Tomorrow I plan to post about the results of the City of Portland’s bicycle industry economic impact survey. In light of that I thought I’d share a couple of local bike industry stories that have been piling up on my desk:
Showers Pass gets “Best Gear” award
Outside Magazine has named the Showers Pass Elite Jacket among it’s best cycling gear of the year.
Showers Pass is located in Beaverton, (five miles Southwest of Portland) and has quickly gained a strong following for their wet weather gear. It’s good quality stuff and you can find it locally at Bike Gallery, TeamEstrogen.com (women’s) and VeloClothes.com.
Yakima CEO moves on
The June 15th issue of Bicycle Retailer & Industry News magazine (BR&IN) reports that Jim Clark, founder and CEO of Beaverton based Yakima is leaving the company. Yakima recently moved from Arcata, California, to Beaverton, just a few miles west of downtown Portland.
Castelli gets back on track
Castelli is a high-end cycling apparel maker who moved into downtown Portland last November. The boss of the company, former Nike exec. Greg Cowan, came in to turn the company around. According to the May 15th issue of Bicycle Retailer & Industry News magazine, Castelli had:
“lost some of its sting (the logo is a scorpion) in recent years…and some retailers were dropping the line because of delivery and price point issues.”
Cowan told BR&IN that he has increased the company’s sales force, expanded the product line and is working on some sourcing issues to bring the price down.
VP leaves King Cycle Group
King Cycle Group (maker of Chris King Components) lost their long time vice president, Matt O’Rourke. He had been with the company seven years and had gone through two moves with the company (from Santa Barbara, CA to Redding CA and then to Portland). Here’s a quote from O’Rourke that was printed in the April 1 issue of Bicycle Retailer Magazine:
“I’ve been with Chris King for seven years and for seven years I haven’t had a girlfriend. I’d say I need to step back and take some time off.”
I ran into Matt on Alberta Street a few weeks ago and he said he was very satisfied with the job he did in setting up the company in Portland,
“We’ve got the best staff we’ve ever had…some seriously smart and professional people. Chris King is in very good hands.”
Right now he’s in Asia, checking out some bike manufacturing facilities in Taiwan (one of Matt’s pet issues is the lack of environmentally friendly manufacturing in the bike industry).
King Cycle Group is located in Portland’s Northwest industrial area.
Now stay tuned for a closer look at Portland’s bicycle industry when the economic survey is unveiled tomorrow…