Kyle Ward, Owner and builder at Machine Cycles LLC (aka Machine)

 

This company was started because Kyle desires to see a re-growth of steel bikes into the world of bike racing. "Creating a steel bicycle that has the necessary characteristics that racers demand and being able to appeal on all other fronts when sitting next to the big names, say on a retail floor certainly has it's challenges. But for those who already know the advantages of steel: those are the people that Machine has been created for- the people who don't want to live in a 'throw-away' world and know that the technology behind the metal industry has never lied dormant." 

One of the qualities in a bicycle from Machine (aside from a beautiful finish) is that Kyle, not only races bikes but has a background in biomechanics and fabrication. Three required experiences to understand what we expect from a bike in todays world.

 

Machine, located in NE Portland is now offering exclusive services to bike racers to keep their race Machine in top shape (not only servicing his brand but all race bikes). Kyle says, "I've worked in bike shops and they all have this blanket business model where they over charge the people who know how to take care of a bike because they know they will have to service those who don't as well. I want to help keep the whole bike working like a "Machine". It helps keep people safe and makes riding more enjoyable. On a call ahead basis.

EarthShare Oregon

As fellow bike enthusiasts I am sure you all care about your health and the wonderful environment that we live in here in Portland, and now your business can be a strong supporter of the healthy environment and lifestyle that Oregonians cherish. From rushing, salmon-friendly rivers to delicate desert ecosystems, the natural gifts of Oregon are appreciated by EarthShare business partners and their employees who share a commitment to healthy living that sustains the planet and who understand the work it takes to maintain and protect our wild and precious places.

A workplace campaign introduces EarthShare's 70 member groups to employees in the workplace, linking these conservation groups with people in your organization who want to make a difference in their environment and community. Both employers and their employees benefit from having the convenient opportunity to learn and share. In fact, everybody wins with workplace giving! Considering a Campaign?

Earth Share is proud to partner with businesses of all sizes and recognizes that a complete giving campaign may not be the best choice for small businesses and self-employed professionals. Because of this, EarthShare provides partnership options well suited to your small enterprise. It’s still the easiest way to help 70 environmental organizations with just one gift.

For more information, meet Meghan from EarthShare at the next Business on a Bike ride, visit http://earthshare-oregon.org, or call 503-223-9015.

We're Back

After a few months off we are back to ride again and promote business amongst people who love cycling and need to network. Our new ride will start this Friday 3/26 at 12 PM and continue each Friday meeting at the Submarine at OMSI. We will also mix in some Saturday morning rides from time to time that will be posted on Twitter, LinkedIN , and Facebook. Again our ride is always at a conversation pace and will be approximately an hour. We decide the route the day of the ride based on who shows up so don't feel intimidated because it may just be a flat ride out to Sellwood back on the Springwater Trail. Hope to see you out soon and the features will start again next week. Email us if you would like to be featured in the future.

Also check out our new donation feature to the blog to help us keep this thing going, for those that are new we do this for fun but have incurred costs over the past year and anything would help for us to keep this moving along and make it stronger.

BIKEmpowered

Brian Lacy created BIKEmpowered to offer detailed riding and repair coaching both in person and on the web, to help like-minded cyclists find each other and to support their goals to ride safely and often. If you are wanting to get out and start riding with Business on a Bike but have lacked an operable bike, bike handling skills or just the confidence to ride with a group; Brian will quickly, thoroughly and affordably give you the bike services and skills you want.

Does your ride give you odd noises? Sketchy shifting or braking? Wheels not staying straight? Brian will spot your bike’s needs right away. His costs are reasonable - a typical tune up costs $40 plus parts. He’ll show you the need, give honest, clear advice – then do what you ask him to do. Simple as that. Want to learn how, even do parts of the repair? He will teach you. Follow this Repair Services link to get started.

With a brief talk about your riding goals and where and when you hurt, Brian will design for you a short list of parts (so your body feels right, not wrong anymore) and riding position coaching that will make it fun to ride again.

Classes are designed for people ages 8 and up, and of all abilities. Courses include basic and comprehensive repair, wheel truing, wheel building, handling, trip planning and motivation. Classes are mobile, so can be held in your community. Classes can fill quickly, so visit the Class Schedule link to learn the skills you want – and become more BIKEmpowered.

Missionary Chocolates

If you missed yesterdays ride you missed out. We had a chance to sample some incredible truffles. Below is a little info about this weeks featured company.

Missionary Chocolates truffles are handmade in SE Portland, in a certified domestic kitchen operated by owner & chocolatier Melissa M. Berry. We have been in business for 1 ½ years, and have been in several Portland Farmer’s Markets during the last two seasons.

I combine local organic berries, NW-sourced essential oils, and many other organic & fair-trade ingredients with organic coconut milk, which is the base for most of my ganache, or the inside of the truffle. During the summer I pick many of our raspberries, blueberries & blackberries that go into our popular seasonal truffles from organic farms on Sauvie Island, and fill my 2 freezers to the brim to carry us through the winter!

I use a variety of dairy-free chocolates in the truffles, but mainly use a 55% fair-trade chocolate from South Africa called Akoma, finding its delicate sweetness gives the truffles a nicely balanced, never bitter flavor that is often associated with other dairy-free chocolates & confections.

Since beginning in February2008 I’ve had the honor of winning 2 awards for my creations, the Meyer Lemon Explosion snagging Peoples Choice: 1^st Place at the NW Chocolate Festival last September and I won a general “best confectioner” medal at the Chocolate Soiree in Salem, a benefit for the Children’s Theatre Foundation last December.

We are a company whose “mission” is to be a philanthropic organization, not a non-profit but a company that makes money to fund causes, most specifically in the area of natural medicine.

It’s my dream to use proceeds from Missionary Chocolates to open and help fund a inpatient holistic healing center here in downtown Portland, and is why I named it ‘missionary’ – I want a place for the broader community to connect with natural medicine services, because it offers & increased choice and better overall health. I want to create a wellness facility where people can come and be immersed in every type of health professional’s care, and focus on healing, inside and out. Our vision and purpose is to delight Portland’s tastebuds, but also further wellness in our community – body, mind and mouth! :)

If you are interested in our truffles visit our website at www.missionarychocolates.com

DynoLight

I have noticed something early this fall and that is the fact that we have less daylight these days so we wanted to feature something that can benefit all of you and keep you safe as the sun goes down and the clouds come out this fall and winter. With that I would like to introduce you to a great local company Light On LLC and their "DynoLight".

Local cross racer, dad, engineer and all around good guy Brian Engelen is at it again. He has developed the “DynoLight” which is powered by you. Or, more accurately, you pedaling your bike with a 6 volt/3 watt hub generator (Shimano, Sram, Schmidt). This light has a number of mounting options, doubles with a tail light and most importantly is a product that will help keep us safe as we are faced with less and less daylight...I would definitely recommend using the “DynoLight” on dark cloudy days as well.


Brian’s work will be featured on 2 possibly 3 bikes at the Manifest Design Challenge. In fact, look closely at the orange bike in this bikeportland.org article and you will see a DynoLight mounted to the rack.


Also, Halloween weekend he will have a booth at the Frame Builders show…make sure to stop by and say hello. If you are unable to make either event take a look at the Light On! website DynoLight where you can order the DynoLight along with a number of other great products.

Time To Change

Hello everyone, I want to start off by saying we truly appreciate those of you that follow us and have made it out to the rides. We have been a little slim the past few weeks in attendance and it has been hard for me to attend myself. So I have looked to the Brady Bunch for some inspiration which came from their classic Time to Change. "When it's time to change, then its time to change. Don't fight the tide, come along for the ride, don't you see. When it's time to change, you've got to rearrange"

So starting Thursday October First we will move the regular ride to Thursday evenings at 3:30 PM. I have also heard quite a bit of feedback to move the ride to the East side so we are moving the starting location to the Vera Katz statue on the Eastbank Esplanade. For those of you that aren't familiar her bronze statue is located on the South end of the esplanade just off of Madison Ave and next to the Portland Fire EMS Station. We will also start with one main route of heading out the Springwater trail and depending on weather on the crowd we can go as long or short as we would like. From time to time we may change the route but again this is meant for people to meet and chat.

I also know as a lifelong Portlander that the rain is about to come which may detract people as well. As we get closer to that time where only the die hards go for joy rides we most likely will move the ride inside where it is warm and cozy and most likely this establishment will serve wonderful Portland beer. If anyone has ideas or a place that would like to host us let me know?

I hope to see more of you out there in the coming weeks with this change and I hope I don't make this more difficult to those who have come out in the past.

Milagros

This weeks feature is near and dear to me with a newborn that just joined our family. Since 2004 Milagros has offered wonderful natural, fairly-made, and recycled products for families. They carry everything from carriers, shoes, cloth diapers, maternity and breast feeding supplies.

From the beginning, the goal for Milagros has been to be more than just a fun place to shop. They strive to provide a welcoming atmosphere at Milagros. A place where families can feel at ease browsing for clothing, learning about attachment parenting, getting questions answered about cloth diapers and breastfeeding, or just hanging out and visiting.

Milagros also reflects their values of being community-oriented on the local and global level. This commitment is reflected in their choice of products, support of charities such as MercyCorps and La Leche League, and direct support of neighborhood celebrations such as Concerts in the Park, Sunday Parkways, and the Fox Chase Family Artwalk.

So if you know of someone that is expecting, expecting yourself or you have a little one that you would like to spoil make sure you visit Milagros first. I know we have sent family there and will be making stops there ourselves here soon.

For those of you wondering about little Ella I used this feature to sneak in a new picture of her to the right.

No Ride Friday 9/4

Sorry everyone but we are not having a ride today. I am at home with a sick baby and Bill is not quite back on the bike yet. We are thinking of switching to Wednesday afternoon for the ride as work is making it tough for me to get out on Friday's as well. Please leave comments to let me know what you think or shoot me an email businessonabike@gmail.com. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend.

Substance

Substance is an interactive brand strategy agency located in inner Southeast Portland. "The passionate voice of interactive brand strategy and creative experiences" Substance is dedicated to creating exceptional online experiences for brands that matter by delivering website design and development, branded applications, mobile development and interactive brand consultation.

In business since 2007, Substance has developed interactive brand experiences for the Portland Trail Blazers, Travel Oregon, bambu home furnishings and Climate Path. Most recently, they have launched Ride Oregon to promote cycling related tourism across the entire state of Oregon and working in partnership with another local agency, Weights and Pulleys, they designed and produced Beloved Cycles/Oregon Cycle Works .

A bike-friendly business, over half the company are regular bicycle commuters and are looking to take on all challengers in next month's Bike Commute Challenge. To learn more, visit us at http://findsubstance.com
or follow them on twitter at http://twitter.com/substance

As a side note I still think the Blazers made the right choice of taking Oden over Durant. Rings will mean more than than All-Stars and MVP's!

Portland Pedal Works

A few weeks back we were joined on the ride by Ryan Hashagen who runs Portland Pedal Works located at 345 NW Everett St. I decided to end my ride at the shop which he affectionately calls an incubator for bicycle business ideas. From the conversation on our ride as well as visiting the shop it was evident to me how passionate Ryan is about bikes and the culture in the Portland area.

Included in his shop are a number of local bike related businesses that you have most likely seen around town. Included are Portland Pedicabs, Icicle Tricycles, and Portland Bicycle Rental/Tours. My favorite is the Icicle Tricycles which I have chased down a couple of times to enjoy an icy treat this hot summer. I encourage anyone to stop by and take a look at his shop or better yet catch a ride from one of the pedicabs or enjoy a treat from an Icicle Tricycle. As you can see our very own Mayor Sam Adams decided to enjoy their services for a ride around town with Eva Longoria earlier this month during their visit to the Left Bank Project to promote The Greenville Project.



For those of you Tweeters out there follow @Portlandpedals for more information. Normal contact to the shop can be made by calling 360-510-1818.

Clogs-N-More

This week it is my pleasure to help promote the opening of a new location for one of our members. Clogs-N-More first opened the doors to their downtown Portland location in 1996. The mission then is the same as it is today; get people into comfortable shoes. Next Saturday August 15th they will be opening their 5th and newest location at 617 NW 23rd.

Years ago the term "comfort shoes" often made people think clunky, heavy, orthopedic. Now, thanks to the designers, sleek, sophisticated, stylish are the buzz words.

They strive to provide not only the best customer service, but also the largest selection of comfort shoes and clogs. Often you hear people enter the stores gasping on their way in by the sheer volume of clogs. If you have questions or need guidance, do not hesitate to call one of their locations for help.

I know from experience their great service as my wife's feet stay happy from the Dansko's she bought at their Westmoreland location. So if you are shopping or eating in the 23rd area anytime soon stop on by and say hello to a great local shop that is helping keep Portland's feet happy.

Ella Lynn

I am so happy to introduce you all to the newest member of my family. Please meet Ella Lynn who was born Tuesday 7/21 at 12:18 PM. On 7/16 I wrote a post looking for advice on how to induce labor and we tried most everything to help us get to this happy point of meeting little miss Ella and I thank you all for the response. Ella weighed in at a wopping 7 pounds 11 ounces and was 21 inches long. As you can see from the picture she is definately a cutey that has daddy wrapped around her little finger.

The blog should be back on schedule in the coming weeks as sleep starts to come around for us. We are also looking into possibly changing up a ride or two to the East side so please feel free to leave comments as to your thoughts, thank you for the support and patience as we go through this transition in life.

Andy Harris

Our featured member this week is Andrew Harris who is an attorney with Markun Zusman Compton LLP. He is a great resource for startups and small companies pretty much from beginning to end with specialization regarding intellectual property and commercial matters. To contact Andy visit his blog at http://www.mzclaw.com/blog

We will loop back to the NW Lucky Lab after an hour and a half of riding today but if you are up for a longer ride one of our members is looking for some more time on the bike. If you are unable to make it have a nice weekend

Baby Blueberry

First off I appologize for the lack of a featured member this week. My wife and I are expecting our first little munchkin any day now. Our actual due date was last Friday July 10th so we are starting to get a little antsy. When we started this great nine month journey to the miracle of life we were told the baby was the size of a blueberry, we are now past that time and my wife just read she is the size of a watermellon which sounds quite a bit more intimidating I have to admit.

So this week I am looking to you our readers to leave me suggestions on how to get her out to enjoy this beautiful sunny Portland weather. Feel free to leave comments here or email businessonabike@gmail.com. So far we have tried the traditional fair of walking (even pirate walking), eating spicy food, resting, exhaustion, etc.

I hope to be able to get back to the posts next week and Bill will be there for a ride tomorrow as I will be visiting the Dr with my wife at the time of the ride hoping to be admitted for delivery. I thank you in advance and hope to get back to business on a bike as usual in the coming weeks.

Livestrong

This weeks feature is a little different than what we normally do. In the spirit of the Tour de France we want to make sure we can help maximize the global fight against cancer. During the entire month of July Laurelwood Brewing Company will be donating a set amount per customer to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. They have teamed up with Land Rover-Orbea to help in this effort so head on over to your favorite Laurelwood location and cheer on Lance as he goes for his record 8th tour title.

These days it is hard to find anyone that has not been affected by this terrible disease, and the Lance Armstrong Foundation has done a tremendous job of bringing attention and resources to help in the battle. We all have to eat and drink so you might as well help support a local brewery and help in this global fight against cancer. I know my family will be heading there for a meal as long as they take newborns?

Tweet Tweet for all of you Tweeters out there make sure you follow Lance, Livestrong's CEO Doug Ulman, Livestrong, and of course Business on a Bike. During the tour it is fantastic to hear the insights from Lance.

David Saltzberg

David is an incredible builder and the owner of Domain Nouveau. His company specializes in large complex remodels, one of which I personally visited. I was impressed by the beautiful imported finishes used in the home and more impressed by the time frame and ease in which they had been incorporated into the design. David’s 17 years of experience show through very clearly in his finished product. After meeting the owner of this beautifully remodeled home I took notice of the absence of stress which usually goes hand in hand with construction projects (especially when nearing completion). There were no talks of budgets or schedules run over, just lots of laughs and smiles. If you have ever built or remodeled a home you know that it takes a tremendous amount of planning and foresight to not just end up with a home but with the home that you had dreamed about. If you know someone or you yourself are looking for builder email David at david@domainnouveau.com or visit the website www.domainnouveau.com

Brecht Daams

Brecht Daams is an ergonomic consultant, specialized in usability of products and software/websites. How do users use and experience a product? Is it safe, comfortable, effective and efficient to use? And how can this user experience be improved on by adapting the product? Brecht can give you useful advice in this area. Over the last 11 years, she advised on mobile devices, signposting, products for disabled people, websites, products for children, and much more. She investigated cross-cultural usability aspects, too. Product use may differ between different countries, even if the products are the same. One day each week Brecht works with Delft University of Technology, dept. of Industrial Design Engineering. A recent visit to the Usability Professionals Association Conference in Portland enabled her to join the Business on a Bike group ride.

Brecht rode a mountain bike that she rented on our ride becoming our first international rider. Brecht normally rides a recumbent bike. If you want to know more about recumbent cycling ask Brecht. She knows everything about recumbents and is involved in the organization of the largest recumbent event in the world: CycleVision (www.cyclevision.nl). Her favorite bike at the moment is a rowing bike (www.rowingbike.com).

Did you know that recumbents are more ergonomic and efficient for some tasks than upright bikes? If you want to know more about usability and user experience for a product you or your company are developing, ask Brecht. She can be contacted at daams@ergonomie.nl ,Skype: daamsergonomie or visit her profile on Linked in http://www.linkedin.com/in/daams

Peter L Seelig

Our "Business on a Bike" featured member this week is Peter Seelig. Peter is a managing partner at Fenton Wangler Financial. Pete has been out a number of times to our Friday networking ride over the past year. Bill has also built a great relationship that has lead to him joining Pete on rides with his clients and coworkers.

Pete has continued to give great financial advice, and his relationship with his clients even in times like these is impressive. It seems these days that certain professions are commoditized.....one example is Accountants who are forced to pit their personal tailored advice against much cheaper do it yourself tax software. We all forget that what is most important is not the $200 we saved in fees, but
what type of advice we receive "cheap advice is expensive". If you are looking for a local financial services firm that isn't obligated to sell you its brand of mutual funds and can guide you to the most profitable investments than come join us on the ride this Friday and meet Pete himself.

Pete is pictured above riding Windy Ridge last summer. The ride was 88 miles with 10,000 feet of climbing. As you can see the views are unbelievable.

Peter L. Seelig, CMFC
Managing Partner, Fenton Wangler Financial

503-255-3898 x5006 office
503-320-2005 cell
503-255-3948 fax
pseelig@fwfinancial.com

Third Thursday Ride

We are happy to announce our first ever Third Thursday ride. Come join us this Thursday evening at the Salmon Street Springs Fountain located on Portland's waterfront. We have been listening to feedback from a number of our members and we have decided to try Thursday evening out at least once a month. If the turnout is great we may add it as a normal ride. We will roll out at 5:29 PM, so you should have plenty of time to get off of work to join us. We hope to see you there to add you to our list of members to feature.

Pictured above are Bill Dolan, Brian Alfano, Bretchtje Daams, and Tony Halford. All were present for Friday's ride and hung around after the ride for this photo, we missed a few who left before we realized there was a camera. Bretchtje (Bridgitt) came out on the ride on a rented bike while she was in town from Europe, so she is officially our first international rider. The ride was great, we logged 15.5 miles in one hour 20 minutes at a conversation frienly 13.5 mph. We hope to see you on Thursday or Friday. Keep your eyes out for the next featured member as well.