As you may or may not know, we play hoops around the Mothership every Thursday. I didn't say we were good at hoops...

Don't miss your chance to save big on a limited selection of outerwear by this fantastic company. Check out the Portland Jacket, a waterproof, soft shell. It's technical design, including pit zips, coupled with street appeal, provides a garment you can wear on, and off the bike. The Hybrid Jacket, also on sale, is made from a stretchy, soft shell fabric that lets you move more freely on the bike. Like the Portland, this jacket features zippered cuffs, reflective details, and a drop down 3M reflective rear panel. For the roadies, we have a couple Softshell Trainers left for sale. Fully windproof and waterproof, pick this jacket if you appreciate rider-specific features, like jersey pockets, large pit zips, and seam tape.

This past weekend I headed North with a few pals to climb Mount St. Helens. Preston Covey, a long time pal of PDW, was one of the folks who was in the climbing party. Right about the time we arrived at our campsite, old Preston realized he'd forgotten his hiking boots back in Portland 2 hours away. Just so happens that few years ago a similar thing had happened to him when he went to mountain bike at Syncline, so now he always has a pair of mountain bike shoes stored in his car. Some folks would have bitched about their bad luck, or just not climbed. Well not Preston. Without a second thought he decided he'd climb the mountain in a pair of Sidi Dominator shoes. Then he cooked us chicken dinner. And it was amazing food, I may add. If you are looking for a guy to fill out your climbing/camping/mountain biking party who always keeps it positive and is handy with the flame, Preston Covey is your man. And yes, he did summit the mountain.

Friday is a great day to celebrate getting a new bike.

Just yesterday we took delivery of a brand new Handsome Cycles She Devil for someone near and dear to us at PDW.

We got it set up quickly, swapped out some grips and it was ready to roll.

Just in time for Portland's first Sunday Parkways of the year! Can't wait to ride alongside! Congrats L!

Photo by John

We've just posted some new product.  We'll go into some great detail on some of them but for now, check out what we've just got in!

In a bike shop, one minute you can be sending off someone with a set of Zipp 101 wheels and the next helping someone out with their amazing Rivendell Saluki.  I love it!

So it looks a little goofy because I need to cut my steer tube a bit more, but using the Paul Components stem cap light mount helps free up some real estate for my lights.  This will come useful in night mountain bike rides when I have two headlamps or on a tour and my front rack is in the way of the light beam.  I plan on spending a lot of time on the trails and roads during the night so it's nice that I won't have to work around the cable housing or my handle bar bag in the dark.

Pick one up here!

Midwest Mayhem 3 coming soon!

Last week Dave of Ellis Cycles dropped by to finish up a customer's bike.  Absolutely stunning.

   Larry (Ben's son and Vince the current owner's father) came in today with a handful of old photos and it really brought into light the history of the shop.
   To give you some background as to how the business was started...It was 1928; Ben Hanoski was laid off as a tool and die maker. He couldn't afford the gas to put into his 1926 Ford that someone offered him 100 bucks and a bicycle for it; he couldn't pass it up. A couple days later as he was riding his bike, someone offered to buy it and it all began.
   That next day Ben took a walk to the local salvage yard eight blocks away and picked up another bicycle. It definitely needed work but it didn't take long to get it into tip top shape. He sold that one a couple days later, was back down to the salvage yard the same day and so on and so on....
  It didn't take long for word to get out and Ben had a good business running. He would make trips to Chicago every other week, buying up used bikes to bring back, fix them up and sell them at a reasonable price. Chicago was the bicycle manufacturing capital at the time; having more than a dozen bike manufacturers in the hay day which equated to lots and lots of bikes...






















 For several years Ben's Cycle was run out of the basement of his house in this very same neighborhood. It was right behind the first Ben's Cycle storefront rented in 1938. Two doors down from where we are today...















The 1004 Lincoln Ave shop operated in the same building until the mid 60's when a fire totaled the shop and the building next to it; the shop needed a new home.

The photo below below was taken by Roman Kwasniewski in 1914 and shows the building that would be the future Ben's Cycle. Here it's called The Orient and to the left is Kwasniewski's Park Photo Studio. Kwasniewski documented Milwaukee's Polish South Side for over forty years.


















A couple of the buildings have been rebuilt over the years but the Ben's building has been standing strong. Ben's son Larry, and his brother Roman took over the business in 1956. Roman separated from the business in 1970 to pursue other endeavors.

Ben's Cycle was one of the first Schwinn dealers in Milwaukee. Below shows the shop in the new 1018 W Lincoln Ave location.




































Larry ran the shop for over 30 years and in 1992 his son Vince took the business over. In 1996 Vince bought the dilapidated Riviera Theater right across the street to add another larger retail space. When he bought it, it was being used as a lighting storage space with massive pallet racking from floor to ceiling. He put a lot of effort in the building to get it as close to the original space as he could. A lot of external brick work was needed as well the interior was completely rejuvenated.

Below is a picture of the theater's interior soon after construction around 1920 taken by Roman Kwasniewski.

















This is how it looks now...
















Lots of storage for our retail and online businesses!


More to come.....

Get them here!!

Photo credit Tom Robertson, tomrobertsonphoto.com

It’s not often that a national caliber event (of any sport) takes place in Montana, so when they do it creates quite a stir. Last spring when some core Missoula mountain bikers told us they we’re putting on a brand new mountain bike race, and that it was part of the US Pro XCT, our reactions included a range between “Really?!” and “Awesome!”. We sponsored the event site unseen with Hammer Gel, HEED and Recoverite last summer and the race blew away all expectations. Over a thousand spectators came out to watch the main event, and celebrate the sport of mountain biking in Missoula, Montana, which sits only a couple hours . So a couple weeks ago when the opportunity presented itself for Hammer Nutrition to become the title sponsor of the Missoula XC, we just couldn’t say no! We’re happy to help bring national level mountain biking to Montana, and showcase our great products alongside the sports elite. Here’s a few words from the Missoula XC technical director, Ben Horan, about just how special this race is becoming:

Inspired by the success of the internationally acclaimed Missoula Marathon, the Hammer Nutrition Missoula Pro XCT was conceived of and implemented by a passionate core of cycling and community activists who share a love of cycling and of the community. The race is an event that provides a super venue for pros, rallies amateurs from the region, and brings a great event to a great town. It’s about having fun and involving as many different people as possible.

The Hammer Nutrition Missoula XC race course received rave reviews from professional racers and amateurs alike, and was designed and constructed specifically for this event. It reflects the contemporary World Cup course philosophy. Steep, technical climbs and descents alternate between single track, double track, and infrequent dirt road sections. Frequent and sudden rhythm changes challenge racers, but several sequences of fast and fun sections are included as well. The course features over 850 feet of climbing per lap; while it is not at extremely high altitude, multiple long, steep climbs per lap test racers’ fitness limits.

In 2011, hometown favorite Sam Schultz snagged the win over teammate Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Pro XCT Series winner, Max Plaxton, while Lea Davidson put on a clinic to win her first Pro XCT race ahead of Heather Irmiger and Katerina Nash. With this race as the final domestic test before the Olympics in London, and newly donning UCI C1 credentials all of the heavy hitters are sure to turn up with guns blazing. Come on out to test your mettle on the same tread as Olympians, or just have a cold Kettlehouse beer and cheer on your friends on July 14, 2012 at the Hammer Nutrition Missoula XC.