We’re proud to have Lompoc Brewing doing our shop taps, this week featuring two late summer pale ales. Lompoc brewing is a local institution, opened first in 1996. In the ensuing years, it has changed hands a few times, but their quality and their mission have remained consistent through the years. Lompoc strives to be a go-to neighborhood watering hole, with family friendly atmosphere and a constantly rotating cast of seasonal ales and lagers.

This week, we’ve got the Pamplemousse and their 207 Pale in. Pamplemousse is a delicious and refreshing citrus IPA. Four kinds of hops paired with real grapefruit juice makes it perfect for warm September afternoons. The 207 Pale is a limited edition brew, the winner of the Pride of Cascadia award as a part of the Timbers Army’s annual home brew competition. The winning beer gets brewed and served at local breweries including Lompoc, Widmer Brothers, and Base Camp Brewing. As such, this beer is a very exciting one-off, available only until we run out!

We have limited sizing in both styles, give us a ring or come on in to see if we have one for you!

Hopworks Urban Brewery is a local brand of beer that we at Cycle Portland have been proud to carry for years, and we’re now happy to carry their jerseys as well. Aside from their delicious, all-organic brews, HUB’s mission sets them apart from other breweries in town. Their commitment to sustainability, from sourcing their ingredients ethically to ensuring their pubs are eco-friendly, is impressive. Beyond this, their covered bike parking makes them an easy destination for local commuters all year round. They also have a small wrenching area, in case you blow a flat nearby!

As a small business ourselves, we are proud to be able to support our friends over at HUB by repping their jerseys!

Better a late blog post than never! We had the pleasure of taking Austin Food Magazine’s Trish W. on our Brews Cruise bike tour earlier this summer, visiting two of our rotating favorites (Basecamp and Baerlic) and having tasty flights at each. It’s been a fantastic season at Cycle Portland, and we’re always searching out the best craft breweries in town to share with our guests. Curious about taking a Brews Cruise? Don’t take our word for it, check out Trish’s write up here! Travel: Urban Brewery Bike Tour

As regular Portland cyclists know, sometimes our bike paths are hard to keep track of. Whether you’re navigating the Pearl at rush hour or making your way onto the Springwater Corridor for the first time, it’s always handy to know where designated bike infrastructure exists. Our new maps have been updated, giving both renters and locals alike a handy guide for getting around town. After all, we know better than Google maps what feels safe! Come on in and pick one up with your rental today. Beyond safe routes, our maps have a handful of our staff’s recommendations for bike-friendly restaurants, breweries and activities all around town, and we’re always happy to point out our favorites for you when you come in. This makes our maps a great resource for self-guided tours of our beautiful city. Below is an image of part of our map of Sellwood along with some of our downtown Portland suggestions! cycle portland map

The 14th annual Pedalpalooza is in full-swing, with 250+ group rides already scheduled. This year, the fun will be going on until July 4th. You can find the 2016 schedule here on Shift2Bikes, and below are some highlighted rides. We all wish we could make it to every single one, but our legs (and schedules) can only take so much. Many of the popular rides below have pre-rides that meet up with them, so check the schedule and see how many you can fit into your month of June!

June 17th: Dropout Prom Ride, 9:30PM, Col. Summers Park

June 18th: Rooftop Ride, 10:30PM, Lillis-Albina Park

June 19th: Zoobomb, 8:30PM, SW 13th & Burnside

June 23rd: Thursday Night Ride, 7:30PM, Salmon Street Fountain

June 24th: Little Lebowski Urban Achiever Ride, 7PM, Col. Summers Park

June 24th: The Guthrie Ride, 10PM, NE 11th & Alberta

June 25th: The World Naked Bike Ride, 8PM, Location TBA

June 26th: Sunday Parkways, 11AM, Kenton Park

July 2nd: Loud & Lit, 9:30PM, Irving Park

July 4th: Independence Ride, 8PM, Woodlawn Park Amphitheater

Come out and join the fun, we hope to see you there!

Mike’s Bike Advice

Disc Brake Conversions

Part II of our three part series– answering your questions about if and how to upgrade your steed

Usually, answering this question is pretty straightforward. Are there disc tabs on the bike? If your bike was built with disc brakes in mind, it can be easy–though costly–to upgrade. So if you are looking to upgrade the brakes on your bike to work best in wet, muddy weather, for higher speed braking or for quite steep hills, check for these tabs on your front fork and rear triangle:

Once you’ve determined you have a bike frame that will accept disc brakes, bring it on in to figure out whether cable or hydraulic disc brakes will work best for your purposes. For most commuting uses, cable disc brakes provide the cheapest, simplest and most maintenance-free option. If you are looking for the best braking system regardless of price, hydraulic brakes do provide a slightly stronger and smoother platform that doesn’t suffer from cable stretch. Look for trusted brands like Shimano and Avid when you’re ready to buy for the best reliability and longevity.

All that is left is to find the perfect wheel set to complete your disc brake transformation. There are two styles of attachment between the rotor and disc hub: 6-bolt and centerlock. Match your rotor disc with the hub style you have an you’re ready to roll with a bit more safety and security.

Surly Disc Fork — This Surly Fork is a great option to upgrade your front wheel to a disc brake

If you have found your perfect bike for touring, commuting or exploring but the bike doesn’t have disc tabs, we have a workaround for those looking to improve braking. Adding a new fork to your commuter can give you access to disc braking on just your front wheel–the wheel that provides up to 80% of your braking power.

There are quite a few options to upgrade your fork for under $100 to allow disc braking power on your favorite steed.

Mechanic Mike

Flatbar Conversion

Compatibility is one of the most confusing topics for riders starting to upgrade their bikes. While we won’t get in to any french standards or press-fit bottom bracket frame requirements, in this post Mike will explain the process to update your bike with flat bars, wider range drivetrains and disc brakes in the next three posts. Today, he is here to talk about the parts and rough cost to convert your drop bar commuter to a flat or upright commuter. Hope you enjoy the flatbar conversion post and check back next week to read about adapting your bike to a 9, 10 or 11- speed drivetrain.

Alright folks, Mike here!

First off, what and why. Drop bars are the quintessential swoopy bike handlebars you see on everything from 1970s road bike to the Tour de France race bikes you see on TV. They range in price from $5 in a used parts bin to $400 carbon creations meant to shave weight, increase aerodynamics and reduce arm fatigue. But how useful are drop bars for the everyday rider taking his bike to work or riding around when its not pouring? We get a number of requests to convert drop bars to upright or flat bars for a safer, more comfortable ride better suited to general riding. We convert our own single speed rental bikes from drop bar to upright for the most comfortable rental use.

But it isn’t as simple as picking up a $10 flat bar and swapping brakes, shifters and handlebar tape.

Attaching the flat bars to the bike. Usually stems must either be swapped or shimmed to fit the new bar clamp size. Common drop bar clamp sizes are 25.4mm, 26mm or 31.8mm while most upright bars will be 25.4mm. Swing by and I can measure your clamp size and give you options for how to switch bars.

How about mounting all of your parts? Road and upright bars also usually have different diameter for brake levers and shifters, either 23.8 or 22.2mm. This is often the reason you’ll also have to change these as well. Flatbar brakes usually run about $10-20 a set while shifters generally cost closer to $30. Hint: Look for a bike with shifters mounted to places other than the handlebars as these are the easiest and cheapest to convert to upright handlebars.

Finally, choose your grips. It is possible to simply wrap your bar tape between the brake levers and the bar ends of your new upright handlebars, but often clients prefer a flatbar specific grip. Our favorite grips are from ODI, but your favorite can easily be found for under $15.

For this week’s post, we are bringing you our Top 4 most underrated, and undervalued tools. These are the tools that you’ve always seen as overpriced or superfluous, but we explain their true benefit and why they pay off in the end. You may notice, we don’t recommend one brand for every tool. This is for two reasons: one, as a small business, we are not tied to any tool company or brand; and two, there really is no brand that wins out in durability, usability, and price for every tool they make. But you don’t have to believe us, come down and check out the different options yourself at Cycle Portland.

Picking Your Tire Lever

Pedro’s vs Park Tool

Quality makes a big difference, even for some of some of the smallest tools. Design and plastic composition in tire levers become apparent after changing even one or two and become amplified after a few hundred tire changes. The Pedro Lever slots in the groove much better with a wider and better designed profile. The stiffer cross section mean less flexing and breakage when taking off a stiff tire.

Choosing Your Multitool

Crank Bros vs budget 6 tool

You’ll notice a couple things you’ll notice when you finally need to pull that multitool out of its deep, dark corner of your saddlebag. First, you’ll notice the length and design of the handle. Getting the leverage to really tighten down that offending nut often takes more than a one-inch handle. Second, you’ll notice the construction of the whole contraption when it starts to loosen up and fall apart. For whatever reason, the bolt fastening method of those cheap-o tools will rattle apart after about five uses. The Crank Brothers set is a lifetime tool. Spend the money and you won’t regret it.

Start Your Toolkit Right with a Proper Long-handle Set

When picking a good set of hex tools to start your toolset, what are the important things to look at? Long handle for leverage and hard to reach places, connected with metal vs plastic, having a ball-style on one end. Between tightening crankarms, removing stuck pedals, and accessing hard to reach brake bolts, long handle hex wrenches are indispensable. Combine that long handle with a ball-style end and you’ll able to tighten any bolt on your bike stress-free.

Note: Know what to use the ball-style hex for and what not to! Its perfect for adjusting a tough-to-access brake calliper or bottle cage. Just don’t try to lossen a rusted bolt as your more likely to round out the bolt head.

Why You Can’t Do Without Cable Cutters

Why should you invest in a genuine cable cutter rather than using snips to cut your cable housing? Trust us, you will regret every minute of your experience trying to cut shifting cable with snips. Shift housing is made up of long metal wires that run the length of the tubing. Attempting to cut these with snips leads to terrible cuts, poked fingers and a lot of frustration. Take it from us, it’s a $20-$35 tool that is worth its weight in gold!

Cycle Portland

Rentals, Tours & Bike Shop in Downtown PDX

We’ve got Lompoc Brews on Tap!

We have Hopworks Urban Brewery Jerseys!

Austin Food Magazine Does Brews Cruise In Style

New Cycle Portland city maps are in!

Pedalpalooza 2016

Do these work on my bike? … Disc Brakes

Mike’s Bike Advice

Disc Brake Conversions

Part II of our three part series– answering your questions about if and how to upgrade your steed

Do these work on my bike? … Flatbar Conversion

Mechanic Mike

Flatbar Conversion

Top 4 Underrated Tools

Note: Know what to use the ball-style hex for and what not to! Its perfect for adjusting a tough-to-access brake calliper or bottle cage. Just don’t try to lossen a rusted bolt as your more likely to round out the bolt head.

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