Retail price is $1599.
(Photos: Joe Doebele)
Check out the latest rig from Joe Doebele’s Joe Bike shop on SE Hawthorne.
to a Dutch-style kid carrier
with a wooden box.
The “Joe Bike” starts as one of Doebele’s Chinese-made box bikes (similar to bakfiets from Holland) that he’s been important and selling in Portland since December of last year. He then gives it a complete, ground-up overhaul and gives it a custom parts spec to come up with a cargo bike that retails for $1599.
According to Doebele, the bike can change into three configurations (with the upper shelf and without, and with the traditional wooden box) without tools. A fourth attachment, which Doebele describes as “tandem-style seating for two kids or one adult” will be available soon.
Doebele commissioned local bike builder Bill Stites to modify the frame and to design the unique upper rack, lower platform, and upcoming tandem passenger attachment.
Doebele says at $1599 he makes less per bike than simply selling his stock, “Flying Pigeon” brand Chinese-made version, “but the innovation is enjoyable,” he said.
The bike’s frame comes from China, but Doebele has added several modifications from Stites (using steel from the U.S.) and he has tried to build it with as many locally made products as possible. The brake pads are from Lake Oswego-based Kool Stop and the bike comes with a full complement of accessories from Portland Design Works (based here, made in Taiwan).
If you’re going to the BTA’s Alice Awards event tomorrow, you’ll get to see the bike up close — it’s part of the silent auction.
— More photos and info at Joe-Bike.com