Industry News Roundup

Welcome to the Industry News Roundup, a that shares the latest news from Portland-based bicycle companies. If you have industry news to share, we’d love to hear about it.

Industry News Roundup: Vanilla’s ‘Build-Off’, PDW’s new bar bag, a bigger Beinn, and more

Welcome to our latest roundup of local bike industry news. This column used to be called “Industry Ticker” but I don’t think anyone really understood the “ticker” part, so I changed it.

If you’re new to town (or to BikePortland), you might not realize that in addition to a lot of cool bike events and people riding bikes all over the place, we have a ton of bike-related businesses here. We have companies that make bikes, some that sell them, others that design cool things to attach to them, and much more.

Get to know a few of these companies in the roundup below…

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Industry Ticker: SE Portland’s Renovo launches ‘Aerowood’ road bike

Renovo’s Aerowood is made in their shop in inner southeast Portland.

While there’s been a bit of a shakeout since the artisan bike maker heyday of years past, Portland is still home to many great builders. One of them is hardwood bike specialist Renovo. Under the tutelage of Ken Wheeler, the company (celebrating their 10th anniversary this year) has found a solid niche.

Their latest is the Aerowood endurance bike. Learn more in the press release below:

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Industry Ticker: Norther’s Klickitat, limited edition Breadwinner, and Western Bikeworks big remodel

The latest from Norther, Western Bikeworks, and Breadwinner.
(Photos by Anthony Bareno (left), Western Bikeworks (middle), Breadwinner Cycles (right).

Portland’s local bike industry is always in flux: coming, going, making it, and breaking it. Because business is a key part of our local scene, we try to keep an eye on it all. Here are three bits of news from local makers and sellers that you should know about.

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Industry Ticker: Igleheart/Chris Chance collab yields re-issue of Yo Eddy! Road Fork

New fork made in north Portland.
(Photos courtesy Echos Communications)

Portland-based builder Chris Igleheart has teamed up with another bike industry legend on an old fork design made new again. The Yo Eddy! Road Fork is based on the 1995 version first released by Chris Chance of Fat Chance. Now the two bike-making veterans have updated its design to modern standards.

Igleheart works out of his shop on Page Street in North Portland where he specializes in frames and forks. Check out the official release below:

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Industry Ticker: New Nutcases, big Ruckus move, Breadwinners, and more

Nutcase’s offerings keep growing.
(Photo: Nutcase)

Portland’s bike culture goes way beyond bike lane activism and group rides. Our city is also a magnet for bike-related industry — from manufacturing to design and everything in between.

Here’s an update on the people, products, and places that make up Portland’s ever-changing bike industry landscape…

Ruckus moves into larger space
Ruckus’ new digs.
(Photo: Ruckus Composites)

Continuing the growth we reported on last fall, Ruckus Composites has just completed a move into a new space. Here’s more from a company statement:

“The new building that houses their carbon fiber repair shop is at 3380 SE 20th Ave “The new building provides space for increased department separation and growth opportunity, further optimizing its repair workflow. An improved structural repair area allows the company to begin to fully utilize their investment in NDT (non-destructive testing) technology using ultrasound, infrared and fluorescing penetrant dye to fully form a holistic image about how and why carbon fiber frames are damaged. Two immediate improvements include an independent, paint facility and a carbon fiber lay-up clean room, further bolstering the company’s “better service through science” model.”

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Industry Ticker: New ‘Atlas’ jacket from Showers Pass; Islabikes launches ‘cross tires for adults

New offerings from Portland-based Islabikes and Showerspass.

We love seeing local bike companies expand their product lines. It demonstrates that our bike economy is strong and that the spirit of innovation from our local bikey brain trust is alive and well.

Today we’ve got words and pictures of two new products now available from two Portland companies: Showers Pass and Islabikes USA.

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Chrome Industries will relocate from San Francisco to Portland

New Chrome store in downtown Portland-23

The Chrome retail store at 420 SW 10th Ave in downtown Portland.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

We just gained another iconic cycling brand: Chrome Industries announced this morning that they plan to relocate to Portland in early April.

Chrome is well-known in the bike world for its messenger bags, shoes and apparel. Closely tied to the messenger scene since its start in Denver, Colorado in 1995. Chrome had been based in San Francisco since 2002 and the company opened a retail store in downtown Portland in 2012. The company makes custom bags in its retail stores and they make about 60 percent of all their products in the USA (bags are made in Chico and apparel is cut and sewn in San Francisco). A rep for the company said there are no immediate plans to bring production jobs to Portland.

In a press release, Chrome explained why they decided to move their head office here:

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