How BikeSurf works - The Video!

How BikeSurf works from Sam Muirhead on Vimeo

Many thanks to Judith and Sam for putting in the time, sweat and tears that went in to making this video for us. A warm place awaits you in bicycle heaven :-)

The Council of Europe presents BikeSurfBerlin

My God, it's full of flags!

BikeSurfBerlin was invited to present the project by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in early November, in a conference (Responding Together) seeking to raise awareness and encourage networking between various sharing projects throughout Europe. We were privileged to be invited and, ever eager to share our idea, we (Elly, Rachel, Olga, Patrick & Graham) took 14 hour's worth of cheap trains to reach Strasbourg. Deciding to CouchSurf with some fantastic hosts there, proved to be a wonderful chance to get an insight into the city from the very off.

That's real-time interpreting - impressive.

Bjorn (the BSB bear)! - You're famous!

All those flags at the Palais de'Europe, rigorous security and real-time international interpreters told us that BSB had gotten European recognition.

We spent two days at the conference, listening to representatives from other sharing initiatives discuss the importance and logistics of setting up their respective projects. We also had the opportunity to take centre stage and present BSB and its progress to date. The BSB scrapbook, containing photos and witty descriptions, was particularly enjoyed by the audience.

BikeSurfer waxes lyrical about BSB

(In response to a request for his opinion of the BSB experience for a newspaper article).

Hello D****,

I am from the world.

To arrive in a city and be the master of your own destiny, to arrive in a city and become better acquainted with the precipices and crevices of all the kiez, riding East to West across a city once home to the 20th century's most infamous garden hedge dispute all while sparing oneself of the cumbersome, extortionate degradation they call public transport; all this is priceless.
That a priceless service is without cost should not be regarded a coincidence. The widely held belief that remuneration is the inspiration for inspiration, that moolah means innovation, to my mind at least, is suspicious and I daresay when BikeSurf is successfuly rolled out around the world, those suspicions would go some way to being confirmed.

My real name is Tanzen Spinoza. Emeka is a stage name. I should like my real name to be attributed to any quotes. Should you want anymore, don't hesitate to get in touch. Good luck with the piece.

Immer mit liebe,

emeka *

Practical Theorist blog - we are already hooked ;-)

Looking up for some inspiration? Here's one for you: http://www.practicaltheorist.com/

This blog was launched not so long ago, and presents cool art, books and films, ideas and amazing projects... the latest article is about BikeSurf.

For us it was a pleasure talking to Oliver, the one behind the blog, and we expect to get inspired by more ideas from the blog!

BikeSurf on CNN

BikeSurfBerlin! Berlin? The buzz is global! Today we've been featured on CNN Global!

Triple hurray to Graham for the idea, to the BSB team for implementation and to all our bikesurfers from around the world, who made it possible for the project to get a minute of fame on CNN!!!

Special thanks to BSB faces and voices Olga and Sam. We've also managed to get hold of Graham to get his reaction: "overjoyed!"

4:50 and onward

Click to watch CNN report

Bike Mechanics Wanted

HANDY WITH A BIKE?

Original image: http://sicycle.wordpress.com

We need some mechanical help with our fleet! Since our bikes are seeing active use, some pretty typical repairs are regularly needed. Think you can help? SHOUT OUT! Your usual (and potentially sometimes UNUSUAL) bike repairs are called for: making sure brakes are in order, tightening bolts, fixing tires, keeping the chain in good repair—anything and everything that can happen to a bike can just as well happen to one of ours. Think you can contribute to this effort? We can use any and all repair people: from the relatively familiar to the wizardly talented. Let us know by e-mailing bikesurfberlin@gmail.com!

You’ll not only be a ROCK STAR for doing so, you’ll also be doing all of the BikeSurf Berlin community a ton of good. After all we’re nothing if we don’t have the bikes which drive our org. Ride on!

Downsizing the BSB bike fleet

Guess the BSB team member competition

We have decided to significantly reduce the bike fleet at BikeSurfBerlin from the end of August.   With more bikes, come more repair and logistical problems, along with more costs.  Because we still are not reaching our fundraising and sustainable participation goals for the current number of bikes, in order to reduce our headaches and improve standards we will now provide approximately 10 bikes for short term BikeSurfing.  BSB's wheels turn only because of  volunteer pedaling and donations, and unfortunately right now maintaining sustainability for the project means fewer wheels.  

Some of the other bikes will still be available from Leila (exchange store in Mitte) and from BSB on longer term loan (>1month) only. 

We also have some bikes to sell, to reduce the need to store the extra bikes and to generate funds. All the money we raise from any source goes into making this project better (there's no profit, just "the project"), so we will be transforming a few bikes into much needed capital in order to improve the quality of the remaining bikes.  

We would dearly love to provide all of the current 24 BSB bikes for surfing, as there is clearly a demand, but we need to be realistic about the path to providing a sustainable service with our current resources.  Right now this means shifting to an emphasis on quality over quantity.

As BSB is a community project, your thoughts on this decision are most welcome.