Here at Electric Bike Journal believe riding around the city is one of the best ways to get to know a place. We have seen these Biketown bikes all over in Portland, OR and have wondered how they ride and what the experience using one would be.
The Biketown electric bike share program is accessed via their standalone app or you can access bikes with your Lyft app and account. You locate the bikes closest to you and then unlock them with a QR code on the bike and your ride begins. It cost $1 to unlock the bike and then $.20 per minute. It is free to lock up the bike at a Biketown Hub, or $1 to lock it up to any other public bike rack. There are many hubs all over the city and you can see where they are with the Biketown App.
To start off our day right, we rode to one of our favorite coffee shops in town. Heart Coffee has three locations in Portland and always provides great coffee. It was nice to get inside at their East Burnside location and escape the heat for a little bit.
We also believe that a good start to the day also includes donuts. We rode over to Doe Donuts to get our fix for the morning. Doe Donuts makes all vegan donuts and ice cream using local and fresh ingredients. Definitely worth a visit when in Portland but make sure to get there earlier in the day since they are known to sell out of their popular seasonal donuts early.
After indulging on some tasty donuts we had to get a little ride in so rode over to Laurelhurt Park to ride through some shade and check out the scenery. Laurelhurst Park is right in middle of East Portland and a great place to throw out a picnic blanket and relax.
Portland is also know for its food carts. There are many food cart pods located all around the city to provide a different variety of cuisine for everyone. These are great places to eat when cruising around by bike as you can park nearby and eat outside.
The infrastructure in Portland is biker friendly which makes it a great place to ride around. Bike routes are clearly marked and there are neighborhood greenways thought out the city. The larger main streets also have bike lines clearly marked as well.
On our ride next to the river on the East Side Esplanade we rode by the OMSI museum. The OMSI has a submarine docked right next to it in the river, and it so happens to be a decent spot to jump in the river to cool off.
Our last stop for the day was Fifty Licks Ice Cream. A local favorite that makes all their ice cream from scratch with local ingredients. It is located on a neighborhood greenway and right across from a Biketown Hub. A very fitting and tasty stop to top off a nice day of riding around the city.
Overall the Biketown electric bike share service was very convenient. We were able to find bikes easily with the Biketown app and the app is also very intuitive. In the end we were pretty pleased with our experience riding the Biketown electric bikes. Our total mileage for our day was around 12 miles and the final cost was about $30 per rider. This price may seem to be steep, but being able to get a bike at our convenience and not go to a store that has set hours. You pay for as much as you use it and can easily park them close to your destinations. An electric bike rental from a store will cost you $50 or more a day, so the Biketown bike share is more economical if you just want to use it for a few hours.
#foodtrip #foodtour #portland #oregon #biketour
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Intro 00:00
Bike Specs 00:15
Initial Ride 1:49
Heart Coffee 04:17
Speed Test 05:40
Doe Donuts 07:13
Laurelhurt Park 8:08
Food Cart Pod 10:40
Ride to the River 12:00
East Side Esplanade 12:58
Swim Stop 13:47
Thoughts on bikes so far 15:10
Fifty Licks Ice Cream 16:06
Final Thoughts on Biketown Bikes 16:35
Conclusion & Outro 19:29