Coffee and bikes. It’s a timeless pairing and one that Breadwinner Cycles, the Portland-based framebuilding operation, has embraced with their new cafe and shop. It’d been since 2015 when I got to visit their facilities, which at the time were in Tony Pereira’s house. Tony and Ira Ryan make up Breadwinner, along with some of their employees. Last year, Breadwinner opened their new shop and an adjacent cafe, along the bicycle expressway off North Williams. Since then, it’s become a hub for people meeting for group rides, or laptop-toting freelancers, and tourists like myself wanting to peek into the process that is making a Breadwinner.

I walked throughout the ‘factory’ floor as Jackie, one of the Breadwinner employees, worked on the chainstay and dropout assemblage. Meanwhile, Tony and Ethan tackled customer relations, Ira worked on splitting his time between fillet brazing cable guides and gluing tubulars for that weekend’s races. It had a hustle and bustle environment. You know, getting shit done. That’s the Breadwinner way, “Work Hard, Ride Home” is their motto after all.

While the framebuilding operations had plenty of eye candy, it was the cafe that really caught my eye with so many well thought out details. Plus, the food and coffee were super tasty! If you’re in Portland and haven’t checked out the Breadwinner Cafe, get your ass over there! Thanks to Tony, Ira, Jackie, Ethan, and the cafe ladies for the excellent afternoon!

Breadwinner Cycles and Cafe
2323 N Williams Ave
Portland, OR 97227
Mon 7AM–4PM
Tues 7AM–4PM
Wed 7AM–4PM
Thur 7AM–4PM
Fri 7AM–6PM
Sat 8AM–4PM
Sun Closed

____

Follow Breadwinner Cycles on Instagram and follow the Breadwinner Cafe on Instagram.