# How do I dispose of an old bike?



## yesmandroc (Oct 19, 2009)

I pulled my old GT out of my Mom's cellar today. I was hoping to salvage some of it, bit it looks like none of it is useable. Can I just throw it out? Should I just take it to the dump?


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## bvibert (Oct 19, 2009)

How old?  I think some areas have places that you can donate old bikes to.


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## yesmandroc (Oct 19, 2009)

bvibert said:


> How old?  I think some areas have places that you can donate old bikes to.



At least 15 years, maybe more like 17. Definitely early 90's.


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## severine (Oct 19, 2009)

Freecycle. Craigslist (they have a free section). My very very old 3-speed that was handed down to me (I'd guess that thing was 35+ years old) was picked up pretty quickly by passers-by when I put it out by the road.


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## skidbump (Oct 19, 2009)

Just lean on telephone pole in any town...some one will come along and steal it


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## WWF-VT (Oct 19, 2009)

Bikes Not Bombs has a bunch of collection days in the Boston area

http://www.bikesnotbombs.org/bikedrives


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## andyzee (Oct 19, 2009)

skidbump said:


> Just lean on telephone pole in any town...some one will come along and steal it



Just be sure to lock it up so that they think it's worth stealing.


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## bvibert (Oct 19, 2009)

I found this with a quick search.  A bunch of different organizations, some take bike donations.

http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/youth-directory.htm


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## ski220 (Oct 19, 2009)

Usually your local Police Dept.  distributes bikes that they have recovered, and have not been claimed, to needy children.  Try them.   Or just drop it off at the nearest Goodwill store.


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## Marc (Oct 20, 2009)

If it truly isn't useable, I don't know how good idea it is to donate to someone.  If they can't use it, then they just have to get rid of it.

The transfer stations in my last town and my current one have scrap metal dumpsters.  It would go there.


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## bvibert (Oct 20, 2009)

Marc said:


> If it truly isn't useable, I don't know how good idea it is to donate to someone.  If they can't use it, then they just have to get rid of it.
> 
> The transfer stations in my last town and my current one have scrap metal dumpsters.  It would go there.



I believe there are some organizations who will take even junk bikes to use the parts to fix other bikes.  Then they give the fixed bikes to someone in need of one.


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## gorgonzola (Oct 20, 2009)

see if you have one of these
http://www.communitybikeworks.org/


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## hrstrat57 (Oct 20, 2009)

I put three bikes out on the street this summer with "free" on "em.

Gone.


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## abc (Oct 24, 2009)

Marc said:


> If it truly isn't useable, I don't know how good idea it is to donate to someone.  If they can't use it, then they just have to get rid of it.
> 
> The transfer stations in my last town and my current one have scrap metal dumpsters.  It would go there.



What a waste! Just becasue you don't know how to make it usabe again, doesn't mean a more skilled mechanics can't!


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## Marc (Oct 24, 2009)

abc said:


> What a waste! Just becasue you don't know how to make it usabe again, doesn't mean a more skilled mechanics can't!



Some bikes are beyond repair, which is why I included the caveat in my post



Marc said:


> If it truly isn't useable



If you want to go ahead and assume yesmandroc or I don't have the judgment to tell whether something is usable or not (evidence for or against which as not been seen so far, at least not in this thread), and you care that much, maybe you should at least ask him to post pictures of it, so you, who maybe has the necessary mechanic skills to make that judgment, can tell him what to do.


Scrap metal also gets recycled, you know.

Sheesh.


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## billski (Oct 24, 2009)

www.*freecycle*.org/ 
I have gotten rid of so much stuff via freecycle. Probably 3 or 4 dozen items, large and small. I have no patience or time for garage sale dickering when the price is already 75 cents. It's such a wide audience, that everything I've posted goes within a day. I then just tell them to come and get it, and I leave it outside. Its amazing what people will take for free. 
One guy wanted my broken TV. He repairs TV and uses them for parts. A woman wanted my 20 year old wall to wall carpet for a day care center she runs in her house. A guy wanted some old light fixtures and a leaky sink for his cabin. Over 30 years, I have accumulated more wood scraps than I'll ever need. People took them.

I've my suspicion that some of it ends up on eBay, but frankly that's ok with me. In this economy people do what they gotta do. Somebody makes a buck, somebody gets a good deal. In the final analysis, it stays out of the dump and preserves our resources. Freecycle has been the easiest way of getting rid of things. 


Even my town promotes freecycle. It keeps the tonnage going down in our municipal waste system, costs the town less each year. I mean, like we are down 30% over a decade ago. That's serious coin. Hey, that translates directly into my tax dollars.


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## bvibert (Oct 24, 2009)

Marc said:


> Some bikes are beyond repair, which is why I included the caveat in my post
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I interpreted the OP to mean that it wasn't useful to him, that doesn't necessarily mean that it couldn't be useful to someone else.  It would have to be in pretty bad shape for it not to be useful to anyone; like cracked frame, stripped BB shell, etc..  Even then some of the parts may be useful to an organization that fixes up old bikes for those in need.


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