BikePortland

Product Review: A warm winter cap from Bella Capo

A functional hat that also looks nice off the bike.

I love hats! As someone who bikes almost every day year-round, hats do many things for me. They keep out the elements (rain and sun being my biggest threats), they soak up my sweat in summer, they keep me warm in winter, and they also hide my sometimes disheveled hair.

I’ve worn hundreds of hats over the years, and it takes a lot of little things to go right for one to become a keeper. For the past few weeks I’ve been wearing one that has become my go-to this winter.

The Bella Capo winter cap is made in Italy for Portland-based Cyclone Bicycle Supply (suggested retail is $35.98). Unless you’re in the industry, you probably haven’t heard of Cyclone. That’s because they’re a parts and accessory distributor that sells to bike dealers and other retailers all over the country. All the Bella Capo caps stocked by Cyclone are made just for them by hand from a source in Italy.

10 a.m. southbound bike traffic at 26th and Powell.
(Photos: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

Two of southeast Portland’s most-ridden bike lanes are slated to be removed at the insistence of the state of Oregon.

The bike lanes on each side of Southeast 26th Avenue near Powell draw something like 600 to 800 people per day (even in winter) and run in front of Cleveland High School. They will be paved over sometime in the coming months and not replaced, the Oregon Department of Transportation said last week.

A vision for an all-ages bike loop linking the central city.
(Image: Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability)

The concept of a low-stress bike loop surrounding Portland’s central city will get a high-profile burst of ideas.

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

It was a cold and icy week! The above video should remind you what summers in Oregon are like. The video above shows the new Wild Rivers Coast Scenic Bikeway. It’s near Port Orford on the Southern Oregon coast.

Job Title *
Bistro Manager

Company/Organization *
First City Cycles Marketplace & Bistro

Job Description *
First City Central Marketplace & Bistro at the Depot is hiring! We are gearing up for our grand opening March 2016 and need a key team manager. We are looking for someone with solid experience in menu planning, food and beverage budgeting, restaurant flow management, food prep, and staff management. Ideally, the candidate should be a licensed OLCC server, have a food handler’s permit, and enjoy fun interaction with customers. The Marketplace & Bistro is a bike-themed tourist destination with bicycle sales, rentals, and meeting space. It will also be a starting point for group rides and guided cycling tours. First City Central is located inside the Amtrak train station in historic Oregon City.

How to Apply *
Send email and resume to Blane Meier at blane@fccycles.net.

Meet Portland’s biking-friendly physical therapy office (Video)

Pedal PT, one of Portland’s many bike-oriented businesses, has just released a new promotional video. It’s a great look into the business that owner Kevin Schmidt has built over on SE Clinton Street.

Watch it below the jump…

SW Park Street, a bit south of the incident described.
(Photo: Marilyn M)

Here’s a troubling incident that doesn’t directly involve a bike, but certainly could have.

Less than a month after Portland became one of the first cities to legalize Internet-based ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft, it calls into question the street culture that such services could be creating.

According to a local lawyer, it seems to qualify as a hit-and-run. Police are declining to investigate.

Here’s the account from reader John E. (emphases mine):

Yeah, it’s a hill. We’re climbing it together.
(Photo: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

2016 will be a very important year for the future of Portland biking.

Start with the mayoral election, a possible commissioner change, public gas tax vote and new state transportation funding talks. Throw in major decisions about off-road cycling access and a possible fight with TriMet over Metro money. Consider major progress brewing for the North Portland Greenway from Kelley Point to the Rose Quarter. Consider bike sharing — public and maybe private too. Consider decisions about wide or protected new bike lanes on outer Powell, outer Division and maybe even outer Barbur. Consider plans for our first permanent downtown protected bike lane. Consider a possible program that would add diverters to neighborhood greenways.

All of that is headed straight this way at full speed.

New protected bike lane at SW 13th and Clay-4.jpg

The City of Portland has enhanced the bikeway on SW 13th at SW Clay Street. The existing bicycle only lane which runs on the right of the one-way street, has been beefed up as it approaches the intersection. Now instead of just one stripe of paint to separate bicycle and motor vehicle operators, PBOT has added a buffer zone and five flexible plastic “candlestick” wands (also called delineators).

The Bike Commuter at SE 17th and Clatsop.

The Bike Commuter, a neighborhood bike shop that has served the Sellwood area since 2010, is closing its doors.

The Bike Commuter was a family-friendly, neighborhood bike shop owned by Eric and Naihma Deady. When it opened in January 2010, the shop was located at SE 13th and Umatilla on the main bikeway that took people from the Springwater on the Willamette to the Springwater Corridor.

10 months after opening, the shop moved a few doors down. Then in the summer of 2014, they made a major move into a much larger space at SE Clatsop and 17th. Along with more space the Deady’s aimed to make the store a “cycle lounge” with beer, music and community events.

New homes in Ballard, Seattle.
(Photo: Bejan)

The Portland metro area was one of the fastest job creators in the country in 2015, but a familiar neighbor has been neck and neck on that measure: Seattle.

The city to Portland’s north has ridden the success of Amazon and Microsoft, among others, to the country’s third-highest average wages. (Portland ranks 10th.) But all the money has come at a cost: Seattle rents are 20 percent higher than Portland’s, on average.

That isn’t likely to change any time soon. The most walkable and bikeable parts of Seattle remain even further out of reach for poor people than the most walkable and bikeable parts of Portland do today.

But Seattle’s recent real estate news suggests one way to at least stop rents from going even higher.

Hoffman Road near the location where John Shapley died on December 30th.
(Photo: Polk County Sheriff’s Office)

52-year-old John Shapley was biking on a road just north of Western Oregon University on December 30th when he was struck from behind by 41-year-old Daniel Major, who was driving a Mazda sedan. The impact killed Shapley. He was the 441st person to die while using Oregon roads in 2015 — an increase of 25 percent over last year and a 41 percent jump from 2013.

Product Review: A warm winter cap from Bella Capo

City gives in to state demand to remove bike lanes from SE 26th Avenue

Local design contest offers $20k for great ideas about downtown’s ‘green loop’

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Job: Bistro Manager – First City Cycles Marketplace & Bistro

Meet Portland’s biking-friendly physical therapy office (Video)

Hit by Uber driver? Portlander watches as car that hit him drives off

Five bike news stories to look forward to in 2016

City uses paint and plastic to enhance bike lane on SW 13th at Clay

Sellwood bike shop, The Bike Commuter, closing doors after six years in business

After years of building, Seattle gets a new year’s gift: falling rents

Man hit while bicycling near Western Oregon University is last Oregon road fatality of 2015

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