4/25: Hello readers and friends. I'm still recovering from a surgery I had on 4/11, so I'm unable to attend events and do typical coverage. See this post for the latest update. I'll work as I can and I'm improving every day! Thanks for all your support 🙏. - Jonathan Maus, BikePortland Publisher and Editor

Three local bike books to nab (and one to await)

bike books!

Portland is rich with locally written bike books.
(Photo by J.Maus/BikePortland)

Portland has been exporting its biking expertise for years, but the explosion of independent publishing is helping that happen faster than ever.

Case in point: Four new books by young local authors, all currently in development, poised to document and spread local bike wisdom around the city, the region and the country. One’s about moving by bike, one’s about bike touring, one’s about bike-inspired cooking and one is a popular-audience introduction to the role bikes can play in economic growth.

With the days getting shorter and book season approaching, here’s a cheat sheet on a few projects in the works, and how to get ahold of them.

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Open house next week shows off five grants that promise street fixes

cool bike rack in downtown Portland oregon

Downtown is one of several neighborhoods that
could benefit from these grants.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

A fleet of major projects to improve bike and foot travel in downtown Portland, East Portland, SE Foster Road, SW Barbur Boulevard and Southwest Portland’s neighborhoods will be competing for dollars and attention with freight projects each other at an open house next week.

The five projects are among many jostling for $95 million from Metro’s regional flexible fund allocation, one of the few channels of federal support for bike and walking transportation.

“Your feedback can help decide which projects get recommended to receive funding,” Metro says on its website. The open house is 6-8 pm on Aug. 15, one week from tonight, in the Portland Building at 1120 SW 5th Ave (PDF).

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sliver Fuji Team 2004

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 2004
Brand: Fuji
Model: Team
Color:sliver
Size:54cm
Serial:1F3C27638
Stolen in Portland, OR 97219
Stolen:2013-08-07
Stolen From: Johnson Creek Park Sellwood
Neighborhood: sellwood
Owner: Steve Rock
OwnerEmail: starman007_1999@yahoo.com
Reward: yes
Description: Fuji Team rode bike sliver with blue Fuji labels. full ultegra, black sele seat. lights and computer. blue egg beater pedals.
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

sliver Fuji Team 2004

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 2004
Brand: Fuji
Model: Team
Color:sliver
Stolen in Portland, OR 97219
Stolen:2013-08-7
Stolen From: Johnson Creek Park Sellwood
Neighborhood: sellwood
OwnerEmail: starman007_1999(at sign)yahoo.com
Reward: yes
Description: Fuji Team rode bike sliver with blue Fuji labels. full ultegra black sele seat. lights and computer. egg beater pedals.
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

silver Fuji Absolute 2.0 2011

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 2011
Brand: Fuji
Model: Absolute 2.0
Color:silver
Size:19-20″
Photo: http://imgur.com/nTfK5Kt
Stolen in Beaverton, OR 97005
Stolen:2013-08-8
Stolen From: Gardenbrook Apartments, Beaverton, nearest cross streets: 102nd Ave & Canyon
Owner: Jason Dye
OwnerEmail: wombat_onslaught( atsign )yahoo.com
Reward: $50
Description: Fuji, Absolute 2.0, silver with orange highlights on the frame next to the back wheel. black scuffing to the top bar. Bontrager saddle. Shimano derailleurs, shifters, gears, and cranks. Large model
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike

Black/white Giant TCR Alliance 2009

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 2009
Brand: Giant
Model: TCR Alliance
Color:Black/white
Size:small
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/99982786@N04/9460789443/
Stolen in Portland, OR 97201
Stolen:2013-08-7
Stolen From: SW Columbia & 4th Ave right next to 24hr fitness gym. Locked on the Columbia side.
Neighborhood: Downtown
Owner: Islam Morsi
OwnerEmail: morsislam(AT)gmail.com
Description: Clipless pedals, dirty white handlebar wraps with scratches, front wheel sensor but no computer
Police record with: Portland PD
Police reference#: 13-155548
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Police ticketing riders for not following signs near SE construction zone

SE light rail construction detours-2

Navigate poorly and you could wind
up with a $260 ticket.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

On Tuesday, the Portland Bureau of Transportation proudly boasted about their traffic law enforcement crackdown around the light rail construction zone in inner southeast Portland. They issued 316 citations, 104 warnings, and arrested four people in just over two weeks of patrols. In press statements, PBOT says this stepped-up enforcement effort is being done in the name of safety and that their efforts are — understandably so — directed at speeding and, “motorists who are distracted, impaired, or aggressive.”

But what they haven’t said is that people on bikes are being ticketed simply for failing to properly navigate the confusing, stress-inducing, and inadequate detour signage.

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silver Jamis 2001

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 2001
Brand: Jamis
Color:silver
Stolen in Portland, OR 97209
Stolen:2013-08-7
Stolen From: Taken from the parking lot side of the Ecotrust building – 721 NW 9th Ave, Portland
Neighborhood: Pearl
OwnerEmail: mfoucht(AT)ecotrust.org
Description: The bike had a rack on the back, a missing toe clip, the padding was coming unwrapped off the left side handle bar.
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike

Six lessons for Portland from the League’s new ‘Women Bike’ report

woman on a bike

Common, but not quite common enough.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Even in Portland, people who really ought to know better (links to FB) still claim now and then that biking is a thing for young dudes.

Still, in a town where only 31 percent of people on bikes tend to be female (it’s about 25 percent nationally) we’ve got a long way to go until, as in Germany or the Netherlands, our biking population is evenly split by gender. Portland’s failure to change this ratio for 10 years can be discouraging to people who think everyone deserves to feel welcome on a bike.

That’s why there’s a lot to celebrate in a new report by the League of American Bicyclists that rounds up dozens of statistics about women and bikes. Culled from industry reports, political polls and academic studies, a few of the report’s figures are pretty surprising…

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Blue/White Kona Jake 2011

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 2011
Brand: Kona
Model: Jake
Color:Blue/White
Size:52
Serial:H1CZ42772
Stolen in Portland, OR 97202
Stolen:2013-08-08
Stolen From: Sellwood Pool7951 SE 7th AvePortland, OR 97202
Neighborhood: Sellwood
Owner: Jacob MacIntyre
OwnerEmail: yardkup@yahoo.com
Reward: $200
Description: Black tape on handles, clip pedals
Police record with: Portland PD
Police reference#: 13-155552
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Latest Headlines

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From the Archives

More biking = better driving. So why isn’t this said more often?