Bicycling Magazine Expose on Re:Ciclos Founder Jimmy Lizama
Ryan Menekenian’s 2021 Video introduction to Re:Ciclos
Re:Ciclos, a short History
In 2010, Jimmy Lizama’s son, Joaquin Lizama, was born. Being car-free, this new addition to his life presented a logistical issue: how to transport his young son in a city primarily built for cars. One day, Jimmy bumped into a long john cargo bicycle and the solution was immediately clear.
Not too long after, he was lending a hand wrenching at Flying Pigeon Bike Shop in Northeast LA, where he got a Flying Pigeon “Carrier Pigeon” Long John cargo bike at an affordable price. Being a bike mechanic, he improved upon the bike tremendously and on the first ever CicLAvia
on 10/10/10, Joaquin and Jimmy took their first of thousands of bike rides together. Life was great.
Over the years, people who saw Joaquin and Jimmy riding their cargo bike down the mean streets of LA gawked and pointed at the bicycle. Some asked how they could get one for themself. Unfortunately, most cargo bikes are prohibitively expensive, often starting at $3,000 for a basic bike. That is simply not feasible for most of us, especially folks with socio-economic barriers.
But Jimmy realized that a long john cargo bike is basically a BMX bike front end mated to a
mountain bike rear end, connected by what looks like a “boom tube.” He researched the interweb and
found Tom’s Cargo Bicycles, a shop using that approach to build cargo bikes.
But the bicycle business is very competitive, especially in a car-centric city like LA. It’s simply too difficult to make a living unless you’re selling expensive bikes that underserved communities cannot afford. Instead, Jimmy thought it might be possible to take an education and internship approach to build rudimentary cargo bicycles and distribute them to underserved community members, while selling some to those who can afford them.
Re:Ciclos’s first prototype was in 2015 with Calo YouthBuild in Boyle Heights. Three students and a
couple of volunteers worked together over a weekend to build a long john cargo bike. It was
definitely a monster bike! But it worked and it was entirely made of recycled materials.
Fast forward to November 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, when 17-year-old Aidan spent 10 days
with Re:Ciclos volunteers to build a long john cargo bike for Ayla, a local bread maker looking to
sell her goods at nearby farmers markets. “Rosey,” a very stout bicycle named for its bright pink color, was made mostly of recycled materials. Eventually,
Rosey got an electric motor installed and Ayla was able to get rid of her car!
Aidan, Ayla and Rosy’s story exemplifies the ultimate goal of Re:Ciclos: to touch the lives of
multiple community members, from distinct backgrounds, all having a hand in improving their own
lives and that of the city and world they inhabit through collaboration, education, recycling,
innovation, and a good old-fashioned human-powered elbow grease.
In early 2022, Re:Ciclos was awarded a seed grant from the Energy Foundation, enabling the project to move into an adequate space for fabrication, hire a couple of staff members, and create an internship program with local educational institutions. Community members received cargo bicycles to improve their lives, some prototypes were made, and today the project aims populate the streets of LA with these vital, human-powered machines–especially crucial work as global warming and car culture proliferate.
Re:Ciclos’s work is far from over; in fact, it is only just beginning.
Who are We?
Staff
Jimmy Henry Lizama
Re:Ciclos Founder
Program Director
Cargo Bike Fabricator
Outreach and Community Coordination
Jimmy Henry Lizama was born at the LA County Hospital in 1974. He is a life-long resident of Los
Angeles who has never owned a car–which for most LA residents would sound at best impressive, at
worst absurd.
Jimmy has a long history in the LA bicycle movement, which started with his father,
Jorge Lizama. For almost 20 years Jorge commuted by bicycle from Central LA to Beverly Hills. He would arrive at work every morning by 4:30 AM ready to cook
breakfast for the morning shift. Jorge’s example taught his son that the bicycle is a
legitimate form of transportation. When Jimmy was 24, his own bicycle journey began when he himself was running late for work. Taking the bus meant getting there late, which was not an option, so he jumped an an old bicycle rusting in the garden. And he recalls, “I actually got to work early. I beat three buses and my journey
into bicycle advocacy and transportation began that day.”
Jimmy hopes that Re:Ciclos can get more people to use bikes for everyday transportation. “My hope is
that with the different formats that we are developing, we create a buzz, a cultural buzz, so
that folks really start taking to the streets themselves and not wait for the city to provide
facilities to make the bicycle movement happen,” he says. A part of his hopes for Re:Ciclos
in creating greater access to cargo bicycles is to move biking from a nice
hobbyist activity to a fundamentally feasible, ecologically responsible form of urban transportation. Thus creating the landscape in LA that is safer, accessible and more livable in general. “Bicycles are not the end all solution, but they are a wonderfulmessenger for a better way for how people can navigate their cities.”
Jeremy Raphael Ezra
Re:Ciclos Staff
Project Manager
Bicycle Mechanics Coordinator
Community Outreach & Social Media ManagerYouth Intern
Jeremy is an LA native who has been deeply involved in the LA bicycle community for many
years. He
received his bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from UCLA in 2016 and applies his training to build
equitable and
care-based communities. He has taught bicycle mechanics as a volunteer at the Bicycle
Kitchen since 2016
and has served as the board secretary for the past two years. In addition to teaching bicycle
mechanics, he is
involved in the day to day operations and management of the organization.
Joining the Re:Ciclos team in early 2022, he came into the fold wanting to apply his experience as a
mechanic and community organizer from the bicycle advocate world of Los Angeles. He believes that addressing issues of urban mobility and livability is a
fundamental harm reduction strategy.
Approaching the issues with his background in anthropology, Jeremy strives to co-create meaningful
community based
solutions that can work towards creating a more equitable social landscape.
Woodsin(Woody) Joseph-Sandberg
Re:Ciclos Staff
Bicycle Fabrication Coordinator
Youth Intern Instructor
Originally from Idaho, Woody graduated from Humboldt State University with a degree in Environmental
Science and has
been advocating for bicycles as a form of transportation, environmental protection, social justice
and a sustainable
future ever since. While living in LA, Woody has become very involved with the
do-it-yourself bicycle
repair movement and has founded and supported many bicycle and
environmental
organizations, including Bici Libre and Los Angeles Rooted. He also worked at the
Youth Empowerment Project (YEP)
for over 6 years teaching bicycle repair and safety to underserved youth in New Orleans.
Woody brings his
extensive experience in bicycle fabrication and youth education to the Re:Ciclos workshop.
Megan Rose
Re:Ciclos Advisor
Business Development Strategist
Finance and Budgeting Advisor
Megan has been working in the LA business development scene since 2010. Various
roles directing operations and finance for high growth small businesses over the last decade have
given her the experience to develop solid foundations for financial infrastructure within new and
established companies. Currently at Singer Burke, a tax and wealth management firm, she works with a
team to oversee balance sheets, tax filings, financial projections, and day to day operations for a
roster of elite Los Angeles area business people. Coupling this experience with a passion for
bicycles, and years of activism, volunteering and community organizing within the Los Angeles
cycling community has brought her to Re:Ciclos. As a volunteer advisor, she is excited to help
Re:Ciclos build a scalable, repeatable and sustainable model for success.
Past Interns
Aiden Baladran
Re:Ciclos Intern
Aiden Balandran was our first youth intern. Aiden was 16 when he built Re:Ciclos’ first cargo bike in just ten days, along with Jimmy and Bea Miller (former Re:Ciclos Fabrication Co-ordinator).
(See Ayla’s profile on Clients and Collaborators for more info on Rosey the cargo bike).
Aiden was quick to pick up the fundamentals of metal fabrication and bike building. He was connected
to Re:Ciclos via Bresee, a community organization in the neighborhood, that provides Gang Prevention
Programs to the youth in the area.
Aiden is soon to be employed at Bresee as Youth Advocacy Coordinator before continuing his
education. After his short time with us he became inspired to become a professional welder and
is in the process of enrolling at LATTC where he has aspirations of becoming an underwater welder.
We are really excited to work with Aiden again in the future and admirably watch his development!
Check out Aiden’s story building Rosey in this short film by Ryan Mekenian:
Re:Ciclos (2021) from
Ryan Mekenian on
Vimeo
Yulissa Gonsales
Re:Ciclos Intern
Yulissa Gonsales is a student from New Village Girls Academy. Yulissa came to us through her
school’s internship program, which connects students to
crafts, arts, and practices not found in the current school system.
She took quickly to bicycles, bicycle culture, mechanics and fabrication with extreme enthusiasm.
Welding was not a skill she had expected to learn, but she became very enamored with it and made rapid progress.
A student of photography and art, Yulissa took note of the network of bicycle spaces we are
connected to and walked away from the program with a new perspective on how people can make
systemic change. Her own art is infused with the motivation to make changes in her community, and
she remarks that real change can be made with people power and getting your hands dirty to make the
change and not wait for it.
As a part of our program, she built her own bicycle from a scrap frame and used parts, even building
her own wheel fit with dynamo and lamps both front and rear. At the beginning of her program with
us,
she never thought of riding bikes as a mode of transportation, but now she rides her bike
everywhere!
Check out this clip from a short film New Village Girls academy made covering Yulissa’s experience
with the Re:Ciclos youth internship:
Partners, past and current:
New Village Girls Academy
Bicycle Kitchen/LaBicicocina
Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition
Bresse Foundation
Artworx L.A.
Five Keys Charter
CSU, Inc
CALO YouthBuild
LATTC
Sponsors
Strong Hand Tools
Energy Foundation
Re:Ciclos is fiscally sponsored by the Los Angeles Eco Village Institute (CRSP/LAEVI)
