Photo series: People on bikes in Portland

Proving once again…
a picture IS worth a thousand words.
Keep up the good work.

I love the pictures, I enjoying watching all types of people riding while at work on Vancouver. Bike traffic makes me happy.

It looks like a lot of bikes used this time of year have fenders.

Two mixtes! Woo! (ooh, and a Linus one…jealous!)

Portland Cycle Chic?

As always I love the photography.

No one is in the drops- everybody hates the drops but it seems like I’ve been in ’em a lot lately with headwinds both ways.

Is the 5th photo of Roger Geller?

Most bikers wear helmets.

Only two people are smiling. What’s THAT all about?

colville-andersen would get quite upset with the amount of lycra and nylon in the original unedited flicker stream.

and the he

i love the photos! thanks again Jonathan! Saves me from gawking at people’s setups at stoplights! 😉

great pics. Would be interesting to see if the demographics of riders vary depending on part of town/time of day.

Generic pictures of anybody on a bicycle: this looks like the start of a good PSA TV advert.

Something with a tone of “We are mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. We engineers, teachers, doctors and police. We are racing, training, commuting, touring, having fun and hunkering down for a long hard slog through traffic. We are you, you are us.”

Gotta find a way to end it with a “Mira Birk”-esq diplomatic tone rather than the Anonymous “We are legion. Expect us.” confrontational tone that first popped to mind.

Ah, so that was you! I was commuting to work on Flint one morning when I saw someone taking my picture (not one of the ones here). Initially, I was a little weirded out, so it probably showed on my face. Cool to finally know what that was all about!

1. Handlebars are set up at an un-ergonomic level (ends should tilt down, not up). She looks awkward on the bike, possibly due to this and the fact her helmet is seated too far back on her head.

2. Rider is a total gearhead, preferring disc brakes over easier to maintain rim brakes. Has obviously figured out a good rotor/pad combo to prevent brakes from squealing uncontrollably in wet weather. Uses a computer to tell him how many miles he rides each week and will definitely own a recumbent one day.

3. Dude’s got it down, but may be upset due to thinking about the amount of rear-wheel spokes he’s broken in recent years.

4. Seat’s actually too high in this case and helmet is not seated right on her head. Spent more money coat and shoes than bike.

5. Top tube length is way too long and as a result his hand position of choice is far away from brake levers. Surprisingly he has not died yet despite this. Seat is too far low and is just months away from developing leg pain from improper muscle development.

6. Sean Connery in Finding Forester enjoys riding a bike.

7. Has a bike that fits pretty decently despite having long legs / short arms collabo. She deals with the milk crate rubbing against her butt because frame’s trail and chainstays are too short to get proper pannier heel clearance.

8. Might actually have Shimano M324 pedals and SPD sandals for drier days, or is about to purchase some.

9. His dad was an early 90’s road TT weekend rider for a summer, and is much bigger than him. He enjoys clashing bartape color and overpriced sneakers, cheaply made bags, and not wearing a helmet properly. Might be considering “converting” his bike to fixed gear drive because he can’t reach down comfortably to shifters or brake levers.

Anon – love the critiques. Perfect!

Love the pictures!

Fun read Anon.

I honestly want to appear in one of these shots and have my setup’s practicality critiqued by someone who gets it. “Dorky” doesn’t count – obvious and acknowledged.

Oh, and I stopped the other night downtown and stared for a good long time at the bike shown bearing the ukelele (not on the bike at the time) and the piled orange storage bins. It’s quite a construction.

Hmmm, what to learn…

perhaps flesh out a regular piece and show cycle chic how it’s done here.

Those folks are very fetching.

Most mornings I put my bike in a locker at the Rose Quarter TC and hop the 85 to Swan Island. A photo essay or video of that transportation nexus would tell us a lot about how all the modes can get along…buses, MAX trains, bicyclists, pedestrians and plenty of cars. The peaks are the busy times.

I learned that a lot of people are biking even in the winter. That will be encouraging to force my coworkers to bike to work with me.

Yes beautiful to see people riding but the series does beg the question of who is riding – where are the communities of color?

Where’s Roger Geller’s helmut?

Great pictures, Jonathan! Would love to see more.

My observation: I know 4 out of 9 of these people. On one level, that’s pretty cool. On another, that’s kinda lame. Ideally, I’d only recognize maybe 1 in 9…or nobody because there’d be so many people on bikes.

My observation, are people really that comfortable with backpacks, instead of racks/panniers?

To kww: no, but racks and panniers are heavier and can be very costly. But, for touring, they’re definitely the way to go!

Matter of preference, I guess. I’m a bit paranoid but I figure that my backpack falling or getting knocked off of me is less likely than panniers falling or somehow getting disconnected from the bike. My two cents.

love the post, please make it a regular feature. To Anon re: commentary on riders – well done.

I think the real lesson here is that it’s very easy to sneak headphone/earplugs in during the winter.

racks & panniers worth every penny, especially as you get older! i got my panniers at REI – on sale & the expensiver one with my annual rebate!

guy on bottom might as well have left his helmet at home. worn like that, it’s useless. if you put hat, hoodie, etc, under helmet – adjust the damn helmet. it takes 10 seconds.

What else can we learn from these images?

They are all white?

I think it’s pretty cool that the woman at the top is riding with her eyes closed. I’m gonna try that on the way home tonight….

I love seeing pics of my fellow cyclists. Thanks!

smiling on bicycle=bugs in teeth.

Aww, I know the man in the 2nd photo! But this makes me realize I haven’t seen him in awhile.