Hip pouches, and a chicken!

I love getting new Bike Craft wares in stock! After having an appliqued Black Star hip pouch with Oregon on it hanging out for a while, Dave kindly traded us for this green hip pouch with a chicken on it! He's also coming by later this week to drop off stock from their current run of hip pouches. I'm hoping we'll get to have one or two of his backpacks on consignment once they are done too.

Also new are the Mini-You Pouch by new-to-Portland bag makers BLAQ Design. It's such a cute little size with a nice pocket and sturdy velcro. It'll be perfect for carrying your utmost essentials. The BLAQ pouches have a built in u-lock holster and they fit the mini-bulldog u-locks we carry.

Also remember, we're on Supportland so if you happen to stop by and purchase any of these hip pouches, you'll be earning points toward awesome rewards. (Supportland is like having 87 punch cards in one, shop local at participating businesses and earn points to redeem at any other participating business!)

87 local punch cards in one!

We are now part of the lovely Supportland network!

Basically, you get a free Supportland card at our shop (or one of the other 86 local businesses who are also on the network) and you earn points and rewards by shopping locally. For instance, when you get 10 punches at our shop, you earn a Bike Cozy tool roll! And once you've earned 250 points you could redeem them at our shop for $25 off your next tune-up!

Or if that flat tire is keeping you from enjoying our intermittent sunny days, you can redeem 75 of your Supportland points for a tube change (including a new tube).

Check out what Supportland businesses are in your 'hood.  From coffee shops to yarn stores and creative coaching, there's a big range of local awesome going on that you ought to get in on.

Brand New Mixte Bikes for Sale!

With more and more people in Portland riding bikes, and more and more people moving to Portland because they can ride bikes here, the local stash of used bikes and frames is depleting quick. Craigslist bike prices are rising exorbitantly as people hark back on their economics 101, supply vs. demand. So while we would love to have more used bikes to offer, it is getting harder and harder to find them, buy them, do all of our work and stay within a reasonable budget for you, our customer.

As you'll hear if you're shopping for a used bike at our shop... every used frame / bicycle that you see on our sales floor has been thoroughly checked over and rebuilt. As a matter of fact they have all been stripped down to a bare frame and fork, all wear-out parts are replaced, and anything that doesn't quite work right is replaced with wonderfully working bits. This level of scrutiny takes time, yet it is the only way we can guarantee that the used bikes on our floor will work as new (better than new in some cases!) We guarantee every bike on our floor.

So as the used bikes in town are harder to get a hold of, we have realized we need a replenishable source of frames and bicycles to build. Enter our brand new Origin8 "Mixer" frames and builds. I just rode this beaut around and it makes a wonderful city rider!

Most new bikes come from the manufacturer with pre-selected parts. To keep the price down the manufacturer has cut some corners and the parts are low quality. NOT SO with our build! We've spent time, energy and effort in selecting parts that we can guarantee so we know you're on a delightful, dependable ride. Details we think are important to mention are:

Hand-built wheels (built in house, limited lifetime warranty)
5-spd internal gearing and braking (nearly maintenance free! And you won't lose braking power in the wet weather)
Mounts for racks and/or baskets (A front basket would be perfect on this bike!)
Mounts and room for fenders (installation is free when you buy them with a complete bicycle)

And as with any complete bicycle you buy at A Better Cycle, you get complimentary cable adjustments (within the first 100 miles, so we can adjust the stretch) and a complimentary tune-up within the first year!

The model we have built up, on hand, is a 54cm. We have 4 sizes of this bike to build up, so if you're looking for a bike and think a step-through might be the one, we've got your size.

And we're just getting started! You'll be seeing more new builds as we assemble the bits and spec out additional frame styles.

Care Package for Bike to Eugene Challenge

We got an email in our inbox about a week ago from one of our customers, on behalf of the Environmental Law Caucus, a forum for environmental stewardship and appreciation at Lewis & Clark Law School.


Liv was asking for donations for their upcoming (Mar 3) Bike to Eugene Challenge, when a gaggle of riders will pedal 140 miles from Portland to the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the University of Oregon. Being her neighborhood shop we're so pleased to put together a little care package for the group of bicyclists on their long ride.


We're hoping to do more for next year's ride, with a little more notice. Until then I hope the conference is awesome and we're looking for a full recap of the ride when they get back!

As promised, Truce is ready.

Two backpacks ready for you to come and check out. Like I mentioned last week, the detailing is really impressive. Reflective bits abound to add little pecks of visibility at night. The lines of the backpacks are smooth. The size of these "medium" backpacks leaves me feeling it would hold just everything I need on a day to day basis without letting me overpack. Not pictured are special cords (stowed in the top compartment) which attach easily to side buckles and can turn into compression straps if you find yourself out and about needing just a little more space.

Made primarily of reclaimed marine grade materials and USA made bits and bobbles, these backpacks show Luke's commitment to growing a sustainable company. Here's an excerpt from Truce's website:

Truce builds resilient, fashionable and environmentally responsible bags and accessories for men and women. Crafted with reclaimed and high-performance materials, Truce bags are sleek, durable and weatherproof. Our products are proudly made in the USA.

Truce prides itself on re-purposing high-performance fabrics that may have been otherwise discarded. Sails, waterproof drysuit cloth, and ballistic weaves are reclaimed and assembled with high-performance hardware at our shop in Portland, Oregon. At Truce, everything we make is a limited edition.

I'm really excited to be carrying Truce Designs. It just warms my little Bike Craft loving heart.

Coming Soon! Truce Designs

Oh so soon, you'll be able to shop and compare not 1, not 2 yet 3 local bag makers at our shop. Soon, and very soon we'll have two backpacks by Truce Designs up on our Bike Craft Wall.

These bags are seriously detailed and well thought out. I spoke with Luke when he dropped the bags off earlier this morning and every detail on the bag has a reason behind it. One of the things I was ultimately impressed with is Luke's commitment to sourcing as many of his materials from US manufacturers as possible. From USA made buckles (all except the whistle buckle) to USA made zippers and reclaimed marine materials for the bodies, these backpacks are tight.

My snapshot does no justice to the superb craftsmanship. For beautiful photos and explanation of features visit Truce's website  and blog respectively.

We'll have, to start, the medium backpack retailing for $230. Save up your nickels and dimes boys and girls, until then we're drooling right next to you.

Bike Craft Goods in the House

A little compendium of the current selection of Black Star goods and North St Bags we have at the shop..

Oregon pri-zide showing up with a brown applique on pine green cordura. Hip pouch with ready-made awesomeness, belt included.

A Tan (with yellow?) insides convertible pannier to backpack. This is the Woodward style from North St Bags.

The other North St convertible pannier in stock, wine with blue accents.

Black Star messenger bag, understated brown with the Black Star.

A leftie messenger bag, the bag goes on opposite most messenger bags. The advantage? When you're checking over your left shoulder in traffic, you can actually see what's behind you because the high bulk of the bag is over your other shoulder.

Same leftie bag with showing the green innards.

Black Star bags have reflective bottoms so cars behind can see you at night. (Not a replacement for a rear light, yet handy additional visibility.)

Aaron with the empty bag on.

Black Star Bags wallets! One of the ways Black Star reduces waste is by converting smaller scraps into useful objects like wallets. heart.