Bicycle Inter-Community Art & Salvage
As a collectively-run, worker-directed nonprofit 501(c)(3) bicycle education center, BICAS is able to provide a variety of programs to learn how to fix a bicycle, earn a bicycle, and create art from recycled materials, thanks to the generous donations from our community. Our programs are the threads of the vibrant tapestry of our shop, each forming a piece in the vibrant mission towards transportation justice, equity, and accessibility.
The same vibrant character found in our walls and in our mission is part of every aspect of our identity.
Our Mission:
Through advocacy and bicycle salvage, our mission is to participate in affordable bicycle transportation, education, and creative recycling with our greater Tucson community.
During open hours, our Community Tools, Work Trade, and Community Service programs are available on a first-come first-serve basis. We also sell parts, bikes, and accept donations. Weekly, we hold Art Corner, Youth Drop-In, and the Women/Trans/Femme* Workshop. Twice a week, every two weeks, is the Volunteer Drop-In. Monthly is a WTF Ride. We also regularly hold bicycle education class sessions and youth camps, and participate in many community events throughout the year. Our largest yearly fundraiser is the Art Auction.
View high-definition recent program photos here.
Our Visual Identity
As a collective, the distinct identity of BICAS is inextricable from organic outpouring of a creative collaboration process, born of the exchange of perspectives that strengthens a collective-run organization. We also frequently work often with artists in the community. For these reasons, our branding identity remains accessible yet distinct, and inclusive.
The visual identity of BICAS evolved organically over our unique, vibrant history, through the collaboration of the Collective minds of many talented artists.
Our Logo
The BICAS logo combines mechanic, bicycle, and wrench, in a fluid, dynamic representation of all our services and programs in Tucson. Like all the art you will see around our shop, the BICAS Nymph is an organic upcycling of these grounded components into a zestful reimagining that is both personal and memorable. The neutrality of the silhouette allows it to be paired with any color, with a striking contour that sits perfectly at home in the animated cascade of color and creativity that comprises our shop.
Over our rich history, we have used many variations of logos for different occasions, events, projects, and formats. Check out some of the gorgeous logos crafted by BICAS artists.
View high-definition PNGs of our primary logos here.
Our Colors
Like the collective ourselves, the visual identity of BICAS composes a colorful tapestry, a living mural of our mechanics, collaborators, and programs, for different aspects of community needs. This is the Orange of Bicycle Repair, Fuchsia of Classes, Lavender of our Women/Trans/Femme* Program, Lime Green of the Art Program, Sky Blue of Volunteering, Cinnabar of Youth Programming, and Gold of Fundraising, but you will find each of these aspects intermingled as colorful as the murals around our shop, each fractals of white light in a kaleidoscopic refraction of our community.
Our Typefaces
BICAS uses fonts that are fluid and vibrant. You will find unique, painted text across our signs, flyers, and logos; and the typefaces we use follow in the style laid down through the creativity of our collective and community artists.
BICAS is known for our slab serif and display fonts, with the organic nature of each.
Arvo, the slab serif font that makes up the body of this website, has a looser, boxier quality than traditional serifs, like ink on a page.
Handlee, the display font used in this website’s headings, imitates large, readable handwriting.
Achievements
We are one of the oldest community bike projects still existing in the United States. Boston’s Bikes Not Bombs and New York’s Time’s Up started working on domestic projects in the late 1980s, and BICAS (at the time called Bootstraps) started bicycle projects in Tucson in 1989.
BICAS ranks regularly in the beloved Best of Tucson awards, held every year by Tuscon Weekly. In 2022, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2005, 2000, 1997, 1996, we have won Best of Tucson Winner or Runner-Up; whether Best Bike Shop, Best Biking Group/Community, or another category.
Our Women/Trans/Femme* program has been featured in Arizona Daily Wildcat in 2019.
For more stats, see our Facts and Figures, and check our last Annual Report for an in-depth breakdown of our recent figures.