🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏

Day: June 14, 2007

Fixed gear bill hits unexpected snag

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There’s been a surprising turn of events in the fixed-gear brake saga.

Last week I reported that the effort to clarify the bicycle brake requirement so that fixed-gear bicycles don’t need to have an additional brake was on its way to becoming Oregon law.

The bill (S.B. 729) has passed the Senate and the House and only had one step left before being signed into law by the Governor. In accordance to regular procedure, since the bill was amended in the House (to include some language about police bicycles) it was returned to the Senate for final approval of those amendments.

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Mountain bike hut-to-hut system coming to Mt. Hood

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James Koski and Don Bain

James Koski (L) and Don Bain,
founders of Cascade Huts, LLC.
(Photo: Cascade Huts)

Three years ago, Intel employee Don Bain and his friend James Koski (Chief of Staff for Congressman Earl Blumenauer) took a ride from Durango to Moab on Colorado’s fabled hut-to-hut mountain bike route. They had such a good time, they wanted to do it again. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find any other hut systems.

So, like true entrepreneurs, they thought, “why don’t we just do one ourselves?”

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Memorial service planned for Tim O’Donnell

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Tim O'Donnell - photo: Portland Velo

Tim O’Donnell (1941-2007)
(Photo: Portland Velo)

Tim O’Donnell will live on in the memories of his friends, family, and of the bike community for many years. A memorial service has been scheduled to pay respects and to come together as a community. Here are the details (taken from the Portland Velo newsletter):

    A celebration of Tim’s life will be held on Friday, June 15 at 3:00pm at St. Patrick’s Church (1623 NW 19th Street). Please come and support the family and your fellow club members who were with Tim. Please send your cards and condolences to Mary O’Donnell and Family, 17725 SW Sugar Plum Lane, Aloha, OR 97007.

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House passes safe passing legislation

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[Updated 6/14/07, 7:51pm]
[Updated 6/15/07, 1:15pm]

A bill that seemed to come out of nowhere (I didn’t know about it until I read the Statesman Journal this morning) and that started out having nothing to do with bicycle safety, has passed the House, and is set to become Oregon’s first safe passing legislation that specifically protects bicyclists.

Senate Bill 108, will amend the Oregon Revised Statute that deals with following too closely (ORS 811.485) to include several stipulations about how a motor vehicle is required to pass a bicyclist. The bill avoids the three-foot passing distance that has been adopted by other states and instead defines a ‘safe distance’ as,

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Oregonian says cyclists are “treated like roadkill” in Oregon

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A forceful editorial in today’s Oregonian gives a much needed push to the Vulnerable Roadway Users bill (H.B. 3314), which is (hopefully) just days from a final Senate vote.

The article is bluntly titled, “Bad drivers, dead bicyclists,” and it opens with this line:

“Let’s save for another time the argument about reckless bicyclists, the crazies who blow through stop signs, ride the wrong way and act like they own the road. Timothy O’Donnell wasn’t one of those cyclists.”

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Rocky Butte Sunset Picnic and Party

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@ NE Klickitat & NE 11th (Irving Park entrance at west end of Klickitat)

ride may end at rocky butte or irving park???

ride to rocky butte to enjoy the sunset and panorama view of portland and the gorge! potluck style snacking, drinking. and dance party!! bring bike lights and a helmet.

Savannah, savannahteller at yahoo daht comm

Recycle a Bicycle

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@ 1700 NE Alberta St. (The Community Cycling Center)

Learn more about your bike by taking apart some of ours! The Community Cycling Center receives donated bikes to benefit programs for low-income children and adults. Bike that we cannot use are taken apart; we harvest usable parts and responsibly dispose of the rest.

We provide the tools and an introduction to the night. Anyone under 18 must have a waiver signed by a parent or guardian. *Closed-Toed shoes required*

Neal Armstrong, Volunteer at CommunityCyclingCenter daht oh are gee, www.CommunityCyclingCenter.org/, 503-546-8864

Little Beirut Tour

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@ SW Park & Salmon St (South Park Blocks)

George HW Bush coined the term Little Beirut during a visit here in 1990. This ride will tour Portland’s notorious urban riot locations past and present. However, no babies will be pepper-sprayed on this ride.
Cody Cougar Bikencamp

Road Witch Ride

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@ SE 17th & Taylor (Col. Summers Park at the pavilion)
6:30pm

for this ride, think Move X Bike meets Carfree streets. we’re taking a living room and, vendors providing, a backyard on the road and to a few parking spaces near you. have trailer? bring your favorite chair (we’ll have a few, too). pretty potted plant? bring it! just yoiu and your bike? marvelous! let’s reinvent parking together!
Road Witches are creative solutions for traffic calming:
http://www.wormworks.com/roadwitch/pages/trialcontents.htm
there could be a Road Witch standing, invisible, at your scariest intersection or most fearful zebra stripe.

Steph Routh & Michael Jones, steph.routh at gmail daht comm, www.pedalpaddle.blogspot.com

Bicycle Master Plan Public Forum

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@ 5210 N. Kerby Ave. (Jefferson High School Cafeteria)

Platinum Bicycle Master Plan Public Forum- N/NE-

Come let city transportation staff know where you ride, what needs to be fixed, and your dreams for a platinum bicycling city. This will be one of three public forums, this one focused on North and Northeast Portland.
bicyclemasterplan[at]pdxtrans.org

Bicycle Master Plan Update Team, www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=154117

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