Quite literally, it’s time for Tucson’s hottest fundraiser.
Participants in The Hottest Day of the Year Ride will hit the streets for the casual, family-friendly event followed by a barbecue and pool party on Saturday, June 24.
This year, the triple-digit tradition to benefit Bicycle Inter-Community Art and Salvage, BICAS, coincides with the nonprofit’s announcement that after more than two decades of operation, it has purchased a building at 2001 N. Seventh Ave.
The new home in the Bronx Park neighborhood is slightly more than a mile north of BICAS’ current location at 44 W. Sixth St. It has about 8,000 square feet of space along along with improved amenities including access for people of all abilities. The location is also accessible by bike, bus and vehicle, a priority for BICAS’ mission of promoting education, art, a healthy environment and affordable bicycle transportation while providing service and opportunity for those in need.
BICAS is one of the oldest and largest community bike shops in the country, according to Troy Neiman, a member of the BICAS Collective since 2004.
“I think this is going to be a great turning point for BICAS. This is our 28th year in operation. We have been in our old space for 20 years and we have thrived in that space, but there are great benefits that come with the new location,” he said.
“It is a much friendlier space in terms of amenities such as ground-level access, bathrooms and larger open spaces with better flow and ventilation. We look forward as an organization to having ownership of our own space and pride ourselves on being a sustainable organization in terms of being able to run our daily shop operations through the programs that we use to serve the community,” Neiman added.
BICAS provides a variety of programs designed to make bikes accessible to everyone: Community Tools offers shop time and tools for bicycle maintenance for a sliding scale fee; “community mechanics” and BICAS staff answer questions and provide assistance. The Earn-a-Bike Program allows participants to earn credit toward a bicycle that needs to be refurbished; participants in the Build-a-Bike class learn to build a bike from scratch and build one for BICAS to sell.
Each year, more than 5,700 people utilize BICAS to repair their own bicycles with the help of staff mechanics, while hundreds of people earn a bike through the work-trade program.
“We are open six days a week, seven hours a day, so we are very accessible in that sense, which is another great thing about BICAS. Anyone can drop by to learn to fix a flat tire or respoke a wheel without having to wait. We strive to keep the shop open and have tools available for people to come use them as opposed to buying their own,” said Neiman.
Since its inception, BICAS has served more than 100,000 people; it also offers sales and rentals of refurbished bikes along with a small art boutique and gallery featuring one-of-a-kind bike art.
Kristin McRay, BICAS education coordinator, expects the new, larger location will offer more opportunities to serve the community.
“There is a lot of excitement about being able to use our creative energy to improve and invest in a space that we know will be around for our organization for a long time. We are such a creative, reusing, recycling group and community, so the idea of applying our funky style, art, talent and inspiration to our own space to better fit our current needs is really exciting,” McRay said.
McRay said BICAS began a capital campaign about three years ago when it began searching for a new space. She said that individuals and businesses have been generous as BICAS pursues its vision for a “Do-It-Together” model of bicycle repair.
“We are still fundraising to pay down the mortgage and we want to do some build-outs and improvements in the space so we are hoping to find community partners who are interested in helping us,” she said.
