Month: May 2013

bright green Freedon Ryder Recumbent Handcycle 2008

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 2008
Brand: Freedon Ryder
Model: Recumbent Handcycle
Color:bright green
Photo: http://i.imgur.com/JVodvHw.jpg?1
Stolen in Portland, OR 97209
Stolen:2013-05-14
Stolen From: Residential parking garage on NW 9th and Flanders.
Neighborhood: Pearl District
Owner: Anne Lazar
OwnerEmail: jill(AT)parker-furniture.com
Description: unique custom bike with hand controls. 503-504-2508
Police record with: Portland
Police reference#: T13004139
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

ODOT proposes first-ever flashing ‘Bikes on Bridge’ sign for Barbur Blvd

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Detail of proposed sign. See larger image below.

Responding to concerns about poor quality bike access on two narrow bridges on SW Barbur Blvd, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has proposed a new flashing sign that would warn road users about the presence of bicycle traffic. The new sign is being considered as part of the $5 million Newbury & Vermont Street Bridge Rehabilitation Project.

ODOT announced the new sign at an open house for the project last night and they’ve updated their project website with a graphic of the proposed sign. They are currently asking for feedback as to whether or not it would be worth installing. The plan would be to install four signs total — two per bridge and one in each direction. They come with an automatic sensor, which means the lights would flash without someone on a bike having to stop and push a button. ODOT says this would be the first sign of its kind on any highway or bridge in the entire state.

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Thieves smash window, steal bags from downtown Chrome store

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Smashed window at Chrome store.
(Photo: Chrome Industries)

Thieves smashed the large front window of the Chrome Industries store at 425 SW 10th Avenue in Portland in the wee hours of Monday morning.

According to Store Manager Lilly Eidsness, they broke the glass and “grabbed whatever they could reach.” In this case that was five bags — which were hand-sewn custom bags made by in-house seamstress Lara Kessler. The total value of all the bags is $630 and the broken window is estimated to cost $1,000 to replace. Chrome is open for business while the window is being replaced.

The custom bags were one-of-a-kind, which leaves Eidsness hopeful they will catch someone’s eye and end up being recovered (see photo below). Below is a photo of the stolen bags followed by a description of each one:

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Job: Bike Mechanic – Sunset Cycles

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Job Title
Bike Mechanic

Company/Organization
Sunset Cycles

Job Description
Sunset Cycles is looking to add staff for the 2013 cycling season. The primary duties are wrenching, building, and repair check-ins. Must have the ability to prioritize, manage one’s time effectively, problem solve, work in a fast paced environment and be flexible, especially during the busy summer season. Must possess good communications skills in order to effectively interact and to explain technical issues clearly to the satisfaction of customers. Candidate must be knowledgeable of bicycle industry terminology, computer literate in POS, internet, spreadsheet and word processing systems.

How to Apply
Please send resume to sales@sunsetcyclesnw.com to apply.

Walgreens now “welcomes” people on bikes at outdoor service windows

“We welcome bicyclists at our drive-through lanes… riding a bike is just the kind of healthy, environmentally-friendly activity we welcome at our stores.”
— James Graham, Walgreens corporate media relations

Walgreens, America’s largest drug store chain, has responded to concerns that one of their policies unfairly excluded customers who ride bicycles. As we detailed last week, for at least the past several years people have been refused service by some Walgreens employees at outdoor service windows (a.k.a. drive-thrus) based solely on their mode of transportation. When asked about this refusal, store managers have listed a number of reasons — from safety concerns to liability insurance constraints.

Before we published that story, we contacted the Deerfield, Illinois-based corporate offices of Walgreens Company to ask for a clarification about this policy. James Graham in Walgreens’ corporate media relations department responded and confirmed that they had heard feedback from “bicycling customers” about this issue and they agreed to review their policies. This morning we received the following statement from Graham:

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Red Roadmaster Sport SK

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Model: Roadmaster Sport SK
Color:Red
Size:26
Photo: http://alicynx.com/bike/
Stolen in Portland, OR 97202
Stolen:2013-05-13
Stolen From: 13th and Harney/Sherrett
Neighborhood: Sellwood
Owner: Alicyn Henning
OwnerEmail: ali@alicynx.com
Reward: $100
Description: Hodge Podge bike – Roadmaster base frame with Ridish extracycle attached. It’s been outside, so the bags on the back aren’t clean – slight rusting in spots but nothing major.
Police record with: PPB
Police reference#: 13-152986
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Those interesting bike racks at Portland’s newest park

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Bike parking at The Fields park-2

Believe it or not, those are bike racks!
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Yesterday I finally got a chance to visit The Fields, Portland’s newest neighborhood park. Situated on NW Overton between 10th and 11th at the northern end of the Pearl District, The Fields is a beautiful addition to our city. It’s got fantastic views of old industrial areas, a panorama of the Fremont Bridge, and lots of green grass to lay and play on. Whenever Portland opens a new public space, I’m always interested to see how they deal with bicycle access. In the case of The Fields, they’ve created a nice area for bicycle parking; but it took me a while to 1) realize it was there and 2) figure out how to use it.

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One year after her death, friends plan memorial event for Kathryn Rickson

Community gathering for Kathryn Rickson-26

Ryan Gaughan at Rickson’s ghost
bike on May 18th, 2012.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

This coming Thursday will mark one year since the tragic death of 28 year-old Kathryn Rickson. On the night of May 16th, Rickson was riding downhill on SW Madison Ave just one block from City Hall when a man driving a large delivery truck turned right onto SW 3rd and the two vehicles collided.

Now Rickson’s friends and family have planned a memorial event to remember her. I asked Ryan to share a few thoughts about Kathryn, the collision, and this past year…

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Bike Score ranks Lloyd #1 “most bikeable” Portland neighborhood

Fiets of Parenthood-12

Riding on the NE 7th Ave bike lane
through the Lloyd.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Bike Score (the same folks that created the more widely-known Walk Score) have ranked Portland as the #1 “most bikeable” large city in the United States. In their rankings, which were released today to coincide with National Bike to Work Week, Portland squeaked into first place, just 0.3 points ahead of San Francisco. Denver, Philadelphia, and Boston rounded out the top five spots.

When these same rankings came out last year, Portland was #2 behind Minneapolis, but this year cities above 500,000 people competed against each other while smaller cities were put on a separate list.

And for the first time ever, the Bike Score team also scored individual neighborhoods. In Portland, the Lloyd neighborhood was found to be the most bikeable, receiving a 98.2 out of 100 points. The Bike Score methodology ranks locations based on four equally weighted components: Bike lanes, hills, destinations and road connectivity, bike commuting mode share.

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City to widen bike lanes to NE Cully Blvd

The new buffer will be completed this week
(brown area is parking lane).
(Photo: PBOT)

The Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is taking advantage of a paving project to improve bicycle access on a major street in northeast Portland. On Friday, PBOT announced a new buffered bike lane is coming to NE Cully Blvd between Prescott and Failing streets.

This 1/3 mile stretch of road is being repaved and PBOT is taking the opportunity to re-stripe the road in order to make the bicycle lane wider and more comfortable. PBOT will add a three-foot wide buffer to the existing five-foot wide bike lanes. The start of this project is just south of the existing physically separated cycle-tracks on Cully Blvd which were completed nearly two years ago. According to PBOT, when coupled with the cycle-track, “the buffered bike lane will provide people riding bicycles with nearly one mile of separated bikeway.”

This new buffered lane will also help smooth out the jarring emotional transition from the cycle-track to a standard, door-zone bike lane. It’s important to note that there are two schools nearby: Harvey Scott and Rigler.

To get the space for the wider bike lane, PBOT reduced the center turn lane from 15 to 10 feet and narrowed the two standard vehicle lanes (total road width is 66-feet).

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Latest Headlines

Why did Oregon lower the legal age for e-bike riding?

Jobs of the Week: Mokwheel, eLock, Go By Bike, Velofix, Northwest Hub

Robotaxis will need to jump through these hoops before operating on Portland streets

Here’s the new ‘complete street’ coming to Cully Blvd

From the Archives

With six kids and no car, this mom does it all by bike