Rows of bike forks fill a stand from floor to ceiling at Bicycle Inter-Community Action and Salvage, an education and recycling center for bicylces in Tucson. (Samantha M. Sais/NYTI)
“It’s a complete sensory overload, which is a good thing,” said Casey Wollschlaeger, a mechanic at the cooperative, Bicycle Inter-Community Action and Salvage, known as Bicas.
At Bicas, people of all ages and walks of life can learn to fix their bikes, use the space to make repairs and purchase parts.
“By teaching them how to fix their own bikes, people feel more empowered,” Wollschlaeger, 30, said.
She remembers lifting a 4-year-old girl to reach a wrench on the wall to help her fix her first bike. The girl kept running outside to tell her father about what she was learning.
“She was so thrilled to learn how to fix her bike without her dad,” Wollschlaeger said.
“It’s really important for little girls to have access to tools and work on their own.”
The bike co-op caters to people of various incomes and offers a work exchange program where patrons can help in the shop in exchange for use of the space. Working in the shop costs clients $4 an hour but no more than $12 a day, and the used parts go for $1 to $5.
“It’s fantastic to work on my bike and get parts for dirt cheap,” said Carl Mitchell, 48, a bricklayer from Tucson. “I come down here for everything. I can’t find another place like it.”
Bicas also supports local artists who often stop by to pick up parts for sculptures and other art pieces. Every year, Bicas holds a bicycle art auction, which draws community members from all parts of Tucson and raises money for the group
A recent partnership with Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest has allowed Bicas to offer services to recently arrived refugees.
In the bike world, language is not a barrier, Wollschlaeger said. “It’s easy when you’re working with bikes; you just point at the bike and you go over the language.”
Bicas members say the co-op promotes sustainable and independent transportation for all people.
“We get people who need a bike to get to school or use it as their primary method of transportation to get to work, even homeless people who need a bike to look for work,” said Kristin McRay, 26, a mechanic at Bicas.
The co-op offers eight-week bike-building classes. The session that starts Jan. 12 is sold out, and clients are encouraged to sign up now for the March session.
McRay, whose hands and apron were smudged with bike grease, said she’d seen more people in the shop since the economic crisis began.
“More people come here to learn how to do things by themselves,” McRay said.
Bicas had a crisis of its own last year when its rent almost doubled. Eventually the Arizona Department of Transportation, which owns the building, decided to keep the rent the same. Bicas had a lot of community support during that time, McRay said.
“We’ve been around for 20 years,” McRay said, “and we would really like to look forward to another 20 years.”