The Numbers

4191
The numbers are in even though not all of the bikes are yet! I'm talking about the recent partnership with Dick's Sporting Goods(DSG) and Bikes for the World. DSG recently offered a promotion to their customers that involved trading in an old bike for a new one, or rather money off a new one.

And I bet you aren't really asking what they did with the old ones since you are reading this here! Yes, indeed, all of those traded in bikes have been trickling, okay trucking, into Lorton the last two weeks. THOUSANDS of bikes! We are thrilled to have such and amazing partner like DSG.

481
That's how many stores participated in the promotion yielding us those 4,191 bikes. We will be getting our last shipment sometime next week. Then comes the task of shipping them all back out again!Hats off to the staff at DSG who really helped us out by watching our processing video and prepping the bikes BfW style,  just like our Collection Managers and volunteers. This saved us tons of time and themselves tons of space as they also packed the trailers to be sent from their distribution centers from Atlanta to the Mid West.

12
There were twelve 53' containers in all, two of them shared with our sister organization Working Bikes in Chicago, who also ships to some of our same partners overseas. Each of these trucks held somewhere close to 350-400 bikes.

Consider the fact that we typically load about 500 bikes inside a 40' container! We did see a few damaged wheels coming in from DSG possibly from the movement in the back of the trailer.

500+
Our rows are packed a lot tighter when we ship overseas. Sometimes you may wonder if this damages the derailleurs the way we push on them. We have gotten some feedback that gears need tweaked on the other side, obviously (I'm pretty sure I have a bike or two in my shed that need tweaked right now too!) but overall, the damage that could potentially be done if they have the room to rock with the ocean is much worse.

Once we off loaded all the incoming bikes our volunteers counted and confirmed the totals. We then took on the bigger task of going over all the bikes.

Craig Annear hands down a bike off an earlier DSG delivery

2 AWESOME!
How was the quality of the bikes donated you ask? Can you say AWESOME?! Only about 2 per 500 weren't up to our standards to ship overseas. That means out of 4,191 bikes, 4,180 of them will be shipped in tact overseas. That's incredible! Anything not up to our standards is stripped for usable parts and those parts are then shipped with the bikes.

Bikes for the World has a reputation across the globe of sending not only quality bikes but also the right kind of bike for the local terrain. We listen to our International Partners and give them what they need. More often than not this is a sturdier, fatter tired bike, good for hauling goods over unpaved roads. This is exactly what we received from DSG more often than not; about 80-90% of the bikes donated fit this description. 

Don't take my word for it. See it for yourself. Check out the bikes, see them fill the space, count them if you can!