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November Shop Schedule is as follows:

Sundays – November 13, 20, and 27 – Shop open noon to 4 PM (Shop closed November 6)

Tuesdays – November 1, 8, 15, and 22 – Shop open 4 PM to 9 PM – November 29 – Shop open 5 PM to 8 PM

Thursdays – November 3, 10, and 17 – Shop open 4 PM to 9 PM (Shop closed November 24 for Thanksgiving)

Saturday – November 26 – Shop open 10 AM to 4 PM for Blitz! and Small Business Saturday

A couple of items to note on our schedule – The shop is open on November 26 – a Saturday – for our annual Blitz! event. In past years, we worked on bicycles for the St. Paul Pioneer Press/United Way Holiday Wishes Program. However, the program is not going to operate this year, and we currently do not have a replacement program, so we don’t know for sure who we will fix bicycles for during this year’s Blitz! We are working on lining up one or more charities to receive bicycles, and we will announce a partnership if we get one in time. Otherwise we will repair bicycles for people on our regular wait list during Blitz!

Beginning Tuesday, November 29, we will cut back our shop hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The winter hours will be 5 PM to 8 PM. This will allow us to still serve late afternoon customers, but to also allow our weekday evening volunteers to still participate. The shop is typically not as busy on weekday evenings during the colder months, so we are cutting back our time spent there a little to give us some time for our personal commitments.

On Saturday, November 19, our crew will ride again in Cranksgiving. We will be using the 10% charity money generated from shop income to purchase food and sundries for a local food shelf. This event will be held at 2 PM on the 19th, and the location is Sunrise Cyclery, 2901 Blaisdell Avenue South, Minneapolis. All are welcome to join the fun.

As we all gear up for the upcoming holiday season, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. Please stop by the shop and join our special kind of fun. We truly are the most fun bike shop in town.

The October shop schedule is as follows:

Sundays – October 2, 23, and 30 – Shop open noon to 4 PM (closed October 9 and 16)

Tuesdays – October 25 – Shop open 4 PM to 9 PM (closed October 4, 11, and 18)

Thursdays – October 27 – Shop open 4 PM to 9 PM (closed October 6, 13, and 20)

As you can see, the shop is about to close down for the next 3 weeks to give Mr. Michael and I some much needed time to recharge. Also, please note that we are temporarily closing our wait list until Monday, October 24 at 9 AM to allow for catch up time on orders.

We are making some changes to our telephone system. If you tried to call this past week and got a message saying the number was disconnected, do not fear. Please call back again on October 24. Also, we will attempt to update our voice mail system, so if you can’t leave a message, please call back, but it is best if you wait until October 24.

The Free Bikes 4 Kidz collection day is October 8. If you have kid size bicycles that need new homes, please feel free to give them to this worthy cause. We currently have far more kid size bicycles than we can use, so we will be giving over 100 of them to FB4K. Bring them to one of the Allina collection points on the 8th.

We love receiving bicycle donations from you, but please never leave bicycles outside the shop. We have no way of knowing if they are meant for us or not, and the likelihood is that the bicycle will be stolen before we get it, especially if it is a bicycle to fit a tall man. We always need those.

I will post updated bicycle give away numbers in next month’s update. Thanks to everyone – volunteers, donors, customers, and recipients – who help us at MMRB to achieve our mission to provide bicycles to people who need them.

The list is now open. If you want to receive a gift bicycle, please call 651-641-1037 and leave us a voice mail that contains the following information: Your first and last name, your height, the style of bicycle you prefer, and a reliable (prefer local) number where we can reach you when your bicycle is done. Please be sure to speak clearly so we can understand your request.

The September schedule is as follows:

Sundays: September 11, 18, and 25 – Shop Open Noon to 4 PM (Closed September 4 for Labor Day holiday)

Tuesdays: September 6 and 13 – Shop Open 4 PM to 9 PM (Closed September 20 and 17 for Interbike and Bike!Bike!)

Thursdays: September 1, 8, and 15 – Shop Open 4 PM to 9 PM (Closed September 22 and 29 for Interbike and Bike!Bike!)

We are looking for a one or two very special volunteers. These folks need some understanding of bicycles, but do not have to be full-blown bicycle mechanics. However, these folks need to know how to write up sales, accept money, make change, etc. They also need to be friendly and enthusiastic when dealing with the customers at the shop. We need someone who wants to learn to work at the front desk. Eventually we want the desk volunteers to be able to run the desk when we are gone, as we do travel for our other business and don’t want to close the shop every time we are gone. If you are interested in this opportunity, please come to the store any time that we are open and ask for the Boss.

We will be closing the store a lot starting in mid-September until around the 3rd week in October, so be sure to check here or on our calendar to be sure that we will be open when you want to come.

As always, we want to thank our fabulous crew for all their hard work and dedication to Mr. Michael Recycles Bicycles. We couldn’t do this without you.

First off, the list to receive a bicycle is now closed. We plan to reopen it on September 1, 2016 at 9 AM.

The July shop schedule is as follows:

Sundays – July 3, 17, and 24 – Shop open noon to 4 PM (Closed July 10 and 31)

Tuesdays – July 5 and 19 – Shop open 4 PM to 9 PM (Closed July 12 and 26)

Thursdays – July 7, 21, and 28 – Shop open 4 PM to 9 PM (Closed July 14)

We have been very busy at the shop with repairing bicycles to give away, as well as paid repairs from customers. Revenue-wise, we are having our best year ever. We also anticipate a large work load in August for fixing bicycles for the University of Minnesota Re-Use Center. They take the abandoned bicycles on campus, fix those that make sense to fix, and then resell them to incoming students in the fall. This program is new for us, but will help us to keep the doors open, and the heat and lights running come winter.

We went deeper than ever into this year without closing the wait list. Normally it closes in mid-May, but this year we made it through the end of June. We don’t like turning anyone away, but we can’t manage a wait list longer than 60 people, so we finally had to close it. We normally allow 8 weeks to clear the backlog. This takes into account the times that we are away. Speaking of going away, we will be riding the Habitat 500 Bike Tour this year. Habitat for Humanity is our first and second quarter designated charity, and your purchases allowed us to donate $1,700 to HFH! The quarter 3 charity will be Cranksgiving, which is an alley cat race where participants ride from store to store and buy food items that are donated to area food shelves. Last year we gave $500. I hope we can top that this year.

There are a lot of closings in July, so plan accordingly. We will be there most of August, so you will have plenty of opportunities to visit the shop. Thanks for all of you who buy our stuff and make it possible for us to give away bicycles.

The shop schedule for June is as follows:

Sundays – June 5, 12, 19, and 26 – Noon to 4 PM

Tuesdays – June 7, 14, 21, and 28 – 4 PM to 9 PM

Thursdays – June 9, 16, 23, and 30 – 4 PM to 9 PM

May was an amazing month at the shop. We broke another record and May 2016 is now the highest income month in the history of MMRB. Lots of people are visiting our shop for the first time, many of them to have us repair their bicycles, and that has helped our bottom line. Since we give 10% off the top to charity, the more you spend, the more we give. Our charity for Quarter 2 is Habitat for Humanity, so your purchases at our store are helping provide affordable housing to hard working, low income people. We appreciate your business, and the folks at HFH do too.

There are two big events in June. The first is on the 4th when we do the Burnsville recycling event for the first time. We will be partnering with Lowertown Bike Shop at this event. We have no idea how many bicycles will come in, or what kinds and sizes they will be. MMRB now provides bicycle recycling for 6 cities. Our other big June event is Mr. Michael’s birthday. Yup, the old man is turning 60. He loves chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and he likes to stuff it into a tall glass and pour milk over it, then eat it with a spoon.

I always like to mention our wonderful volunteers, but this month I want to give a shout out to a very special volunteer. You aren’t likely to see him at the shop unless you happen to be there when he stops by. Carl has been repairing bicycles for us for several years. He comes in once a week and picks up a bicycle to take to his home repair shop to work on, then brings it back the next week and takes home another one to fix. Carl often stops in on a weeknight to pick up any parts he may need for the bicycle that is in progress. He stays to socialize with the other volunteers for a little while, then heads back to his work. Carl also gets out and rides whenever he is able. The most amazing thing about him is that he is in his early 80s and is so productive! I hope I am still able to do as much for others as he does when I get to his age. A huge thanks to Carl and all the rest of the fantastic crew that makes MMRB the most fun bike shop in town.

Shop schedule for May is as follows:

Sundays – May 1, 8, 15, and 29 – Shop Open Noon to 4 PM (Closed May 22)

Tuesdays – May 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31 – Shop Open 4 PM to 9 PM

Thursdays – May 5, 12, 19, and 26 – Shop Open 4 PM to 9 PM

We are well over 100 bicycles given away for this year, and we have a lot of people on the list, so will be adding quickly to the total. We also had our biggest month for sales ever in March, followed by a strong April. While our store doesn’t strive to make a profit, we do need to take in enough in sales during the busy times so that we have enough to make it through the lean times. Every time you buy our stuff, you are helping us to keep the store open so people in need can receive gift bicycles. We also make periodic investments to keep the store running well and to improve your experience as a shopper, so we appreciate all our customers who make this possible. The charities who receive the 10% contributions from our shop also appreciate our customers. Our quarter 2 charity is Habitat for Humanity, so 10% of everything you spend in the store will be donated to them. Help two great causes with just one purchase!

I always like to take time to thank our volunteer crew. No way could Mr. Michael and I do this by ourselves. Special shout outs to the 3 Toms – Tom R, Tom Y, and Tom L, as well as to Rob, Susan, Kendra, Zach, and Steve. You all rock!

April Shop Schedule:

Sundays – April 3, 10, 17, and 24 – Shop Open noon to 4 PM

Tuesdays – April 5, 12, 19, and 26 – Shop Open 4 PM to 9 PM

Thursdays – April 7, 14, 21, and 28 – Shop Open 4 PM to 9 PM

No closings this month, at least none we know of as of now. Note that we will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 PM to 9 PM. This is a big change for us, but we felt that we needed to offer longer hours during the busy season, which is now. Spring has sprung, people are bringing in their repairs, and the wait list is growing, so if you want to pay us to fix your bike, or you want to get on our list to get a gift bicycle, please don’t wait, do it now. We close our wait list when we reach 60 requests, and that typically happens around the beginning of May. Then we close the list for 8 weeks in order to catch up. We will keep the list open as long as we can, but once we get to 60 names, we have to close it or we just can’t manage.

Note to all social service providers – you can put in requests for your clients to get bicycles. However, our policy is that the request is in your name, not the client’s, and you must arrange to pick up and deliver the bicycle to your client. Our past experience is that the clients often do not have transportation to get to the shop to get their bicycles, and don’t always follow through. We appreciate your understanding.

We continue to have a great time at the shop. We have some new volunteers, Rob and Susan, who are good mechanics and fit right in with the crew. We still have Tom R, Tom Y, and Kendra as regulars.  We truly appreciate all their hard work to help MMRB to succeed. Thanks to them, we had the best sales month ever in the history of the shop! If you like to work on bicycles, come on by the shop any time that we are open and we can keep you busy. We will particularly need more volunteers to help out on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 4 PM and 7 PM, as those are new hours for the shop. We also are still looking for that one special volunteer who wants to learn the front desk position.

We thank all of our customers for buying our stuff, because we couldn’t pay the bills without them. We have a lot of cool bike stuff to dig through, so come on by the most fun bike shop in town and enjoy the humor. We hope to see you soon at MMRB.

Please note that spring has sprung, so our in-season pricing is now in effect. The Mini-Tune package is $40. This is still a great value, because the package includes a whole bunch of cleaning and adjustments, plus up to two new brake and/or shift cables and up to 2 hours of labor. Our labor rate is now $20 per hour, which is still about the best bike shop pricing around. Our repair time is about a week, so you can still get pretty good turnaround on service. Don’t wait too long, or the line will grow to be very long. Check our Calendar for our complete March schedule.

The shop schedule for March is as follows:

Sundays – March 6, and 20 – Shop Open noon to 4 PM (Closed March 27, Happy Easter)

Sunday – March 13 – Shop Open 1 PM to 4 PM

Tuesdays – March 8, 15, 22, and 29 – Shop Open 7 PM to 9 PM (Closed March 1 so we can attend precinct caucus)

Thursdays – March 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31 – Shop Open 7 PM to 9 PM

As we wrap up February and head toward spring, we are excited that we have had the highest-ever February sales total! This is really good news, because we have been running on very little cash and we were close to not making rent. Now we can pay the rent, the utilities, our license, and purchase a little advertising. Our shop now has a little breathing room, financially speaking.

We attended a swap meet in LaCrosse Wisconsin and sold a couple of bicycles and a bunch of other stuff. This was a big help in boosting our February sales numbers. The nice weather didn’t hurt any. As we look forward to spring, we have some upcoming events so mark your calendars.

March 25 and 26, we make our annual pilgrimage to Stockholm, WI to repair the Blue Bicycles. The Blue Bicycles are placed around this tiny village for use by tourists and they are very popular. We provide the bicycles, as well as used repair parts and the labor. The Village of Stockholm provides the storage facility and purchases some new tires and tubes. If you are passing through this really cool little place, stop for a few minutes and take one of the Blue Bicycles for a spin.

Coming up in April and May, we have the Green Expo and our spring recycling events. Dates are as follows:

Saturday, April 23 is the Coon Rapids Green Expo at the Schwann Center at the NSC in Blaine. Free and open to the public. We have a booth there to tell folks about MMRB and the work we do to give bicycles to people who need them.

The recycling event schedule is:

Saturday, April 23 – City of Andover

Saturday, April 30 – City of St. Francis

Saturday, May 7 – City of Fridley

We also will have two free repair dates coming up, but dates have not yet been set. One will be on a Thursday in April for Shobi’s Table. The other is likely to be in May in Maiden Rock and Plum City, WI. We also may be participating in a free repair date with the Dorothy Day Center. Details will be posted here once things are finalized.

The current bicycle give-away total is 19. We expect this to pick up as the warmer weather arrives. We can always use volunteer mechanics at the shop, and we also can use a volunteer to handle customer service and sales. Stop by the shop any time that we are open to inquire. Whether you are receiving a gift bicycle, buying our stuff, or volunteering, we want you to know that you are always welcome at Mr. Michael Recycles Bicycles. Stop in to see us soon.

The shop will be closed between January 31 and February 9. The shop reopens on February 11. Here is the February schedule:

Sundays – February 14, 21, and 28 – Shop Open Noon to 4 PM (closed Feb 7)

Tuesdays – February 16 and 23 – Shop Open 7 PM to 9 PM (closed Feb 2 and 9)

Thursdays – February 11, 18, and 25 – Shop Open 7 PM to 9 PM (closed Feb 4)

Saturday, February 27 we will be in LaCrosse Wisconsin at a bike swap. Want more info? Call us at 651-641-1037 or e-mail us at [email protected].

January was a busy month. We sorted through lots of bins of parts and discarded the junk that has managed to migrate there over the years. The result is a better shopping experience for you. It will be easier to find stuff, plus we found some goodies we didn’t even know we had. We also have an amazing array of ready-to-ride bicycles for sale at some really good prices. You will want to shop in February through our great collection of stuff.

January was slow for both sales and giving away bicycles. We only have given away 7 bicycles, and sales are way down. We are hoping for good results at the Blaine and LaCrosse swaps. Our winter mini-tune special will run through the end of February. The package is just $25! It includes adjusting brakes and derailleurs, cleaning and lubing the chain, minor wheel truing, checking tires and tubes for wear and inflating to correct pressure, and up to two new brake and/or shifter cables, as needed. You won’t find a better deal on a basic bicycle tune-up. Don’t delay, because you want your bicycle to be ready to ride on that first warm day. Don’t put it off and wait in long lines at bike shops. Get it done now and save money too.

The list is currently open, so now is a great time to put your name on it if you want a gift bicycle. Call 651-641-1037 any time between 9 AM and 9 PM and follow the instructions on the voice mail. We will add your name to the list and you will get a bicycle.

We are looking for a very special volunteer. This person will learn to run the sales area. Duties include greeting customers, directing customers to the person who can answer customer questions, writing up customer sales, and receiving customer payments. Part of the reason our store will be closed for a full two weeks is because we have no one to do this job when we are gone. We have mechanics who can work without our assistance, but no one to run the desk. Some basic knowledge of bicycles makes the job far easier, but you don’t need to be a bike mechanic to do this job. You do have to be great with customers and be able to handle money. If you are interested, stop by to talk to us any time that the shop is open.

Before closing, we want to welcome our newest volunteer, Rob. He comes to us from Shobi’s Table Lutheran Church, which is a street church where food is given free of charge to anyone who wants it. This is one of the charities that MMRB supports. Stop by the shop to meet Rob, and chat with all our other great volunteers – Kendra, Tom R, Tom Y, Matt, Zach, and of course, Mr. Michael and Benita. We look forward to seeing you real soon at the shop.