New business puts old inner tubes to good use
Posted by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on July 7th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
the Multnomah County Bike Fair.
(Photo © J. Maus)
Cycle Dog is a new Portland company that makes dog leashes, collars and other pet accessories out of recycled bike inner tubes.
The company had their public debut at the recent Multnomah County Bike Fair and company founder Lanette Fidrych says, "People are really gravitating to them." Fidrych, an avid bike rider herself, has two white Labradors (Regan Ray and Hanna Mae) that serve as her "in-house test team".
Lanette and her husband Paul Fidrych (he's also an avid rider and has been active with local mountain bike advocacy) are partners in the company and they make all the products by hand in Portland. Lanette currently works as a product manager for Nike in Beaverton.
(Photo: Cycle Dog)
The duo have set up relationships with three local bike shops (River City, Revolver, and 21st Ave. Bikes so far) to collect tubes and they also accept old tubes from individuals and bike teams. Currently, eight local retailers -- a mix of bike shops and pet shops -- sell Cycle Dog products. They also sell online at Cycle-Dog.com.
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July 7th, 2009 22:05
I love the concept and checked them out and was very impressed, these are really quality products. I know that I for one can never have too many leashes!
July 8th, 2009 11:58
From their home page- "...doing our part to help the environment are our top priorities at Cycle Dog."
Not keeping large, useless mammals tied to yourselves with leashes would be a great start. Those dogs are as big as some people. Never understood why people think it is clever to keep one animal around as a personal slave, whilst feeding it bits of another ground up animal several times a day. The whole thing is sickening.
Want to save the environment? Stop breeding and please stop keeping resource draining, soil contaminating, pollution generating 'pets'.
There are humans suffering in this world, right now. Could you be any more selfish?
July 8th, 2009 12:45
Steve, people suck. See comment #2 as case in point.
July 8th, 2009 13:36
Toby, Americans suck. Look around as case in point.
July 8th, 2009 14:27
Speaking of large useless mammals, I'd like to thank you for not breeding, Steve.
July 8th, 2009 19:02
De nada!
July 9th, 2009 00:15
When I stopped into Fat Tire last week to pick up a leash for a pet-owner friend's b-day present, the Cycle Dog products hadn't been stocked yet. One of the Fat Tire guys called Paul and Lanette to let them know that I was looking for some of their merchandise; within minutes, Paul had biked over from his house to personally deliver the item to sell so that I wouldn't have to see my birthday-friend empty handed. Freakin' sweet!!! Who does that? My friend and his pooch loved the leash, and I was really impressed that the Cycle Dog people would make a mid-day trip to help me out.
Cheers to the small, local companies. Everyone I know is getting a leash for Christmas.
July 9th, 2009 10:00
kiwimunki,
I'm so glad we were able to help you out with the birthday gift. Be sure to have your friend upload a picture of her dog to our site. we would love to have her pup on our cycle dog team. If you ever need anything else, you can contact me directly through our site. http://www.cycle-dog.com
thanks for your support
Lanette
July 10th, 2009 09:45
Can we get kitty collars too, please? My kitty Peanut would love a pretty collar made from a bike tube for her to wear!