City Of Oakland Scraper Bike Summer Camp

(Photo by Matthew Reamer)

The City of Oakland Parks & Recs Department, has dedicated an entire week to the Scraper Bike Movement. This week long camp will be focused around bicycle repairs, bicycle safety and creating what call a Scraper Bike.

Helmets and bike safety gear will be given to all participants!!
All ages welcome - But designed for ages 7- 13y/o



4 Oakland Parks Have Been Selected To Host The Scraper Bike Camps:

-Arroyo Viejo Park (7701 Krause Avenue Oakland, CA 94605)

-Rainbow Recreation Center (Seminary n International)

-Mosswood Park (3699 Broadway, Oakland, California CA)

-DeFremery Recreation Center (16th n Adeline St Oakland CA)



This is how the week will look:
12 - 4pm

Monday Aug.9 - Registration, Ice breakers, Safety workbooks, bike route maps

Tuesday Aug.10 - Bring your bike to camp!! Safety checks, basic repair workshop, airbrush helmets

Wednesday Aug. 11 - Bike Rodeo, Simulated City

Thursday Aug. 12 - Scraper Bike Safety Ride and Parade

Friday Aug.13 - Scraper Bike Performances, BBQ, Graduation Celebration

We would like to take this time to thank our community and the City of Oakland for supporting this movement, and creating this summer camp.

If you would like to be apart of the Scraper Bike Camp, find a participating park near you and simply register. Only for ages 7-13....Volunteers Accepted!!

Grant For Change Finalist

1) What projects and change-makers inspire you in your efforts?

The program that inspires my efforts is the Big Brother-Big Sister program. A lot of young people around the country have problems at home, and they don’t have someone older to guide them in a positive direction. The youth in my community (Oakland, CA) are bred to be a statistic; they’re taught at an early age how to rob, steal, and kill to survive. That’s why I feel like it’s my life goal to save as many kids as possible. The struggles these kids and I face on the daily is enough to inspire me to become a change-maker for my community. So here I stand!

2) if you could meet with anyone in the world to talk about your project, who would it be?

If I could meet with anybody in the world about my project it would have to be Oprah Winfrey. I choose her because I know the power she has on America and her opinion means a lot to people. I would want her to recognize the Scraper Bike Movement as an outlet that’s keeping youth in dangerous communities out of trouble, in school and away from drugs, gangs, and violence. And after that conversation, she calls President Obama and tells him how amazed she is…LoL…

3) What’s playing on your mp3 player these days?

Lately I’ve been listening to alot of R&B oldies from Michael Jackson, Al Green, Earth, Wind and Fire, even a little bit of 2pac. But usually I’ll listen to a lot of local hip hop while riding my 3 wheeler around my neighborhood with the Scraper Bike Team.

4) Making lasting change requires long-term vision. Where would you like to see your project in 5 years?

5 years from now I see my project being larger than life. The Scraper Bike Movement will franchise around the world helping communities in similar situations as Oakland. In 5 years I want to give youth full scholarships to college, and skills that will stick with them throughout their lives. I would like to open a community center based around the Scraper Bike Movement in Oakland, so I can continue to expand and save lives in the community that it started in.

5) What inspired you personally to become involved in this project? Why is it meaningful to you?

What inspired me to become so involved in the Scraper Bike Movement is that I realized that it’s saving young people’s lives. It keeps them in school and keeps them focus on doing what’s right in their life. Its meaningful to me because it all started in my backyard and continued to grow and is still growing. I see the future of the Scraper Bike Movement and it’s promising for the youth involved. If given the opportunity I will change the world one bike at a time.

(via Baybe Champ The Scraper Bike King ...www.nau.com)

Best Of The East Bay 2010

Voted Best Green Transport Innovator





Four years ago, Oakland was home to its own fleet of rattling luxury cars — mostly Oldsmobiles and Buicks — all characterized by their bright candy paint, 22-inch rims, and screeching exhaust pipes (caused by suction tips). These so-called "scrapers" became icons of a regional rap scene. Unfortunately, they were unattainable to the bulk of that scene's fan base — many of whom were too young to drive, or too broke to afford a snazzy, accessorized gas guzzler. Then a young tinkerer from the flatlands came up with his own innovation. "Baby Champ" Stevenson generated a new local craze when he realized that the scraper aesthetic could just as easily apply to bikes. He began decorating his friends' two-wheelers with neon paint, gold aluminum foil (meant to resemble the "spinners" on scraper car wheels), and twenty-twos. Within months of their inception, scraper bikes became wildly popular. Baby Champ began running a bike boutique out of his garage, and leading Critical Mass-style rides through the 'hoods of Oakland. He shot a promotional rap video with his group, the Trunk Boiz, which drew mention on UrbanDictionary.com. Best of all, he became the unwitting spearhead of a new green revolution, by making bicycles cool for a new community.

(via eastbayexpress.com)

Pepsi Refresh Project + Scraper Bike Movement

The Pepsi Refresh Project featured an artical about the Scraper Bike King on their blog. Click the link above to see more.





scraper bike | scra-per bik | informal
noun

a customized bicycle featuring oversized wheels, foil encased spokes and a spray painted frame
ORIGIN 21st century; Oakland

How do you get teenage boys from under served neighborhoods to maintain a healthy GPA and stay out of trouble?

Each year, a big chunk of our federal education budget is earmarked to figure out this very question. Non-profits like Harlem Children’s Zone and Green Dot Public Schools have both built brilliant models and boast impressive statistics on retention and closing the achievement gap. But there may be one element as important in reaching that coveted (and notoriously difficult to retain) demographic: the cool factor. “Kids work on scraper bikes because it’s something they want to do and they think it’s cool,” says Tyrone Stevenson, the 21-year-old founder of the budding non-profit Scraper Bikes.

Scrapertown from California is a place. on Vimeo.

LOOK: Report Cards Earn Street Cred and a Ticket to Ride By: Kyla Fullenwider of GOOD Refresh Project on Facebook Twitter


Scraper bikes are equal parts art project and pragmatic transportation. Far less than the cost of a scraper car – the lowriders from which the bikes borrowed their name – scraper bikes are tricked out using foil from candy wrappers and soda cans, their frames painted with spray cans from the .99 cent store.

“The frames are donated or found around the neighborhood,” says Stevenson. The oversized wheels may be the most expensive component, but all told, a scraper bike can be built with a few dollars and some sweat equity. “Kids show up at my house every day of the week to work on their bikes,” says Stevenson.

These are not just any kids. In order to join the scraper bike team you must come with your report card and demonstrate at least a 2.0 GPA (Stevenson checks them every week). While academic achievement and sustainability have not exactly defined street cool in the past, the tactic appears to be working: the group began with just eight or nine and now has almost a group of 40 mostly 13-16 year-olds.

Stevenson’s car free movement has moved beyond East Oakland thanks in large part to the group’s You Tube video which has received over three million views.

Stevenson plans to leverage the attention the group has received to build an advisory board and raise funds for a community center and bike shop that could serve more neighborhood kids. “Each Saturday, the group grows,” he says. “I’m running out of space in my backyard.”

(Via LOOK: Report Cards Earn Street Cred and a Ticket to Ride By: Kyla Fullenwider of GOOD Refresh Project on Facebook Twitter

Grant For Change

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