March 2006 Archives

Breakfast, blossoms and bikes

[The Rickman Family]

It’s a fantastic day for cycling in Portland. I got up early to join friends on the Hawthorne Bridge for free pastries and coffee from Shift’s Breakfast on the Bridge crew. The sun welcomed cheery commuters and the conversation flowed as nicely as the hot coffee…

Good to see Clarence Eckerson of BikeTV in town. His great bike movies are coming to Portland cable TV soon…
Linda Ginenthal and Janis McDonald stopped by on the way to their work of making Portland a great place to bike (they both work in Transportation Options for the City of Portland).
Dumpster Dave rolled up. He’s excited about his upcoming bike swap meet. It’s going down on May 14th at Free Geek and it’ll be followed by a dance party. Don’t miss it.

Saw some cool bikes too. Here’s a list of my favorites:

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Michael Chen, president of Mountain Cycle and board member of parent-company Kinesis, has just released the first official statement regarding the local layoffs and shutdown of Mountain Cycle.

Portland Rock Gym has a cool little program to help keep their customer’s bikes safe. They have a big sign on their rack (see photo) that says “Cable locks are not secure”. Then, they take it a step further by loaning out U-locks to members that need one.

According to Yuval, the gym’s manager, they’ve had 2 or 3 bikes stolen recently and the club felt terrible that this happened on their property. He also added, “it’s not that expensive and it’s a good service to our customers.”

Portland has recently been named the best city in America for both walking and biking and the City wants to spread the word. They’re going to put up 22 new signs touting this great news that will be placed right below existing “Welcome to Portland” signs on all major highways leading into the city. For the first time ever, city traffic engineers are asking for our input on the design of these signs.

The City of Portland has just submitted “Notices of Intent” for four major projects they hope will receive funding through the Federal Highway Administration’s Transportation Enhancements program. Three of these projects, totalling over $5.6 million dollars, would vastly improve our bikeway and trail network.

[Posted by username “beer powered bike”]

black surly cross check bike was stolen from 28th and burnside on the night of 3-27-06. serial#M5060881

The Surly was a single speed cross check less than 3 months old. it had black surly flip flop hubs with a 17t white industries freewheel on one side and 17t surly fixed cog on opposite side, black spokes, blue deep v velocity rims, salsa stem and bars, cane creek brake levers and canti brakes, crank brothers mallet pedals and sugino aluminum cranks. the frame was a 50 cm and had a couple scratches on the top tube. the bike had been locked with master lock street cuffs please call me, josh at 503-756-5674 or at work 503-646-6363 at the beaverton bike n hike

What does Metro’s bond measure mean for cyclists?

You may have heard that Metro is putting forth a bond measure in the November election that would allow them to use $227.4 million dollars to help protect natural areas in and around Portland. I asked avid cyclist, BTA co-founder, and current Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder what this bond measure would mean for cyclists.

[Photo by Ethan Jewett/Stickeen]

Local entrepreneur and bike lover Brenda Drain is opening Tour de Crepes in mid-April. She’s taking over the former space occupied by Fold at 2921 NE Alberta. Prior to the opening, she’ll have a special preview event tomorrow at the Last Thursday ArtWalk.

I first met Brenda when she was part-owner of Urban Grind Coffee and I was organizing the BikeCraft event last December. Brenda is a great supporter of cycling and was also a gracious host of Shift’s monthly meetings at Urban Grind. In the past few years Brenda has become an everyday cyclist herself and often commutes and rides around town with her daughters in tow.

Besides the name, which came to Brenda while out on a ride, Tour de Crepes will have several bike-inspired touches. Here’s more from Brenda:

What the heck is going on? Seems like every time I log on there are more stolen bikes to publish. There are 107 listed so far and I’m averaging about one a day for the past 2 months…and that’s only what gets listed here! There are surely many other bikes stolen throughout the city every day.

[Pedalpalooza is coming!]

Shift’s Pedalpalooza is Portland’s annual version of BikeSummer. It’s 2 weeks of bike fun (June 8-24) that is without equal across the land. What makes it great is the boundless, creative, bike fun energy of people like you. That’s right, Pedalpalooza depends on events that are created and organized by the community! Shift is there to help, but the great rides come from individual cyclists.

[Posted by username “bzabrocki”]

Stolen 2000 Klein Attitude Comp within the last week from my storage unit in my apartment in downtown.

Bike is basically brand new with a yellow and red paint job. Bike has maybe only 100 total hours of ride time on it so it is still in perfect condition. Yellow Bontrager rims, Manitou Fork, 27 speeds.

If found call Brandon at 971-221-7127 or email Brandon_Zabrocki@yahoo.com

Shift’s “Get Lit” program gets helmet grant

The successful “Get Lit” program, which gives out lights to Portland cyclists, is expanding into helmets. Community activist and Shift volunteer Jeff Bernards is spear-heading the program with his usual, “take it to the streets” style. Jeff, working with Shift to Bikes, has received a grant of $3380 through the ODOT funded, Community Cycling Center bike safety grant program.

Breakfast, blossoms and bikes

Mountain Cycle President issues statement

Portland Rock Gym loans U-locks

First look: New city border signs to feature bikes

City requests $5.6 million to improve bikeways

Stolen: Black Surly

What does Metro’s bond measure mean for cyclists?

Bike-themed creperie to open on Alberta Street

Bike theft out of hand, Police want to help

Pedalpalooza fun depends on you!

Stolen: Klein MTB

Shift’s “Get Lit” program gets helmet grant

Latest Headlines

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Jobs of the Week: Community Cycling Center, Oregon E-Bikes, Bike Clark County, Mokwheel E-bikes

From the Archives

An epic, carfree, Portland to Seattle, multimodal adventure