Not sure why, but I’ve been getting a lot of interesting photos via reader emails lately. I shared a few last week, and who can forget the “don’t share the road” license plate? (Incidentally, the owner of that plate has gotten in touch with me wants to chat more about it).
So here goes, three more photos that give a glimpse into biking’s place in Portland.
The first one came to us via JJ Heldmann’s Twitter feed. It’s a specially crafted latte by the folks at St. Honore Bakery in Lake Oswego…
The photo below was sent in by Brian E. He spotted a tandem for sale at the Fred Meyer on Lombard. Just $250!
And finally, something that I’m not too happy to see. Check out the photo below of a vandalized sharrow in Northeast Portland (at NE Tillamook and 61st)…
Thanks for all the emails. If you see something interesting out there, send it in and we’ll include it in a future roundup.
Thanks for reading.
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I’m impressed by the quality of the sharrow vandalism.
Shoddy effort, cheap spray paint, bad color choice: all so that the vandal could have the warm fuzzy feeling of expressing their anti-cycle position.
Even if no one intentionally removes it the vandalism itself is barely visible and will wear off quickly.
Should have used whipped cream, it would have lasted longer.
The megapixel is mightier than the rattlecan.
Sorry to spook you with the shot, that’s just the way we roll up on the ridge.
2 out of 3 of those things make me cringe, but the other is so beautiful that I don’t even care!
awesome latte… too bad I don’t drink them…
scary thought putting 2 people on a Freddy’s tandem bike… but anything to help the unwashed masses get out into the streets on a bike is a good thing…
it would be so easy to turn that shoddy “NO” symbol over the sharrow into a peace sign…
The sharrow vandalism leaves me all confused in that I’m wondering if there is an official design standard somewhere as to which direction the line through the circle is supposed to run?
Does it go top-left to bottom-right, or does it go bottom-left to top right? On “no parking” signs it is the former, but on the “Ghostbusters” logo it is the latter. Argh, a dilemma!
I saw that $250 tandem at Freddy’s and almost bought it. You know when I look at the bike stores most of what I see is cheap Chinese junk and this didn’t look that much different to be perfectly frank.
I see $500 mixtes at Portland’s best bike shops that look like they were painted with spray cans and welded in someone’s garage.
I wouldn’t ride it on a coast tour or anything but I would ride it to the brew pub and back.
Why were the details removed?
My newsreader shows this was at some point pulled out:
“The email came from an AT&T mobile phone and the message “How we roll on Klickitat (and 61st).”
I’m eager to hear the results of the conversation with the “don’t share the road” driver. My guess is that he will be miffed that you posted his car license plate.
My interpretation of the sharrow vandalism is that someone felt the sharrow should actually be a bicycle relief on top of a much larger painted white circle.
Or a happy face!
http://www.boomhower.com/no_happy.jpg
Not that I would endorse further vandalism…
Bob_M,
actually, he was fine with me posting his license plate. said he respects my site/work and looks forward to talking about the issues more. stay tuned.
#12
Is that a vote for “decreasing the surplus population”?
You shouldn’t advertise that tandem, some Hoodbomber will use it because of the price and end up with a heli ride.
Also way too much attention to the vandal.
The tandem occasionally goes on sale at Amazon for $199 shipped. It’s made of Hi-Ten steel(a tiny step above gas pipe) and actually uses a proper eccentric bottom bracket at the front instead of a cheaper synch chain. Good beginner tandem that comes equipped with Shimano Tourney deraillers and V-brakes. Tandems are really stable due to the long ass wheelbase.
@ Paul Johnson #12 and q’Tzal #13:
HTF can you think statements like that are acceptable, while simultaneously being outraged at motorists who joke about running over bicyclists?
What’s even worse about that ‘sharrow bomb’ is how badly done it is. The message that the license plate dude threw out was pretty dumb in suggesting that we should ride on the sidewalk which is really dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists, and even cars. But at least he took the time to make his completely misguided message look good. This one, the circle is all flat on the bottom and the paint is thin and not consistent. Cmon, seriously.
“…scary thought putting 2 people on a Freddy’s tandem bike… but anything to help the unwashed masses get out into the streets on a bike is a good thing…”
*****************
Statements like this (and their accompanying attitudes) from within the bikey crowd are EXACTLY why lower-income folks don’t feel welcomed into Portland’s bike culture.
“unwashed masses” ??!!
Seriously?!?
Come ON.
..::shakes head::..
#3
“2 out of 3 of those things make me cringe, but the other is so beautiful that I don’t even care!”
Actually, I think the $250 tandem is more beautiful and useful than a fancy latte…but just barely
Love the latte!
Elliot #16
ARRGGH!! YOU GOT ME!
Your shot across the bow has mortally wounded Paul Johnson and myself!
You have revealed me as the hypocrite I am.
Or, perhaps, sarcasm is lost on the interwebs.
At the very least you could try to read my reply to Paul Johnson before you fly off on the handle like the sort of person you are accusing US of being.
Elliot #16
PS: if you are going to embed a random link you could at least try to Rick Roll me.
I saw the tandem out at Freddy’s in Beaverton and wondered what kind of quality could possibly be had in a tandem at that price. Thanks for the mini-review trail user #15. I believe Fred’s also sells the standard Schwinn tandem…can’t recall the price. People do like riding them.
Eliot #16…good point! You too, beth h #18. Maybe the comments mentioned were just joking references, but they’re the type that are easily misinterpreted on a public weblog as opposed to a private email exchange.
NE 61st and Klickitat is “outer Northeast”??
Maybe a renegade response sharrow is in order?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unifixation/4877898234/
I love St. Honore Bakery. That is so cool! I hope they can do that on demand.
I’ve seen the sharrows pointing towards “BEER” in SE and, just the other day, road over another one that was decorated with little red ornate squigglies. I’ll have to see if I can find it again to take a picture. It was in inner SE heading East.
beth h: sad fact of the matter is that many bike folk want to keep cycling “cool” and therefore don’t want the Average Joe to ride a bike. This and the negative attitude directed at everyone who drives a car makes cycling very unappetizing to non-cyclists.
“Friends don’t let friends ride Huffys.”
-cool bike shop sticker-
BUT…
No Bike = Hopelessness.
Any Bike = Hope.
A $250 tandem is possible (incl. shipping 10000 miles) by employing near-slave labor. Not sure I’d want to ride one of those down ANY hill, anyway. But hey, some poor sap in a dismal Chinese gulag factory has a job, sort of. Too bad so many of us don’t. Shame on Fred Myers, and anyone who buys those disposable things. On top of all that, one should run a geiger-counter over them, it’s probably how depleted uranium gets used up and shipped out of their country. Not really joking……
Or perhaps the sharrow vandalizer was protesting for a bike lane and not a shared lane?
I would like a chance to talk with the dont share the road driver. I dont like it when people like this drive close to me on purpose. Most bike riders follow the rules and most jerks in BMWs do not. I understand his frustration, I also do not like the arrogant God like bikers, you know the type that ride 2 or 3 abreast on corners, but to take it out on the rest of us with possible injury or death from a car is wrong.
what? I can’t say that cheap bikes are good for cheap people? drat, I’m failing to see my attitude…
so we don’t want the unwashed masses on bikes?
wait, I think I’m confused…
Can’t wait to hear what’s up with
with “Mr. don’t share the road” BMW.
I wouldn’t think he’d be a big Portland bike.org reader .
That last photo is cowardly yet a bit creepy. Difficult to discern anything from the shadow of the person who took it (bottom right corner).
Jonathan, will you be reporting on your discussion with the owner of the license plate? I’m curious to hear what he’s trying to accomplish.
Update on BMW “Don’t share the road” license plate guy…. Yes I will report on our meeting. Folks, he’s just a regular person with a certain viewpoint and feelings about people who ride bikes. Ever seen a “One less car” or other anti-car sticker around town? I have. It’s really sort of the same thing when you think about it.
I think the latte photo is from Leslie Carlson.
love the latte.
I agree with #14 that this appears to be a perfectly decent beginner tandem. In fact, for that price I’d consider buying it as a beater around-town machine if I were in the market for it. Seems like bike folks only bash on Chinese made stuff when it’s *INEXPENSIVE* and “beneath them.” How many of the bikes ridden by BP members were actually made in the USA? GMAFB.
Jonathan (#35), I don’t think this guy’s “don’t share the road” plate is analogous to a “one less car” sticker. If I have a “one less car” sticker on my bike, I’m showing what *I* am doing to reduce congestion and pollution. I’m NOT encouraging dangerous behavior or telling anyone else to do.
This guy is doing both:
1. By saying “don’t share the road”, he’s encouraging other motorists to endanger bicyclists.
2. By arguing that we use the sidewalk, he’s encouraging dangerous behavior.
3. he is challenging our right to use the road. I take such challenges extremely seriously. Yesterday, for the first time in a couple of years I got in an argument with a motorist who challenged my use of the road. I am presently NOT in a good mood about this. We must not take our right to the road for granted! There are still plenty of people who would like it revoked.
I got that tandem with SRAM twist-grip shifters just recently. The wheels needed some serious truing and spent a while adjusting the brakes. Now the bike is solid with some Marathon tires and swapped out pedals (SPDs for me, clips and straps for my little stoker/passenger). It weighs about 60lbs.
Very fun to ride with my 7 year old. Low enough gears to get up the steep stuff and very stable downhill.
Made it just fine up through Riverview Cemetery to Council Crest Park last weekend and bombed down Broadway into downtown. It’s been ridden up and down Powell Butte, Mt Tabor. Very good value bike.
“Update on BMW “Don’t share the road” license plate guy…. … Ever seen a “One less car” or other anti-car sticker around town? I have. It’s really sort of the same thing when you think about it. …” maus
Those two messages are sort of the same thing? Guess I’m not sure what maus means. Is the “One less car” sticker supposed to imply that a bike on the road takes up a space that a car could be occupying? That’s not how I’ve ever interpreted this particular message; to me, it’s always meant that the person riding the bike has made the personal effort not to add a space consuming, polluting car they would otherwise be operating to the volume of vehicles on the road.
What might this bmw driver with the “Don’t share the road” sticker on his car have said that would bring maus to hint in advance of publishing a story about the talk between himself and the driver, that the driver is “…just a regular person with a certain viewpoint and feelings about people who ride bikes. …”?
I’m ready to hear what this regular person has to say, but considering the message his sticker generally is likely to suggest, it’s hard to anticipate much in the way of consideration and cooperation from this person.
“Don’t share the road”: That message seems to imply, ‘Don’t let a bike take up space on the road that a car could be occupying’. Or ‘Keep the bikes herded to the far right side of the road or the bike lanes, even if they’re not kept clean…where all the crappy glass shards and other hazards are’.
I hope the bmw driver thought about some of those things before he messed up a nice bmw with a sticker like that.
Jonathan (#36) – Some of the comments are valid criticism. “One Less Car” is not the same as “Cars – get off my local streets and use the freeways where you belong”. He might be a perfectly reasonable person but he’s making an unreasonable request. Even setting aside the fact that we have a right to use the roadway, there are plenty of streets in Portland and other places that have NO sidewalks. What does he expect in that case? (and I eagerly await to see if that question was in the interview)
BTW, if I wanted to make fun of local bike culture while driving my car, I think my bumper sticker would say “One Leased Car”.
I’m sure that would be too obscure for most, but it’s a really bad pun, so I’d enjoy it even if no one else did.
i obviously understand that “one less car” sticker is not the same as this license plate. my only point was to remind folks that the person behind this license plate might not be some big hairy monster… it might be just someone who has a much different perspective on transportation that I/we do.
it’s just a license plate. thankfully this guy wants to chat, so hopefully it will be a worthwhile discussion.
That photo reminds me…my buddy has a Schwinn Twin that I’d love to borrow for awhile. Just have to figure out how to get it into town without riding it over the West Hills.
I used to drive a BMW…its hard to go slow in those things. Here’s my response…I can be in my Subaru in front of you, taking it easy, or I can be on my bike in the bikelane along side. Take your pick. BMW drivers should be pushing for more bikes and fewer Subarus! And if they would drive the speed limit, I would always put my foot down at stop signs…not much chance of either.
Fred Meyer’s tandem fo’ 250? Yeah, right. Now go add $55 for professional assembly. Doh…300 ain’t dat bad fo’ tandem!
@beth h,
Thanks for posting my same thought. g
S Brockway
I’m all for “Freedom of Bumper Stickers”
and the right to express ones opinion, but
the “No Bike Plate” seems a bit “Over the Top”.If he did that little modification to a Salmon plate,veterans plate,or maybe a
Disability plate I bet the reaction wouldn’t be this tolerant.
Well my husband just picked up the fabulous FM tandem on sale for $199. We’re both 5’6″ and it fits us fine. I think its going to be fine for trips to Amnesia, Lucky Lab, and otherwise tooling around the neighborhood, visiting friends, Portland Playhouse etc. That is just as soon as my clavicle heals and my shoulder unfreezes and my orthopedist tells me I can ride a bike again.