There is a constant effort at Bikes Not Bombs to improve the process of bicycle recycling. This is an attempt to catalog some of my personal experience with this work, in the hope of providing a framework that can be later improved by input from others. Much of this thinking is off-the-cuff, inaccurate, and ill-advised. Corrections and ideas are welcome!
There is a tension between organization and density when shipping. The material we ship cannot be considered finished goods; rather, it is raw material that requires labor to transform it to a saleable state.
Quality of material
Funding of shipment
We have internal debates over whether it's better to overlap wheels. One school is that you attain better density front-to back. Another is that that density comes at the expense of left-to-right density (unless the bikes are quite uniform in their width and nesting), and that the result is an unstable base for stacking.
There is a general consensus that bikes should alternate facing forwards and back.
We shipped one container with bikes alternating facing up and down. It seemed to produce a stable lowest layer, but was hard to manage after this.
Each destination has its special needs and considerations.
My understanding of the VBP needs is based largely on conversations with Emily Lin, a BNB volunteer who spent a year in Ghana working to develop an Earn-a-Bike program there.
The Village Bicycle Project has limited storage and organizational facilities. The shipping container is unloaded quickly, and the majority is sold immediately to wholesalers. The more obvious and organized the parts in the container, the more likely it is that the parts will go to places where there's demand. Mismatch of components may also be an issue.
There is demand for:
Mountain bikes demand a substantial premium. Even if they're open-frame and of cheap construction.
(Maya Pedal).
There is demand for:
The goal of flattening bikes is to reduce the volume the bike consumes in the container without requiring too much labor on either end, to protect vulnerable components on the bike during shipping, and to improve the ease of getting the bike into and out of the container.
Remember that we will be climbing on top of bikes during container loading, and someone will likely be doing the same during unloading. Securing seats and stems and handlebars makes for a more predictable platform. It might also reduce the tendency for the bike to become entangled with its neighbors during shipping.
It may be useful to remember that the work done to remove stuck components helps to evaluate the bike's maintainability. If it's impossible to remove a crank arm or pedal with the tools we have here, it's unlikely to be possible somewhere else without doing damage to the bike. A bike with freshly-greased pedals, seatpost, and stem is going to be cheaper to maintain in the long-term.
Lower the seatpost as far as possible; then tighten. The seat should not twist if pushed (or stood upon). If the seatpost narrows at its top, be sure to leave enough of the full width of the post to be secured by the seat post clamp.
Remove the pedals and re-thread them from the backside of the cranks. This keeps the pedals with the bike, while greatly reducing the bike's width and tendency to get caught up in other bikes' wheels.
The left pedal has a left-handed thread. Some folks think of this as turning the wrench towards the back of the bike; I've taken to thinking of things this way. The "towards the back of the bike" rule still applies when threading the pedal on from the backside.
If it is not possible to thread the pedals on from the backside of the crank, use a zip tie or a piece of old shifter/brake cable to tie the pedals to the bike. I've seen some places that zip tie all the pedals, but the re-threading method uses fewer materials (at the expense of sometimes considerable time).
Pedals secured to aluminum cranks that have not been removed for some time sometimes oxidize to the point where they cannot be removed without stripping the threads from the crank. If you have gained the strength to remove the most stubborn of pedals and you find that after a quarter or half turn in an aluminum crank a pedal is not coming out easier, it is quite likely it is taking the threads with it. Leave the pedal as-is and remove the crank arms instead. This will save both the pedal and, more importantly, the crank arms. Tie the crank arms to the bike.
I have once seen a pedal that was threaded on the wrong side. If the condition of the bike doesn't suggest that a pedal may be hard to remove, consider looking for an 'L' on the tip of the pedal's stud, or a serration on the left-handed pedal away from the flats.
My favorite stance for removing difficult pedals is straddling the bike from behind. The bike should be on the ground. The pedal you're trying to remove should be towards the back of the bike. The wrench should be as horizontal as possible with the grip end facing the front of the bike. Put one foot on the opposite pedal, grasp the wrench and pull backwards. And best of luck....
For most stems--those with a stem bolt and wedge--loosen the stem bolt (but not so much that it gets lost in the steerer tube). Turn 90 degrees, then re-tighten.
For threadless headsets, loosen the two Allen bolts that secure the stem to the steerer tube. These are different from the Allen bolt that attaches the top piece on the steerer tube and adjusts the tension on the headset. I can't think of a mountain bike we've shipped with a threadless headset, though hopefully this will change as time goes on. We have seen threadless headsets on a couple of nicer BMX bikes.
It is not necessary to turn the handlebars on bikes that do not have a front wheel.
If the wedge doesn't loosen after tapping the stem bolt with a hammer, we've had good success removing the stem bolt entirely, removing the stem, flipping the bike over, and tapping on the bottom of the wedge. It may be necessary to temporarily remove center- or side-pull brakes to get at the wedge.
For drop bar bikes, loosen the bolt that secures the handlebar, loop the handlebar so one side wraps under the top tube, and retighten. This makes the bike slightly narrower, plus it gets the brake levers out of the way somewhat--they are very adept at catching other bikes when left in their normal position.
For riser bars--especially on BMX and kids' bikes--the handlebars should also be folded down so they take up less vertical space.
It may also make sense to rotate the handlebars of mountain bikes with bar ends so they are less likely to catch on other bikes.
A good practice is to shift the bike into its lowest gear (both derailleurs on the innermost chainring or cog). This should be done before turning in the pedals.
One-piece cranks should be broken down into three components: the crank, the chainring, and the bearing set consisting of two cones, two cups, two bearing races with bearings, and a washer.
One-piece cranks are removed starting from the left side of the bike. Remove the large nut with an adjustable wrench. This nut is left-handed, so it loosens by turning clockwise. Remove the keyed washer under the nut, then remove the cone--again turning clockwise (the cone fits on the same threads as the nut). A flat-head screwdriver should get the cone turning without much effort; it may be removed by hand after a fraction of a turn. Remove the bearing race.
After removing the left side cone and bearing, the crank may be removed from to the right of the bike just by twisting and finding the right angle. If there's a chain guard, it will probably have to be removed to free the chainring.
When the crank and chainring are removed, retrieve the right-side bearing. Remove the bearing cups with a hammer and punch.
Separate the chainring and crank by removing the right-side cone. This cone has normal right-hand threads. Its threads are bigger than the those on the left side of the crank, so it will just slide off the crank.
Cranks should be placed in a crate or box.
Chainrings should be collected in a crate or box. Shipping them separated from the crank should reduce the likelihood of their getting bent, and this may be a more likely replacement mode.
I would like to experiment with threading multiple bearing sets onto a length of brake cable. This should result in an organized, reasonably well-protected (if the cups are put on the right way around), cluster of parts that is nevertheless flexible and can be placed in openings around frames without difficulty.
The right side (drive) bottom bracket threads are left-handed.
Pedals should be paired whenever possible. We might experiment with brake-cable aggregating of pedals.
Forks should have the lower bearing cone removed and packaged as part of the headset. Forks can be stored in 5-gallon buckets, but as large parts may be dumped loose when loading the container.
As with 1-piece crank bearing sets, I would like to try stringing multiple headsets on a single length of brake cable. Perhaps we could secure one end on a recycling cart; the end with the stopper could be held by a V-shaped notch when stored; the end could be easily freed when adding a new headset.
An innertube might be an alternate holder for headsets.
Sidepull brakes are likely to lose the adjuster. Is it possible to separate the knurled nut from the carrier and thread the nut on the "wrong" side of the brake to keep it in place?
I'm looking for ideas about how to bundle brakes for shipping.
Need some way to keep the yoke with the assembly, or should ship separately....
These are a real problem--they fall all apart when not mounted on a stud. If there were a source of nuts to replace the stud, we might try this (though we'd need a washer big enough to keep the spring from coming off, too). Plus, there's a pairing problem.
Chain presents unique problems since it stretches with use. Stretched chain will engage a cog only at the last tooth, causing significant wear. Stretched chain should be paired with its freewheel or cassette in a plastic bag.
Before cutting spokes from a rear hub, remove the freewheel or cassette. If the spokes are cut prematurely, it will be impossible to get a secure grip on the hub to remove the cogs without damaging the hub. And since it's not possible to get to the drive-side spokes without removing the cogs, the hub is significantly less useful. (I've not heard of folks successfully removing the freewheel with the hub laced to only the non-drive-side of the hub, though it might be possible.)