🚨 Please note that BikePortland slows down during this time of year as I have family in town and just need a break! Please don't expect typical volume of news stories and content. I'll be back in regular form after the new year. Thanks. - Jonathan 🙏
Day One of BikeCraft 2011 is in the books. There was a great turnout today and many many fine things to browse and buy.
Below are some of the things that caught my eye. Remember, if you’re just waking up on Sunday morning, you’ve got plenty of time to get down to 420 NE 9th and do some shopping. BikeCraft is open from 11 – 6pm and there’s lots of good stuff left!
Last night a TriMet bus operator made an abrupt stop – causing some injuries to passengers – in order to avoid someone riding a bicycle in downtown Portland.
The man on the bike reportedly failed to stop at a stop sign.
I first heard about it on the Twitter feed of Joseph Rose, a reporter for The Oregonian. I’m following up with TriMet, but thought in the mean time I’d share a first-person account just sent in by a reader:
I was on a #9 bus last night at about 6:15pm. We were travelling north on SW Broadway. As we came to Everett street, a cyclist with no lights darted across the path of the bus, mortally close, causing the driver to bring the bus to an immediate halt. The cyclist did not stop.
The world of bicycle shifting is dominated by two big names: Shimano and Campagnolo (and to a lesser extent SRAM). Now an upstart Portland entrepreneur is throwing his hat in the ring with a new product called Retroshift.
As its name implies, Retroshift is old technology with a new spin. The product is a lever for road bikes similar to an “STI” mechanical lever that allows riders to shift and brake at the same time. The big difference with Retroshift is that the shifter sits in front of the brake lever and the shifter itself is nothing more than an old bar-end or downtube shifter.
Watch the video below to see how it works:
Joel Sheley is the latest Portlander to be swept up in the local bike business wave. Sheley has launched Spoketown Cargo with hopes of building a business delivering goods by bike.
Year: 2010
Brand: Mercier
Model: Kilo XI
Color:gray
Photo: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2677/4334499767_439f956fdb.jpg
Stolen in Portland, OR 97202
Stolen:2011-12-2
Stolen From: SE Waverleigh and 31st.
Neighborhood: South East Powell
Owner: C Labansky
OwnerEmail: labanskyc@yahoo.com
Reward: $50
Description: All gray bike, stock parts, clip-on rear fender, front light, tail light.
Police record with: Portland PD
Police reference#: t11008913
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike
An “elderly woman” was struck and killed by a C-TRAN bus today while walking across the street in downtown Vancouver. The collision occurred a few blocks from the bike route across the I-5 Bridge, according to witnesses.
The Route 4 bus was in the process of turning left from 8th Street to Washington Street when it collided with a unidentified woman in the marked cross walk, according to passengers on the bus. “Everyone on the bus was yelling at [the driver] to stop… and than the bus hit her and we started yelling [at the driver] ‘you just hit someone’ and everyone got off the bus,” said Taryn Park, who was on the bus at the time of the collision.
Below is your menu for bike fun this weekend (starting this afternoon!). For being winter, it’s pretty impressive just how much is going on. Bundle up and get there.
See the weekend guide below the jump…
Today’s print edition of the venerable Wall Street Journal features a story on Tim and Sue Butler’s Southeast Portland condo. The Butler’s are both serious cyclists, with Sue’s name gracing these pages on several past occasions for her pro cyclocross exploits.
So, why is the WSJ profiling their condo? The house itself is gorgeous (nice enough to get a feature in Portland Monthly Mag last year), but it’s the $1.5 million* amazing bike garage that caught their eye.
Year: 2007
Brand: Motobecane
Model: Fantom Cross
Color:red
Size:56
Photo: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/265/287424357656a3dda9d7m.jpg/
Stolen in Portland, OR 97213
Stolen:2011-12-01
Stolen From: 24 hour Fitness:Hollywood.
Neighborhood: Hollywood
Owner: Tyler Fought
OwnerEmail: tylerfought@gmail.com
Reward: Good Karma
Description: Red Fantom Cross CX bike with Black fenders. Set up for commuting.
Police record with: n/a
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike
Year: 09
Brand: SE
Model: Workhorse
Color:Black
Size:47
Serial:ICSE09D01306
Photo: http://imgur.com/qF06T
Stolen in Portland, OR 97225
Stolen:2011-12-01
Stolen From: Sunset Transit Center
Owner: Claire Jackson
OwnerEmail: cxjackson@gmail.com
Description: Mostly-new Workhorse model, quite small. Singular black back fender and scratches along the fork in the front.
Police reference#: T11008889
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike
Jason Jepsen is working on an exciting project. The 41-year old self-described “energy and efficiency expert” who just moved to Portland in 2009 after living “off the grid” in Colorado for the past 15 years is putting his personal energy into figuring out how to recycle the foam, plastic shell, fabric straps and plastic buckles that make up bike helmets.
It’s a considerable task, given that helmets are so widely used (about 77% of Portlanders use them according to 2010 PBOT bicycle counts), they only last a few years, and the industry doesn’t give much thought to making them easily recyclable.