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Portland,Or.

Old 06-20-05, 04:36 AM
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Portland,Or.

My apologies in advance if this question has been asked before on this forum--
I'm looking for any info on Portland,Or. I'm considering moving there because I keep hearing that it's the most bike friendly town in the country. I know alot of you on this forum are there or have have been there. I'd like to hear anything you'd have to say about it.
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Old 06-20-05, 08:32 AM
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They have good weeeeed, man.

Actually, I've never lived there, but its a nice city, and I've got a few friends there. I've always loved the pacific northwest, and would love to move to that region sometime. Plus the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry has some interesting job openings (museums are my biz)....

peace,
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Old 06-20-05, 10:09 AM
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my partner and i are moving to Portland in early 2006. We visited in March and rode many miles on rented bikes, exploring the city. it's the best city for bicycling that I have seen. i've lived/cycled in Colorado Springs, Seattle, San Francisco and Oakland, fwiw.

It rains a lot, and is cloudy or overcast for most of the months that are not summer. Also it rains a lot.

check out www.dampfixie.org, a somewhat skeletal site that gives you some links to bike/fixed-related things.

along with the weeeeed, food, beer, the transit system, and local produce are also good. I understand that unemployment is high.

to continue the adulation, please see https://www.pdbd.com/henwaller/index.php?p=28
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Old 06-20-05, 10:11 AM
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The job market there is abysmal. Worse than San Francisco, even. Try to have a job lined up before you move.

m.
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Old 06-20-05, 10:14 AM
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line up a job, or have a load of money saved up.

or lose a finger.

edit: Well, the job market is better than it was when I first got here, I can say that much. Seems like temp agencies around here are on a hiring bug... you could go the non-profit route, too.

Or you could claim unemployment from your home state and have the checks sent to you in Or. I know somebody that did that...-

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Old 06-20-05, 10:35 AM
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lots of bikes and seldom problems with cars. lots of fixies riding around. lots of good LBS's
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Old 06-20-05, 11:42 AM
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i'm going up there for a week on wednesday to check it out, if its awesome i'll start saving for a move
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Old 06-20-05, 11:50 AM
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Originally Posted by tehz
i'm going up there for a week on wednesday to check it out, if its awesome i'll start saving for a move
Just in time!!! Pedalpalooza is going on until the 25th. Make sure you at least check out the Multnomah County Bike Fair on the 25th.
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Old 06-20-05, 11:53 AM
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i am green w/envy re Pedalpalooza.

teh z, check out this handy site for some solid advice imho

https://web.pdx.edu/~nac/pdxdirtcheap/
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Old 06-20-05, 12:06 PM
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Check out the Portland Transportation Office bicycle maps for a neighborhood that has a lot of bicycle-friendly streets. Public transportation will let you take your bike, so you can cover most of the city fairly quickly.

Generally, the further you get from downtown, the more car-centric the roads become. Hawthorne and Belmont areas have a lot of riders and shops, and the rent is reasonably cheap. Similarly, Northwest/Pearl has a lot of traffic, but you can get around by bike fairly easily. The rent in that area isn't too bad either.
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Old 06-20-05, 12:08 PM
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Originally Posted by gonesh9
Just in time!!! Pedalpalooza is going on until the 25th. Make sure you at least check out the Multnomah County Bike Fair on the 25th.
Are you going to ride the Bridge Pedal this year? I'm debating making the trek up the hill to the St. Johns on my fixie for the full 10-bridge ride. Otherwise, I might just wimp out and do the 6-bridge ride.
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Old 06-20-05, 12:13 PM
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i used to live there...downtown. Since the downtown area is so compact it takes no time to get around. i had a job i hated though and i wasn't having much luck finding anything else i wanted to do, so i bailed on it.
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Old 06-20-05, 12:18 PM
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also most bike stores have free office-of-transportation bike maps that show the various recommended bike routes. You want a good regular map, too, since the bike maps leave out a lot of streets.

this is only if you are a mappy guy like me of course...

and check out the springwater corridor on the east side of the river, it goes by a gorgeous wetland
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Old 06-20-05, 12:38 PM
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Originally Posted by weed eater
i am green w/envy re Pedalpalooza.

teh z, check out this handy site for some solid advice imho

https://web.pdx.edu/~nac/pdxdirtcheap/
awesome!

downtown and alberta seem nice enough. i want to live somewhere thats like >4 miles from food and stores, and that i can afford to live in with only a little job

and i'll try to check out the Pedalpalooza!
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Old 06-20-05, 12:44 PM
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check out the "up and coming" mississippi area too. you'd have to try pretty hard to be 4 miles from a good grocery store...they're all over.

the hippest areas, hawthorne, clinton, etc, have high rents, but check out Hollywood, parts of Irvington, and (a little out there) Sellwood. i understand that the area around Burnside and 10th is getting quite lively but there are unfortunately few houses around there.

it all seems cheap to me, but then I live in the Bay Area and my rent is higher than the mortgage my dad pays on his custom built home in Colorado. Sheesh.
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Old 06-20-05, 12:51 PM
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The job market isn't all that bad. But not good either, so try to have something lined up before you get here. Housing is relatively affordable, and it's a small enough city that you're never too far from anything else. The public transit system is pretty robust, too, and has provisions for bikes, so you can safely do w/out a car. The city is very bike-friendly. Roads are usually fairly wide and have reasonable speed limits, a lot of them have bike lanes too. There's a network of paved paths around the east side of town that, once you get away from the waterfront, anyway, are used primarily by bikes. There're lots of good shops in town, many of which do business in single-speed/fixed/track equipment. If you're into track riding, there's a velodrome not far from downtown. Drivers don't seem to be too crazy, either.
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Old 06-20-05, 12:54 PM
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Originally Posted by yonderboy
Are you going to ride the Bridge Pedal this year? I'm debating making the trek up the hill to the St. Johns on my fixie for the full 10-bridge ride. Otherwise, I might just wimp out and do the 6-bridge ride.
Yeah, I'm not sure either. Riding all 10 bridges sounds great, but sorta hesitant just because there's soo many people in the ride. But that might be a good thing in itself, a once-a-year chance for us to take over the bridges.
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Old 06-20-05, 12:59 PM
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Originally Posted by weed eater
it all seems cheap to me, but then I live in the Bay Area and my rent is higher than the mortgage my dad pays on his custom built home in Colorado. Sheesh.
doesn't that suck? i have a similar situation. i pay about the same for a manhattan studio as my parents do for their 4 bedroom\1 guest house\16 acre property in Arizona.
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Old 06-20-05, 01:11 PM
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IMHO, the drivers in Portland are some of the best in the world because they are usually far more relaxed and casual than else where. Makes being around them a lot less stress full, they just don't excersize the agression you see so much else where. Of course, that isn't true for all drivers, after all, Portland has a lot of Californian x-pats. If you don't mind being away from the "hip" part of town, the south west hills offers a comfortable environment with moderate rent, but you will have to tackle hills everyday, in every direction, and have a 5 - 10 mile commute to down town.

Rain is a way of life. The sky's natural state is grey. A tan comes from a machine or a bottle. They realized long ago that 5 minutes is too long to wait for a good cup of coffee, coffee houses abound.
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Old 06-20-05, 01:19 PM
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Portland is great. Great restaurants, good music and arts scene, and yes - very bike-friendly.
Went there two years in row recently, spent some time at Reed College.
If there were any jobs in my field, I'd move there in a heartbeat... to Sellwood, probably.

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Old 06-20-05, 02:39 PM
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The Queen of Cities.

I wouldn't think of it as particularly bike-friendly, today, as compared to years passed.
Lots of hills and rain, and pushy car-drivers.
But then, I guess compared to some other cities of comparable size Portland might fare well.

The best music, restaurants, architecture, art and atmosphere of any city of my experience, world-wide.

Many people describe Eugene, Oregon, to the South, as the most bike-friendly city on the planet.
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Old 06-20-05, 02:55 PM
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i havent heard anything of an electronic/experimental music scene down there, is there any?
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Old 06-20-05, 10:01 PM
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ps DKfix, just noticed you're in Norfolk, hows that working out for you?
VB's pretty lame as far as a fixed community (or anything besides full lycra rodie community)
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Old 06-21-05, 05:26 AM
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Originally Posted by tehz
ps DKfix, just noticed you're in Norfolk, hows that working out for you?
VB's pretty lame as far as a fixed community (or anything besides full lycra rodie community)
Norfolk's got a few fixie riders and more in the making. Very encouraging! If you're ever over this way let me know. We can all get together for a ride.
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Old 06-21-05, 07:51 AM
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i'll probably HRT it up there after the portland trip, the guys at Relative gave me the wrong cd when i bought something last night
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