announcing Commuter awards.
Back in January, River City Bicycles announced a contest to find Portland’s “Commuter of the Year”.
Owner David Guettler asked for nominations through ads in local weekly newspapers and according to the shop’s Event Manager Jason Bietz, over 60 people responded to the challenge, “They sent in everything from home videos, a 37-day string of hand-made postcards, and a hardbound book!”
The entries were judged for creativity and content. At stake was a $500 gift certificate to River City Bicycles as well as a chance to create your very own 1/4 page ad in the Willamette Week to inspire other commuters.
Bietz says they received so many great entries that Guettler decided to choose three winners.
Southeast Portlander Jack Bouba received a $500 Gift Certificate and the rights to the Willamette Week ad for his creative entry that included daily postcards of himself in action with his beloved and trusted steed.
Breakfast on the Bridges.
Another $500 Gift Certificate was awarded to Sherry Schwenderlauf for the “most nominated.” Sherry was nominated by at least seven people who witnessed her cycling not only to work, but whenever possible, day-in and day-out, rain or shine. Sherry also organized a Bike Commute Challenge for her office and was a personal “Bike Buddy” to her co-workers at a local CPA firm. For her dedication, Sherry also received a “Commuter of the Year” trophy designed by Matt Cartwright (the trophy is on display at River City Bicycles).
A random drawing was held for the last winner and the award went to the McNamee Family from southeast Portland.
According to Bietz, Guettler will run a series of special congratulatory ads for all the entrants and the Willamette Week has increased the size of Jack Bouba’s personal ad to a 1/2 page in full color. Watch for the ads in upcoming issues.
Congratulations to all the winners, and to River City Bicycles for creating yet another fun incentive to ride.
congrats to all!
Too bad River City Bicycles is staffed by clueless **moderated**.
I went in there twice in the last couple years to buy some moderately expensive bike things (a couple at about $300 each). The first time they were **moderated**, I chalked it up to maybe a bad apple or someone having a bad day. Last week we tried again and they were **moderated** again. So we left and spent our money elsewhere…
Too bad too, I am in the market for a new Cannondale and they won’t get my business.
VR, it is too bad that you had an unhappy shopping experience at River City. I have had nothing but good experiences there and, as matter of fact, at every other bike shop in town. My experience has been that, as a rule, the workers at Portland area bike shops have been far friendlier and helpful than in any of the other cities in which I have lived and spent money on bike things. I don’t know if you attempted to sort out the problem you had with the RC management – I would suggest it is worth a try. I would, of course, suggest you might have more success if you used an approach that required less “moderation”
Why on earth did you moderate the word “jerks”?
Cecil, I have had great experiences at most every bike shop in Portland too, except River City.
I could bother with working with River City management – but when there are dozens of other competent and friendly shops within a stones throw, I just won’t take the time and instead go elsewhere. My approach required no “moderation”. I simply asked a question, got an absurd answer, and when I questioned the logic of the answer got an even more absurd justification. ( For example, I was told that they could not assemble a tag-a-long bike so that we could check to see if it would work with my bicycle (which I had brought with me) because it takes *2 hours* and they couldn’t devote that much time to me. Why would it take a *full time* *professional* bike mechanic 2 hours to assemble a tag-a-long bike when I assembled the one I bought from the other store in less than 30 minutes on my porch at night with no lighting and using only the included allen wrench? )
I still can’t believe that BikePortland moderated the word “jerks”. I can understand the first moderation at least – but “jerks” is pretty non-offensive.
And since it will probably be moderated again, here is the definition of the word I used: Slang. A foolish, rude, or contemptible person.
VR,
I do not have rigid rules for how I decide to moderate. In some cases “jerks” would be OK…but since you first called them something less appropriate I decided I did not like the tone in this situation.
And “BikePortland” is not some organization. It is one person (me). It is my business and I reserve the right to moderate any word at any time for any reason.
Thanks for understanding.
Congrats to River City for consistently supporting PDX cycling. I know for a fact that River City hosts top-notch employees within their organization. VR, please understand that the bicycle industry is very broad, and it is difficult for every employee of every shop to have an in-depth knowledge of every product. In regards to the tag-along bike, perhaps River City was managing an already full que of bicycles, either sold bikes needing to be built, or service bicycles with deadlines. Also, was the unassembled tag-along on site? Wow! Regardless… Thanks to RCB for giving back to the community.
Yeah RC seems to think that their the only game in town. This one new dude, about a year ago, sold me (unnecessarily I found out later) a back rim- instead of straightening out my old original one. Anyway, he never tightened or locked in the spokes. Two weeks later while cruising down the Interstate hill, the spokes start loosening and the tire starts wobbling all over the place. Man that could have been so ridiculously bad. All I got was “..he’s new, so he still doesn’t no too much.” Whoa!
Oh yeah, sorry. Excellent bike contest. At least that kind of stuff brings me back to RC.
You should not get to upset with the staff at RiverCity. There is a very simple explanation as to why so many people find them to be rude and/or unwilling to dote on you and spend lots of time helping.
They work on commission!
You can argue the benefits or drawbacks of that pay system. If I was working there I would not spend more than a few minutes helping with any purchase under a grand or so.
Especially if it is busy or on a weekend. Too many other people looking for a high-end bike to bother with families or people used to getting pampered.
I think it is great, cause all those customers wind up over at our shop! In the summer I will see at least one customer or group per day that is pissed at RC.
We are happy to have their business!
Ah, why is it that folks always use awesome news like this to bring up their bad customer service experiences? Do you know what might actually help anyone?! Talk to River City DIRECTLY. My guess is that they would be glad to get the feedback.
With that out of the way, I praise River City for creating rewards for commuting. Despite Steve’s comments, the bicycle commuter is obviously not River City’s high-margin customer. We should be applauding them for going beyond selling $6K racing bikes and reaching out to the casual every day rider who gets another car off the road. Cheers to you, River City! And watch out, because Clever Cycles is coming!