This article is part of our AustinBikeBlog becomes PortlandBikeBlog series I’m writing on my recent trip to Portland and my exposure to its bike culture. Look for additional articles later this week.

While staying in Portland, I decided I needed to make a pilgrimage to Clever Cycles, one of the bike stores leading the move toward providing real transportation bikes for the general public. It makes me quite happy to see such a shop appearing to succeed and thrive in the American market.

With a bike focused town like Portland, it only makes sense that there would a be niche for Dutch and other transportation focused bikes. However, my conversation with Todd, one of the co-owners of Clever Cycles, leads me to believe there is more to this market than Dutch bike enthusiasts and velo couturers. He mentioned the business had taken off beyond their expectations with proof coming this summer when the shop temporarily closed for several weeks due to lack of available inventory. Clever Cycles appears to be moving these “too heavy for the American market” bikes out the door as soon as they come in.

A large section of Azor, Retrovelo, and Pashley bikes

Clever Cycles is located east of downtown Portland across the river on the western edge of the Hawthorne neighborhood and is easily accessible by bus, bike, or a short walk across the Hawthorne bridge. The shop itself is modern and airy in feel, split between a front clothing and accessory room and a rear bicycle show room.

The show room is a nice departure from the standard bike shop floor of carbon fiber lightweights and aggressive mountain bikes where transportation bikes are put in a back corner. Clever Cycles carries the Azor, Pashley, and Retrovelo brands as well as folding bikes from Birdy and Brompton and various Xtracycle incarnations. They also have an impressive shrine-like wall of every Brooks model saddle and carry the Basil brand of bike bags as well as their own Cleverchimp house brand. In addition, there are also several stylish brands of locally designed clothing.

A shrine to the Brooks Saddle

The people at Clever Cycles are passionate and knowledgeable about their bikes. Todd owns or has ridden every bike type he carries and speaks with great authority about the positive and negative aspects of each bike. For example, he mentioned that they no longer build up the larger wheeled 700c Xtracycles. He’s found their handling unsatisfactory compared to 26″ wheels or even his preferred 24″ wheel setup.

A child friendly bike store

Todd is also a parent who cycles with his child as do the other owners. This means they understand the challenges of biking with kids and have lots of good options for parents. My wife and I actually met one of these happy customers with her kid in a Bakfiet outside the store. She spoke highly of the product and the store. This kind of hands on knowledge is comforting especially considering the financial commitment for these high quality bikes.

The most fun I had was test riding a Bakfiets, the Dutch cargo bike. I had been intrigued by these bikes ever since I read about some local Austin condo developers using them as props for their sales offices. This misuse of these well designed bikes is enough to make you cry, but I digress. Todd set me up with a nice green one, and I was off to the races. The steering takes a little getting used to but after a quick spin around the block, I figured it out. I was confident enough of my bike handling skills that I then took my wife for spin, one of the highlights of our trip. I will say I think I’d still want another non-cargo bike to ride if I had a Bakfiet (not necessarily true with the Xtracycle which can be a respectable stand-alone bike.) So while I’m not ready to trade in my Xtracycle any time soon, the Bakfiet is a lot of fun and very practical.

Taking my wife, Amy, for a spin

All in all, I was very impressed with Clever Cycles and am glad such a place exists and is doing well. If you live in Portland or are looking at acquiring a good transportation bike online, Clever Cycles should be on your short list of bike shops to frequent.

Contact Info:

Clever Cycles
908 SE Hawthorne Boulevard
Portland, OR 97214
Phone: 503-334-1560
Website: http://clevercycles.com/
Hours: Mon-Fri: 11-6; Sat-Sun: 11-5