebars, letting parents ensure that bikes fit their students. The social workers and parents had collected outgrown bike helmets before the sale, adding to the students' safety from properly-fitting bikes. The test rides in the parking lot were a joyous occasion for both the students riding and the adults watching (and a few adults even hopped on for a quick spin). When the bike sale was over, Recyclery volunteer Mark White took just two bicycles back to the warehouse... followed by a parent who had wanted a 20" girl's bike instead of the one 20" boys bike that was left! She left the warehouse with her mission accomplished, as did so many parents that day.
The best part of the bike sale for the Recyclery was the bike trading it stimulated. Many parents and students with bikes idle in their garages were able to find new riders for those bicycles among those students seeking bikes from the sale. The Recyclery takes idle bikes like those as donations, but is perfectly happy to step out of that middleman role when old riders can place their functional-but-idle bikes directly with new riders who will use them. The Recyclery's mission in part is to help ensure that as many bikes as possible are functional, and all functional bikes have people who will ride them whenever it makes sense. Washington School students, parents and staff have embraced that goal, and are planning a new bike sale and swap for October as part of the Walk and Roll and Bike the Ridge events that month.
2010-05-05 14:32:40
Spring Sales
With spring finally here and the snow off the streets, our weekend bike sales are getting crowded.
Sales are held from 10AM to noon every Saturday. Refurbished road and mountain bikes for kids and adults are available at good prices, along with locks, lights, helmets and other equipment. The revenue benefits the Recyclery and help us continue our community programs, including the Freecyclery program providing bicycles to the needy, educational programs and open shop sessions.
Open shop hours, on Tuesdays from 7-9PM and Saturdays from 1-5PM, are a great time to visit the Recyclery if you already have a bike that needs a spring tune-up. Using our tools and equipment, and, if needed, a little help from our volunteers, you can perform needed maintenance on your own bike. Parts are available for purchase.
2010-04-02 08:41:43
Bicycle Sales
Bicycles are sold every Saturday from 10am - Noon in our new storefront location at 7628 N. Paulina, Chicago. We have used adult bikes from $30-$200, and kids and youth bikes for $5-$40. Helmets, locks, lights, and other accessories are also available for purchase.
2010-03-16 10:50:05
