🚨 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 🙏

The Monday Roundup: Getaway Citi Bike, a texting-driving smoking gun and more

Blonde, boots, leather leggings

A great escape tool, for better or worse.
(Photo: Billie Ward)

This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by North St. Bags, who invites you to shop their Portland-made selection of bags and accessories at their holiday pop-up shop at 11 NW 5th.

Here are the bike links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:

Getaway bike: A New Yorker shot a bullet into both of an acquaintance’s legs last week, ran two blocks to a Citi Bike dock, checked out a bike and fled.

Smoking gun: When Blackberry service went down for three days last month, traffic collisions dropped 40 percent. (The smartphone pioneer has 44 percent of the market there.)

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Uber’s illegal Portland launch raises question: What if an Uber driver hits you?

Riding Portland's urban highways-8

Uber inside?
(Photos: J.Maus/BikePortland)

If you get hit on a Portland street by a commercially operated vehicle, you don’t want it to be an UberX on its way to its next fare.

On the other hand, you’ll be better off than if you had been hit by one of many normal private cars.

As the ride-hailing mobile app unexpectedly lauched Friday night in defiance of a city where the possible penalties for operating an unlicensed taxi can include jail time (but are reportedly more likely to involve up to $2,250 in fines), it raised a side issue for other users of the city’s roads.

It’s one we discussed briefly in our September Q&A with Uber’s regional manager, but Friday’s development gives it fresh urgency.

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Comment of the Week: Nike’s self-inflicted recruitment challenge

Nike World Campus

Gilded cage? Inside the berm of Nike World
Headquarters near Beaverton.
(Photo: Tracy Lee Carroll)

Is one of the region’s most important companies turning its back on talent by locking its campus off from biking and transit?

It’s hard not to feel that way after reading a series of comments this week from reader s30t. Here’s what s30t wrote in response to last week’s post about the potential for Nike’s planned expansion to finally upgrade nearby bikeways:

Interesting reading through all the comments here. I recently joined Nike, despite having heavy concerns about the commute. One year in I can say my concerns are justified. I try my best to commute by bike (or at least a bike/max combo) – but the time investment is huge. I’ve tried multiple different routes, but I live in NE Portland and it is almost impossible to keep the round trip commute less than 2-2.5 hours via bike or combo bike/public transit combo. if you work with Asia and Europe (which I do) you end up with many early a.m/late calls…that means hopping on my bike at 5 am and not getting back home until 7pm or later. I can see why commuting by bike is not an option for anyone with children (or even a dog for that matter!)

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Sellwood Bridge demo will close Springwater path for 12 days

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Press release is below:

Dec. 5, 2014

Contact: Mike Pullen, Communications Office, 503-209-4111, mike.j.pullen@multco.us

Springwater Trail closure under Sellwood Bridge Dec. 8 – 19

A short section of the Springwater Trail under the Sellwood Bridge will be closed December 8 – 19, 2014 during demolition of the old east approach to the bridge above the trail. The closed section is between SE Spokane Street and SE Umatilla Street. Trail users will be directed to a detour via Spokane and Umatilla to SE 7th Avenue to cross SE Tacoma Street. After the old approach is taken down, the contractor will build the north half of the new east approach in 2015.

For more information, visit www.sellwoodbridge.org.

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This is what happens when you ask Portlanders to build balance bikes

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward
ccc-auctionlead

Balance bikes for bid. See more photos below.
(Photo: CCC)

From the Bike Mechanic Challenge back in June to their successful Transportation Trivia Nights, the northeast Portland based Community Cycling Center has a knack for dreaming up great ways to support their cause.

But this one might take the cake.

In the spirit of the season when little kids dream of their first bike, the CCC challenged five of its staffers to compete in a “Balance Bike Build-Off”. For the uninitiated, a balance bike is a tiny bike for toddlers without pedals or gears and a seat so low it can be powered by running instead of pedaling. They’re simply the best way to learn to how to balance, and ultimately ride, a bike.

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Tested: The Orp bike horn and light combo

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward
The Orp smart horn-2

The Orp in black.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Bells are the rare bike accessory that hasn’t really changed much in the past century or so. While shifting and braking and other bike tech has evolved considerably over the years, many people still use bells that would seem right at home on a high-wheeler. (I personally have two bells I use almost every day — both made of brass that’s dinged with a low-tech, spring-actuated lever.)

Then there’s the Orp, a product invented and designed right here in Portland by Tory Orzeck that’s decidedly modern in its looks, feel, and sound. I’ve been using the Orp since last summer in all sorts of conditions and I’m finally ready to share my impressions.

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After success of 3rd Avenue demonstration in Old Town, real changes are coming

Better Block

A temporary crosswalk across 3rd Avenue, crossing one lane of mixed traffic and one protected bike lane, on Oct. 4.
(Photo: Greg Raisman)

Two months after a three-day demo of a human-oriented 3rd Avenue captured many visitors’ imaginations, permanent changes are afoot.

The city is proposing to spend $10,000 next spring to add paint to 14 unmarked crosswalks on NW 2nd, 3rd and 4th between Burnside and Glisan. Several nearby properties have just changed hands. And Howard Weiner, chair of the Old Town Community Association, is working on plans that could bring much larger changes to the area.

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Weekend Event Guide: BikeCraft, Rudolph, the Outback, and more

BikeCraft 2011-23-23

It’s BikeCraft weekend!
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Welcome to your menu of weekend rides and events, lovingly brought to you by our friends at Hopworks Urban Brewery.

As we get ever closer to the end of the year, a few traditions are among us. One of them is BikeCraft, an event near and dear to our hearts here at BikePortland. It’s an excellent place to find great gifts for bike lovers and re-connect with friends old and new.

There’s also a sing-along ride on the schedule. Tom Howe is leading a Rudolph-themed ride through downtown that is sure to be fun. And if you’re shy, don’t worry, there will be plenty of people on the ride and there’s safety in numbers!

Whatever you do, we hope you stay warm and dry out there.

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Truck drivers are using Portland’s marquee cycle track as loading zone

moodeylead

You can’t park there. Seriously. It’s a City Code violation.
(Photo: Kiel Johnson)

Ask Portland bike advocates, planners, or city staff what our best example of a high-quality bikeway is and many of them might say the SW Moody cycle track. That’s why we were so disappointed when photos appeared on Twitter yesterday showing large delivery trucks parking on it.

SW Moody is the main artery between the burgeoning South Waterfront district and downtown Portland. Its cycle track opened three years ago (read my first impressions here) and was funded through a $23 million federal stimulus grant that also paid for a reconstruction of the street to facilitate a streetcar and light rail line that connect to the new Tilikum Bridge.

A new mixed-use development on SW Moody includes several ground-level retail businesses including a bakery and a deli. According to people who ride the route regularly, it’s common to see delivery trucks using the cycle track to load and unload.

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James Beard Market plans could be chance to fix Morrison Bridge bike access issues

beard market birdseye sketch

An indoor food market planned for the west side of the Morrison Bridge might bring the money needed to improve Portland’s newest and arguably most awkward downtown bridge landing.

At an open house and design forum on Saturday, Dec. 13, the public will get its first big chance to review and weigh in on the proposal to convert the little-used parking lots inside the bridge’s cloverleafs to a space inspired by Vancouver BC’s Granville Island or Copenhagen’s Torvehallerne. A local biking advocate, who identified the opportunity, is urging people who care about the area to join him in attending.

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Latest Headlines

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Monday Roundup: Golden gravel route, too bad for Rad, Uber is sad, and more

From the Archives

Portland’s invisible machine: Behind the scenes at the World Naked Bike Ride