The inventor of the Xtracycle was there when BICAS started.
Ross Evans, 34, grew up in Tucson and went to University High School, where he developed a love for service work.
That's how he met Kansas Chuck, the founder of Bootstraps for Change — the group that became BICAS.
"We got all these bike inner tubes and went through them and tested them for flats and rolled them up and shipped them somewhere," Evans remembers. "I think the idea was there was a lack of supply in some countries and we were taking our extras and recycling them."
Evans left Tucson to major in product design at Stanford University. While in college he traveled to Nicaragua to study bikes that carry cargo.
After a few false starts, Evans invented the Xtracycle, which has an elongated frame to allow extra cargo room. He's also the founder of World Bike, a network of bicycle designers and others working to help the world's poor.
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Ross says his Xtracycle business, which is based in Oakland, Cal., grew exponentially last year, after a slow start.
"We've been around since 1998 and just sort of bumped along for a long time," he says. "Last year we had over $1 million in sales, and that was triple what we made the year before."
Maybe the recession is good for the bicycle business.
BICAS has certainly thrived of late. The nonprofit is currently looking to hire an administrative coordinator, an education coordinator and a shop coordinator.
BICAS also is considering opening a second shop, maybe in South Tucson, according to board member Erik Ryberg.
"I don't know if you've been down there on a Saturday, but it's crazy," he says. "We're trying to expand our hours, the number of shops, the availability of tools and bike racks for people."
Evans says the more BICAS, the better.
"For a lot of us it's this beacon of rootsy, cool bicycle culture."