An Electric Scooter Community on a Mission to Stamp out Transportation Mediocrity.

Covers electric scooter models whether shared or for consumers.
By Teslaguy
#20384
Bike Share Museum wrote:
Mon Mar 30, 2020 1:51 am
Teslaguy wrote:
Mon Mar 30, 2020 12:27 am
It would awesome if you could get in touch with them since you're over there and add some to your fleet. I'd also be interested in buying some for sure. Try with Bird for sure, but the local police is also a good route. Definitely check out their auctions for the scooters, and you might be able to find some bikes there, too. Is Spin getting rid of some old scooters? Maybe you could use one of their motors?
Miami PD/parking authority might be worth asking instead of CGPD; I'll check with my sources. Going to be difficult given COVID, but at least I can throw my hat in the ring.

I haven't seen anything on PublicSurplus, and the City of Miami uses two auction houses, one of which is still stuck in 1992 as websites go: https://www.miamigov.com/Services/Doing ... plus-Goods. That contact person ought to be a start though.

Spin, in no uncertain terms, is keeping whatever scooters they have that are operational; the scooters are considered company assets at every level. This includes the retired ES fleet. Rough MAX/Gen 3s are also kept around, and whatever is deemed too broken to fix is kept on hand as parts to maintain the rest of the active fleet. When a parts scooter can finally serve absolutely no benefit anymore, only then does anything go out to scrap - usually only the bare deck. The rest goes into the parts bins (literally) to fix the others.

I give Spin them a lot of credit for making sure nothing goes to waste - the presumption that shared scooters have a month long lifespan doesn't apply to them. Our local fleet of MAX/Gen 3's are the same ones deployed around July/August of 2019, and they've been kept up regularly ever since. Pretty impressive, given that the public isn't exactly a good keeper of shared equipment.
So they're just keeping the ES fleet around in the warehouse? There isn't much of a reason to keep them for parts. Do you think they might sell some?
User avatar
By Bike Share Museum
#20385
Teslaguy wrote:
Mon Mar 30, 2020 8:06 pm
So they're just keeping the ES fleet around in the warehouse? There isn't much of a reason to keep them for parts. Do you think they might sell some?
I reached out to Bird today. We'll see if I get a reply.

I also reached out to the City today - their surplus department sent me straight to the Parking Authority within an hour. Parking Authority hasn't replied with anything yet though.

I've approached them from the POV of donating them though, as I still have 38 Spin Gen 2s (bicycles - not scooters) from that donation, and I have a fairly crazy idea of using the scooter drive wheel to turn them into zero-budget (from my pocketbook, anyway) e-bikes to donate to folks who need them for transportation.

If there's a cost though, the charitable end goes out the window.
By Teslaguy
#20387
It would be awesome if you could get them to donate them! I've also thought of that idea and it's totally feasible with some extra chains, brackets, etc. I've actually done some rough sketches. I'd definitely like to get those out to low-income people so they can have a way to get around.

But if they want money, I'd be interested in buying from both Bird and Spin. Have you heard back from the impound?
User avatar
By Bike Share Museum
#20396
Teslaguy wrote:
Tue Mar 31, 2020 1:29 am
It would be awesome if you could get them to donate them! I've also thought of that idea and it's totally feasible with some extra chains, brackets, etc. I've actually done some rough sketches. I'd definitely like to get those out to low-income people so they can have a way to get around.

But if they want money, I'd be interested in buying from both Bird and Spin. Have you heard back from the impound?
I'm planning on the most basic conversion possible: Use the motorized wheel off the scooter to drive the bike's rear wheel, with as much of the scooter electronics reused or lengthened as necessary to allow the throttle to be reinstalled on the bars - no chains or extra equipment necessary.

I saw a fellow who did the exact same thing on a Wal-Mart BSO (bicycle shaped object) using a cheap 24V motor mated to the wheel off a baby stroller. Had a brushed motor controller and a pair of lead acid batteries. There's no reason why the same concept can't be replicated with high-end bits :)

The biggest expense may be fitting each bike with a water-resistant project box that can hold the battery and motor controller. I've had to binge read the articles here, but Bird Ones would be ideal. The sealed battery pack could be mounted like a B-Cycle - hanging off the left side of the rear rack - and the generic e-bike motor controller installed in a project box.

No word from MPA. We'll see. I've got a fair amount of patience for this sort of thing. Took seven months before I ever heard from Spin about the bikes.

P.S.: Remember that scooters are off limits at Spin, locally. Part of the company's bottom line, even the wrecked ones.
User avatar
By Bike Share Museum
#20397
MPA sent me to a local towing company. They have 200 or so - Jump, Bird, Bolt - you name it, it's there.

They want to auction the lot off via Copart. If I explain to them what I'm doing with the donations and "make an offer," then the secretary can bring it to the boss to set aside some for me.

Problem is, if there's anything I've learned, "make an offer" in this sort of situation is basically the bargaining equivalent of "hand me your wallet AND bend over." :roll: I'd rather fight it out in an auction, really, but not for 200.
User avatar
By Bike Share Museum
#20430
Teslaguy wrote:
Thu Apr 02, 2020 1:46 pm
That's awesome! See if you could make an offer on just some of the scooters. What's happening with Bird?
I can, but I'm not willing to plunk down $150-200 if I can get them donated, because I really want to build these to give away.

Bird is a dead lead for now. They said they were "forwarding" me to the right people. Nothing yet. With Spin, it took seven months between that and something happening, so I'm not holding my breath.
By Teslaguy
#20450
Bike Share Museum wrote:
Thu Apr 02, 2020 2:25 pm
Teslaguy wrote:
Thu Apr 02, 2020 1:46 pm
That's awesome! See if you could make an offer on just some of the scooters. What's happening with Bird?
I can, but I'm not willing to plunk down $150-200 if I can get them donated, because I really want to build these to give away.

Bird is a dead lead for now. They said they were "forwarding" me to the right people. Nothing yet. With Spin, it took seven months between that and something happening, so I'm not holding my breath.
Got it. Bird may or may not respond. Where is the impound auction?
By Omsystemsinc
#52575
Bike Share Museum wrote:
Mon Mar 30, 2020 1:51 am
Teslaguy wrote:
Mon Mar 30, 2020 12:27 am
It would awesome if you could get in touch with them since you're over there and add some to your fleet. I'd also be interested in buying some for sure. Try with Bird for sure, but the local police is also a good route. Definitely check out their auctions for the scooters, and you might be able to find some bikes there, too. Is Spin getting rid of some old scooters? Maybe you could use one of their motors?
Miami PD/parking authority might be worth asking instead of CGPD; I'll check with my sources. Going to be difficult given COVID, but at least I can throw my hat in the ring.

I haven't seen anything on PublicSurplus, and the City of Miami uses two auction houses, one of which is still stuck in 1992 as websites go: https://www.miamigov.com/Services/Doing ... plus-Goods. That contact person ought to be a start though.

Spin, in no uncertain terms, is keeping whatever scooters they have that are operational; the scooters are considered company assets at every level. This includes the retired ES fleet. Rough MAX/Gen 3s are also kept around, and whatever is deemed too broken to fix is kept on hand as parts to maintain the rest of the active fleet. When a parts scooter can finally serve absolutely no benefit anymore, only then does anything go out to scrap - usually only the bare deck. The rest goes into the parts bins (literally) to fix the others.

I give Spin them a lot of credit for making sure nothing goes to waste - the presumption that shared scooters have a month long lifespan doesn't apply to them. Our local fleet of MAX/Gen 3's are the same ones deployed around July/August of 2019, and they've been kept up regularly ever since. Pretty impressive, given that the public isn't exactly a good keeper of shared equipment.






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