Ready for the job. Without a big truck (he uses a cargo bike and a large trailer), Chris Sanderson is finding a niche with his construction business.
(Photo: Courtesy Chris Sanderson)

Chris Sanderson, the man behind new bike-based business 'Builder by Bike', is a licensed general contractor who wants to show it's possible to be a home remodeler, deck builder, and painter, without owning a big truck. (more...)

SoupCycle Founder and CEO Jed Lazar pedals in downtown Portland. He estimates he's made about 15,000 of the company's 50,00 deliveries since July 2008.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Sometime this week, locally based SoupCycle will make its 50,000th delivery. It's a milestone that company founder Jed Lazar says "feels incredible and unreal." (more...)

Joel Sheley of Spoketown Cargo secures a load on his delivery bike.

Joel Sheley is the latest Portlander to be swept up in the local bike business wave. Sheley has launched Spoketown Cargo with hopes of building a business delivering goods by bike.

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Voodoo's Kenneth "Cat Daddy" Pogson gives the new trike a try in front of his Old Town location.
(Photos: Ryan Hashagen)

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Joshua de Parrie is ready to fix your plumbing.

Joshua de Parrie is The Bicycle Plumber. Fresh out of a four-year apprenticeship to get his professional plumbing contractor license, the 38 year old native of Southeast Portland is already completing jobs around town, using a Kona Ute longtail bike, a cargo trailer and his own power to cart around tools and supplies.

de Parrie told me this morning that he's "never really been that into cars" and that he didn't get his driver's license until he was in his mid-20s. He started his business, St. Francis Plumbing, about two months ago and — while he has a truck that he'll use if he has to — he's tailored the geographic range of his clients and the scope of his jobs based on what he can carry by bike. (more...)

The Zine Trike, ready to roll. (Photo © Elly Blue)

Among many exciting new crafts and crafters debuting at BikeCraft tomorrow is a new offering from a familiar company.

The Zine Trike is the newest addition to the fleet of local bookseller and publisher Microcosm Publishing. (more...)

The Portland Free Store
at SE 11th & Clay
(Photos © Elly Blue)

There's yet another new bike-based business in town -- the difference is that at this store, everything is free.

The Portland Free Store is, according to its website, "basically a second-hand store, except that everything is free." People can drop off donations at the recommissioned school bus that houses the store at SE 11th and Clay during its open hours -- currently 11am - 7pm, Monday to Friday -- or a bike messenger will come and do a pick up. (more...)

Phillip Ross of Metrofiets rolls out the new Hopworks party bike, complete with wood bar, kegs on tap, pizza rack, sound system, and mountains of mojo.
(Photos © Elly Blue)

I just witnessed the unveiling of something truly in the Portland spirit: A locally built cargo bike that holds two kegs below an inlaid wood bar. A rear rack is built to hold a stack of pizzas; below that a wood-paneled pannier is in fact a compact sound system.

It's made in Portland. And it's beautiful. (more...)

Editor's note: Please welcome new BikePortland news intern Michelle Lopez. This is her first story for us -- thanks, Michelle!

Café Vélo serving hot and cold drinks at Sunday Parkways in North Portland this June.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Northeast Portlander Rick Wilson, a former chef with a love for Dutch cargo bikes (bakfietsen), had long fantasized about ways to combine his two passions. (more...)

The Bicycle Business League delivered free ice cream treats to the PBOT road crew installing the new cycletrack on SW Broadway on Tuesday. (Photo by Flickr user Portland Pedalworks in the BikePortland Photographers photo pool)

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Jennifer Dederich of Portland Pedal Power, a co-operative delivery and promotional services company.
(Photos © J. Maus)

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Trailhead's delivery truck.
(Photos © Dan Liu)

Few are the passions can match the fervor of bike geeks, but the achievement of the quintessential espresso has driven coffee innovators since the death of the penny-farthing gave way to to the modern bicycle.

Portlander Charlie Wicker, owner and operator of Trailhead Coffee Roasters, has found a way to combine both of those passions into a solid local business.
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B-Line co-owner Kathryn Racine-Jones astride one of her company's delivery vehicles.
(Photos © J. Maus)

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Jude Kirstein in the Epic Wheelworks shop.
(Photos © Elly Blue)

Jude Kirstein was bike touring with friends in the Patagonian Andes and realized after climbing all those mountains that, "there's nothing you can't do -- so you might as well go for the gold."

After that trip, Kirstein returned to Oregon and earned a wheelbuilding certificate from the United Bicycle Institute in Ashland. Two weeks ago she fulfilled a long-held dream by opening up shop as a custom wheelbuilder here in Portland under the name Epic Wheel Works. (more...)

Remember the story we published back in November about UPS hiring bike delivery riders in the Oregon area?

Since then, the riders have undergone training and now they're out on the road helping UPS keep up with holiday shipping.

Paul Lopez of PacificPedaling.com caught up with one of the riders, Tina Brubaker. Here's a great video he shot of her in action on her route in the Salem/Keizer area: (more...)

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Mr. SoupCycle, Jed Lazar.
(Photos courtesy Jed Lazar)

Who would have thought that in this down economy, a local business that delivers soup by bicycle would flourish?

That seems to be the case with SoupCycle. Launched back in August, the Southeast-Portland based company started by Jed Lazar now boasts 100 weekly soupscribers. Lazar is so busy he recently took out a job listing on BikePortland (for a "Bicycle Delivery Souper Hero" -- get it?).

I checked in with Lazar a few days ago and he told me that, "Things are going well and the business is keeping us busy". He also added that 100 deliveries is "nearly insane for me to deliver myself." He makes the deliveries all over Southeast Portland (a place he calls Souplandistan) from SE Powell to I-84 and from I-405 in Northwest Portland to SE 39th. (more...)

Andrew Berube of iCycle Delivery.
(Photo courtesy Andrew Berube)

There's a new bicycle delivery service in town that serves inner southeast Portland.

The company is iCycle Delivery and it was started two weeks ago by 28-year-old Andrew Berube. Berube's delivery area is bordered on the west by MLK Blvd., on the east by SE 39th, and goes north to Burnside and south to SE Powell.

Berube said he's always wanted to make a living riding his bike. He told me today that he quit a job remodeling houses because, "I got tired of swinging a hammer and wanted to do something I love."
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