Once you have decided to send a BEC to Africa there are a number of ways to make it happen. In this section, we will share with you some of the strategies and choices you have. In all cases we suggest that a 40 foot "high cube" container be purchased. A 'high cube' holds 3 complete rows of bicycles nicely and can hold about 430 bikes, well packed. A regular height container holds about 380 bikes with 2 complete rows and an assortment of bikes on their side making up the third row.

If you have access to used containers, terrific, if not, please contact us and we are more than happy to put you in touch with our contacts for containers and help you find a container. Once a container is found, there are 2 models that have been used to collect and fill the container.

Positioning a Container

Once a container is secured, it is delivered to you on a carriage by a truck. If you decide to have the container at a facility for a while to be loaded, you will incure additional charges to have the container unloaded and loaded again onto a carriage to be hauled back to the closest port or shipping terminal.

If you unload the container and place it at a convenient place, you have the luxury of having multiple collections or different groups collecting and delivering to your site and then loading the bikes over time and shipping when it is full and ready to be shipped.

A second method and one we have used successfully is having the bikes either collected at or delivered to a secure storage site, yard or warehouse. When the 430 bikes were are ready, a container is brought in and a group of volunteers loads the container as quickly as possible. With a group of 8-10 volunteers, a container can be loaded in this manner in about 5 hours.

Either model works, there is a cost difference and depending on which facilities you have, logistically there might be benefits in having the container there to be loaded over time.

Preparing bikes to be loaded

A lot of people think the bikes need to be repaired and tuned up before loading, but this is not the case. If the bikes frames are straight, the wheels are not bent, then they are ready to go. Any repairs, tuning and assembly will be done in Africa. The key is having bikes that are sturdy, not bent, and in decent working order. To prepare a bike for shipping, it's important to make the size of the bikes footprint as small as possible as quickly as possible. To this end, the following is all we do to prepare bikes for loading.

1. Remove the pedals and tie them to the frame with tie straps or wire.
2. Turn the handlebars 90 degrees to line up with the frame .
3. If the handlebars are high, turn down to make the bike as low as possible.
4. Lower the seat if possible .
5. Remove any baskets.

That's it, the bike is ready to be loaded. To perform this task, you will need a couple of good pedal wrenches, a full set of allen keys and assorted wrenches and pliers. It's also handy to have very good rust and lock ease lubricants to assist with tough to move bolts.

Loading the container

Once the bikes have been readied, it's really an assembly line process to load a container. Start with a row across the front of the container, loading the bikes front to back as tight as possible. Next build a row on top of this row again altering the direction of each bike and again pack it as tightly as possible. Once this is done, build a row in front of the first row and place heavy cardboard on it to stand on and build the 3rd row on top of the first 2. Build a 3rd row infront of the second row and again add cardboard and build up the second row with another level. Continue to build in this manner right to the back of the container. When you reach the end, build up with a ladder and jam as much in the last row as you can.

Other items

Bicycles take up very little space and there is a lot of room between the bikes. If you are collecting bike parts, soccer equipment or books, pack them in as you build each row and if the items all fall to the floor of the container, that's fine. When the container is unloaded, all parts will be swept up and sorted later. Do not worry if everything is not in a box or a bag. If you are collecting soccer gear, we have found that grocery bags are idea for putting clothing in and jamming it into the spaces between the frames.

See our photo album of this collection!

Questions? Contact us!

Bicycles for Humanity

E-mail: info@bicycles-for-humanity.org