Building a Fleet of Bikes at Yellow Bike Shop

Joke of the Week: Why can't a bicycle stand up on its own?
*Answer is at the bottom of the post

Please leave feedback or questions in the comments.

By Brayden Brown
My school went to the Yellow Bike Project on Tuesday, January 9th. The Yellow Bike Project, also called YBP, is a volunteer run organization founded in 1997. YBP started in a garage, but it quickly came out of the garage and into a building. It is now located on 1216 Webberville Rd. If you want to learn more, click the following link.  (www.austinyellowbike.org)


After you walk in you see a curved desk with a computer facing you which you use to sign in on. If you sign in, it helps keep track of when you’re there. If you turn to your left you will see a staircase leading up to a double decker bike rack with bikes that are ready to be sold.  When we first walked in it was dimly lit. There are about ten work tables with a lot of parts and tools, and a double decker bike rack with lots of bikes on it.     

We went upstairs and John chose bikes for the Littles. The Littles got bikes that did not need to be worked on because it would be too complicated for them to fix their bikes. Nico got an all black bike. Oscar got a red bike with yellow stripes and the word “rocket” written in yellow. Hunter got a black and white bike, and Ceil got a light blue bike. We brought their bikes down stairs and John put them in the van. Then we went out to the back of the Yellow Bike Project building and the Olders chose their bikes. Sal got a purple bike with gears. Pepper also got a purple bike with gears. It was kind of hard to find our bikes because some of the bikes looked like they would fit me but they didn't have seats. When I found my first bike it was a green BMX bike. John sent out a mechanic to see if we would be able to fix our bikes easily.

The mechanic, James, said that Terran’s bike and my bike both had a brake problem since they were BMX bikes, so that would make it a bit harder to fix. So Terran and I chose new bikes. Terran found an orange bike. When I found my second bike I had to lift up a crusty grey tarp. When I lifted it up, I saw a jam packed bike rack with lots of old bikes. I found one that fit me and was in moderate condition. My new bike is blue and purple.

Afterwards John gave us tags to put on our bikes so that no one would sell them. The tags have our names and Roving Learners below. Then we put the bikes into a walk-in storage container. Every Wednesday in January we are going to go to the Yellow Bike Project to fix our bikes. I like going to the YBP and helping fix bikes. When we are done fixing our bikes I want to ride them at Zilker Park.

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Our Bikes

Bike Art with Madison

Getting to Work

Answer to Joke of the Week: Because it is too tired!