Subscribe to RSSSale offers students a reduced price on abandoned bikes
By Sara Weber
A student lifts his chosen bike over the crowd in order to get to the purchasing line. (Photo by Andrea Sanchez)
Northern Arizona University (NAU) held its annual Abandoned Bike Sale on Sept. 28. Each year, The Office of Student Life works with the Office of Property Surplus to gather all bikes left on campus over the summer and sell them to students at a reduced price.
Students were seen shopping among rows of variously colored and styled bicycles with family visiting for the annual Family Weekend, with friends or by themselves.
Jean Carasquilla, manager of Property Surplus, said this year’s sale has been the largest since NAU began the sale.
“I want to say this is probably our fifth or sixth year doing this,” Carasquilla said. “Today, we’re selling about 310 bicycles. That’s a lot of bikes, more than last year.”
Some shoppers were purchasing their first bikes and others were looking to restore or replace their own.
“My bike has been broken and I’m looking for a new, very cheap replacement,” said sophomore speech and pathology major Grace Marshall.
According to Carasquilla, the Abandoned Bike Sale is ideal for students like Marshall.
“It’s great for students because we have some parts that started at five dollars and we had around three bikes that were around a $100, but those were super nice bikes,” Carasquilla said. “The majority of them are $25 to $50, but mostly $25.”
Carasquilla also explained how the sale benefits NAU campus as a whole.
“All the proceeds for this go to the Yellow Bike Program,” Carasquilla said. “100 percent of it . . . we do pay taxes, but Residence Life [and] Property Surplus don’t get any of it. It all goes to the Yellow Bike Program.”
The bicycles are collected each year during the summer by representatives from the Office of Residence Life. Employees scope bikes on campus and go through the process of notifying students who had registered their bikes and, eventually, collecting the ones left behind.
“Residence Life post signs all over campus before school ends saying ‘Don’t abandon your bikes,’” said Sam Barra of Residence Life. “About midsummer, we tag them with an orange tag; then they have 48 hours to grab their bikes. Then we come through and do a mass cut of all the bikes. At that time, they have 90 days to come claim their bikes, which a lot of bikes do get claimed during that time. You can put a green tag on your bike and we won’t tag them.”
Students looking to keep their bikes on campus over the summer need to speak with Residence Life about obtaining a tag that permits extended stay. Students looking to purchase abandoned bikes can look forward to next year’s sale.
“If it’s an abandoned bike, we will sell it,” Carassquilla said.
