hybridbkrdr

I live in an area where there's an annual bike sale. They literally sell several hundred bicycles in a few hours, even though they're mostly like 25+ year old lower-end department store bicycles. I asked if the people working there were volunteers or employees. I was told it was a mix of both. I'm not a bike mechanic but I'm thinking of learning to be a bike mechanic next year. If I wanted to volunteer, do you have any comments or suggestions about that? Or, how about what I could buy to fix bikes. I don't want to see them junk bikes because they're missing tires or saddles. So I was thinking of buying saddles, tires, brake pads and grips. Are there other things you think would be worth buying? Or should I abstain from buying anything? Apparently, there's an environmental group involved with this. So, I don't know if these people would balk at me if I bought anything. (By the way, I'm still poor but was thinking I could buy some things with my x-mas money.)

thumpism 

Without knowing their rules I don't know what to advise, but start training now if you need mechanic's skills before next year's sale. When you mention buying parts, is it to fix bikes at the sale so incomplete bikes can be sold, or buying bikes that are missing parts to fix on your own? I would not advise fronting money for parts you might not be able to use on sale bikes unless you want to have them anyway. Then you'll be on your way to have a pile of bike parts as the rest of us do.