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Gear Hub

155 Washington Ave. Portland, ME

Shop Hours:

Tues – Fri 10am – 6pm
Saturdays 10am – 4pm

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Antique of the Week with 3 pulleys by @jessebillyp

Antique of the Week with 3 pulleys by @jessebillypilgrim

I have profiled both Suntour products and Nishiki bicycles in Antique of the Weeks past, but I felt like we needed a revisit with this beautiful Nishiki Cresta GT that is outfitted with the Suntour XC Sport 3 Pulley rear derailleur.

Nishiki was Japanese bike company, made by Kawamura that was marketed only in the USA through West Coast Cycles. This Nishiki is in really nice condition and was converted over to a flat bar at some point in its life. This lugged frame was handmade in Japan of Tange Double Butted Chromalloy and has a cool sparkly paint job.

Suntour made some of the first inexpensive derailleurs that really worked well. This rear derailleur is one that you rarely see on bikes because it looked so weird that people didn’t buy it. To accommodate the ultra-wide 18 speed drivetrain of this bike Suntour used a shorter cage with three pulleys to take up extra slack in the chain. This helped eliminate “chain slap” and made shifting a little crisper. Ultimately it looked too weird and never quite took off.

This touring bike has a nice, relaxed feel with the upright handlebar and comes ready to adventure with a rack already installed. If you are a shorter rider and looking for a cool piece of history that still has a couple of adventures left up its sleeve, we have one here at the Portland Gear Hub.

#antiqueoftheweek #nishiki #suntour

Antique of the Week with the mainer @jessebillypil

Antique of the Week with the mainer @jessebillypilgrim

I had no idea what an REI was until about ten years ago. I remember talking to a customer at my previous job and they mentioned seeing a bike for a certain price at an REI and I kept thinking that they meant EMS. I was born and raised in Midcoast Maine and up until a couple of years ago we didn’t ever have an REI. Like EMS, REI has a long history of outdoorsy adventure things, they just started on the Pacific coast in Seattle.

in 1935 Lloyd and Mary Anderson, were mountain climbers living in the Cascade Mountains. They went to buy an Ice Axe from a local ski shop, and it cost them $20 which was apparently very expensive for an ice axe at the time. Using Mary’s’ ability to read German they ordered ice axes from Austria for only $3.50 including postage. They then let their mountaineering friends know about the sweet deal they got and formed a mountaineering CO-OP based out of a dusty shelf in a cooperative grocery store and the attic of the Anderson’s home.

They continued to run the business out of their home until the 1960’s and eventually retired in 1970. Mary lived to be 107 years old and continued to be an advocate for outdoor education her whole life. 80+ years later they still are a co-op and now exist all over the country. One of the products that they sold some time in the 1970’s was bicycle bags and here we have a cool old pair of yellow bicycle panniers (or saddlebags) that would definitely jazz up your vintage touring bike.

#antiqueoftheweek #rei #vintagebiketouring

Happy bike to work day 🍩!!! We’ve got bikes,

Happy bike to work day 🍩!!! We’ve got bikes, ideas, and dreams for you today and tomorrow. Come thru and enjoy the weather with us 🏝️

#biketoworkday

Work with us at the Portland Gear Hub and Ketcha O

Work with us at the Portland Gear Hub and Ketcha Outdoors!
We have part time and full time positions available. Learn more about the positions, schedule, and how to apply on our website at portlandgearhub.org/careers
🔧Link to job postings is in our IG bio too!

A smattering of delightfully refurbished options f

A smattering of delightfully refurbished options for you this Saturday ~ ✨ ~ commuters, 24” wheeled touring, butter, project BMX, an amazing Maverick full suspension, flat bar road bike conversions, 90’s ATBs, and more 🌈 💦 🍆 🍓

#gearhubbike #gearhubbutter #reducereuserecycle

Antique of the Week presented by a friend of a kid

Antique of the Week presented by a friend of a kid named Toby, @jessebillypilgrim

I had a friend named Toby growing up and he had the hottest Mountain Bike at West Bath Elementary. It was a Barracuda and it looked so darn cool. A lot of kids had Trek and Specialized bikes, but the Barracuda looked way meaner and cooler than any other bike. We have one very similar to Toby's bike here at the Gear Hub and it is in excellent condition.

Barracuda was a flash in the pan in the bicycle world and only existed for five years. They were started in 1993 in Durango Colorado by Dave Southwell and Jon Wege and most of the early bikes were built by Frank the Welder and Chris Herting, who built most of the bikes for Yeti at the time. Dave and Jon were good at making their bikes look cool, but they were not good at business and were quickly in serious trouble financially. They sold the company to Farmingdale, NY based Ross Bikes in 1995 and the company was all but gone by 1998.

The Barracuda we have in the store has matching red rims, a surprisingly plush Rock Shox Indy Fork, and "Cuda" branded stem, handlebars, and bar-ends. This is from the era right after they were sold to Ross, but before the company went down the drain, and it is about as mid 90's as possible for a mountain bike to be. I don't think this bike ever got ridden and I feel like it should, so if you want to be as cool as Toby come and buy this bike, so I don't have to.

#antiqueoftheweek #gearhubbike #barracudabike

Hello ☀️, there are 6 bike racks full of refur

Hello ☀️, there are 6 bike racks full of refurbished gems and as-is project bikes waiting for test rides and new homes today and this weekend 🚲

#shopusedshoplocal #gearhubbike #reducereuserecycle♻️

A few flashy and funky bike set-ups for this overc

A few flashy and funky bike set-ups for this overcast Thursday:
- Orbea “redo to the max” 53cm
We had way too much fun with this flat bar conversion on a full carbon road bike with carbon Zipp wheels. We snuck in Panaracer GravelKing tires in 28mm! Gravel!

- GT Psyclone “all glory 90s mtb”
We happened to have a front wheel with a Hershey USA translucent hub and we added it to this build, which came to us with all original custom race components. From the cranks, to the stem, to old school XTR this thing rips! It also had an All Speed sticker on it from its early days further down Wash Ave! @allspeedcycleryandsnow

#gearhubbike #gearhubbutter #shopusedshoplocal

Antique of the Week from a Mainer who grew up basi

Antique of the Week from a Mainer who grew up basically in a bike barn @jessebillypilgrim

I’m an old bike nerd. I like old bikes, I’m pushing 40, and most of the bikes I have owned are older than me. I’ve personally had well over 100 bikes in my life and a good chunk of them were dug out of a barn, dusted off and given a new life.

This coming Saturday April 27th from 9am to noon we will be hosting a Bike Barn Bonanza at Ketcha Outdoors on the Black Point Road in Scarborough. We have been busy all winter restoring dusty old bikes, and this will be the first chance to see all these rides all cleaned up, tuned and ready for a second (or third) life!

We will also have a Fresh Selection of our popular “AS-IS” bikes available, for bike nerds like me who are looking for another project to obsess over for the next couple weeks.

If you have ever wanted a tandem, a recumbent, a lightweight old French bike, a solid basic Mountain bike, and everything in between I bet we will have something for you at the first (hopefully annual) Bike Barn Bonanza.

#antiqueoftheweek #barnsale #bikebarnbonanza

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The Portland Gear Hub
155 Washington Ave.
Portland, ME 04101
(207) 761-7632

© 2024 Portland Gear Hub. All Rights Reserved.

Ketcha Outdoors
336 Black Point Rd
Scarborough, ME 04074
(207) 883-8977

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