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We’ve got a bike–or trike–for everyone

Posted by Matt Cardinal | October 28, 2009 – 11:32 am

Hollywood service manager Pete Zlatnik passed this inspiring story along to us about his mother’s experience riding an adult tricycle. It’s affirming to know that no matter the personal challanges, there is a bike made for just about everyone.

My mom Judy is 68, her knees aren’t so good but she wanted to get some exercise. A few years back I got her an adult trike hoping this would give her an opportunity to get exercise on a bike. She started just tooling around the neighborhood at first, then she’d ride to the store about a mile away. Eventually she created this loop that was a little further including a local bike path. I went down to visit last spring and was shocked and impressed to see that the pedals were worn out from lots of use, when I got home I sent new ones. Recently she asked me how she could train to ride 15 miles because there was a local wine country ride with a 60, 30, and 15 mile option (my parents live in the southern Bay Area). I sent her a Trek bike computer so she could monitor her mileage, and she found out that her loop was already 10 miles! She was so excited because she thought that she had only been riding 5 miles. A few weeks back she did the 15 mile ride with no problem. She wishes she could ride faster, but is nervous of a fall so she prefers the 3 wheeler. I’m really proud of her for doing the ride. It was definitely a big accomplishment.

Adult tricycles are avilable at our Division location (SE 109th & Division). Store manager Peter Lunoak has this to add:

The adult trikes we carry (Trek and Torker) are a great solution for people who want to experience the freedom and self sufficiency of riding a bike, but who either don’t feel comfortable on a bike, or simply can’t ride a bike due to some sort of mobility challenge. We’ve outfitted customers with conditions ranging from joint degeneration, MS, Vertigo…In every case our customers feel a wonderful sense of liberation.

Posted in Guest Column | Comments (3)

Downtown Bike Gallery wins Commuter Challenge 6 years running!

Posted by Matt Cardinal | October 19, 2009 – 11:03 am

The Downtown Bike Gallery once again stole the show in the BTA’s annual Commuter Challenge. The Downtown store rode away with the prize with an astonishing 99.2% of trips to work by bike! I had a chance to talk to Joan, the Downtown store manager about how they have been able to make bike commuting a way of life.

What’s so great about bike commuting? Bike commuting, besides being a chance to get outdoors, is great for one’s physical and mental health. It’s also an opportunity to show your commitment to our community: less traffic congestion, less pollution/climate change, and it reduces the strain on the economic costs of health care.

What is the general feeling about bike commuting at the Downtown store? Does this change during the highly competitive Commute Challenge? Our attitude is that commuting is what we do: we go by bike! And yes, during the BCC the peer pressure is intense. We don’t settle for anything less than full commitment.

Who has the most difficult commute in your store? Mary has a short but brutish 17% grade at the end of her trip home. Garrett’s trip is the longest (17 miles). Jude has to cross Powell, 39th, Hawthorne, and negotiate the “Morning Hawthorne Crit,” AKA the morning trip across the bridge. I’d have to say that this year Saki takes the prize for difficulty; he doesn’t own a bike right now, so he never knew what we’d be scrounging up for him. He rode it all: cargo bikes, cheapo bikes, women’s bikes, ill-fitting bikes, and numerous trips on a Shimano Coasting bike! His commute was definitely the most trying.

Who has it the easiest? JP and Greg don’t even need to wake up to get here. You’ll want to watch out for them on the Hawthorne Bridge!

What kind of arm twisting does it take to get employees to ride to work 99.2% of trips for a month? I threw this question out to my co-workers, since I was the arm-twisting team captain. Responses ranged from: “Have you priced parking a car downtown?” To, “The peer pressure was relentless!” The best summary was, “Have you ever met Joan?”

Any words of encouragement to potential bike commuters? If you’re thinking about giving bike commuting a go, remember, do what works for you. Each trip is an accomplishment. Sunny days only, once a week, once a month, or only during BCC, it all helps you and the community. You don’t have to wear a snorkel and get decked out in neon green, like the hard core commuters. You have your own style, and we’d love to see it!

Finally, I’d like to add that Daniel McGinnis (Bike Gallery General Manager) and Jay Graves (Bike Gallery owner) make it easy for us. Other workplaces would benefit from doing some of the things they’ve put in place for us: indoor, secure bike parking; a place to store wet rain gear; showers; and a pay incentive. It all adds up to happy employees.

Posted in Bike Advocacy, Staff & Stores | Comments (0)

Bontrager Nebula Plus inForm Saddles: Research = Comfort

Posted by Aaron "Rambo" Harrison | October 7, 2009 – 10:12 am

A couple of months back, I wrote a post about my favorite performance saddles, the Bontrager inForm line and the hard science that went into their creation. Since my article was posted, several people have added comments to the post asking if there were saddles available for their hybrid/city bikes that would provide them with the same level of comfort and support as the original line of inForm performance saddles had for road bike riders. When the article was first posted, there wasn’t anything to be had. But in August at the Trek dealer show Trek World in Madison, Wisconsin, a new line of inForm saddles called the Nebula Plus inForm was unveiled. This saddle is designed specifically for the more upright riding position of a hybrid/city bike. I’m happy to announce that these saddles have finally landed at your friendly neighborhood Bike Gallery location. Read More »

Posted in New Products, Product Review | Comments (2)

Team racing Madsen style!

Posted by Matt Cardinal | October 6, 2009 – 5:11 pm

On Sunday October 4th, the Division Bike Gallery team of Peter Lunoak and Brice Stivers decided it would be a good idea to race a Madson cargo bike in the world’s largest cyclocross race. Why did they think this was a good idea? I had to find out more, so I spoke with Peter about how it all came together.

Where did the idea come from?
The idea to race the Crusade at Alpenrose astride our Madsen Utility Bucket arose from the preparation process for a later race we plan on contesting. That and we also wanted to really see what the Madsen is capable of… One bike with well over 300 pounds of “cargo” bumping along a cross course seems to me the perfect sea trial.You know, if the bike can survive that kind of punishment, it says a lot about its ability to haul some kiddies to school, or a big load of groceries home from the store.

What kind of preperations did you make?
Preparation began the day before the race with some minor modifications to our otherwise stock bike. For example removing the big double kickstand, the adjustable stem and the fenders, fabricating a guide for the slack side of the chain and putting on some knobby tires. Other than that our “training” involved working out a technique for flying dismounts and remounts a few minutes before the start.

What was the race like?
I have never pedaled so hard to go so slow…

How did the crowd react?
There was all sorts of hootin and hollerin, rubber boots a-stompin’ and bells a-ringin’. I’m not sure if it was all for us, but nobody cursed us or spit on us. So I’d say they loved it!

High/low points in the race?
High point I’d have to say was surviving the whole three laps without a single crash! We had some close calls… In particular the last time we finished the run-up Brice must have botched his part of the remount. Maybe he went in head first — I don’t know. But he made some sort of indescribable “pain sound” and then the bike was tilting hard to the left and then the right. For a moment I was certain that we were about to slam into the concrete wall of the velodrome or otherwise topple off the high side of the slope. Miraculously we made it through that… Lowpoint? None really. This first decisive victory in the Cargo bike category erased all my memories of pain and suffering!

For more photos of this historic event, have a look at David Anderson’s flickr photoset.

Posted in Events, Staff & Stores | Comments (9)

Interbike report from Bike Gallery owner Jay Graves

Posted by Jay Graves | October 6, 2009 – 4:40 pm

Bike Gallery owner Jay Graves recently attended the annual bike show Interbike in Las Vegas. The following is his report of the event, with a focus on Bike Advocacy.

I caught this priceless picture on the way back from my first day at Interbike. Watching two bike cops ticketing a Lamborghini on Las Vegas Boulevard during the nations largest bike show was pretty surreal, it made being in the less than enjoyable city, a little more enjoyable. The only question in my mind is: do these cops need to be tested for steroids?

Day two of Interbike opened with a breakfast hosted by the International Mountain Biking Association honoring the top Bicycle Friendly Businesses for ’09. I’d guess there were over two hundred people crowded into this meeting room with standing room only to hear the announcements that two businesses made Platinum status. The two are Bicycle Sport Shop in Austin Texas, and Quality Bicycle Parts, a supplier/distributor/manufacturer in Minneapolis.

As last year’s winner of a Platinum Bicycle Friendly Business award, we here at Bike Gallery can appreciate the effort and commitment to cycling these two businesses have made. It’s not an easy designation at all. Check out the League of American Bicyclists for more info and to see all the other businesses that have won similar awards.

IMBA chose to host this Bicycle Friendly Business awards so they could highlight their new “Ride Center” programand educate many prominent retailers/suppliers on the great work IMBA is doing. IMBA has some other great programs in the works, like expanding their international presence and an over abundance of trail building projects (they just need more volunteers and money to get them done). The highlight of the slide show though was a new IMBA Ride Center in Oakridge, Oregon that just received word they were awarded $400,000 to build their area into a regional tourism draw. IMBA even showed a clip of an upcoming movie that’s being shot by a company called Howl at the Moon Productions. Very exciting trailer that tells a great story of how wonderful Oakridge is to visit/ride/explore and the community support they have received for transforming their city into a world class destination for mountain bikers.

Later in the day I attended a presentation hosted by component manufacturer SRAM about a program called World Bicycle Relief, now in its 5th year, that makes bikes available to needy countries. They have provided 55,000 bikes over the past 5 years, and co-owner of SRAM, F.K. Day, joked about betting on the number 5 while in Vegas because of his success with this program. He told some great stories and showed us pictures about how bicycles can change people’s lives so dramatically (sound familiar?).

A very inspiring project that I want to promote so others can see how utterly transformative bicycles can be for people around the globe, not just here in Portland or the US.

It is exciting to see the moves being made by our industry to promote both business locally to adopt better bicycling infrastructure, and internationally to empower individuals, their families, and their communities, to provide access to independence and livelihood through the power of bicycles.

Posted in Bike Advocacy, Travel | Comments (0)

Tour de Lab: Portland’s definition of a fun ride

Posted by Barb Grover | September 8, 2009 – 10:09 am

Lots of bike lovers, dog lovers, beer lovers: where else but Portland? What else but the Tour de Lab? The annual Tour de Lab bike ride on Sunday September 13, combines three of Portland’s favorite things (I’d vote to add books to the mix, but… you can’t always have it all). And, need I say with bikes, dogs, and beer fun is the theme for the day.

Riders can choose from 2 different routes: the 18-mile “Puppy” or the 30-mile “Big Dog”. On both routes you’ll journey along urban routes to three different rest stops. At each of the rest stops you’ll earn your doggie gear: tail, ears and nose. Once you’re fully dogged up, it’s time to kick back, relax and enjoy the dog days of summer with your Tour de Lab pint of Lucky Lab’s handcrafted ale. The commemorative pint glass is yours to keep. Read More »

Posted in Events | Comments (0)