:: cyclists inciting change
thru live exchange
A Passion for Pedaling
Published August 22, 2005 by Portland Business Journal
With its downtown location, Veloshop, a combination bicycle repair and accessories store, naturally serves its share of bike messenger and racing customers.
Lately, though, owner Molly Cameron has fielded a newer breed of patron: white-collar customers who, having ridden into work, leave their bikes for repairs while they do their 9-to-5 thing.
"I'm getting tons of commuters in here," said Cameron, of his store at 211 S.W. 9th Ave. "It's a great range of people, and I'm working on all kinds of bikes."
Like most within the biking industry, Cameron believes a confluence of factors will deliver even more business his way. Rising gas prices, growing traffic concerns, and the area's keen awareness of economic and environmental issues have made biking the transportation mode of choice among a growing number of Portland business types.
The popularity has spawned a bevy of successful businesses, both large (The Bike Gallery, River City Bicycles) and small (Cameron's Veloshop). In all, the 2005 bicycle map recently issued by regional governing body Metro lists 55 bike shops in and around Portland.
Other business types have noticed the allure of biking. In the Lloyd District, for instance, building owner Ashforth-Pacific has spent vast sums on bike lockers, racks and cages for tenants. Kaiser Permanente offers secure bicycle lockers and ample shower facilities for riders. The state of Oregon has installed bicycle maintenance stations.
And the Bonneville Power Administration's bike loaner program allows employees to borrow two-wheelers for the weekend.
"We've seen a remarkable commitment to promoting bicycling in the district," said Moira Green, program manager for the Lloyd District Transportation Management Association, which promotes bicycling to area commuters.
Many downtown employers promote it, too. During the morning rush hour, the Hawthorne Bridge's east end teems with riders jostling for position.
The number of riders making the trek over the city's four bridges with immediate downtown access has tripled over the last 10 years, according to the city's transportation bureau. The riders can lay claim to some 269 miles of developed bikeways, which Portland officials say compares favorably with similarly sized cities.
Commuting bikers will also don their Lycra in September during the annual Bike Commute Challenge. During last year's challenge, nearly 500 companies tracked daily bicycle trips to and from the office.
It's little wonder Portland regularly ranks toward the top of industry "best-of" lists for biking support. In 2001, Portland topped Bicycling Magazine's "best biking cities in America" list, thanks to what spokesman Chris Brienza called the area's "cycling infrastructure, the number of bike lanes and racks, access to bridges and public transportation, its advocacy climate and its biking culture."
The magazine will again rank cities in its January/February 2006 edition, Brienza said.
Government helped
Portland's love affair with biking arrives via both organic and government-driven forces.
In the early 1970s, Oregon lawmakers allotted money toward pro-bike programs and constructing bike-accommodating facilities. In 1996, the city of Portland passed its bicycle master plan that aimed to, among other tactics, add more two-wheel lanes within city boundaries.
The city offering helped boost Portland's bikeway network's mileage by 160 percent from 1991 to 2001, according to the Portland Development Commission.
Other forces have lately intervened. The area's gas prices regularly exceed those throughout other parts of the country. Many drivers say they're tired of rush-hour traffic on Portland's main routes. And the state's climate remains decent for riders who don't mind pedaling through winter's rainy months.
Such predilections haven't escaped entrepreneurs who've launched an array of bicycle-related businesses. Cameron estimates that at least one new bike shop opens every six months in Portland.
Cameron first opened Veloshop four years ago. He moved downtown in 2003 and added accessories such as helmets, messenger bags and bike-chain lubricant.
"If you would have told me two years ago I'd sell saddles [seats] for $150, I never would have believed it," Cameron said.
Operators of larger stores say biking has simply crept toward the mainstream. River City Bicycles, for instance, serves more customers who say they want to leave their cars at home and bike into their office jobs, said Dave Guettler, the store's owner.
Because they want attractive rides, Guettler offers handmade wood fenders, chain guards and reach-around brackets that spruce up most models.
Primarily, though, today's riders demand comfort. They'll eschew the stylings of a racing bike for lightweight, but durable, models that, Guettler said, "are made for city riding, for getting to work. They have lights, they have racks."
Added Bike Gallery Owner Jay Graves, "We sell three or four different
models of Trek bicycles, and they're constantly sold out because people are
flocking toward more comfortable bikes."
Graves said the most popular Bike Gallery accessories include items that combat
the Oregon rain. Such items include bike fenders, which prevent water from
kicking up off the tires and drenching the rider.
The hottest new bikes themselves fall in the "cyclocross" category, which Cameron, a rabid cyclocross competitor, describes as "steeplechase on bikes" in that it combines elements of motocross and traditional racing. Portland has the country's largest series of cyclocross events, the store owners said.
Merchandise sold at bike-oriented businesses generally log margins in the 40 percent range, owners said.
Often, though, the margins yield modest livings. Cameron said he earns enough to pay his rent and "buy myself a fancy coffee beverage every morning."
"It can be a nickel-and-dime business," said Guettler.
Health benefits
Nonetheless, most industry boosters and business types say they're doing
a service by promoting a healthy pastime.
"People who exercise more, particularly in the morning, have clearer
minds and have more energy through the rest of the day," said Evan Manvel,
executive director of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, a nonprofit biking
advocate. "And they're healthier, which saves money for employers in
the long run."
"There's no pollution, it requires less space than other modes," said Rex Burkholder, one of two Metro councilors -- Robert Liberty is the other -- who rides his bike to work daily. "It doesn't require a lot of public investment. There's a lot of return for little work, and it's a lot of fun."
Burkholder enjoys a short jaunt to Metro offices from his North Portland home.
"People who ride to work are healthy, and exercising before work makes them more alert and productive," he said.
Burkholder added that Metro has included bike travel in its various planning goals. Town centers in the Hollywood and Gateway areas, for instance, were designed to give bicyclists easy access to public transportation spots.
With more riders, though, come more incidents with vehicles. Three fatalities have occurred in Portland this summer alone; one of them, a June 28 collision with a vehicle that killed bike messenger Kristine Okins, hit particularly close to home for Guettler. Okins' sister works at River City, as did her boyfriend, he said.
The incidents have spurred an upcoming safety summit, sponsored by City Commissioner Sam Adams.
And while some Portlanders argue that roads should primarily accommodate vehicles, Roger Geller, the city transportation office's bicycle coordinator, said bicycles actually help commerce spread more easily.
"Ideally, you want to clear the roads so that customers can get to places and trucks aren't delayed in making deliveries," he pointed out. "So as many passenger cars as we can get off the road helps."
It will certainly help Cameron, 29, who believes Veloshop is in it for the long haul.
"I'm gonna do this for the rest of my life," he said. "There's nothing else I want to do."
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