Portland bike culture like you’ve never seen it before
Posted by Jonathan Maus (Editor-in-Chief) on March 7th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
just one of many great images in the
Teams of Portland photo booth collection.
See them all here.
Portland-based and globally revered ad agency Wieden + Kennedy created the Teams of Portland exhibit and website to showcase a special piece of Portland’s bike culture.
The idea was to pay homage to the distinctive bike teams, clubs, and people that make our cycling scene so colorful and then present it to the thousands of people that came to town for the North American Handmade Bicycle Show that was held in Portland in early February.
In addition to a museum-like exhibition in the lobby of Wieden + Kennedy’s Pearl District headquarters, the Teams of Portland project included a robust website full of photos, videos, and specially created maps of Portland made by each team in the exhibit.
At the opening night party they also set up a photo booth and snapped over 600 images of whoever showed up with a bike. The result is an awesome array of characters doing all manner of interesting things for the camera: A topless lady on a freak bike, leapord-skin fixies, mini-bike wheelies, a human pyramid, handstands, and oh so much more!
All the photos have finally been uploaded for your viewing pleasure. Go on over to TeamsofPortland.com to browse through them and see selected images. (Tip: wait for them all to load and watch the “flip book”). Below is the flyer announcing the collection.
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March 7th, 2008 13:49
helmet-wearing rate looks to be about 0.02%. won't somebody think of the children! how many must die before we pass a law!
March 7th, 2008 14:28
Cool concept! However, I'm sad that (unless I’m missing something) they seem to have left out a standout Portland team: Team S&M. In my humble opinion, any solid documentation of Portland bike culture should give a shout-out to the fine folks of Sellwood Cycle Repair, given their role in shaping Portland’s ‘cross scene and much more. Those guys have more character and charisma in one spoke than some hope to have in an entire cycling career. For evidence, I suggest checking out the latest issue of The Portland Mercury….. Now, that’s what I call a long history of servicing the community. (Ha!)
March 7th, 2008 14:51
@ Erin G.: top row fourth from the left. Team S&M.
March 7th, 2008 15:24
Team Beer... stay on the east side... west side doesn't want you here... m'kay?
March 7th, 2008 16:09
it wasn't a mandatory photo booth, anyone who wanted their pic taken could walk/roll in. Proof of this fact is zoobomb's unabashed camera hogginess.
March 7th, 2008 19:28
[...] ad agency W&K did a cool little project called Teams Of Portland (via). When you visit the page, be sure and check the upper right corner where it says ‘Photo [...]
March 7th, 2008 19:44
oops...I'm glad that I was wrong. Thanks for correcting, Gastronaut!
March 8th, 2008 00:50
You people are so full of yourselves. I feel I need to tell you this, because I know you don't know it: YOU'RE NOT SPECIAL. You're just a hipster dufus posing with a bike. A big waste of space.
March 8th, 2008 02:33
re: #8
So? If I'm a hipster dufus, what are you? Almighty? And which space is being wasted? The internet is a big place, if you are concerned about its real estate there are better venues to vent your frustration.
March 8th, 2008 07:34
My question o W&K: Why weren't the Sprockettes asked to participate? Aren't we a face of Portland's bike culture? Just wondering.
March 9th, 2008 19:25
I was wondering the same thing! Where were the Sprockettes? It was a total sausage party.
March 10th, 2008 08:34
Yeah, that's a bummer. I don't think it was intentional, you just had to ask/beg/bribe. I think Jamey met one of the W+K fellows somewhere.
March 10th, 2008 16:58
dumber now: You are under the impression that people like Gabe, dogeye et al, take themselves seriously. I may only be speaking for myself, but when I am rolling a freakbike wearing my denim "biker" vest, I don't care if you are laughing at me or with me, if you love it or hate it. The fact is, if you had a reaction, it made you think, and therefore it has fulfill it's purpose as art.
P.S. Don't think that any of us our doing this sort of thing (sawing up bikes, riding them around) is done for anyone but ourselves, it is way too much work to build them, and usually more work to ride and maintain them. Just like tattoos and piercing nobody is going thru the pain for anyone but themselves.
P.P.S. Hipsters just buy cool stuff off Ebay, freakbikes are wayyyyyy too much effort.