Sure, it’s not enough that they’ve got the coolest city-bike shop anywhere, or that they’ve managed to double the size of the shop in five or so months. No, they have to give away free beer, too.
It’s just not fair, I tell ya! Seattle needs some of this two-wheeled excess!
Seriously, if you get the chance, check out Clever Cycles, right across the street from the Lucky Lab in PDX …
Anne the kids and I had the good fortune to stop for a visit in late August at the end of a week on the Oregon coast. Owner (co-owner?), Todd Fahrner of Xtracycle Stokemonkey fame, was super gracious with his time, stories and charm. The shop is a beaut – these folks could teach most to the retail world a thing or two about “merchandising” — but still let (encouraged!) my kids cruise around the place on the like-a-bikes while giving us a preview of the new space and a lowdown on the Stokemonkey situation.
The wall of Brooks is something to behold – they must have one of everything — even those crazy-wide double-springed-looks-more-like-a-pram-than-a-bike-saddle types. I’m kicking myself for not grabbing a photo (Update: Clever Cycles has a photo). Todd admitted that they probably went overboard on the wall and that some of the seats will likely never move — but you have to admit that many Brooks saddles (most I’ve never even seen in person let alone seen in stock at a small shop) in one place is impressive.
I really should have blogged about this at least a month ago, but well, I suck. Anyway, well played Todd and crew! Clever Cycles rules.
(and have a beer for me!)
-Tim
Anne & Tim
Tim King
Anne
cfdgirl
Tim K
Car Free Days 
Portland is so awesome we are are seriously considering moving there. Because the reality of Portland, is that, you do not need a car to live there. They embraced cycling and transit in a way that Seattle never will.
Hey Marge — I can fully agree with that…to a point. There’s a lot of cycling goodness there, to be sure. In fact I even interviewed for a job in Portland because we were so strongly feeling the bike love.
For a bunch of reasons (our families, our kids’ schools, our neighborhood, our friends, our coffee shop, our local beer) we decided to try to create some of our own bike love right here.
Surprisingly, now that we’ve really given Seattle a fair shake, we find that riding here is pretty darn decent. Sure, it could be better, but so could everywhere, even Portland (unless you believe that silly, better-than-Copenhagen rating). I’m not saying my Portland lust is totally gone — more that it’s matured into a complex relationship (ie, I still wanna get into Portland’s pants, but I want to talk politics with it, too 😉
true Tim you can’t get decent sushi in Portland
(LOL) although I love Seattle with all my heart, I’ve lived here since 1978, and we are never going to address our transporattion issues.
Hey Marge – Logically I have to agree with you, I keep <hoping we’ll pull it out. I’ve been here my whole life (one of those inbred, third-gen Seattlites with 4th gen children) and there’s something that keeps me here.
Still Portland makes a great escape plan and they’ve got fantastic mexican food. Maybe we can work out some kind of barter system. You move down there and let me ride on your trains and eat your tacos when I visit and I’ll bring the sushi. (Uh, road-trip weary sushi, not exactly a good deal for you, but I tried).
Good luck, whatever you decide