Village Bicycle Project

Donate your bike!

Contact us in the city nearest you through links below.

Click here to learn about bikes we send to Africa.

Donate your bike and help load containers of bikes:

Idaho:
Boise Email Moscow Email
Washington:
Seattle Next shipment October 2, 2010 Email
Spokane Pedals2People
Colorado:
Fort Collins Email fcbikecoop.org
Illinois:
Chicago* area Working Bikes Co-operative
Massachusetts:
Boston* Bikes Not Bombs
Maryland:
Bethesda* Bikes for the World
Michigan:
Detroit/Clarkston- Email
New York:
Long Island, Email Next shipment spring 2010
North Carolina:
Bikes for the World
Pennsylvania:
Pittsburgh Email
Wash. DC* and Northern Virginia:
Bikes for the World
Wisconsin:
Kenosha etc. Working Bikes Co-operative
England:
London and Colchester* Re~Cycle
British Columbia:
Kelowna* Email

*indicates some bikes collected may go to projects other than VBP

Want to start a bike collection?
Please contact us!

Bike Collectors Make a World of Difference

Bicycle enthusiasts around the world collect unused bikes found easily in their communities. Each 500 or so bikes fill a shipping container, which is sent to Ghana.
Once the bikes arrive in Ghana, about 150 bikes go to villages outside the capitol city of Accra and are used in our repair workshops. The workshops are free and allow the participant to purchase a bike at half the market price. The skills learned in the workshop give the new owner the knowledge needed to keep the bike in good condition.

The rest of the bikes are sold to local bike repairers to pay the cost of shipping the container to Africa (about $6000). These bikes serve our mission by increasing the availability of bikes to Africans, helping bikes become an accepted mode of transportation.

There is currently a one year waiting list to participate in our programs. If we are able to raise money to pay the shipping costs, more bikes go directly to our programs.

Why do we sell the bikes?

This is a fundamental question of development. Giving away bikes (or anything) diminishes the value and floods the market, which puts local merchants out of busines. Bikes often end up in the possession of the powerful instead of the people who can put them to the best use. By selling bikes at half price, we can deliver two bikes for the same price as giving one bike away for free.

Excerpt from Ayamye, a 2005 video about VBP:

West Seattle Delivers Bikes to Ghana!