PEP BB tool.sand.freecycle - Go to Freecycles and "build" a bicycle to their standards

There is a program where I live that builds, repairs, and maintains bikes for community use. It is called Green Apple Bikes (GAB). If I were to build a bike for this program, could that count towards the tool care badge? I will be attending the pep1 workshop but there are others in my family who want the tool care badge but won't be able to make it to Montana.

Today we went to Freecycles to volunteer and fix up a bike to take back to basecamp.  We cleaned up and organized their warehouse in the morning and picked out a bike and worked on it in the afternoon.  Each bike was in differing states of disrepair and I picked one that looked good.  Soon I figured out that I wasn't the first person to pick it.  The seat was very high and the post was seized in the tube and coudn't be budged.  Back to the warehouse for a better candidate.

For my repair I worked on a Trek Antelope mountain bike.  The biggest issue it had was a broken shifter on the right handle bar.  I tried valiantly to get it open to loosen up the pawls inside but it was unopenable.  So it was removed and I found a simpler replacement in the "bike forest" out back.  I replaced the cable for the shifter as well.  A few adjustments to deraileurs, some lube and air in the tires and she was ready to roll.

The fuzzy middle picture is of the junkyard shifter with my bike in the background.

Hey man, nicely done

I went to Freecycles with the group at the 2019 PEP1 event. We spent the morning doing some volunteer work. In the afternoon I got to pick a bike to repair. I was able to loosen up some sticking brake arms, tune up the gear shifters, and replace cog 7 on the rear wheel because it had some bent teeth that was causing the chain to skip.

Gently prodding the boundaries of this one a bit:

What if it's assembling an unassembled bike out of a box?

It's not the scrounging part, of the freecycles, nor is it the free-community-bike part, but I'm guessing it's mostly all the same tools and tool-work.

I'd suggest that the parts of this BB that cause it to be in tool care is that there is an element of resurrecting something broken into something functional.  Understanding what's wrong and then fixing it.  That's just my hunch though.

So I'm pretty sure that assembling a bike (likely with mediocre instructions) wouldn't fit the bill.

On a related note, I wonder if fixing a broken bike to the standards of a local bike shop would be acceptable?

Got it; Thanks, Mike

Does a shop need to be involved? I'm looking at a knackered bike for my son to ride. Needs replacement brake levers, brake cable, cable housing and caliper brakes. I don't have access to a mountain of second hand parts/junk bikes.

Would buying the replacements, stripping and fitting the parts count?

I'll try to find out how much of this BB is tied to the bit in the top post about "Then you need to take their BikeWell class (about an hour) and volunteer for 4 hours."  The class teaches you bike selection, maintenance and repair and the volunteering is associated with the free bike at the end.

But, I don't think any of that is strictly tied to the perspective of "Tool Care".  More like "Community"...

I would be ok with buying good parts and repairing a beat up bike but I need to check with the big guy.  

If you need to proceed with the project, just take healthy numbers of photos just in case