About Us

We buy, sell, trade, and barter bicycle related items happily. We do custom work of every sort. Fast road bikes of all shapes and sizes are our specialty. We promote the resale and daily use of our bicycles, and strive to promote happy and safe rides. We are not a co-op, but a business hoping to merge Portland's affinity for cycling and distaste for waste. We are run by reusing & rebuilding used bicycles; from modern to exotic, from frames to accessories, and everything in between. So come in and visit us; we're here for you!

By Recyclery founder R. Fenstermaker

The Recyclery Bicycle Shop is located on the West side of Northern America, otherwise known as "The Happy Side of America" (Yes I made it up.;). On the West Coast, Oregon is the center of it all. Inside of Oregon grows a beautiful city, named "PORTLAND." And here, in Portland, is home to the West Coast's favorite step child: The Recyclery.

STORY OF THE RECYCLERY

Many people have asked about this place, although I'm always personally happy to tell anybody how this creature has evolved. I can never seem to relay the craftyness, luck, strangeness, (I had a space on 59th and SE Foster) and kindness which has made this shop grow and continue to grow the way it does.
Like most of the customers who come into my shop, I was absorbed into the car culture. I worked for my car, so I could drive it to work. Now throw in the fact I didn't like any of the jobs I had or the people I worked for. Though some of my employers were great and I was able to pick up some truly nonrepayable knowledge (for this I thank you Pat).
With a growing despise of the search for employment, I kept being reminded of Jacksonville FL. I was selling water treatment systems. The system seemed amazing and I would probably love to have one, but at the same time, it seemed like a scam. Many of the people after my sales pitch would complement my sales ability, but could tell I didn't believe in my product. I've alway believed in doing what you want to do and standing behind it. Like so many young people I didn't know what that was. So there was were I sat. Stagnant with my life. Searching for something I love to do, and trying to figure out how to make a living doing it.
Enter Paige Hawley, my reintroduction to bikes, and my introduction to craigslist.com. Paige is a wonderful person who opened my eyes to the reality of ones positive actions and the bins! Paige loved community more than anybody I'd ever met. She had this rickety old Huffy she loved to ride, and she loved to go to the bins.
The bins is a Goodwill donation center filled with treasures galore. A true entrepreneurial hobbyist's dream! While roaming around, I decided to check out the bicycles. I became the owner of an old Raleigh, for ten dollars. I can't recall what model it was, as I owned it for a brief moment in time. Then someone else decided they needed it more (it was stolen!). Well back to the bins for me, and this time I scored a Peugeot. This one needed some love: the deraileurs were in bad shape and I couldn't afford to replace them, so I left them out, picked a gear, shortened the chain and started ridin'.
About this time I got fired from yet another job and my old little beamer broke down. I was now a cyclist, totally into the freedom from cars. Not needing to work nearly as much as I always needed to, I could now survive on very little and not feel strained or stressed about transportation. With the little money I had, still needed a job. I moved into a house on 26th and Powell, just around the corner from the Saint Vincent Depaul donation center. They always had a huge pile of bikes which they sold for ten dollars a piece. I soon had a pretty little collection of about ten bikes, and growing. I got hired as a cook for a short stint, which helped this new collection grow. A trip to Mexico lost me yet another fabulous job ~scoff~. Back to the dredged job hunt. I landed my final job at Dale Ann's Ladd's Inn. Once again working for someone who I could believe in. Oops- got fired from another one (for reasons better told in person). I sold a pink cruiser I had gotten for Paige, (it was too small for her) to a coworker for $40 (I purchased for only ten dollars). I began to see what bikes sold for on Craigslist and low and behold- there it was.
Unemployed by local standard, I became self employed. The next bike I sold was to some guy from California who wanted a loaner bike for the weekend. He ended up buying the bike because he enjoyed it so much. My first self employed bike sale! Later that day I went to my local pub ordered a pint, and with such pride I stared into that pint, relishing it's creation. I felt like I had finally earned something for my self.
Unfortunately, at this point, my relationship with Paige came to an end. I moved into my new workshop, in a small garage at an Anarchy house. It was badly run by this cat who was scamming free rent, "because he had the lease." After stating my displeasure with the house's financial arrangement, the Anarchists kicked me out (and I thought getting fired on my day off was hard to do). Up till this point I had been using Rigby Cycle Works (Rigby was a dog I had) for my underground shop. One evening I went to check my email, and it was gone! I couldn't get in. I sat wondering what to rename this new venture. Then It came, recycling was one of the benefits of my new found business, and so "The Recyclery" was born in the fall of 2003. It was working.
While living in the Anarchy house I ran into a soccer buddy at a bluegrass jam (neither of us knew the other played). Nick was crashing on a friends couch on 36th and Division. This house had a musical history which we lived up to with late evenings, long jams, and some great times. I met some great musicians and friends here.
During the departure from the Anarchy house, I got a email from a gentlemen at the coast. It seemed he had a LOT of bicycles he wanted to get rid of. So I take a trip to the coast with Kristy (she rented the musical house but didn't play). Kristy was one of the kindest people I have ever met in my life, and happy to go with me to the coast. There were a LOT of bikes. The gentleman had rented this space to someone who was going to eventually rent bikes to tourists. It seemed more like his tenant just liked to dismantle them, and throw all the parts into buckets. After hours of sorting through these buckets, I couldn't find any reasoning behind the tenants organizational system.
The gentleman precedes to tell me someone had offered him $1500. He then tells me the guys truck broke down when he came to pick them up, so he couldn't afford the bikes after all. Up until now I had been getting all my bikes from the bins and haven't had to haggle for anything~ and I wasn't about to pay nearly $1500 for all this stuff. Granted it was worth a lot, but this fellow wasn't going to fix and sell them, nor did he know or care what each one was worth. As I'm keeping my mouth shut, (which really is a good thing to do when haggling) his lovely wife enters and begins to tell the story of the guy with the truck, except with a slight financial twist on the tale. She says the guy offered them $1000. Seeing the look of shame in the gentleman's eyes, I proceed to kick him while his ego just got smacked, and offer him $500. He declines and I bounce out of there as quick as I can, letting him know the offer stands!
A few day later still on my hunt for a new shop location, the phone ring and theres the gentleman. "yes, my offer of $500 still stands." He pulls away from the phone to ask his lovely wife it "$500 will do for the bikes?" She replies "get those god damm bike out of my house!" The deal was complete! I now owned all the fixings to about 160 bikes. The problem was, where to put them and how to pay for it, $500 was all the money I had. Kristy and Jenn (an amazing fiddle player) allowed me to stash my supply into their basement. I traded Jenny a fiddle, which I had traded for a bike, for her to rent a U-haul from the coast to here. Jenny, myself, and Niles (a friend I had made while living together at the Anarchy house, as only the controlling parties wanted me out) set out to the coast. After picking up our U-haul we show up ready to pack. One thing I really don' like is when someone laughs and doubts others abilities. The gentleman at the coast swore we weren't gonna fit all those bikes in the U-haul.
The Recyclery would not exist without doing a lot of things people thought couldn't be done. I had Jenny sort the pile of wheels and fill up half empty boxes, while Niles and I proceeded to remove the pedals and loosen all the stems. This made for easy packing, our friend at the coast quickly switched his tune to amazement. With room to spare, we were off. Upon our return to Portland, the basement of the musical house was filled up; along with what now seemed small collection of my already existing goodies. The task of selling these bikes in the middle of the winter, in yet another brand new workspace, was a challenge. I fliered all around the neighborhood on a cold and rainy day, which turned into a cold and rainy night. I posted some ads on craigslist, and split the cost of a friends cell phone to use as a business phone.
A huge snowstorm and a cellphone that wasn't around too often put a huge damper on the situation. I pretty much tried to hibernate, spending as little as possible, while knowing that my new space was going to be a short stint. You can only live on someones couch for so long and yes they had two couches. It was going to be a cold winter on the couch of the music house.
During all of this I was becoming a pretty good mechanic. Learning most everything by way of trial and error. Trial and error taught me a lot of patience. Working with 95% recycled material also made me more resourceful. I was also learning the benefits of trade and barter.
Fortunately, a great bicycle trailer came with the coastal purchase, and proved to be invaluable a month and a half later. I was able to save some money at the music house, and moved into a house with a garage and a basement. This is when I met Demetri Macrigeanis, the owner of Veloce Bicycles (located on 32nd and Hawthorne Blvd). My house was a half block away from his shop. Demetri's shop is wonderful, and I'm always jealous of his work - in such an perfectly organized environment. This gentleman knows exactly what he is doing!
After going into his shop two days in a row just to use his pump, (mine were always breaking), Demetri was obviously curious about me. We chatted for a while, he was glad to see a new person providing inexpensive bikes in the neighborhood. In his stable are some of of finest made bikes I have ever seen. Demetri began to refer people to me who were looking for more affordable modes of transportation, which helped me out.
Unfortunately, during all of this, my roommates and I had a hard time with each other.
So with spring in high stride, It was time to uproot again!

Fortunately I did not have to move by way of bike trailor this time.. I had responded to an add on CL, from a kid who wanted to trade his minivan for a bike, and was not picky about the bike he was to recieve. He picked out a bike I scored at the bins for $5. The van had good tags and only needed a fuel pump. Both parties were satisfied. I then responded to yet another add off CL, for a workspace near 88th and Woodstock. With a place for my bikes to live, secured, I was sleeping in my van( yes, sometimes down by the river). Spring was in the air, and I was ready to build some bikes and make some money. I'd forgotten what that was.