Where to give away bikes?

I think there is one of these charities in the West Mids

https://thebikeproject.co.uk/

Edit - it's Balsall Heath, Brum.

There used to be a bike charity place in Kiddy.

Not sure if it's still there as i'm no longer in that area.

Some fantastic organisations in Nottingham: RideWise or Nottingham Bike Works

Good on you!

I don't know about down there but if anyone up here in the Borders wants to do similar there's Just Cycle in Tweedbank

There's a lot of these little orgs that aren't very visible, it seems to be the sort of thing that helps to go hyper local and ask on local facebook groups and the like. There's a good cycle recycle place in my town that refurbs bikes for sale, does charity donations, strips wrecks for parts and scrap etc but they're basically top secret, I only know about it because I literally walked past the shop, which is tucked away at the back of a crappy mini-mall. All word of mouth stuff.

See if anywhere local to you has anything like this:

https://www.urbancyclecentre.co.uk/bike-donations/

(I know that one but a search for something like "cycle recycle" or "cycle charity donation" followed by your local town should pick up something). You say "Midlands" so it might be worth asking at Derby Velodrome (if that's near you...?)

Manchester Velodrome hosts occasional cycle jumble sales too (in fact there was one today!) which is sometimes a decent way of selling (for cheap) old kit.

Years ago I donated my old MTB to Herne Hill Velodrome, it found a new life being lent out to kids for MTB training sessions on the trails around the edge of the velodrome.

Some fantastic organisations in Nottingham: RideWise or Nottingham Bike Works

Treetops Hospice have a place in Draycott as well. A couple of friends are involved with a scheme for refugees in Derby but road bikes may not be what they want.

Good on you!

But definitely this!

Ooh very timely. I've got a Trance x29er from  2012 that I need rid of. It's been upgraded to 1 x 11 and has a dropper etc.

Tbf I could probably shift the dropper for a few quid as it's a practically unused x fusion.

Anyhow, it's a reasonably well specced bike, BUT....forks are a bit dead....they dumped all of the air out last time I was out on it. I know nothing about these things so could be an easy fix?

Happy to give it away for free to a charity, I'm in Congleton, so not a million miles away from Derby MCTD if your pals would be interested?

If you can get down to Stratford upon Avon then you could do worse than go here…

I’ve taken a bike and various parts there (be careful… too easy to leave with more than you took in!)

https://cyclistsfc.org.uk/our-charity-bike-shops/stratford-upon-avon-shop/

For London based bike donors, consider sending them to xobikes.com - a very worthy cause

Spokes in Stourport is who I take my stuff too, and I think SSS is referring to.

@z1ppy.

Yeah that's the place.

Gave them half a garage worth of stuff before we moved.

On the Stourport Road between Kiddy and Stourport.

“They all work perfectly and well maintaining, but have rim brakes, only take 25mm tyres…”
I’m just surprised that you attach so little value to my favourite style of bike. In fact I have only recently paid over the odds for a new lightweight Columbus HSS frame - and horror of horrors, it only accepts rim brakes and up to 25c tyres.

a search for something like “cycle recycle”

+1

And my local one certainly welcomes donations of all those outdated spares and not-worth-selling stuff like old OE saddles, narrow handlebars or non-dropper seatposts that we accumulate as well.

There's a few of these places about nationwide if people are in a similar situation.

In Scotland we have-

- Bike Station (Perth and Edinburgh, community bike hub)

- Bikes for Refugees (Edinburgh and Glasgow, but can collect bikes from much of the country, gives bikes to asylum seekers)

- Recyke a Bike (Stirling/Falkirk, recycling social enterprise)

- Brake the Cycle (Edinburgh, provides free bikes to communities)

- Cycle Hub (Dundee/Angus, sustainable transport charity)

- The Spin Project (Aviemore, community bike hub)

In England there's a few I know are OK -

- Bike Project (London and Birmingham, gives bikes to refugees and asylum seekers)

- Babyldn (London, community cycle hub)

- Recycle Your Cycle (nationwide but minimum 20 bike donation, trains people in prison how to fix bikes so they have employable skills when they are released)

- Halfords (they send donated bikes to Africa - nationwide)

- Cycle Recycle (there's a few of these all over, tend to sell bikes cheaply for those who can't afford a new one)

Most of these places will take any bike. I volunteer at Bikes for Refugees and we'll take anything that can be brought back to life, and any parts, clothing or kit that's still useable. Anything we get that's too damaged we either strip down or send to Bike Station. Note most community tips will take bikes and distribute them to charities like this too.

Road bikes with rim brakes are being donated a lot lately. For us, they're not suitable for refugees so we sell them to raise funds. Contrary to what @biggee says, they're a hard sell these days - something with 105 or Ultegra will tend to get us between £200 and £300 and they take a while to sell. But it's cash, and this is a vital part of our fundraising - most of it is grants which say "you must spend this money on this thing". No one's giving money so you can replace a chain tool a new volunteer accidentally broke. Or for a heating engineer if the boiler dies. So this sort of thing is really helpful and really useful, even if it doesn't end up being a free bike for someone.

Back-2-Bikes in Stafford. I've taken a couple of bikes there.

https://www.back2bikes.org.uk/

They provide training/opportunities to unemployed people

This is useful stuff as I am in a similar scenario, based in manchester

@duggan there’s a shop in Chorlton I gave a bunch of stuff to the other year. I expect there are other, similar, places around the city and suburbs.
https://cyclistsfc.org.uk/our-charity-bike-shops/manchester-shop/

In case this thread pops up in anyones search for the York area, Recycle on Walmgate are excellent - I've donated a whole load of stuff to them in the past from full bikes to turbo trainers. Reminds me, I need to pop down and have a look at what they have in at the minute as I fancy a new station bike...

Reading Bicycle Kitchen, in Reading obviously.

The last few clear-outs I've had I've either given stuff away via the local cycling club for bits that are either cheap and or in need of refurbishment (e.g. decent wheels with worn bearings, OEM tyres that are languishing on a pile, etc).  There's always someone who will appreciate them.  More valuable stuff I've just sold on Marketplace or ebay and donated the profits to a charity.

I’m just surprised that you attach so little value to my favourite style of bike.

There's a disparity between the market for such a bike and the number still being ridden. With the exception of people like your picking up something niche that they've lusted after, hardly anyone is buying them anymore.  The only people riding bikes with rim brakes are those that have owned them for a while.

Even ~6 years ago I managed to buy a hydraulic disk braked 22speed SRAM Rival road bike for ~£400, so Covid blip aside the argument they made good entry level bikes 2nd hand doesn't fit anymore.

As soon as the new bike arrives in March my CAAD4 is getting retired to the Turbo and occasional Summer evening club-runs where it can look good propped up outside the pub!

Ok, so the one in Chester is called Bren Bikes.

Bren Bikes 07975 607688

https://g.co/kgs/oVdVApY

I gave a couple of good-working-order-but-not-being-used bikes (2 rim braked hardtails) to Bike back Derby. In... yep, Derby ! Close to the Railway station (and even closer to the Axelandra Hotel (= real ale and trainspotter pub that has a Class 37 cab in the carpark)