beta icon

Portland’s cycling industry

November 23rd, 2007

Here’s a story that came out a couple of weeks ago in the New York Times. Portland is well known as a bike-friendly city, but something you don’t really think about is how that affects the city’s economy. The Times gets into this a bit:

Now, Ms. Birk said, the city is nurturing the cycling industry, and there are about 125 bike-related businesses in Portland, including companies that make bike racks, high-end components for racing bikes and aluminum for bikes mass-produced elsewhere. There are small operations that make cycling hats out of recycled fabric. Track, road and cyclo-cross races are held year-round, and state tourism groups promote cycling packages. (source: New York Times 11/5/07)

In Elgin, Mission Bay Multisport is probably the extent of our cycling industry. I suppose geographically we’re not really meant to be a cycling place, but it’s an interesting article anyway if you think about how it might apply to other industries. I mean the general idea of having a niche and being a center for something…

Filed under: Uncategorized.
Follow responses to this entry through its RSS feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

5 Comments

  1. IRV says:

    “I suppose geographically we’re not really meant to be a cycling place, but it’s an interesting article anyway if you think about how it might apply to other industries. I mean the general idea of having a niche and being a center for something… “

    Hey, maybe SOFTBALL!!!! (Just kidding).

    As much as geography the weather here limits the cycling season. And every cycling centered city that I can think of (Madison,WI comes to mind) is the home of a large college campus and numerous State government offices. Good idea but I sure can’t think of anything Elgin could become “THE HOME OF…..”

    Posted November 23rd, 2007 at 10:08 am
  2. Marc says:

    “I suppose geographically we’re not really meant to be a cycling place”
    you mean because of the weather, or because of how hilly it is in elgin (e.g. national street, 31, etc)?

    Posted November 26th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
  3. RS says:

    Hi Marc,
    I was just thinking how our climate is less temperate than on the west coast, making cycling practical for only part of the year.

    Posted November 26th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
  4. Stanley Ng says:

    Actually Elgin does have a bit of a cycling background. About 6 or 7 years ago there was the Four Bridges of Elgin road race, an international cycling event. There’s an Elgin Cycling Classic in 2008 but I don’t know much about it.

    Enjoy the site, BTW.

    Posted November 27th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
  5. RS says:

    Thanks for the comment, Stanley, and glad you enjoy the site. Enjoy it while it lasts though, because a new version is coming out soon…

    Posted November 28th, 2007 at 4:51 pm

Leave a Comment