(All photos © J. Maus)
Welcome to the latest installment in our ongoing series, People on Bikes.
Today I spent an hour or so watching people ride bikes in Waterfront Park near the Hawthorne Bridge. What struck me about this location, was the sheer diversity in the type of people riding. From moms to tourists, people out for exercise and professionals coming home from the office — there was a bit of everything out there today.
Scroll down (all the way for a special treat!) to view selected images from the shoot. While looking at them, think about the diversity and volume of people that passed by my lens in just a short time (and these are only about 1/3 of the total that went by) .
— This is an ongoing series and we rely on advertising to keep the doors open. If you or someone you know would be interested in underwriting this series, please drop us a line. You can view all images from this series in our People on Bikes gallery.
Thanks for reading.
BikePortland has served this community with independent community journalism since 2005. We rely on subscriptions from readers like you to survive. Your financial support is vital in keeping this valuable resource alive and well.
Please subscribe today to strengthen and expand our work.
Two tourers…awesome. Portland, OR rackin’ in the racks…
This all makes sense EXCEPT:
Orange shirt/Pirate Hat guy.
Huge road bike with 26″ wheels?
Rear disc rotor, but no brakes?
Sunglasses worth more than the bike?
The quads of a bike racer, but with leg hair?
Reverse-riser bar?
This photo leaves me with more questions than answers
Ha! I also paused on that photo for a while trying to figure out what is going on with that bike. Let me know if you figure it out.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed this as well. Very perplexed by it all.
That is one of BikesDirects specialty “lifestyle” series packages. Lot’s of bang for the buck with the one stop shopping.
Rear derailleur??? Double chain ring???
Just some dude who built himself a “Franken-bike”. Probably the next cool-kid fad….what ev…At least it’s not another monster-truck or fast & furious road racer.
Last fall I bought a secondhand bike on Craigslist, and at some point it had been turned into a single speed, but all they’d done is removed the derailers and shortened the chain. So it still had three rings in the front and seven in the back. It looked pretty dumb until I spent the money to have derailers and shifters put back on the bike–which cost a good $100 more than the bike did!
Probably a similar situation…the bicycle is just in-between changes of some kind.
That yellow trike looks surprisingly comfortable.
Also, I’ve got to wonder where the two fully loaded ones are headed.
P.S., don’t forget to close HTML tags.
Wow really shopping out of the Stereotype Catalogue for this week’s pics.
Not sure what you mean by this- it seems like there is no particular sterotype at all- just a lot of very different kinds of people riding bikes.
I thought it was pretty awesome how dissimilar all the riders were instead of hewing to a specific sterotype.
Quick: Spot the not-hipster.
Hey, I see me! I think I saw you down there taking photos. Cool stuff, Jonathan! I’m so glad I took the day off work.
Jonathan must be playing a trick on us with that pirate bike. No front derailleur (but multiple chainrings). Can’t tell if the rear derailleur is hooked up (might have a downtube shifter on the right side?). 26″ wheels & rear disk rotor, but it doesn’t look like there are any brakes hooked up at all. I assume stopping is done by powerslide? Is this one of those “find 10 things wrong with this picture” tests?
It’s set up fixed. The thing that looks like a deraileur is a braking power modulator, smooths out the brake pulses and prevents unwanted trunk skidding.
chinese bike with american/italian decals — full price
chinese bike with generic decals — 50% off
just sayin’
(and i don’t even own a bikes direct)
I’m guessing that the owner isn’t done making modifications to the bicycle.
More People on Bikes! But what is the “special treat for scrolling to the bottom”? I was expecting a local celebrity, a bike trailer full of chickens, or a girl in a pretty dress… something.
I think the special treat was supposed to be Mt Hood in the last pic.
Given the weather this spring, I think catching a glimpse of the mountain just about qualifies as special.
I love this series. It’s a great reminder why I stop riding as soon as the weather gets nice. Have fun everyone. See you when the rain comes.
Your name is definitely correct.
I avoid the multi-use paths on nice days as much as anyone, but yeesh.
As one who commutes a good distance every day, including time on the MAX, avoiding the fair-weather bicyclists is virtually impossible. I’ve simply learned to reconcile their desire to ride with my desire to avoid jail time by taking a 3-4-month break from biking every year. It works quite well, as I enjoy walking more than biking anyway.
4/5 single speeders not wearing helmets. Notice a trend?
That trend is called FREEDOM.
I want to be free from paying their emergency room bills with my tax money when they suffer a severe head injury that isn’t covered by their insurance, then.
Jeez louise. Just enjoy these lovely pictures of people on bikes on this gorgeous day!! No need to play Debbie Downer. It’s Friday! And it’s beautiful outside!
You don’t pay via your taxes you parrot, you pay via higher medical costs. It wouldn’t be an issue at all if we had universal health care though, would it?
Depends on the hospital. OHSU, Oregon’s only major trauma center, is a state hospital, so when someone welches on their debt there, we all pay for it. And if we had universal healthcare, yeah, I’d be ready to bolt that helmet to your head.
I feel exactly the same way about all the motorists who drive like maniacs without proper cranial protection devices. Utter madness.
Twenty-something mom in Spandex is the headline shot?
ಠ_ಠ
Edit: extremely short shorts.
Summer styles indeed. You love to see them, do you?
ಠ_ಠ
ಠ_ಠ
Yes, more of those shots please!
I know I do. Any age, any gender, any body, the sight of people enjoying a warm day is beautiful.
Paul Johnson, OHSU is not the only trauma centre. Nor is it truly entirely a state hospital. There is another, quite major hospital, and one that sees all sorts of fun stuff called Emanuel, who is own by Legacy Health System, a non-profit.
And your preoccupation about paying for providing medical care for cyclists that get injured due to their own stupidity is valid. However, I am 100% certain (since I am an ED RN) that the majority (which is VERY high) of medical costs goes to care for people with chronic illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, renal failure and A-fib, etc. More often than not these are a result of poor choices made aka: sedentary lifestyles, terrible diets and undeniable lack of control when it comes to consumption of drugs, and yes, alcohol and tobacco are in this category.
So, continue to be as adamant and passionate and encourage people to make healthier choices. Your dollars might start going to more productive venues then.
I went to Legacy Emanual’s ER after an accident I had in October (I got a lacerated liver and some facial injuries after doing an endo). I have no idea if you were one of the people who helped me out or not, but I got excellent care, especially from the nurses. I spent five days there in total (including a day and change in the ICU) and everyone was great!
Please slow down,too many people are being hit buy a few bike riders on the water front.
There’s no reason that shouldn’t already be a segregated path…it gets way too much traffic to have no lane control at all.
I don’t understand why people don’t ride on Naito. I commute on Naito and I feel like I hardly ever see people on it and yet waterfront is always packed.
I’ll take Naito if I’m in a hurry to get somewhere, but Waterfront Park has a much prettier view and less car exhaust.
Willamette Greenway is almost invariably faster than Naito unless PBOT screwed up and can’t keep Willamette clear of the festival. Reason? Traffic lights. A single red light on Naito can easily double the amount of time required to cross downtown.