Oregon Business Journal
The Portland (and Oregon-wide) bike industry is the cover story in the January 2009 issue of Oregon Business magazine. Titled, The Bicycle Industrial Complex: Bike Madness Fuels $150 Million Industry, the lengthy story touches on many facets of Portland’s bike scene to paint a picture of how growing numbers of bikers are helping create a healthy niche economy.
Here’s a snip from one of the opening paragraphs:
The market for anything connected to bicycles in Portland runs rich and deep, and entrepreneurs are sprinting to create new ways to tap into it. About 50 new bike-related businesses have sprung up over the past two years here, and while some are destined to remain forever fringe if they survive the downturn at all, others have tremendous potential.
Written by Ben Jacklet, the piece describes our region’s bike economy as “yet another Oregon niche industry with a dreamy upside, in the tradition of solar power, craft brewing and organic farming.”
“…while the ongoing collapse of the nation’s auto industry is delivering a painful blow to the U.S. economy, it’s not hurting the outlook for Oregon’s bicycle industrial complex.”
— Journalist Ben Jacklet in Oregon Business magazine
Among the companies and organizations mentioned in the article are Clever Cycles, Nutcase Helmets, Sweetpea Bicycles, BikePortland.org, Chris King Precision Components, Alta Planning + Design and Cycle Oregon.
Cycle Oregon ride director and bike industry veteran Jerry Norquist is quoted in the story. He tells Jacklet that he’d like to see the industry in Portland “get to the next level”. Norquist admits that attracting a “top-tier” manufacturer like Trek to Oregon would a “long shot”, but then adds,
“At the same time, the next Trek is out there, and we have a good opportunity to attract the next big thing, with all that’s going on in Portland and in Oregon.”
Check out the full article at OregonBusiness.com.