Psst…new Bikes for Clunkers site is up!

Donate your old car or bike and get a healthy discount on a new utility bike, big lifetime discounts on a Zip Car membership, and a tax deduction for yourself while helping out the American Lung Association and the environment.

Watch this video from KGW News: http://www.kgw.com/video/thesquare-index.html?nvid=392323&she=1

And here’s a National Public Radio “Marketplace” interview: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/08/25/am-bikes-for-clunkers/

Seems like the federal government’s Cash for Clunkers program is a big success–if you define success as going deeply into personal debt in order to finance the credit, oil, and automotive industries while getting yourself a new car that gives you a few extra miles to the gallon while it depreciates, sucks up money for insurance, gas, and maintenance, and keeps you from saving your money.

Here’s how it works.

Car donations:

1. To donate your car (running or not) to the American Lung Association, go to

http://www.lungusa.org/site/c.dvLUK9O0E/b.3576551/k.8A44/How_to_Donate.htm

They will pick up or tow away your car for free!

2. Bring your receipt from the ALA (which will also get you a tax deduction) in to Joe Bike and get a 10% discount on any bike in stock or any bike that we can order or build. (For the Ecospeed-equipped Boxbike/Joe Bike, get a $200 discount instead of 10%.) The Flying Pigeon is excluded because we’re almost out of them and it will be a few months before we can get more. (Your ALA receipt will also be a tax deduction for you.)

3. With your purchase, Joe Bike gives you a unique Zip Car code.

4. When you use the code to get a new Zip Car membership, you automatically get the following discounts:

–New membership cost drops from $75 to $25
–Annual membership renewal cost remains $25 (as opposed to $50) for life
–$150 in driving credits

Bike donations:

Bring in any repairable* clunker, get $50 off any new bike priced under $1000 (excluding the Flying Pigeon), or $100 off one of the following: Mundo, Boxbike, Joe Bike, or a complete XtraCycle build (Free Radical kit + new bike). We’ll also offer $200 off any Ecospeed-equipped Boxbike/Joe Bike. We’ll donate your clunker to the Community Cycling Center, a nonprofit bike shop that can fix it up and find it a new home.

*Our staff will determine whether or not a bike is repairable. It costs the Community Cycling Center time and money to dispose of unusable bikes, so we have to reserve this right.

The new bike you choose can be either something we have in stock, anything we can order, or a Joe Bike, which is largely made in Portland to your specifications. You can choose from a wide range of bikes from Batavus, Surly, Redline, Torker, Abio, Pake, and others.

This program is being expanded to include a dozen nonprofits, and to give you more discounts and benefits. We’ve extended the program to Dec. 31, 2009. Stay tuned for the details.

The program has also been reported on by Fox-12 News, bikeportland.org, The Oregonian, and elsewhere.