BikePortland

Western Bikeworks absorbs Athletes Lounge to expand into triathlon market

Six weeks after closing its doors for good, Portland’s only triathlon shop has found new life in an unexpected place: Another bike shop.

Early Saturday morning Western Bikeworks announced an agreement with Athletes Lounge. Western Bikeworks has locations in northwest Portland and Tigard and is one of the city’s largest bike shops. In addition to their two retail locations Western Bikeworks does a robust online business as one of four e-commerce bike brands owned by Portland-based Velotech Inc (they also run Cyclocross.com, UrbanCyclist.com and BikeTiresDirect.com).

According to a statement, Athletes Lounge owner Gary Wallesen and an undisclosed number of his former staff will now be employed by Western Bikeworks in order to, “expand the areas of expertise” into trisports. Wallesen has also been hired to spearhead a new e-commerce site at AthletesLounge.com in the coming months.

This week’s Monday Roundup is brought to you by Bicycle Fitting Services, who reminds you that it’s the perfect time of year to dial-in your fit for maximum power and comfort.

Welcome to the week. Before we get started, here are the best stories we came across last week…

Onion on arm signals: If you need a quick laugh after last night’s depressing presidential debate, check out The Onion’s treatment of hand signals.

USDOT talks tough on Vision Zero: But it’s mostly just talk. Still. A big show was made of federal commitment to road safety, but we’re not holding our breath that they have the guts to do what it takes to really tackle the problem.

Begging for change: A man waited 26 minutes for a “walk” signal in Seattle. Thankfully he recorded it and shamed SDOT into examining the cause of the delay.

Water taxis gaining steam: NYC is planning one and now another one has been approved between San Francisco and Berkeley. Can you imagine a water taxi connecting St. Johns and north Portland to the South Waterfront and downtown?

Head over to the North Warehouse on Interstate and Tillamook to gander at beautiful, Oregon-made bikes while sipping locally-made beer.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

The Handmade Bike & Beer Fest got off to a solid start tonight in north Portland. This event, hosted by the Oregon Bicycle Constructors Assocation, has teamed up with the Oregon Brewer’s Guild this year to offer a wider variety of craft beers to go along with the craft bikes.

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Before/after of typical cross-section on Foster Road project.

Good news everyone: the Bureau of Transportation has found a new design for their Foster Transportation and Streetscape Project that allows them to continue the westbound bike lanes on Foster all the way to 52nd.

This is a big deal because the plan that passed City Council two summers ago dropped the bike lane at 54th and led westbound Foster bike riders on an annoying zig-zag to the north in order to reach 52nd and eastbound riders would have been led south of Foster to Center Street in order to reconnect to Foster a few blocks east of 52nd — all because PBOT didn’t want to remove a few blocks of on-street auto parking.

At the time, Foster-Powell area resident Brett Holycross told us the zig-zag was, “A shame for an otherwise great project.”

News of the new design leaked out at the City’s town hall event on the new gas tax in east Portland on Tuesday. Members of BikeLoudPDX attended the event and reported back about what they heard from PBOT’s Foster Streetscape Plan Project Manager Rich Newlands. “The bike lanes on Foster will extend to 52nd Ave! This made my day,” wrote Dan Gebhart.

Interesting study released today by Portland Streetcar:

Along Portland’s streetcar route, each new housing unit adds a regular streetcar rider

Portland, Ore. – Portland Streetcar released brand new data Thursday on the relationship between housing development and streetcar ridership, offering insight into future demand for streetcar systems around the country.

In a study of housing construction and streetcar ridership over the past 15 years, ECONorthwest found that each new housing unit built along the streetcar corridor has added one new regular streetcar rider. With over 17,000 housing units built along the corridor since 2001 and another 8,000 in the pipeline in just the next two years, that adds up to a lot of riders. To accommodate increasing demand, Portland Streetcar is developing plans to add vehicles and expand the system to reach new areas of the city.

This new data adds to the growing body evidence that shows streetcars support city and regional goals for both increasing mobility options and improving economic opportunity.

More detail about the data, including a PDF containing a chart and infographics, is available at https://storage.googleapis.com/streetcar/files/Portland-Streetcar-A-Tool-for-Better-Cities.pdf

More information about Portland Streetcar’s ridership and economic impact can be found at http://portlandstreetcar.org/about-us/planning-reports

Forced to steal, a Cedar Hills teen turns in her mom and gets a new bike

This duo was arrested on multiple charges.(Photos: Multnomah County Sheriff's Office) — This duo was arrested on multiple charges.
(Photos: Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office)

We’ve covered many bike theft stories over the years; but we’ve never heard of anything quite like what we learned from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office this morning.

A 13-year-old girl in Cedar Hills (seven miles west of Portland) called the police to report a bicycle that she suspected was stolen. The amazing thing is that the bike was given to her by her mother and she told the responding officer it was probably stolen. She was right. She also disclosed that her mom had forced her to steal all sorts of things from apartment complexes and donation drop-off locations.

Deputies investigated and found out that the girl’s mom — 33-year-old Beaverton resident Lara Kent and her partner, 37-year-Jack Harman Jr. from Portland — had a U-haul van and a storage unit stuffed with stolen goods. They tracked down the van and the storage unit and ultimately arrested the duo.

Among the 70 stolen items recovered were jewelry, checks, mail, license plates, new clothing, 10 bicycles and one electric scooter that belonged to Portlander Cheryl Evans.

Travel Oregon invites you to join the Oregon Bicycle Tourism Partnership (OBTP) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 28 at the Riverbend Community Room in Bend – 799 SW Columbia. A no-host social will follow the event from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m.

Learn more and register today! – Please link to https://fs22.formsite.com/TravelOregon/form23/index.html?1475607559560

Please email Development@TravelOregon.com or call 971-717-6211 if you have any questions or comments about the upcoming meeting or about the Oregon Bicycle Tourism Partnership.

The ‘Cross Crusade’ begins a new era this weekend

This weekend the race series that defines cyclocross in Portland will turn over a new leaf as it launches into its 23rd season. First held in 1993 — before many of its current participants were even born — the River City Bicycles CycloCross Crusade has grown past its adolescent years and is settling into adulthood. The antics the series is known for are by no means coming to an end; but you might notice a slight smoothing of the edges and a shift from partying to professionalism.

We fell a little behind with the week, so now you get to see a few weeks worth of great job opportunities in one big post.

If you’re looking for greener pastures in the bike world, have a look at the listings below and see if there’s anything worth chewing on. Good luck!

–> Bicycle Technician – Islabikes

–> Mechanic/Salesperson – Crank

–> Bike Mechanic and Bike Valet – Go By Bike

–> Shipping Specialist – Velotech

–> Customer Experience Specialist – Velotech

–> Warehouse, Picker/Packer, Product Assembly – HGNR Inc

–> Director of Customer Success – Ride Report

Sorry, this job has been filled. Browse more great jobs here.

Weekend Event Guide: Custom bikes, beer, ‘cross and more

Who’s ready to enter?
(Photo: J Maus/BikePortland)

Saturday kicks off several days of warm and dry weather, just in time for the weekend. The Handmade Bike & Beer Festival returns Friday and Saturday, cyclocross takes over Alpenrose Dairy all weekend, and a cool collaboration between neighborhood businesses in the Gateway District will benefit the Dirt Lab at Gateway Green on Saturday. And that’s not all, see the full menu below…

Portland is full of seriously top-notch bike companies. Two of our faves are North St. Bags and Islabikes. They’ve both released new products and we’ve got the scoop and photos below…

Western Bikeworks absorbs Athletes Lounge to expand into triathlon market

The Monday Roundup: Hand signals, glowing bikeways, safety vigilantes, and more

Builders and brewers star at the Handmade Bike & Beer Fest (photos)

New PBOT design connects Foster bike lanes all the way to 52nd

The relationship between streetcar, housing, and streetcar ridership

Forced to steal, a Cedar Hills teen turns in her mom and gets a new bike

The Next Oregon Bicycle Tourism Partnership Meeting is Set for October 28 in Bend

The ‘Cross Crusade’ begins a new era this weekend

Jobs of the Week: Islabikes, Crank, Go By Bike, Velotech, HGNR Inc, Ride Report

Job: Bicycle Technician – Islabikes – FILLED

Weekend Event Guide: Custom bikes, beer, ‘cross and more

Industry Ticker: New bikes from Islabikes, new bag from North St

Latest Headlines

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I’m going on hiatus

Come to BikePortland’s 20th birthday and beer collab release party!

Big day for PBOT budget as new revenue proposals head back to Council Wednesday

From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland