[*BCM*] Busycle starts moving

[Matthew Mazzotta]

Hello and welcome to one of our more complicated emails, please write
us if you have questions.  That said....

Knowing that critical mass is about being free on a bike, the Busycle might 
seem a little anti, but we also know that it is about people enjoying coming 
together for a certain cause.  We are building the "Busycle" (busycle.com) a 
15 person human powered vehicle out of an old Van to ride through the 
streets of Boston.  We are right at a time where we would like to start 
inviting people to help us build if you are interested.  Regaurdless of your 
experience building, or regaurding it we would like to connect.

Construction of the busycle is about to start.   This weekend we
picked up a van that we will be dismantling.  We'll be using the
chassy, brakes, drive shaft, etc. as the base of the busycle.  We got
the donation from Charles River Movers in Belmont
www.charlesrivermovers.com. Jeff DelPapa gave us a hand to figure out
which vehicle to chose.   Below are ways to get involved.

We'll be constructing the busycle at Sparqs in Woburn.  Tim Panagos is
the founder of Sparqs, an industrial arts club that opened 3 months
ago.  The facility has all the equipment we need, including welding
equipment and a full metal and wood shop – check out it's website at
www.sparqs.com.  Tim offered to give us the space and access to tools
for free.  However, because of liability issues he needs participants
to be trained with the equipment before they start using it.  He
offers two training courses, a 4-hour welding course for $75/person
and an 8-hour metal "boot camp" course for $150/person (if you take
the metal course, you don't need to take the welding course).  There
is some flexibility in the price for participants of the busycle
project, but Tim needs to cover the cost of the instructors.

We would like to find out the general interest for participating in
something like this. We don't want to exclude people who cannot afford
to pay and we'll try to find a creative way to address the cost, if
you are really interested in participating in construction.   Please
let us know if you would like to get involved and what your
availability is in terms of scheduling a day to take the course.
Matthew will be making trips to Sparqs almost everyday once
construction starts, so getting there from Boston won't be a problem
if you want to volunteer.  There is also a bus that leaves from
Haymarket T Station.   The courses are described in detail at
www.sparqs.com

We are also thinking of taking a trip to Sparqs on Wednesday night,
June 29th.  We'd be leaving Boston at 6:00 PM and coming back around
10:00 PM. We have one car and could possibly get more drivers, so
getting there shouldn't be an issue.   At the meeting we'll be
introducing people to the facility and we'll talk about a game plan
for construction.   Please let us know if you would like to attend.
If you can't attend on Wednesday night and you would like to
participate in construction, let us know a day that would work for
you.

emails can be sent to busycle at gmail.com

Matthew and Heather
The busycle project