The bicycle industry is alive and well in Oregon. That's the message over 2,000 people and nearly 40 vendors got when they walked through the doors of the Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show this weekend.

Emile Lemoine from Cycle Works Oregon displayed his Beloved Cycles near the entrance to the event. As a long line of people filed into the venue on Sunday he said, "This show has been phenomenal. I've talked to people from [Washington] D.C., St. Louis, Seattle... They said they flew in just for this event."

Co-Motion got a lot of
attention for their souped-up
Americano.

The public aren't the only ones noticing the bike building boom that's going on in Seattle, Portland, Eugene, and other cities throughout the Northwest. The bike industry's largest players have also taken note. Electra's ambitious new Ticino line draws directly from bikes their product managers saw at the 2008 North American Handmade Bicycle Show held in Portland. And Trek's new Belleville also looks a lot like the bikes small builders have been creating for years. Asked about what it means to have these major players copy the aesthetic and design of custom builders, Lemoine said "It's a validation of the movement."

The Oregon Bicycle Constructors Association, who organized this weekend's show, have helped to spur a collaborative spirit among builders that helps all of them succeed. Builders have also benefited from a host of exhibition opportunities this year -- like the Oregon Manifest -- which has kept the industry in the media and in the public eye.

Eugene-based Co-Motion Cycles is one of Oregon's largest and most well-established bike manufacturing companies. They displayed a flat-bar version of their popular Americano model with a drivetrain that included a belt-drive and 14-speed Rohloff internal hub (they expect the bike to be available by March).

Light On's Dynolight
also powers a taillight.

Frames aren't the only thing being made in Oregon. Brian Engelen from Light On! Lights debuted an exciting new addition to his Dynolight range -- a compact, powerful rear light that offers 180-degree visibility and runs off the same front hub that powers his super-bright headlight. Engelen builds the lights in his shop in Beaverton and says he's "scrambling" to keep up with orders.

Another local manufacturer that's working overtime to keep up with demand is Ken Wheeler and his crew at Renovo Hardwood Bicycles. Wheeler said he's been "flabbergasted" at the response to his bikes and that he can't keep up with demand.

Renovo's "Panda" commuter bike
is made from bamboo.

Wheeler said his Panda bamboo commuter bike "is really taking off". "We wanted to have a mountain bike model out by now, but we can't catch up with what we already have." The interest doesn't look to be subsiding any time soon for Renovo -- Wheeler said he's got major publicity in the works from Vanity Fair and ID Magazine.

Bike shows are important because they give new builders a chance to introduce themselves. Love Machine Cycles opened up just a few months ago. Builder Joseph Bard has a background in large-scale kinetic sculptures and the highlight of his booth was an aqua-marine mixte with a heart on the head tube badge.

Mark Dinucci.

This show was also a re-introduction for one of Oregon's most legendary bike builders -- Mark Dinucci. Dinucci is "the builder's builder", a sought-after bike designer who went to work for Specialized in the 1990s. After that, he worked for Portland-based Sapa Profiles, where he designed bikes for Santa Cruz, Ellsworth, and many others.

Dinucci is the man who would take the ideas of product managers and designers, put them into a workable form via CAD drawings, then travel to factories in Asia and turn them into reality. He's behind the scenes, but his work can be seen on some of the most popular bike designs on the market today.

On Sunday, he was like a kid again, and seemed to be enjoying his rekindled relationship with bike building. "I've had my nose buried in a computer for too long". One of the two bikes he displayed Sunday was a stunning road bike he made on SE Division Street 25 years ago.

Dinucci's not sure exactly what shape his business will take. At this point, he just knows he wants to build bikes again. But, he adds, "I don't want to make just anything somebody wants".

With his decades of experience to draw from, Dinucci wants to build bikes his way. On display Sunday was a drop-dead gorgeous bike that from afar didn't look like much: But up close, it was extraordinary. The bike featured a custom lugset (made by Dinucci during his stint with Specialized in the '90s), a proprietary tubeset (also created by Dinucci), and a Dinucci-made bottom bracket shell. The bike also had a nifty front flash-light mounted on the fork (imported from Japan) and a custom chainring which was designed by Dinucci's friend Bryant Bainbridge and made in England.

This aluminum rack looks
very promising.

Across from Dinucci, relative newcomer Rob Tsunehiro of Tsuneshiro Cycles showed off his latest creations. Tsunehiro worked as an airplane parts design engineer at Boeing before he started building bikes. On Sunday, his new front rack caught my eye. It's aluminum and features a solid, CNC'd top plate with rails below it to hold pannier bags.

Joseph Ahearne is far from a newcomer. Ahearne came onto the scene in 2004 and has been honing his niche under the Ahearne Cycles banner ever since. His flask holster was a breakout product. It put him on the map and earned him national attention. Now he's got another product that I think could very well do the same.

On Sunday, Ahearne debuted a prototype cargo bike. Based on a regular rear end, the bike has a 20-inch front wheel that sits under a large front rack. The wheel turns independently of the rack and the result is a compact, sturdy steed that can easily handle loads of 80-100 pounds.

Ahearne's new cargo bike.

"This is the cargo bike Portland needs". Ahearne says he's excited about the bike because it's easier to maneuver than the other, larger cargo bikes on the market and because "it still rides like a regular bike". He has plans to do them on a production scale and he's working on a child seat attachment system for the front rack. Stay tuned, this bike could be a game-changer.

Other highlights from the show were a new cyclocross chain guide made by Courage Bicycle Mfg. and the debut of a cyclocross model (and soon a mixte!) in the Cielo (Chris King) line.

For more, check out the slideshow below (or browse photos in the gallery):

If Portland wants to push cycling into the mainstream, and reach usage levels similar to European cities, we need to make it easy, focus on the positives, tame automobiles, and do our research to counter anti-bike sentiment. That was some of the advice given by Copenhagenize's Mikael Colville-Andersen at a sold-out event last night.

Colville-Andersen -- who's on a tour through the U.S. sponsored by the Danish Embassy -- joined Mayor Sam Adams for a special reception for the Dreams on Wheels exhibit which is currently on display at the Oregon Manifest Bike Union in Northwest Portland. He started the night out with a presentation titled, Marketing Bicycle Culture: Five Goal to Promote Urban Bicycling.

Colville-Andersen opened his presentation by emphasizing that in his hometown, bicycles are just normal, everyday things:

"Our relationship to the bicycle in Copenhagen is much like the vacuum cleaner. We don't have five of them that we keep polished and well-oiled, there are no vacuum cleaner enthusiasts, we don't go to a specialty shop to buy one or wear special clothes while we vacuum. The bicycle and the vacuum cleaner are just tools. One of them we clean our homes with, the other we use to transport ourselves around the city."

Last night, the crowd heard loud and clear that in Copenhagen, there are no "cyclists", just people who ride bicycles everyday. Colville-Andersen calls them "citizen cyclists".

"A2Bism" in action.

When asked why they ride, Copenhagen residents overwhelmingly (56% in a recent survey) say because it's easy and fast. To Colville-Andersen, that backs up his first goal, a concept he calls, "A2Bism", which is simply a concept that if there is infrastructure in place that makes the bicycle the easiest and fastest tool to get from a to b, then a high rate of bicycle usage will follow.

"This is all people want. We're all homo-sapiens. It doesn't matter if we're on foot, on a bicycle or in a car, we just want to get there quick. We're rivers. We will find the quickest route."

To illustrate this point, he shared an anecdote. In the 1980s, when Copenhagen was experiencing a boom in bicycling, city officials worried that too many people were riding on the busy main streets. "They thought, we've got to stop that, it's not safe." Their solution was to direct bike traffic to the backstreet by building high-quality cycle tracks through neighborhoods.

The problem was that the neighborhood routes meant people had to ride 10-15 minutes out of their way to get from a to b. The result? No one used them. "It was a flop. So, the city shrugged and went, 'fine, we'll put them on the main streets'".

Mayor Adams and Colville-Andersen
took questions.

The lesson, says Colville-Andersen, is that planners should put bicycle infrastructure where people actually want to go, not where engineers think they should go.

Besides his popular blogs and films, Colville-Andersen owns a marketing firm that specializes in helping cities "Copenhagenize" themselves. He believes that more planners and advocates need to apply basic marketing principles to bicycling in order for it to appeal to the masses.

Colville-Andersen feels that "Bicycles are a multi-vitamin Viagra pill for the urban landscape." Unfortunately, he says, bicycles are too often marketed in a way that makes them seem "dangerous and sweaty". "These are not unique selling points that are going to get a lot of people to buy this product."

He pointed out beautiful vintage bicycle posters and reminded the crowd of how the industry used to sell the product. "It was one of the most brilliant periods in the history of marketing and people all over the world bought this product [bicycles] and used it."

In an anecdote to illustrate the positive impact bicycles have had on the world, Colville-Andersen shared a light-hearted story about how sociologists have found that bicycles have even improved the gene pool:

"The bicycle provided an explosion of mobility... Back in the day if you were a farmhand or a laborer, rural areas were spread out, you couldn't get to the next town, it was too far. Bicycles showed up and all the sudden you could look for dates in a larger radius. Your wife radius increased dramatically, so it actually improved the gene pool."

Colville-Andersen's second goal is to "always sell bicycles positively". He compared the marketing of bicycles to that of cars:

"You never hear them [car industry] talking negatively about their product at all. Never. They'll never tell you that driving is considered to be the most difficult task homo sapiens have had to master. This is actually true, hunting mammoths is nothing compared to driving a car. They'll never tell you that the level of dangerous hydorcarbon particles in the air are actually higher inside the car than if you ride a bike next to them... They never tell you your risk of head injury is higher in a car than on a bicycle and at no point have we ever seen the car industry promote motorist helmets."

A key to making cycling mainstream, according to Colville-Andersen, is to address the dangers of the automobile. He equated the car with a bull running around a china shop.

"Someone has let a sacred bull in society's China shop... We can all agree that there is a bull in the china shop, we can all be realistic and think the bull's not going anywhere (it's gotten too big to fit out the door now). So we bubble wrap all the pieces of expensive china and meanwhile the bull just knocked over eight shelves in aisle 9 and took a shit on the floor. It's strange, we've developed this fantastic capacity to completely and utterly ignore the bull."

Continuing with the bull/car comparison, he said that knowing that there's a bull in the china shop, people should do something to "limit its destructive capabilities" such as "castrate it to make it calmer, tie it down, or build a fence around it."

Colville-Andersen's third goal is to simply address "the bull", meaning, if cities really want to attain high levels of bicycle use, they must begin to acknowledge that the cars are causing havoc and their power and dominance on the urban landscape must be reigned in.

On a similar note, Colville-Andersen said he dreams about a day when cars have warning labels similar to those mandated on cigarette packages:

"Imagine if we woke up and all the cars had warning labels on 30% of their surface area [that's the law for cigs]. Imagine what would happen to the mindsets of our population. After two months you'd have people opening their garage, looking at the car, looking at the bike and saying, 'I'm not going to risk my life, I'm taking the bike'".

The role of the bicycling "subculture" was also addressed by Colville-Andersen. He feels that in order to "mainstream bicycling" it needs to be re-branded as a "normal, borderline boring transport option." To do this he feels like cities should "focus less on subcultures".

Colville-Andersen said Portland is already doing a lot of what he preaches. He gushed about our city via Twitter this morning and said that during our ride last night he "couldn't stop grinning." But even though he's impressed by what we're doing, he still says we have work to do.

In a Q&A that followed, Mapes asked Mayor Adams if it's realistic for Portland to reach Copenhagen levels of bicycling. Adams said yes. He pointed to PBOT's efforts to remove the "real and perceived fear of cars" by creating more separated facilities like the buffered lanes recently installed on Stark and Oak and the cycle track on Broadway.

Adams described the importance of making fully developed bike boulevards. "When they [people riding bicycles] can get on their bike and never have to put their foot down and not have to blow through stop signs...if we can do that we can get to Copenhagen's level of bicycling by 2030."

Colville-Andersen said last night that what took Copenhagen 30 years to achieve could be done today in 5-10 years. This is in part because all the (planning and engineering) mistakes have been made and the case for bicycling is stronger now than it has ever been. He also pointed out that to do that it will take "visionary political decision-making."

Portland is definitely on the right path. Our Bicycle Plan for 2030 is a map to help us reach our goals and there were a lot of PBOT staffers (and other policymakers) at that event last night who are surely still mulling over some of Colville-Andersen's insights.

-- See more photos of the event and a pre-event bike ride with Colville-Andersen in the gallery.

In light of Portland's ongoing love-affair with Copenhagen, and the fact that Mr. Bicycle Copenhagen is in town at this very moment (prepping for the big event tonight), I thought it'd be fun to take a look at the transportation legacy of our respective cities.

Portland, 1939

I've heard local planners discuss how Copenhagen really started their march toward being the world's top bicycle city after a fuel crisis in the 1970s (the idea being that, they're only a few decades ahead of us). Niels Jensen, senior traffic planner with the City of Copenhagen, reinforced that idea during a recent panel discussion in Portland when he credited citizen activism in the 1970s (a response, in part, to a post World War II car boom and resulting fuel crisis) for sparking a renewed commitment to bicycling by Copenhagen's politicians and roadway engineers (he also told us Copenhagen built their first cycle track over 100 years ago).

However, adding fuel to the idea that Portland and Copenhagen's transportation legacies are rooted in very different histories are two videos that have traveled widely around the web. The videos show how traffic looked in each of the cities in 1937 and 1939.

In the Copenhagen video from 1937, scores of people are seen riding bikes, in much the same way they do today. In the Portland video, shot in 1939, cars dominate.

The Portland video was dug up by local historian Dan Haneckow. (It's interesting to note that the videos are accompanied on his blog by artifacts from the Portland Traffic Safety Commission who warns people of the perils of traffic -- "Speed Kills!" is one of their mantras.)

Here's one of the Portland videos (shot at Sandy Blvd and SE 28th/33rd):

And here's the video from Copenhagen (evening bike rush hour begins at about 6:30 mark):

So, while Copenhagen did have a bike renaissance in the 1970s, they were able to draw on an old and rich legacy of biking to get the public support and political capital to do it (it was key, said Jensen of those protests in the 1970s, that many Copenhagen residents remembered how great biking was in their youth and they demanded a return to those days).

Portland can't draw on a similar legacy. Our decision makers and elected officials did not grow up riding a bike comfortably and efficiently around a city (rubbing shoulders with their well-dressed peers).

This isn't to say Portland will never make great leaps in bike mode share, but rather, we should keep the immense task of ahead of us in perspective. One thing's for sure, we'll never get there by dipping our toe in the water. It's either dive right in or get out of the pool.

-- Learn more about Copenhagen and how Portland does -- or doesn't -- stack up when Mayor Sam Adams and Copenhagen's Bicycle Ambassador Mikael Colville-Andersen take the stage tonight.

Andy Newlands, a pioneer of
Portland's framebuilding industry.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Portland's emergence as a hub of bike manufacturing seems new and shiny like the paint on the bikes at this week's upcoming Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show. But the area's provenance as a leading force in the bike business has its roots, just like the roots of the builders themselves, in its early pioneers.

No one understands this better than Andy Newlands of Terra Nova Cycles (a.k.a. Strawberry Cyclesport). He started building bikes when leather was the preferred material for helmets. I talked with Newlands recently about those early years.

"I graduated from the University of Washington with a Civil Engineering degree in 1970," he explained. "It wasn't exactly the best economy for finding a job in Seattle, so I started looking at what I might do to earn a living. Somehow, building bikes came into view."

It wasn't that transcendental. Newlands raced and followed racing. He came back to his home in Portland after graduation and, like many locals, was a customer at Kissler's Cyclery. There, the legendary Frans Pauwels inspired a generation of riders.

"When I think about the bike business, I think about Frans," Newlands said. "He really got us excited about riding bikes, about racing, about what you could do on a bike. Of course, he was competitive, too, and he showed us what it was like to be dropped on a ride. There were few that could hold his wheel for very long."

Frans Pauwels was an important figure
in Portland's early racing and industry.
(Photo: Washington County Bicycle Transportation Coalition)

That sort of competitive drive and perseverance are as important today for the area's bike businesses as they were in Pauwels' day. His successful career in professional racing ended when he brought his wife and three children to Portland in 1953 from their native Holland. Ironically, his first job was pumping gas, not pumping the pedals.

It wasn't long before he took a job at Kissler's and eventually bought the shop. For Newlands and others like him, it was a shrine to European racing, and, more importantly European bicycles.

"Back then, seeing Peugeots and Raleighs inspired those of us who had seen racing bikes only on posters," Newlands said. "But, when I started building bikes, or wanting to build bikes, you couldn't even find the parts."

He did get some help after writing to an English manufacturer in the summer of 1971. Newlands proudly displays in his home a letter from G. V. Donovan, executive director of Carlton Cycle Works, Nottinghamshire, England. It provided some bare bones advice about how to get started. Much of it was humorous, but it also warned, "In all seriousness, custom frame building is not easy and you will need luck; I hope you get it."

Newlands needed luck but he also needed tools and materials. That same letter provided valuable information about where and how to source those. What he did have was a partner, another local legend, Mark DiNucci (profiled recently in the Portland Mercury).

He and DiNucci started building bikes together that same year. Their shop was located across the street from the building now occupied by River City Bicycles.

"I mitered and cut the tubes and Mark would braze them," Newlands explained. "It was on the job training, but we produced some good bikes."

DiNucci left in 1975 and went on to a career in the bicycle business with Specialized and Sapa Profiles of Portland. Newlands stuck with the custom bike building, but also explored another aspect of the business: tools. Today, Newlands says more than half his business comes from his custom-built tools, made for everything from bottom bracket facing to metal cutting.

To prove that custom frame building is not easy, Newlands has also gone back to his own roots as an engineer, at times, to lend his expertise to another form of transportation, light rail. He pointed to the West Hills from his booth at the Goose Hollow Inn.

The crowd at the 2007 OBCA show.

"In the 90's, I put my degree to use to help with the design, then construction of the West Side Light Rail Line," he said. "I worked on the tunnel by day, but I kept the bike building going at night, in the basement."

By the 1990s, custom frame building was no longer an esoteric or isolated craft. Bill Davidson and Richard Sachs in Seattle, Ben Serotta in the Saratoga, New York and a host of other large and small builders were plying their craft. As growth continued and began to take off, it wasn't long before frame building would be one contributor to an industry that would be taken seriously in Portland. According to Alta Planning and Design's 2008 update to their original 2006 study, the Portland economy gets $90 million in direct economic value from bicycle shops, builders, accessory makers and services.

And, with that growth and its impact on the local economy came nudges and advice to put a trade association together.

Newlands heeded that advice and the Oregon Bicycle Constructors Association (OBCA) was born in 2006.

"We looked at the Oregon Brewers Guild as a model," Newlands said. "We got together a notoriously independent group of builders to provide mutual benefits and raise the bar for all of us."

Newlands, a founder of the OBCA and currently a director, pointed to the types of association or guild services that may help set Oregon builders apart. One example would be frame and fork testing along the lines of the European CEN standards.

"Quality standards could be something we make available to members either through outsourcing to existing labs or, possibly, in our own lab," Newlands speculated. "Testing is familiar to me as an engineer, but it's not something that custom frame builders have had much exposure to. However, it could be something that helps set OBCA members apart."

For the builder, though, the toughest part of the trade may have nothing to do with torches or cutting tools.

Ben Farver of Argonaut Cycles, who shares shop space with Newlands, said making frames can be relatively easy, but creating a sustainable business model is not.

Ben Farver

"I came to bike building from a degree in history, but with an individual aesthetic about the artisanal craft," he said. "I like to make bikes that are cohesive and highly personal. But the tough part of the trade is finance and marketing."

Newlands agreed with his young shopmate's assessment and pointed to the OBCA as one source where builders might find help with those issues. He said the successful 2007 Handmade Bicycle Show was an example.

"We had 27 builders exhibiting their bikes and more than 2,000 people saw them," he explained. "That's the kind of exposure that can bring awareness to new and experienced builders alike."

That show represented frame builders, but next weekend's event, like the OBCA itself, has expanded to include frame builders, the United Bicycle Institute, accessory and component manufacturers, apparel makers, and even everyday enthusiasts.

Newlands is excited about this weekend's show. The number of vendors with displays has increased more than 30% and he hopes for a similar increase in attendance.

There are 37 frame builders and associated businesses confirmed for the Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show. It's open to the public Saturday from 9:00 to 6:00. Admission is $8 and includes a pint glass or water bottle (while supplies last). After the show there's a Halloween costume party with live music from Chervona from 8:00 to midnight. The show continues on Sunday. Full details at OregonFramebuilders.org.

-- Special thanks to Kelley Dodd for her help researching this story.

The event, Bicycle Culture from Copenhagen to Portland, is part of the Oregon Manifest and it will also serve as a reception for the Dreams on Wheels exhibit currently on display at the Oregon Manifest Bike Union (NW Hoyt and 10th).

Here's a snip from the event description:

"Colville-Andersen’s talk will explore Copenhagen’s journey toward establishing the bicycle as a feasible, acceptable form of transport, as well as touch on the importance of marketing bicycle culture to the average citizen.

He explains how the 500,000 people on bicycles each day in Copenhagen are not "cyclists," nor are they
"environmentalists;" they merely choose to ride because of an existing safe, quick infrastructure. 30 years of traffic and urban planning have transitioned the bicycle from an instrument of sporting equipment to a democratic tool that has liberated the people of Copenhagen from cars, and created the foundation for one of the world’s most liveable cities."

For his part, Mayor Adams will share Portland's story, framed in the new Bicycle Master Plan, which aims to create Copenhagen right here in Stumptown.

The event will be moderated by Jeff Mapes, the author of Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists are Changing American Cities (Oregon State University Press, 2008). Mapes traveled the world (including Copenhagen) to research his book and that perspective will allow him to tie everything together.

Portland, whose love affair with Copenhagen is well-documented, has been getting a lot of advice from Copenhagen lately, and this evening should reveal even more insights into whether or not we're truly on the path to "world-class" or if we'll just remain the best of the worst.

Bicycle Culture from Copenhagen to Portland
Oregon Manifest Bike Union (539 NW 10th at Hoyt)
Thursday, October 29th, 7:00pm
Tickets are $10* and are available online or at the door
*Complimentary Hopworks ale and and an hors d’oeuvre

United Bicycle Institute (UBI) is all moved into their new satellite campus in North Portland (they also have a campus in Ashland) and this Saturday they'll throw the doors open and welcome the community with an Open House event.

According to UBI's John Baxter, the school -- which has taught over 12,000 students from 50 states and over 40 countries -- taught their first session back on September 28th. UBI is a state licensed vocational school that teaches courses in bike repair, shop operation and framebuilding.

The open house is a part of the six-week Oregon Manifest and is slated to include facility tours, a garage sale, and a custom bike raffle. Manifest organizers say UBI will raffle off (via $10 tickets) two bike frames (one of them will feature Shimano components, a Chris King headset, and a paint job from Coat) made by UBI instructors and the proceeds will benefit the Community Cycling Center's Holiday Bike Drive.

Let's give UBI and nice, warm, hearty Portland welcome!

United Bicycle Institute Open House + Custom Frame Raffle
At UBI HQ (3961 N Williams Ave)
Saturday, 10/24 from 10AM to 5PM

The six-week Oregon Manifest has showcased handmade bicycles, bike fashion, art, and more. On Sunday, the headline act is family biking.

Families are the new fixed gears. Don't believe me? Consider this: The number of families out on the bikeways grows by leaps and bounds each year; new products to service the growing niche are coming out all the time; and it's becoming the thing all the cool families do.

The Xtracycle is a very popular option.

But there are still many moms and dads who are yet to take the plunge. Not only are safety concerns more acute for some folks when kids are in the equation, but there are a lot of bike configurations and product questions that come up.

Thankfully, the folks at Oregon Manifest have made this Sunday (10/25) Family Bicycle Transportation Day. Sponsored by Metro's Drive Less. Save More. campaign, the event will feature a "huge selection" of family bike products that will be free to demo all in a "fun atmosphere" and all in one place. Here's more from the event description:

"We’ll have many easy and flexible options on hand, including bakfietsen, cargo bikes, trail-a-bikes, front-loading child seat options, bike trailers, tandems, electric-pedal assist electric-assisted bikes, helpful accessories and more."

There will also be information and resources on everything from safe routes to school (and work), tips on riding with kids, bike maintenance, and a prize raffle with proceeds to benefit the Community Cycling Center's upcoming Holiday Bike Drive thrown in for good measure.

Here's a list of exhibitors signed up so far:

Bike Gallery
Blue Moon Bakery
Clever Cycles
Co-Motion Cycles
Community Cycling Center 
Company Tonight Catering
Joe Bike
Metro - Drive Less Save More
Metrofiets Custom Cargo Bikes
Northwest Federal Credit Union 
OHSU Think First - Nutcase Helmet Fittings
Pedal Bike Tours
Portland Bureau of Transportation
RAD Innovations, LLC - Kid’s tandem
Taco Del Mar
Wells Fargo

It all happens this Sunday at the Oregon Manifest Bike Union (539 NW 10th at Hoyt)

The product demo and info-sharing portion of the event goes from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm and will be followed by a Family Transportation Solutions Workshop from 4:00 to 7:00. The workshop requires an RSVP and spaces are still left. We've posted more information on the workshop here.

Attention Parents, Caregivers and anyone who wants to use their bicycle for hauling!

Bicycle industry, advocates and city planners want to hear from you.

Share your feedback, thoughts and ideas on products designed for bicycle riding with small children and hauling cargo. The workshop is a call for solutions to overcoming product, social and community barriers.

The Solutions workshop is a pre-registered, facilitated event. The goal of the workshop is to provide bicycle organizations and industry with a report on the needs of biking families.

To register please send an email to rsvp@oregonmanifest.com

Family Bicycle Transportation Day
Sunday, October 25th, 2009
Oregon Manifest Bike Union
NW Hoyt and 10th Ave
Solutions Workshop: 4:00 - 7:00

Former professional road racer Joe Parkin, who spent a decade competing in Europe back in the 1980s, will headline an event tomorrow night as part of the ongoing Oregon Manifest.

Parkin was one of the first U.S. racers to compete in Belgium and he's written about his experiences in a memoir titled, A Dog in a Hat: An American Bike Racer's Story of Mud, Drugs, Blood, Betrayal, and Beauty in Belgium.

Organizers of tomorrow night's event, which is being billed as "Wafels en Wielrennen" (Waffles and Bike Racing in Flemish), say we can expect, "some mesmerizing stories, astonishing anecdotes, and Radical Flemish". If Parkin's Six Years in a Rain Cape blog is any indication, we won't be disappointed.

A young Parkin and his "rad hair".

For example, Parkin got an email from a reader about helmets. Here's how the Q&A went down:

Joe, you raced and trained in the days before widespread helmet usage. I have cracked a couple of helmets and know half a dozen people who would be permanently injured if they had not been wearing helmets when they crashed. What was different then? Why aren’t there more messed up old bike racers?

Sean, this quite possibly might be the silliest question yet. The answer, obviously, is that we didn't have to wear helmets and none of us are messed up because we were just so much cooler than the riders now. Plus, we all had rad hair and you just have to let that stuff fly. We were also, generally, super-stylish so we were careful never to tip over on our bikes or let the hair touch the ground because we needed to look good for the drive home.

[Read the full answer here.]

The Parkin event is presented by Castelli US, the Italian-born high-performance bike clothing maker with its US headquarters in Portland. If you arrive early, you can check out their display of old bike racing apparel and memorabilia, which includes what they claim to be "the world’s first pair of bib shorts".

Wafels en Wielrennen (Waffles and Bike Racing)
A Night With Joe Parkin by Castelli US
7PM to 10PM
Oregon Manifest Bike Union (539 NW 10th at Hoyt)

This Thursday, several bike companies based in southeast Portland will host a showing of Brian Vernor's film We Just Work Here as part of the Oregon Manifest.

Portland Design Works, Ruckus Components, Showers Pass, and Tonic Fabrication will host the event which will also be a benefit for the Oregon Food Bank.

Dan Powell from Portland Design Works says they hope the event showcases the "spirit of bicycle entrepreneurship" that is alive and well in Portland. "As companies that contribute to the thriving cycling industry here in Portland, we hope to bring together a group of like minded people to share in a fun evening of local community and bicycle celebration."

We Just Work Here is a film about California-based bike maker, Santa Cruz Bicycles. It chronicles the company's "culture of riding and disparate talents of the employees."

In addition to a night of talking bikes, raising money (and food) for a great cause, and drinking fine local beer, there will also be a sneak preview of Vernor's new cyclocross film (which will debut this December in Bend during the Cyclocross National Championships).

Check out a trailer of the film below.

We Just Work Here Film Screening and Social Night
Green Dragon (928 SE 9th Street)
Doors open at 6:30PM, 8PM Film
Donations of non-perishable food donations for a local food bank are requested