When Kenton Cycle Repair closes its doors for good on October 26th there will be no bike shops in north Portland west of Interstate Avenue. The closure, announced by the shop’s owner Rich Walker in an email to customers on Saturday, leaves an 18 square mile swath of our city without a bike shop.
Kenton Cycle Repair opened on N McClellan Street right off the Kenton neighborhood’s main drag, Denver Avenue, in 2012. It was started by Walker and a co-owner Starmichael Bowman, two friends who shared experience working at local nonprofit bike organizations (Community Cycling Center and Bike Farm, respectively). The shop outgrew that space and moved into a much larger one on N Kilpatrick in 2017.
The shop’s official email didn’t share any reason for the closure. There was no farewell message, just the words “We are closing forever” in large red font. I emailed Walker to confirm rumors I started hearing last week and he confirmed the news. “I still love working on bikes but the business has become personally and financially unsustainable in the last few years,” he shared.
For folks who live, work and play on the north Portland peninsula, it’s just the latest in a string of bad bike shop news. Five bike shops along the Interstate corridor and west to St. Johns, have closed since 2020.
Walker’s former co-owner Starmichael Bowman left Kenton Cycle Repair to open Norther Cycles in 2015, only to throw in the towel in 2020. Revolver Bikes on N Rosa Parks Way and Interstate closed just one month later. Block Bikes, the only bike shop in St. Johns for a few years, closed in 2022. And back in February of this year, Golden Pliers bike shop on N Interstate and Skidmore moved to NE Alberta Street into the space formerly occupied by Gladys Bikes — a shop that closed in 2024 after 10 years in business.
Besides the big box retail offerings of Fred Meyer or Dick’s Sporting Goods in Janzten Beach, the closure of Kenton Cycle Repair leads to a vast bike shop desert. Of the three bike shops that remain in the area, only one of them services and sells a wide range of bikes. PxCycle on N Interstate in Kenton is a single brand, e-bike-only store and The E-Bike Store also only sells electric bikes. That leaves North Portland Bike Works on N Killingsworth and Albina as the only traditional neighborhood bike shop in the area.
The bike business has always been a tough one, but these past few years have been absolutely brutal. After riding a wave of cycling interest during the pandemic, shops bet big on inventory to meet demand. If they could even get the products they wanted due to supply chain issues, some shops soon felt softening enthusiasm once things opened back up. Add to that a loss of business from people who opt for “direct-to-consumer” purchases where brands cut shops out of the equation and ship directly to customers. Another factor is the reduction in cycling overall thanks to a number of factors including the shift toward working from home. Daily commuters were in constant need of gear and service when they biked into the office, but that chunk of sales has dropped precipitously in recent years.
At our peak in 2014 or so, Portland had well over 70 bike shops. A list maintained by the City of Portland shows just 49 currently open bike shops citywide.
Kenton Cycle Repair’s last day is October 26th. Roll over to 1926 N Kilpatrick to thank Rich for his years of solid service and to help him liquidate remaining inventory.
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.
I owned Block Bikes in St John’s. If you want to open a peninsula bike shop feel free to ask me for advice.
Heck. Kenton seemed like a cool shop but it was out of my way. The only thing I ever bought there was the hat I’m wearing, but they did refer me to Nomad which provided some e-bike services…
I had my bike converted by Nomad, but I got far better service from Gunther at PXCycles’ hole-in-the-wall shop on the east side of Interstate. While he only sells his own brand he will fix others, he has much more experience and he’s the only one in town who will fix a damaged battery!.
Dear Clever Cycles, PLEASE open a North Portland branch.
Yes please! I love Clever Cycles. They are always so helpful and non-judgemental. I have gone in so many times to ask the mechanics a deluge of stupid questions and they’ve just been super cool about teaching me the ins and outs of bikes. I’ve learned how to do a ton of my own maintenance just from talking to them. For the big stuff/ebike stuff, they’ve got my business as long as they’re open!
The Bike Repair Desert Grows even bigger: in addition to Rich closing up in Kenton, the Wheels Deals shop (downtown) closed last week since the City is tearing down its heritage building to “accommodate” freight truck turns.
So now Bike Clark County (501c3)
at 1604 Main St, Vancouver, WA is now is the next nearest bike shop to the north for Kenton, Bridgeton and Hayden Island etc. (It is in downtown next to New Seasons.)
Wait – really? That’s absurd. That intersection is so big as it is.
3 notes:
1) If you want local bike shops, be sure to shop at them. And encourage your friends to shop at them too.
2) North Portland Bikeworks, while not west of Interstate Ave, is a first-rate bike shop. Has great services, used bikes for sale, and long operating hours. If your bike isn’t working it’s an easy transit run on the #4 or #44 bus from anywhere in St Johns.
http://www.northportlandbikeworks.com/
3) The Community Cycling Center operates their New Columbia Bike Repair Hub in the middle of the 18 square mile North Portland bike shop desert. Not sure what the hours are, but if you want to see the CCC continue to operate, it would help to shop there and bring by donations.
https://communitycyclingcenter.org/community/new-columbia/
(Could use improved marketing — doesn’t give hours of operation on the web page, and doesn’t show up on Google Maps).
Ted Buehler
yes I agree No Po Bike Works is a wonderful n’hood bike shop! Great location and good people.
I may just be missing something obvious but I cannot for the life of me figure out where in the world the New Columbia Bike Repair Hub is. They mention no address on their website I can find, google maps shows nothing. It’s a wonder anybody knows it even exists. Maybe it’s a victim of their budget problems? I don’t know. But I feel like people would have to know where the place was before they decided to sign up for something like that.
The New Columbia Bike Repair Hub is located in the New Columbia Bicycle Skills Park on the corner of N Woolsey and N Trenton.
The New Columbia Bike Repair Hub is open limited hours on a seasonal basis. It’s primary function is to offer free repairs and education to residents of New Columbia and the surrounding neighborhood with a specific emphasis on kids bikes. It’s an amazing program but not a bike shop.
North Portland Bikeworks is at N Borthwick and Killingsworth: several blocks east of N interstate.
And he’s right, the margins on bike stuff (the sales price minus the costs from distributors, minus depreciation, minus the costs of doing business, minus insurance, etc) are so low that one is frankly better off simply doing something else other than selling bikes. People who work as bike mechanics are among the lowest-paid industrial workers – people flipping burgers make more money per hour – that you have to really love bikes (and living on nothing) to work at a bike shop.
I live in a generic Southern industrial city of 300,000 with two public universities and we have 8 commercial bike shops total – 4 are tax write-offs that gets hubby out of the house (wife is the main bread winner doctor or lawyer who needs the deductions), one sells beer (as in a bar) to cover margins, two are corporate (REI & Trek), and one just got started by selling used bikes near one of the universities. Of our 8 shops, 3 are expected to close within the next two years, due to retirement and/or low margins.
This is the real thing to be talking about. It’s a wonder we even have a single bike shop in the city. You should be able to run a repair shop that sustains itself on doing repairs only, but it seems the only option is if they do repairs on the side of their bike and accessory selling business.
I don’t know what the solution is. I assume the mechanics aren’t mostly sitting idle waiting for work (they don’t appear to be any time I go in), so it’s not an issue of not having enough people riding. It seems like they just can’t charge enough money. I remember being shocked at how absurdly inexpensive bike repair labor is. It shouldn’t be that cheap unless they were government subsidized (probably the real solution).
Capitalism for the win, I guess!
I realize this is River City, so not exactly known for its relative affordability, but when I called for a quote on a brake bleed/pads and drivetrain (cassette, chain, chainrings) and it costs 15% of the purchase price of the bike and 75% of that is labor, I just can’t justify the cost of that, so elect to do it myself.
Hmm, well I don’t know about your bike specifically. I thought a cassette was sometimes an expensive part. But if the total bill cost 15% of the purchase price of the bike (something I don’t deny), the thing is, this just speaks to how inexpensive bikes are. A few hours of labor *should* cost a significant fraction of the cost of a bike because bikes are so cheap! The bike being (relatively) inexpensive doesn’t make the labor any less so.
Doing it yourself is a great option, one I recommend if you can, especially for routine stuff. I just think if we’re ever going to have a chance at mass adoption, bikes either have to somehow become more durable (seems unlikely) or getting a bike repaired needs to be affordable yet pay the people doing it a living wage. Those two things are in conflict, and American are used to being able to pay someone too little for their time.
Tubeless tires with internal geared hubs removes so much of the common reliability issues and it is a shame they aren’t becoming more prolific.
Yeah, agreed. I don’t know much about the brand (are they good?) but I keep getting advertised Priority bikes, which seem to all be internal geared, belt driven bikes. They have what look like good commuter bikes for (a lot) under $1000. No chain to maintain, no cassette to replace (addressing PS’s issue). Just switch to tubeless and ride until your tires wear out.
I’m interested that I’ve seen a number of people recommend tubeless for commute / general use. I do for my bikes. You’ll probably have to add sealant more often than you’d get a flat without it, which *can* be a messy thing to do (I haven’t had a mess yet but I can envision some bad experiences by novices). I’m not sure what is best there – I think there are some pretty durable tube tires out there which *may* be less hassle.
There’s also solid “no air” tires, no valves to deal with. I met a Japanese woman here in Greensboro NC who has a folding bike with solid tires, internal gearing, coaster break, and belt drive, perfect for taking on the subway we don’t have.
Solid rubber tires are extremely uncomfortable to ride (it feels like having 150 PSI in a pneumatic tire) and also extremely difficult to remove and install (when they wear out).
I started working in bike shops 12 years ago and have been employed by 5 different ones. New bikes take longer to work on, for the sake of fashion. Bad business. It’s an hollowing out of margin that only benefits manufacturers. Also my opinion is that bikes can absolutely be a lot more durable, but that’s not the emphasis, it’s features features disposable features. Subsidies would be a nice way to pay mechanics because not many people can or do, employers and customers. Working on bikes already often feels like community service no one can see or understand. Always have appreciated the folks that tip but sure would be nice to say “thank you that’s not necessary”
I recently took my watch to a jewelry store to have the battery replaced, which they advertised they do, and they did it without fuss, but then they charged me absolutely nothing for it – they explained that they view watches as old-school technology that they as an overpriced jewelry store (very high-end) viewed as a charitable cause and so they fix them for free, including the new battery.
Somehow I can see mechanical bicycles ending up in a similar niche, old crap that others fix as a hobby rather than as a living job. Along with our 8 local commercial bike shops are 3 non-commercial all-volunteer bike repair “kitchens” or bike-coops as well as unnumbered garage shops, church basement shops, back yards, chop shops, and home repair shops, none of which really help the commercial shops stay in business of course – quite the opposite really.
I help run one of our local bike kitchens, out of a dilapidated City Parks building, long condemned (asbestos, lead, mold, leaky roof, on a flood plain, flooded twice this year, etc – but we pay no rent aside from liability insurance and we get free heat/power/water/sewer/garbage). We take in 800 donated bikes per year, fix 400 of them (on average), recycle the rest. No paid staff. 70% of our funding are grants from the health care industry and REI, most of the rest are in-kind grants from government agencies (for example, our state DOT buys helmets and donates them to us; our city buys us tools and locks – we never receive the money but we get the stuff.) We help out the other two bike kitchens as needed and they help us, plus we work with other coops in other NC cities in sharing stuff. And all of the local commercial bike shops help us – they give us donated bikes, help when ordering parts if our regular wholesale distributors don’t have what we need, their mechanics help out on their days off, we do events together, and so on – there should be competition but instead we get cooperation, lots of it. Less than 5% of our funding comes from bikes and parts sales – we get far more from individual cash donations. The main downside of all-volunteer operations, of course, is getting everyone to get along with each other – we have major meltdowns 2 or 3 times per year.
That all sounds good, and is good evidence that people will work even without monetary compensation, if it is something they believe in. I’d say the other major downside with this is that it doesn’t support the people who do it. Imagine how many people might love to be a bike mechanic if they didn’t have to choose between that and paying rent. All volunteer operations in an economy where we need money to survive is like having a GoFundMe-based healthcare system, or market based housing… I’m glad people are doing it but it really just indicates that we don’t prioritize. It produces faux-heartwarming stories that on the surface sound good but when you dig deeper shows a giant failure of our economy to provide for people.
I’m always amazed when I visit ER wards in Europe and the UK (usually traveling with sick or injured friends) that the staff and doctors are barely making ends meet, that they are paid regular wages rather than the extravagant salaries (and associated hidden fees) their counterparts in the US receive. American doctors and lawyers are paid well, but not so much in Canada, and even less in Europe and the UK. I met a restaurant owner in Belgium who kindly and patiently explained to me why he doesn’t receive nor wants tips from customers – why he is insulted by them – because he has taken a lot of trouble to figure out how much his meals really cost, how much to pay his employees who not only receive pay from him but substantial health and social benefits from local and central governments, and that even hospitality workers and bike mechanics in Belgium (and much of the rest of Europe) can in fact afford to have a well-paying fulfilling lifetime career choice as a bike mechanic or restaurant server. Worlds apart.
Well I feel terrible, i have been using Abraham’s Fix Bkes over Kenton because it was on my way home.
I wouldn’t feel too terrible, Abraham is great
The city’s list is out of date but its hard to keep up with so many shops biting the dust, sad days to be sure.
Tell me more. No seriously, I maintain that page so I’m looking for particulars.
Huge bummer. This is where I took my bike for repairs, and they helped me out one season when I had a flat every other week. The mechanics were problem solvers, followed up, and were kind. I don’t know all the mechanical words, but the folks at Kenton Cycles were so patient and took the time to explain everything nonjudgmentally, even when I was clearly upset and frustrated. Five star service, and it will be dearly missed. And it was really nice to nip over to Posies for a treat after dropping off my bike.
So sad to see – I tried to go there as often as I could for what I needed. They are going to be really missed!
Sorry to see them go. It’s been a tough last 5 years or so for small (and even large) businesses in Portland. Portland talks a big talk but the small business climate here is not good.
I don’t see a way for this unfortunate trend to turn around.
If someone doesn’t have much money and they ride a cheap bike, it takes nothing for the cost of repairs to exceed the cost of the bike. If they ride a good bike, repair bills can easily be like car repair bills. Ebikes require even more care and feeding, and are correspondingly more expensive to maintain.
Bikes require a lot more adjustments, maintenance, and part replacements than cars, so people who can’t fix their own will regularly get stuck with high bills as well as the inconvenience of having their bike in the shop. If you ride much, you pretty much have to do your own work, not sure if I know anyone who does differently.
I know thousands of people who ride a lot and pay a shop to maintain their bikes–but that’s because I’m a mechanic at a bike shop.
Not a surprise. Bike use is way down despite the city’s continuing investment. Maybe time to revise approach?
I was a bike commuter for years in my 20s and a huge commuter/family biker/worked as an advocate in my 30s-early 40s. I’m 50 now. We all but stopped biking after Covid with WAH and the streets became less safe (I live near the central city/burnside so it’s very real). I wouldn’t even know where to take my bike/my older teens’ bikes for repairs these days. My neighborhood bike shops were Universal Cycles (moved to suburbs and left an eyesore/vacant hole at the corner of SE 22nd and Burnside) and Citibikes (closed). Where can I even take my bike locally to be maintained? BTW I just got back from Ireland where there were shops everywhere- not just bike shops, but bricks and mortar was alive and well. TIA.
I too mourn the loss of Universal (they were open early and late) and Citybikes, a true culture hub during the birth of Shift and the halcyon years of the aughts.
To find a bike shop you could check this page: https://www.portland.gov/transportation/walking-biking-transit-safety/bicycle-shops-portland
There are still many great shops in the city, and as Ted suggests, TriMet can make the trip easier if your bike needs love prior to riding.
Maybe if the owners didn’t force customers to wear a mask (even now years after the pandemic) before they could enter the store maybe they would have survived.
This shop and Rich will be missed. I wish him and staff the best.
I left the commercial bicycle industry in 2012.
I could already see the signs on the wall in 2008 and again in 2010 when I attended the Interbike trade shows. The emphasis everywhere was on new, newer and newest technologies, parts, clothing and accessories. Shop owners were urged to get on the bandwagons of tech trickle-down and steady, ceaseless growth, both of which were and are anathema for shops catering to lower-income folks on ordinary commuter bikes.
Shop owners were exhorted to place larger pre-season orders than ever before, and those who did were left holding the bag the following winter. Those who didn’t place bigger orders lost out on “deals” and some were eventually dropped by certain big brands because they weren’t repping that brand hard enough.
Eventually, those bigger brands snubbed Interbike, formed their own associations and shows and eventually went to a consumer-direct model through online and Brand Only stores in select markets.
So much growth, and so much of it misguided and miscalculated.
Bicycling is a human-scale endeavor that doesn’t mesh well with the ideal of constant growth.
Add in the demographics of an aging consumer base. Older riders may no longer be able to work on their own bikes for health reasons or because the technologies they stick with are less and less supported in some shops. At the same time, many are retiring or now work from home.
Newer/younger riders who embrace those newer technologies — hydraulics, belt-drive, e-bikes and all the rest — may not have the know-how, the tools or the desire to work on their own bikes. So the market shifts in response, and risks shutting out longer-term riders of older, more ordinary bikes. (I’m watching a ton of used bikes that fetched $400 or more on the 2019-2020 used market now going for $50, and not just in Portland.)
This, too began when I was still working in a shop. I argued with a Shimano rep in 2007 that we were still getting daily requests for 5- and 6-speed freewheels because our customers were still riding older bikes; why was Shimano discontinuing freewheels when there was still demand? I was told, “Your job is to get your customers excited about newer technologies, and get them off those old bikes.”
In 2007.
I have had a deeply troubled relationship with retail ever since.