2013 Archives

Holiday weekend event (and shopping) guide

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Join Dirk Spits of the 99%Ride for
the After Turkey Ride on Friday.

Greetings friends! We hope you are all enjoying the holiday weekend with whatever traditions you prefer. There are a few rides and events we wanted to make sure were on your calendar. And because this is the official start of the holiday shopping season, we thought you might like to know about a few fantastic sales going on at our local bike shops.

First, here are some of the big Black Friday and weekend/winter sales events we’ve heard about…

Clever Cycles – Starts Friday at 11:00 am, 900 SE Hawthorne
The big deal at Clever this time of year is the sale they have on their rental bike fleet. It’s the only time of the year they sell used bikes and it’s a great opportunity to own excellent brands and do business with this highly respected local business. Here’s the blurb from Clever:

Year: 2009
Brand: Motobecane
Model: Fantom
Color:Gray
Size:21″ 29er
Photo: http://images.craigslist.org/00s0s_ekOlIuIeNUI_600x450.jpg
Stolen in Mosier, OR 97040
Stolen:2013-09-30
Stolen From: Mosier Creek Place condos, just off Hwy 30.
Neighborhood: East Mosier
Owner: Steve Eberhard
OwnerEmail: steveeberhard1( atsign )gmail.com
Reward: 300
Description: tan/ brown handlebar grips, two water bottle brackets, the silver aluminum one was cracked… Kenda tire on the back wheel, seat has a bit of a tear on the front.
Police record with: Wasco Cty Sherrif’s Dept.
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Three things to be thankful for

When the wind isn’t at your back any more, it’s easy to get discouraged — especially when you know how great the place you’re headed is going to be.

Sometimes that happens to people who care about good biking in Portland. Even the ones who write for daily news websites.

But holidays are for taking your eyes off the handlebars of life for a moment and enjoying where you are. And though Portland isn’t making the rapid progress that it once was toward better biking, we still live in the safest, most interesting and (we think) most promising big city in the country to ride a bicycle. Here are three things we’re grateful for about riding in and around our favorite city.

Year: 2013
Brand: Gravity
Model: Liberty CX
Color:Black
Size:54c
Stolen in Portland, OR 97214
Stolen:2013-11-19
Stolen From: Stolen from in front of my house on SE 39th and Harrison.
Neighborhood: Hawthorne
Owner: Joe Williams
OwnerEmail: williamsjm(replace with at sign)yahoo.com
Description: Recently replaced crank
Police record with: Portland
Police reference#: T13012111
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

BLACK/RED Specialized Hard Rock Disc

Brand: Specialized
Model: Hard Rock Disc
Color:BLACK/RED
Size:19
Serial: WSBC602024140G
Photo: http://25.media.tumblr.com/ee7c03d90683b900461ea40d7710f295/tumblr_mwxyxug0vB1r6gysfo1_500.jpg
Stolen in Portland, OR 97206
Stolen:2013-11-25
Stolen From: Locked garage on the corner of 66th and Taggart
Neighborhood: South Tabor
Owner: Michael Birkes
OwnerEmail: zbornin(AT)aol.com
Reward: $100
Description: Plastic fenders on front and back, with a custom carrier rack on the back LED headlight on the front, reflectors in a few different places water bottle holder. Tire innertubes are puncture proof slime filled.

Call: 503 775 1099
Police record with: Portland PD
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Portland transportation isn’t ‘stagnating’ after all, city director says

Riding on SW Broadway in downtown Portland.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Four months after taking charge of the Portland Bureau of Transportation, Leah Treat is walking back an idea she shared in her job interview: the notion that the city’s bike infrastructure is “stagnating.”

“If I had to go through the interview process again, I would change that to say it’s more of a marketing issue,” Treat said, according to the edited Q&A on OregonLive.com. “We’re still way ahead of the country in the transportation arena, it’s just getting lost in the messaging somewhere. So we need to be talking more about the really exciting things that we’re doing.”

Year: 2009
Brand: Trek
Model: 7.5 FX
Color:grey
Size:17 or 18 inch
Stolen in Portland, OR 97212
Stolen:2013-11-24
Stolen From: The bike was stolen Sunday November 24, 2013 between approximately 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm from a bike rack in front of the Aliviar Coffee Shop at 4128 NE Sandy Blvd. In front of the Hollywood Theater.
Neighborhood: Hollwod
Owner: Joel Cooper
OwnerEmail: cooperjoela(replace with at sign)gmail.com
Description: The bike was in good shape and just tuned up. It had a black burn rack on the back and a black Saddle canvas panniers. There is a water bottle holder on the 45 tube part (not the seat tube) of the frame. There is black fenders on the front and back and the rubber ends had both broken off each fender. There is a bell on the left side of the straight handle bars. The left side of the handle bars also had a bike computer holder with cable going down to the front wheel. A cat eye light holder was on the right side. The seat is black and grey and had some chew marks from a squirrel.
Police record with: Portland Police
Police reference#: 13-99108
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

NE 28th Avenue business owners split on bike access and parking, interviews show

James Lanagen of Beulahland said the neighborhood
would “adapt” if buffered bike lanes replaced on-street
parking, but that he’d rather keep the parking.
(Photos by M.Andersen/BikePortland)

The question of how to make biking better in the NE 28th Avenue area divides employees from their bosses, businesses from their customers, tenants from their landlords and different kinds of bike users from each other.

If there’s one thing this project doesn’t have, it’s consensus — not among the “bike community” (whatever that is) and not among the “business community” (whatever that is).

We know because we asked.

Another person died while traveling on SW Barbur Blvd this week. It’s the fourth fatality since 2010 on the notoriously dangerous 1.6 mile section of the road between Terwilliger and Hamilton.

With a record of so much carnage and rampant high speed and high risk driving, many Portlanders want to see the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) take a more aggressive approach to changing the design of Barbur in a way that would slow people down and encourage safer behavior. However, as we shared back in August when a 27-year-old man died after traveling at a “very high rate of speed” and losing control of his Prius, ODOT has no plans to seriously consider a roadway reconfiguration (a.k.a. “road diet”) on Barbur.

Year: 2013
Brand: Diamondback
Model: Trace
Color:Grey
Size:18
Serial:DAP12L012806
Photo: http://www.earlsbicycle.com/images/library/zoom/dback_trace_grey_1_13_z.jpg
Stolen in Gresham, OR 97030
Stolen:2013-11-26
Stolen From: Gresham High School 1200 N Main Ave, Gresham, OR 97030
Neighborhood: Gresham High School
Owner: Vaden Green
OwnerEmail: greenv71@gmail.com
Description: My son was very lucky. His bike was purchased by a couple and returned to him.
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

New event will take riders through the ‘Oregon Outback’

Remember the Oregon Outback? Back in June we shared a guest article and photo essay from Portland resident Gabriel Amadeus that chronicled his amazing, 360+ mile bike adventure through the center of Oregon.

Now that epic ride has turned into a (slightly) more formal event put together by adventure cycling promoter Donnie Kolb. Kolb is the man behind VeloDirt, a website he created to share his backroad rides with like-minded adventure seekers. Kolb, an attorney by day, eventually started urging his friends and followers to join him and in the past few years VeloDirt rides have become something of an underground phenomenon. Similar to the De Ronde PDX, Kolb’s rides are unsanctioned and un-permitted, and word about them spreads via social media. Now his Dalles Mtn 60 and Oregon Stampede rides have a large and loyal following.

Year: unknown
Brand: Trek
Model: Multitrack 700
Color:White
Photo: http://imgur.com/itctDra
Stolen in Portland, OR 97213
Stolen:2013-11-25
Stolen From: Rack in front of Grant Pool/Grant Park/2300 NE 33rd Ave.
Neighborhood: Northeast
Owner: D. Scholl
OwnerEmail: prairielight(replace with at sign)gmail.com
Reward: $75
Description: White older commuter bike, Trek Multitrack 700 in blue on the frame, black back fender with reflector stickers, light clips front and back, bottle cage. Also, polka-dot helmet with Make Portland Weirder sticker on the back.
Police record with: Portland PD
Police reference#: will add later
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Holiday weekend event (and shopping) guide

Gray Motobecane Fantom 2009

Three things to be thankful for

Black Gravity Liberty CX 2013

BLACK/RED Specialized Hard Rock Disc

Portland transportation isn’t ‘stagnating’ after all, city director says

grey Trek 7.5 FX 2009

NE 28th Avenue business owners split on bike access and parking, interviews show

After another fatality on Barbur Blvd, ODOT tweet hits a nerve

Grey Diamondback Trace 2013

New event will take riders through the ‘Oregon Outback’

White Trek Multitrack 700 unknown

Latest Headlines

State lawmakers ponder $27 million cut from Safe Routes to School, mass layoffs, and more

PBOT staffer brought to tears after questioning from city councilors

Feds pitch in $250,000 for Cesar Chavez road diet

Oregon House Rep Travis Nelson airs concerns about North Willamette Blvd project

From the Archives

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