The Missing Link

Really friendly staff who are knowledgable and treat you with respect even if you’re not an expert. Thank you!

Came in around December with a big ol box of parts and a bunch of ideas! Met James the owner and started talking to him about the bike I wanted to build, James got really excited about what I was trying to do and started looking up parts for me right away. Throughout the whole process he was nothing but friendly! kept the store open late for me one night to come check out some parts never once did it feel like he was selling me on some really expensive parts that I didn’t need or want (which has happened to me alot in portland). Been riding the bike ever since I got it and have brought it in for little check ups the past month and haven’t been charged a thing. This was honestly the best bike I have ever purchased as well as the best time purchasing a bike I have ever or probably will ever have!

I decided to sell my car and start commuting to work by bike. I’d only ridden casually, so I had a lot to learn about equipment and how to use it.
The owner, James, helped me without putting any pressure on me to buy. I had already done some research and thought I knew what I wanted, and he helped me confirm my conclusions. I got the impression, right from the start, that his priority was on building a long-​term relationship rather than just making a sale. Another staffer (Matt?) helped fit the bike when I picked it up, and he’s clearly an expert at this process.
I’m glad I decided to give this place a try — I’d been to several different cycling shops in Portland, but this one is more down to earth and not sickeningly hip. That suits me, since I need practical service and advice on biking for transportation. They worked with my budget, and didn’t sneer when I had them tune up my old $ 100 Wal-​Mart bike so I could keep it as a backup.
Thanks, James!

This place is great. Every time I go in the staff is friendly and professional. The pricing is great and they carry good products.
I’ve had various issues with a bike I’m borrowing and each time I’ve brought it in they have resolved the issues promptly and the repairs have been reasonably priced.
A real good place to go to if you don’t like getting bamboozled while shopping.

Best bike shop in town. Customer service is the best around. If you need help or have questions, the owner (James) will gladly and patiently answer them and even show you what to do. Thanks James for helping me out and showing me some tricks.

This bike shop is awesome. Great friendly service. Nice selection of bikes. Customer service is off the charts crazy good. James has been wrenching bikes forever and a day and knows what he’s doing. He communicates really well and tells you your options right up front. I cannot recommend this shop enough. Give it a try.

I took my newly purchased, used Trek into the store yesterday, Sunday, and told Steve what I wanted. Because of my questions, he thought that I might be more comfortable going in Monday – today – so that I could talk to the owner, James, which I did. I rated my experience 5 stars. James was able to talk to me about my job, my concerns and answer my questions. Additionally, he did the work while I waited. [Other shops had told me there’d be waits of 1 ½ to 3 weeks to get the work done.] The Missing Link is a bike shop close to home, for me, and I love the feeling there. Go in and talk!

Great place! My wife and I were riding bikes borrowed from friends here in NE Portland, and her seat began to fail and soon it looked like a clown bike! We were talking about what to do, and a passerby with his son said «Oh go to Missing Link — super friendly, local, excellent place!» And it was! I’d come back here in a heartbeat. And I’m recommending these folks to my Portland homies.

It’s not often that one comes across a business where the consumer truly feels like they’re being treated like a king… UNLESS you come here. This is exactly how you will get treated if you go here for any of your bike needs.
James, the owner, is obviously not a newbie when it comes to knowing how to fix a bike but most importantly, how to treat a customer. When I went here, it was for a bike fitting. After doing the Reach the Beach bike event I came across The Missing Link Tent and just started talking to his wife about how I was feeling on the ride, and that my back, butt and just my whole body was hurting. Now I am not out of shape. I work out every day and ride bikes weekly. In fact, I’ve never felt this poorly on my bike before until I did the hundred miles.
As I explained how I was feeling, she was understanding, compassionate and to make a long story short, simply suggested that I should come by and that they would help fit the bike to my needs, and that I would feel better riding it. But it wasn’t so much that she had suggested it as HOW she said it. If you’re ever fortunate enough to meet someone who has the talent of really showing you they care about how your bike feels even if they don’t know you, than that is amazing.
For YEARS I’ve always felt that I could fit the bike on my own but how wrong I was. James didn’t start off by getting down to brass tacks; he started off by first getting to know me. My likes, dislikes, what bike I rode the most – a multitude of logical questions that would eventually lead me onto the bike for the fitting. It was then I realize that this guy is not just an owner, cyclist, mechanic and bike fitter; he’s a freakin’ bike psychologist. I felt like I was sitting in a chair getting all my riding issues answered.
He didn’t up sale anything to me, pressure me or make me feel like he was better than I was because I didn’t understand the process. But I have to say the best thing of all was that James is a proud owner who stands to listen NOT be heard. That in my opinion is worth its weight in gold. His place is not stocked as some of these bigger places, but there isn’t anything he cannot get for you. Plus, if you go here, you’ll be supporting a hard-​working local owner who will make you feel the very moment you step into his place like family.
I want to say that after he fitted me to my bike, I literally wanted to hug the guy because now I can ride for hours not feeling like crap. After I left I rode the bike for 20 miles, just to get a feel for it, and I could not believe the difference in my posture, my lower back and my overall feeling. I’ve also read other reviews about this place and I’m just gonna say that go in and see for yourself. There’s always more to a story and all it takes is a disgruntled customer having a bad day to say something negative about someone else.
Finally, I want to say that I don’t care if there are a dozen other cycling places out there who say they can also do a fitting. The fact is, is that do YOU want a fitting? Or, do you want an experience? In my book I want both. And you will get that at The Missing Link Bicycle Store.
Thanks for reading.

Grateful to have James in my neighborhood. He went beyond helping me accessorize an odd sized used Gary Fischer. Going so far as to customize a part for me at no extra charge. Very kind guy and shop. (~);-)

Don’t even bother with this place if you’re a cyclist. The staff here is a joke. They sold and installed a chain for me at an event and only had the most expensive one. Being that there was no alternative, I sucked it and paid the $ 60. I rode my bike for a days after and noticed that my chain kept slipping off my chain ring. While at another shop to upgrade my gears the mechanic noticed that a pin was missing in my chain due to the fact that my chain was cut two links too short. I was lucky that my chain didn’t fall apart while riidng. I took this up with the guys at Missing Link. The first guy told me that now that it had been fixed (at another shop) then I should be fine. I told him I was sold a compromised chain and I wanted either a refund or a new chain. He told me instead to talk to James who installed it. I called James today and he said that I should’ve brought it into him first (the other shop didn’t think it was safe to let me leave their shop with a bad chain) and he didn’t believe that that could have happened. No one else has touched my chain since the installation (this was 2 weeks ago) and yet he wouldn’t consider taking responsiblity for it. He just kept pushing that if he did the job that wouldn’t have happen. But he did do the job and put my life at risk. A serious accident could have occured due to this mishap and they are just blowing it off. I will never shop here again and I recommend everyone to do the same. This shop is does bad work and treat customers horribly. Take your money, safety, and bike elsewhere. This place should not be in business.

This establishment doesn’t even deserve one star. Our full suspension mountain bike required some work on its disc brakes. After we told the owner that we needed the bike by the following day, he looked at our bike and told us that he did not know what was wrong with the brakes and that it would cost us $ 100 for him to try and fix it. Even then, he couldn’t guarantee that he could fix it. I immediately became suspicious. I called Bike Gallery and the head mechanic, Pete, agreed to look at the bike. After a 10 minute inspection, Pete had the bike diagnosed and fixed. He charged $ 10 for the work. We left Bike Gallery promising to give that shop all of our business now and into the future. We vowed never to return to The Missing Link. If the owner of The Missing Link reads this, hopefully he takes some advice. Taking advantage of customers is not good business.

I have been commuting about 16 miles round trip on a hybrid comfort bike that I purchased 7 years ago before moving to Portland. I never (and still don’t) consider myself a cyclist. The 2013 Bike Gallery sale offered a Trek 2.1 Sport frame and carbon fork for what appeared to be a good deal. Before purchasing, I talked to James (owner of Missing Link) about building up the bike (components, crank, wheels, etc). James was very informative and took the time to discuss options, what each option meant, and where to put the money in building up the bike.
I decided to take a leap of faith in a subject I knew very little about (but my knowledge is growing thanks to James). When the bike was being built up, I came into the shop a couple of times to get measured and to discuss preferences. In many ways, it felt like I was getting fitted for a dress. Because of the attention to detail that James provided, I am LOVING my bike.
Missing Link is a great neighborhood bike shop that provides excellent customer service with no run-​around. If you want a down-​to-​earth bike shop, Missing Link is it.

Bikers beware. This shop isn’t for the general biker population, if you didn’t buy your bike here don’t expect them to help you in anyway. We brought in 2 bikes we purchased online and were seeking not only knowledge but advise on assembly and we were treated rudely by the staff, Steve. Came back to see the owner and he treated us just as rudely. Stay away.

I just bought a Schwinn Stingray and needed to fix it up with accessories. This was the place to go. They had everything I needed: bullet headlight, sissy bar reflector, wheel reflectors (only in white), and handlebar mirrors (cheap and expensive ones). I fell even more in love with the place when he told me they had fenders. My fenders look fine but it’s nice to know where to get replacements.
Overall, I was extremely pleased. If you have an old fat tire sitting in your garage and want to pull it out for the summer, head on over to this place to get everything you need for it. Handlebar streamers too!

Should you find yourself in need of some quick bicycle repair while on an afternoon ride through northeast Portland, this is your place. A tire and tube replacement cost about $ 28 all told, and they had me on my way in about fifteen minutes, including the friendly banter. I got the sense that they could have handled a much more complicated job with equal aplomb.
They also stock a nice assortment of new and used bikes, if you’re looking to pick one up. Most are good, practical road and commuter bikes, but there are also some beautiful 1960’s style cruisers and some interesting oddball bikes.
My favorite aspect of this place is that, unlike many bike shops in this city, Missing Link is completely unpretentious. You don’t have to worry about the cycling hipsterati looking down their noses at you for having a kickstand on your bike, for example. You’ll be accepted regardless of your level of bicycling dedication… which is precisely how to make new dedicated bicyclists.

What a great experience. I am a less-​than-​confident stll-​learning cyclist with a low budget and this is the first bike shop I’ve been in that didn’t make me feel like shit for not being some lightweight titanium $ 5000 bike ridin spandex wearin commuter. When I first moved to PDX I went to 4 bike shops and that’s how I generally felt treated.
Eventually I gave up and bought a ’76 Schwinn off Craigslist for $ 150 and it ended up being exactly what I needed. However the seat was wobbly and the gears a little clicky and it needed looking at.
I had barely noticed this shop before today, when it was super sunny and they had these gorgeous brightly colored bikes sitting out front. I stopped by to admire them and then rode back later to get my bike fixed up.
Really happy with my experience. A new seat and a tune-​up were less than $ 50, which I think in the realm of bike shops is pretty darn good. And on top of that they fixed it while I waited! In like 15 minutes!
The owner, Joe, is really nice and definitely has a love of bicycles and a collection of his own in the shop you can admire. Don’t miss the cruiser with the giant — I mean GIANT — headlamp on it. Hilarious.
This shop is small but they know their stuff and they are nice to newbies like me and pros alike. I will definitely be going here first for any bike needs. And if I get some splurging money I will come back and get one of the awesome retro remake bikes they have.

I’ve been to the Missing Link many times; to look around and to ask questions. Joe, the owner, is always happy to answer questions, discuss anything in his shop or talk about great bike routes around the city.
Knowledgeable. Good People here!
I have to say the owner is a wizard of some caliber. He’s parlayed a moblie van of bike repair to a solid bright spot of brick and mortar in the Sandy/​72^nd neighborhood. He’s serious about bikes
Today, I watched him put a kick stand on a purple princess bike and adjust a funky seat. Boy, was that little girl happy and so was her mom!
Old, new, refurbishing, retrofitting, repairing, talking vintage. He and his Cat Further have got it covered!
Check out his Joe’s Moonshine too. I know lots of folks who swear by the polishing and cleaning properties of his product; Joe stands behind everything he does 100%.
He’ll be in the neighborhood for a long time. and will always give you his full attention with anything you need for biking. and has lots of advice.
The Missing Link is a Class act!
bike on over. YOu won’t be sorry!
Website for the missing link:

This a a small, unassuming shop with a solid selection and a great guy running the place. I’m not a biker (or an athlete of any kind for that matter) so it was nice to go into a bike shop where you’re not dismissed for not being hard core.
The salesman (owner?) was really helpful and made recommendations based on my needs. He wasn’t pushy and just seemed like an all around nice man.
I ended up buying a Smoothie, a good cruising around town bike. The helmet selection wasn’t great so I went elsewhere for that but I felt really good about my bike purchase. I won’t need another bike anytime soon but when I do, I’ll go back.

RIP scooters! this place used to be scooters/​spoink. spoink was novelty stuff and scooters had vegan soft serve. they made VEGAN BLIZZARDS with chickostick and newman o’s and oh my god. like $ 5 or $ 6 but worth it for our occasional trips to pdx (from tacoma, wa).
there was an awesome guy who ran spoink/​missing link, whose title was Primate, which is rad. once at missing link i got this glow in the dark t-​shirt with bigfoot taking down civilization, made by a local vegan artist and that’s one of my favorite shirts.