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We May Lose The Sign, but Can We Keep The Title?

If you bike in the PDX area, then you’re likely familiar with the giant green mural painted in the downtown Portland area, proclaiming our city as “America’s Bicycle Capital.” It’s pretty hard to miss, considering it wasn’t exactly painted for subtlety. You may recall seeing the mural in the background of a few of our own photos, including when we introduced the spunky ENOkio.

Unfortunately, it looks like the two year old proclamation is going to be removed.  Since the building is considered an historic landmark, murals of any kind are not allowed, especially work that was not sanctioned by the city to begin with.

The man behind the mural, Todd Roll, admits the work is significantly larger than the standard 22-by-22 feet, but thought the work was a matter of Civic Pride and the city would give its blessing. After all, you have to admit we’re pretty lucky to have the bike presence we have, right? After a bit of legal back-and-forth, Roll and Pedal Bike Tours were finally told the mural had to come down.

Surprisingly, advertising space isn’t barred from historic landmarks. While we may lose our self-proclamation of leading the country on two wheels, Pedal Bike Tours was cleared to use the space for a 484-square-foot advertisement. We may lose the words, but Roll explained the international sign for bicycle (the big green circle with the bike in the center, in case you didn’t know) gets to stay, helping advertise for his business.

So get out there and grab a photo while you still can, Portland! Unless things change, you have until 8AM Friday morning to see the mural. Show us your memorabilia by posting to our Facebook page and Twitter!


The ENOkio! Proof that good things DO come in small packages!

Size isn’t everything, you know. Sometimes the best things in life come in small boxes. Nowhere is that sentiment expressed better than with the newest model in the Portland Pedal Power cycling fleet, which we have dubbed the ENOkio!

As you may have read in our monthly newsletter, we recently introduced the ENOkio, a smaller, lightweight model of the Pyxis! This new model of enclosed delivery bike was meant to reduce our fabrication costs by switching out our typical aluminum frame with a birch one. The unintended result has been a lighter, nimbler, super practical cycle capable of performing the Kessel Run in less than 12 Parsecs. How’s that for bending space-time? Because you get some great cargo space without sacrificing the freedom of a bicycle, we’re calling it the Pyxis for everyone.

So when did it all start? ENOkio was born in February 15, 2014, and  was our smoothest build to date. Our in-home engineer Alex did a fantastic job with the pre-build phase, and the assembly went off without a single hitch (which might have been a first in our building process). Of course, as we prepare for growth to meet our market expansion goals, our manufacturing process is consistently getting smoother and more efficient.

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