21 August 2008 Archives

Event will connect homeless with bike info, services

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

A growing number of Portland’s homeless —
like Bill and his dog Buster shown here —
use bicycles to carry their belongings.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Project Homeless Connect is a city-funded program that provides services and information to Portland’s homeless population via a series of annual events.

Among the many types of help offered is a Transportation Area which offers a variety of services to help folks in need stay safe and mobile on two-wheels.

Tony Pereira in his shop.
(Photos © J. Maus)

This afternoon I stopped by the shop of local bike builder Tony Pereira.

Tony has come a long way since I first made note of his arrival in Portland (via Salt Lake City) back in November of 2005. Since then, his business has matured, he’s moved into a new shop, and has won several “Best of” trophies at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show.

Today, he was putting the finishing touches on four new bikes he just built that will see action in this weekend’s Single Speed World Championships (SSWC) in Napa California. Tony built these gorgeous, 29-inch mountain bikes for himself and three of his close friends from his former hometown.

Kaiser Permanente’s “Thrive” ad campaign is nothing new to Portlanders. They’ve run an extensive billboard campaign throughout the city for months now. One of my favorites features a photo of a bike and the copy (I’m paraphrasing), “The latest in the battle against heart disease”.

Now they’ve made bikes the centerpiece of a new commercial dubbed, “Community Bike” that debuted during the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics on August 8th. Check it out:

Detail from event poster.
(Large version here)

A custom bike show in Southern Oregon will feature builders from Oregon, Washington and California, including the debut of two new builders from Portland.

The first-ever Southern Oregon Custom Bicycle Show is a joint effort between the Ashland-based United Bicycle Institute (UBI) and the Oregon Bicycle Constructors Association (OBCA, a non-profit builders group based in Portland).

Back in June, I was biking my normal route to the office (southbound on N. Interstate near the Rose Quarter), when I came across something appalling.

It was right out of a horror movie.

From L to R: State Rep. Jackie Dingfelder, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, and State Rep. Ben Cannon.

Event will connect homeless with bike info, services

Catching up with Tony Pereira (and a surprise from Chris King)

Kaiser’s new “Thrive” ad puts bikes front and center

Bike show in Southern Oregon will feature Portland framebuilders

Hotline helps maintain better bikeways

Blumenauer, state reps will talk transportation at Town Hall tonight

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From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland