Donate a bike
Give your old bike a second life
Donated bikes are where everything here comes from — the bikes we sell, the parts on the wall, and the bikes we give away. Please read the lists below before you load up the car.
Yes, please
- Adult bikes of any age, running or not
- Kids' bikes with 12″ to 24″ wheels — always in short supply
- Vintage steel road bikes, three-speeds, and mountain bikes
- Wheels, and complete parts of any kind
- Trailers, trailer bikes, and cargo bikes
- Locks, lights, helmets in good condition, and pumps
- Tools, especially duplicates of things that break
Rust is fine. Flat tires are fine. "It has been in the shed for fifteen years" is fine and extremely common.
Sorry, we can't
- Big-box bikes past saving — full-suspension department store bikes with seized parts cost us more to strip than they return
- Bent, cracked, or rusted-through frames
- Exercise bikes and spin bikes — we get offered these weekly and cannot use any of them
- E-bikes with damaged or swollen batteries — this is a fire risk we are not equipped to handle
- Used helmets
- Anything we would have to pay to dispose of
If we turn a bike away it is not a judgment of the bike. It is that our storage is finite and our volunteers' hours are more finite still.
How to drop off
Bring bikes during any open shop session, or during the Sunday work party when we have the most hands free. Pull into the alley and someone will help you unload. You do not need to call first for one or two bikes.
Donating more than five bikes? Please email hello@imaginalcycles.org first so we can make room. Estate clear-outs, apartment building cleanups, and university end-of-year collections are welcome and we can sometimes arrange pickup in Cook County.
What happens to it
- New bikes get refurbished and sold, which funds almost everything else we do.
- Old functional bikes are given away through Earn-a-Bike and our partnerships.
- Unrepairable bikes are stripped for parts. A bike that will never roll again still has a headset, a crank, and thirty-six good spokes in it.
- Unreusable metal parts go to scrap metal recycling.
Tax receipts
Imaginal Cycles is a project of Lindblom Math and Science Academy and Children First Fund a 501c3 non-profit organization, so donations are tax-deductible. Ask for a receipt when you drop off and we will write one on the spot, or email hello@imaginalcycles.org afterwards and we will send one. EIN 36-4094830.
The IRS requires the donor to determine fair market value, so our receipt will describe the bike but will not put a number on it. For donations valued over $5,000 you will need a qualified appraisal (IRS Form 8283). We are not able to give tax advice.
Bike still good, but you would rather it went to a person than a parts bin?
Tell us when you drop it off. If it is roadworthy and the right size, we will route it straight to someone on our waiting list.