A few weeks ago, I reported on a presentation that Trek Bicycles President John Burke gave at the National Bike Summit. John Burke (R) with Bike Gallery owner and tireless bicycle advocate Jay Graves.File photo from National Bike Summit, 3/15/07 It was a preview of a presentation he gave just a few days ago at … Read more
New logo of the OBCA A group of Portland framebuilders are in the early stages of forming the Oregon Bicycle Constructors Association (OBCA). The effort is being led by veteran framebuilder Andy Newlands of Strawberry Cyclesport and Natalie and Austin Ramsland of Sweetpea Bicycles.
At the end of April, local framebuilder and former bicycle messenger Ira Ryan will travel to Iowa for a grueling, 325 mile endurance race known as the Trans-Iowa.
[This is the third installment of my “In the shop” series. Check out the first two on Joseph Ahearne and Tony Pereira.] Brett Flemming At the end of a cul-de-sac in a non-descript, Vancouver Washington subdivision, is the home and shop of Brett Flemming, an extraordinary machinist, inventor, and head mechanic for one of the … Read more
Shannon Bryant ofShimano Marketing At the closing ceremony of the National Bike Summit, the Shimano marketing duo of Shannon Bryant and David Lawrence hit the stage to tell the story of Coasting. Shimano embarked on this initiative five years ago when they teamed up with premier product design group IDEO. That was the start of … Read more
[I noticed the “Ride. Relax. Repeat” graphics on the window and the cruiser bike in the rack and I knew something was up at The Encore sales office in Northwest Portland.]
[The Vanilla Bicycles booth at the Handmade Bicycle Show.]
[A popular shirt available through Microcosm.] Recently on a local cycling email list, news surfaced that Microcosm Publishing and founder Joe Biel, were leaving Portland. Microcosm is the company behind most of the bike stickers, zines, t-shirts and general bike propaganda that is a common sight on backpacks and messenger bags throughout the city. But … Read more
Ending five months of speculation and courting by City of Portland officials, Don Walker, founder of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) just announced that the event will be in Portland next year on March February 7-10 at the Oregon Convention Center. The announcement was made at the culmination of the third annual NAHBS … Read more
[The cherry blossoms are already blooming down here.] Today was another action-packed day here in San Jose at the Handmade Bicycle Show. I finally got to meet Kirk Pacenti. Kirk is a former product designer at Bontrager and is well-known in the framebuilding world for his lugs (the things that join frame tubes together), but … Read more
Here’s a nice bike love story for you. Sprockette and Portland school teacher Maggie Michaels got the surprise of her life today. Maggie is the girlfriend (and muse) of builder Joseph Ahearne and he has been secretly working for months on a special “mixte” style bike that he unveiled today. She showed up at the … Read more