(Photo: Eric Deady)
Portland’s Sellwood neighborhood is on a roll. Their new bike boulevard opened last month (although it’s not 100% done yet) and now a new bike shop, Bike Commuter, is set to open this Friday.
Bike Commuter is located at 8315 SE 13th Street, just south of Umatilla, which is the cut-through street for the popular Springwater Corridor Trail
The shop is owned by husband and wife team of Eric and Naihma Deady (pronounced Dee-dee). The Deadys live right around the corner from the shop with their two kids, ages 10 and five months. We caught Eric on the phone this morning between hanging photos and building up bikes in preparation for opening day.
Eric, 38, said he’s been dreaming of opening a shop for about 20 years. When a perfect space opened up, he finally decided to leave his job as a deckhand for a tugboat company (which he said he “was complaining far too much about”) to make that dream a reality.
Eric is a former mountain bike racer and graduate of United Bicycle Institute who said he’s been the go-to mechanic for his friends and family for years. His goal for Bike Commuter is to “make it a family-friendly, community store.” Eric also hopes to, “Empower people and have them start understanding that using a bike is a viable alternative to a car for short trips in most cases.”
Bike Commuter has about 1,400 square feet of space (split between an upstairs and downstairs space) and Eric says they’ll carry bikes from Raleigh and Washington-based Traitor Cycles and a full selection of racks, bags, lights, and other gear. While in the shop you can also enjoy the awesome bike-inspired stencil paintings of local artist Anthony Baysore, who Eric met at last month’s BikeCraft event.
Bike Commuter will be open six days a week (closed Mondays) from 10-7.
The shops joins Sellwood Cycle Repair in helping stoke Sellwood’s bike-friendly future. (Eric tells us that Sellwood Cycle owner Erik Tonkin has been “very welcoming and helpful” and that the two are eager to keep the local bike momentum going.)
- Bike Commuter Opening Day Celebration
10-7, January 8th
8315 SE 13th St.
More info at PDXBikeCommuter.com
Thanks for reading.
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Excellent for the Erics and Sellwood. Wishing you Deady guys success – my first touring bike was a raleigh. Love the shadow bike in the window.
This shop is looking fantastic! Congratulations!
Right on my commute home! Glad to see another option.
Awesome! Can’t wait to stop in!
Thanks for the news, Jonathan. I am so lucky,since I live in the neighborhood almost equidistant from the 2 shops. I got my roadbike from ‘the other Eric’, Tonkin, and have gotten great service from those guys for yrs and will now check out my new neighbor. My cup truly runneth over. I love to do business w/ local folks, especially when, as is obvious about these 2, it’s not just about the $$.
what I wouldn’t give for a shop to be open on Monday…I know its the usual, but an open shop would be well, unusual, now wouldn’t it?
Since Eric lives around the corner, you could probably knock on his door on a Monday and he would open just for you. He’s that kind of guy.
Indeed I would open for you on Monday bahueh, but be warned, it would cost you at least a cup of coffee or a PBR at the very least!
Good luck with the shop!
I heard that the real story behind this shop is that the Deadys used Mercy Corps micro-loan services when conventional banks turned him down. The same banks that our tax dollars bail out. A true hero in this economic climate.
I wish you the best on your new shop!
Stopped by New Seasons last night on my way home and saw free tubes with an announcement for the grand opening on all the bikes locked there. I must have just missed the tube fairy. Could have used one too as I had my 4th flat in 4 days this morning. Nice marketing touch! I’ll try to stop by tomorrow.
Ma, I respect your opinion and perspective, but this is probably too public an environment to be disclosing the specific nature of a shop’s financing, unless Mr Deady approves…
Last night Eric’s shop was highlighted last night on KPTV (Fox)in a spot about Mercy Corps and their micro loans.
http://www.kptv.com/video/22170570/index.html
So they did, my mistake — I do not follow tv news!
He’s competing with the very, very best shop in the Portland area–Sellwood Cycle Repair. Hope there’s room in the neighborhood for both of them!
Congrats! PDX can always use more LBS, even better locally owned. Go Deadys!!
RT @EmbarkCreative: Walked by new @PDXbikecommuter shop in Sellwood today – http://bit.ly/6suZbr. Nice addition to the neighborhood. #po …
RT @EmbarkCreative: Walked by new @PDXbikecommuter shop in Sellwood today – http://bit.ly/6suZbr. Nice addition to the neighborhood. #po …
Walked by new @PDXbikecommuter shop in Sellwood today – http://bit.ly/6suZbr. Nice addition to the neighborhood. #portland #pdx
RT @BikePortland: New blog post: New bike shop in Sellwood opens Friday http://bikeportland.org/2010/01/06/new-bike-shop-in-sellwood-ope …
New blog post: New bike shop in Sellwood opens Friday http://bikeportland.org/2010/01/06/new-bike-shop-in-sellwood-opens-friday/
Stopped in the shop. The owners were awesome. Eric knows some signs. It is easy for me to communicate with him on my bike needs. Big double thumb ups.