(Photos © J. Maus)
Bill Fasano is Portland’s newest bike shop proprietor. Green Garage Bicycle Repair just swung open its doors last week in the red-brick industrial building across the street from Widmer Brewery on N. Mississippi and Interstate.
Fasano, 38, is an Oregon native who grew up in West Linn and started racing bikes and working in local bike shops back in the mid 1990s. After leaving a job at Bike n’ Hike in 2000, he worked as an assistant project manager for a local home builder. Those were the boom times in the housing business, he told me when I stopped his shop this morning. “I was making good money, then all the sudden it stopped.”
Fasano fell victim to the housing market collapse and has been “self-unemployed” for the past five years, working part time in bike shops and doing remodeling projects as an independent carpenter to make ends meet.
It wasn’t until he connected with a friend-of-a-friend at a party that the opportunity to open his own bike shop arose.
Fasano’s shops is currently just in the northern part of the large brick building, but he already has plans to expand. His vision (the liquor license is already in the mail) is to open a bike shop/lounge/bar combo that shows bike racing on the big screen and becomes a community meeting space. Stay tuned for updates or swing by his shop for a tour of the building.
For now, he’s open for repairs and he’s got basic supplies for sale.
“It’s humble beginnings for sure.”
Green Garage Bicycle Repair is at 2410 N. Mississippi Avenue and is open 6:00 am to 6:00 pm Monday through Friday. If you plan to drop by, be aware that the shop is closed each day from noon to 2:00 pm for a group ride that everyone is invited to join.