Although the Nice Ride bike-sharing program ended this spring in Minneapolis, a few of the distinctive green bikes may be seen rolling around town soon.

Nice Ride MN tweeted this week that the nonprofit will sell 50 of its bikes to the public for $50 each — "for display, decoration, or occasional use."

The organization said the limited sale of bikes is intended to preserve the 14-year history of the bike-sharing program, which ceased operations after losing a major sponsor.

Nice Ride, however, cautioned that the bikes were designed for ride sharing with anti-theft and anti-vandalism parts, and require special tools and training to repair, "and therefore are not well suited for everyday use."

Even with special tools, fixing a flat on a Nice Ride bike takes three time longer than on a regular bike, according to Nice Ride.

"The bikes have been in service for more than 10 years and have not been overhauled recently," the organization said. "This is much longer than they were expected to last; they really are at the end of their useful life."

Nice Ride is also offering a few of the bikes to history museums, and about 225 will be used by the University of Minnesota for a student bike library. But no other cities operating a bike-share system want the old bikes, so the remaining fleet will be recycled for scrap steel and aluminum.

Nice Ride initially ran its bike-share program alone, then later partnered with ride-share company Lyft. Operations ended after Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, the primary sponsor of the program since its inception, ended its sponsorship.

Interested buyers should go online to t.co/U2BIFFG2n2 by May 4.

If the organization gets more than 50 requests, it will select buyers via a lottery. Winners will be notified by May 8 and have a chance to choose a bike on the Nice Ride warehouse floor in Minneapolis on May 20.

All bikes will be sold "as is," with no warranty.