Is your bicycle in re-tire-ment?

Has it gone unridden for you-don’t-know-how-long? Does it serve primarily as a coatrack? Or maybe it’s in such a state of disrepair it would take Victor Frankenstein to revive it?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions about an old or unused bike in your possession, the Outdoor Program has two words for you: donate it.

Staff and faculty at the University of Oregon can donate bikes year-round to the Outdoor Program’s Bike Program, supporting the effort to make biking at the UO — and beyond — easier for new and returning students.

Bikes can be donated to the Bike Program in Room 008 of the Erb Memorial Union between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and once fall term returns, noon to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information, email the Bike Program or call 541-346-6092.

Student mechanics check donated bikes for safety, make necessary repairs and resell them during the annual student Bix4Dux sale just prior to the start of classes in September. The cost for most bikes range from $50 to $150. Donated bikes in excellent condition also go to the bike program’s rental fleet, and staff can provide receipts for tax purposes.

Senior Maya Ostroff, operations coordinator with the Bike Program, said she bought a donated bike upon arriving at the UO as a first-year and quickly came to rely on it not just to get to class on time but to familiarize herself with the Eugene-Springfield area.

“It opened up a whole new world for me,” Ostroff said. “[Donating a bike] is a great way for staff and faculty to connect with the student community and help make Eugene feel more like home.”

The Bike Program will take just about any bike that isn’t “rusted all to heck,” said Logan Devack, Bike Program manager. “There’s always something we can at least strip from a bike. A surprising number of graduating students give their bike back to the program and we recycle it to get another Duck on that saddle very, very shortly.”

Ostroff and senior Kalli Kyriazis, a bike mechanic, discussed donated bikes recently while removing the hubs on a Trek cruiser that will be resold at the bike sale. Many students arrive at the UO without a bike or the means to buy a new one, so donated bikes become an inexpensive way to get mobile, they said.

Kyriazis was recently approached by a professor who asked, “I have this old bike, if I give it to you would you be able to do something with it?”

“I said, ‘Yes, I totally can!’” Kyriazis said. “We’ll fix it up for someone else to have it.”

—Matt Cooper, University Communications