Sorry Jamie, I just couldn’t help myself:

(more…)

Last Friday, two very good friends of mine got married (to each other, no less).

The ceremony was conducted on top of Rocky Butte by another friend Luke, who had gotten his reverend’s license just for the occasion. It turned out to be an extraordinary wonderfully day for the event. If they had done it at the same time on Saturday, everyone would have been caught in a downpour.

After the ceremony, bride and groom road away via cargo bike. Cheers sprung up as the flower-clad bike (complete with cans) rode back through Portland.

There were also some photos that I posted via twitter (for those friends who needed instantaneous updates as the events unraveled).

My talented friend Jamie has started building Bakfiets (dutch style cargo bikes). The cycles feature  a large box for hauling groceries, kids, concrete, whatever and are popular in Europe and South America, but hard to come by in the US.

The bike you see here is one of his working prototypes and was recently featured at the Oregon Manifest bike show. It has also received a fair amount of press online:

• Bike Portland article (This is the 3rd time Jamie’s been featured here)
• Tree Hugger feature
• Even a Wired Blog Article
• EcoVelo blog mention
• Metrofiets website

He brought the bike by on Friday and I got a chance to take it for a spin. Even with a full load, the bike is smooth and easy to pedal in city traffic – thanks to internal gears, disk brakes and other modern features. The beautiful lines and whimsical color are also a real head-turner.