Subscriber Post: The value of BikePortland as a research tool

Did you know the Hub Building on N Williams used to be a bicycle-making factory?
(Photos: Tom Howe)

This post was submitted by BikePortland subscriber Tom Howe.

Everyone who regularly visits BikePortland knows its value as a source for bicycle-related news in the Portland area. I can’t count the number of things I never would have heard about if not for visiting this site a few times a week. But something that’s easy to overlook is the value of BikePortland as a research tool for bike news that has taken place in the past.

Jonathan has been at this for over 13 years now, so learning about or reviewing anything that has happened since 2005 is as easy as typing a search into the box under the magnifying glass at the top of any page on the site*.

This value was really driven home to me recently when I came to the site looking for some historical information. Not only did I find what I was looking for, but I learned a lot more about a past bike controversy a dozen years ago that I only remembered a little about. I started my search with the word “Kinesis” as I had recently acquired a new bike frame from the Taiwanese company and I remembered these frames were once built right here in Portland. So all I really wanted to know was where that assembly facility was located, but once down the rabbit hole, I learned a lot more.

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The old Kinesis bicycle frame plant on NW Nicolai.

The search of BikePortland revealed that the Kinesis facility was in an industrial building just below Montgomery Park on NW Nicolai Street. But Kinesis was parent company of another facility on N Williams Avenue where bikes under a different brand name were also being built. This was Mountain Cycle, makers of a popular cyclocross model named Stumptown, and this is where the controversy emerged.

The Stumptown had been on the market for a couple years when global bike giant Specialized Bicycle Components learned about it and sued, feeling the name was too close to their own Stumpjumper model. The lawsuit may have been the catalyst that caused Kinesis to sell Mountain Cycle to another Taiwanese bike manufacturer, closing the N Williams facility in 2006. A while later Kinesis left Portland entirely and closed the NW Nicolai facility. BikePortland published a number of articles on the Stumptown/Stumpjumper controversy. To find them, simply search for “kinesis” and read everything published in the 2006 timeframe.

So after learning all this, I decided to ride by both of the old Kinesis facilities to see what happened to them. The plant at 2690 NW Nicolai Street is now Tubular Solutions, Inc., a company specializing in metal tube fabrication and bending. The plant at 3808 N Williams Avenue was a surprise, as it is now the Hub Building, a multifunction dining, shopping, and event space. I’ve been there a number of times without ever realizing its Mountain Cycle past. The building maintains a bicycle connection, being home to Sugar Wheel Works and Sweetpea Bicycles.

And that brings this article full circle, as another search on BikePortland reveals that Sugar Wheel Works once changed their name to avert a potential lawsuit over trademarks, also involving Specialized, but this time over their “Epic” line of bikes.

This is one of the reasons I’m a BikePortland subscriber. The history of our city maintained on these pages is an invaluable resource for our community.

— Tom Howe

*(NOTE: Thanks for sharing this Tom! I love the archives too and we’re working to make them even easier to access. Another tip: Simply add “BikePortland” to any Google search and you’ll find all the posts you need. When in doubt, contact me directly and I’ll help you find what you’re looking for. — Jonathan)

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The post Subscriber Post: The value of BikePortland as a research tool appeared first on BikePortland.org.

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