Full disclosure: I lived in PDX for the last decade, but recently moved away for work. I still come back at least three times a year. I got a membership because I was a bike commuter when I lived in PDX, and missed being able to travel by bike whenever I came to visit. I thought that Biketown would be the perfect solution. In general, I love the whole bike sharing idea. The stations are also well located throughout the city, and well-designed (well, barring this: http://katu.com/news/local/bicycles-on-new-biketown-rack-flipped-into-traffic-lane). The stands are shaped so that you basically don't hit the bike pedals against the stand when you take it out/lock it up, which is pretty awesome. The app is also decent. The bikes themselves are just a little hard to get around with. They're incredibly heavy, to the point of being detrimental to your journey. Climbing up a minor hill like the SE Salmon artillery will take twice as long, because the bike is such a freaking beast to move. The gears range from incredibly easy to really difficult. Oh and they are LOUD. Creaky pedals, and if you have something in the basket, be prepared to rattle loudly all the way to your destination. The pricing scheme is really confusing -- I basically plan my journeys around stations, since the $2 fee to lock it up outside one is a little ridiculous and kinda confusing. Luckily most of the stations are in great locations, but it's definitely still a pain in the butt. I think if I still lived in the city, I probably would not have gotten a membership and just use my own bicycle. However, for out-of-towners and occasional bike riders, this is a pretty good program. read more

I love Nike Biketown runs an ad for free bike use all day with a non-functioning app. Tried 6x to choose my plan and it's frozen. Then, no one answers in customer service. Somebody needs to care and nurture this business. I'm sure they'll be folding their business sooner than later to competitors. read more

Really great service. Widely available in many locations across Portland and the bikes are well cared for. Affordable prices as well.

Pay $5 to start good luck finding one that works then you have to find a pace to park it.

Charging me $40 in fees because I wasn't aware I was out of the zone when I parked it for 20 minutes is super shady. Please tell me when I'm parking my bike that I'm about to get charged over 4 times the amount it cost to just rent and use the bike. Returned the bike to a biketown stand when I was done as well. Called their customer service which was abysmal, the lady just kept interrupting me and all I was doing was casually explaining what happened. I had no tone with her at all. She told me they would notify me if I was going to get a refund or not. I was not notified, and they charged my card $70 dollars to ride a bike with a friend for about 2 hours. THAT'S RIDICULOUS! I could have bought a bike for that much on Craigslist. Sent them a long email today hoping that will be more effective than their terrible phone customer service that provided me with nothing but hope. Unless they refund me the $40 dollars in fees it costed me to park my bike for 20 minutes, I will never use this service again and be notifying as many people as possible to stay away from this scheme Nike has set up to get as much money as they can from people to use their really crappy bikes. read more

It's cheap, that's for sure. But the process of actually getting the bike unlocked and on the road is extremely frustrating. The keypads do not process information quickly and are always on a long delay, which causes errors in putting in your account number and pin. We often had to switch to another bike in the middle of the process because the system would freeze up. Once unlocked, the bikes rode well and were seemingly well maintained - at least much more maintained than the Citibikes I ride regularly in NYC. You will need to download the app in advance of renting the bike. This is also where you'll select the day, 30-minute pass or annual membership. Must connect to a credit card, there is no other payment option. read more

Nice when it works, but WTF broken keypads?! Stranded for 3rd time in last month because bike wouldn't unlock from a HOLD.

On vacation passing through town and decided to ride. Machine ate my credit card so now I'm not only out the 5.00 service charge and $5 I loaded to pay for our first use mileage but I'm going to have to cancel my card and get one sent FedEx to our next stop. Called the "help" line and talked to Alicia in Columbus Ohio who told us she can't call someone local and tell us when someone can come to get it out for us. Big let down and customer service fail. read more

Don't do it! I love the idea of this but in practice it was terrible. The bikes are extremely heavy making them awkward and difficult to maneuver, and the bright orange color screams "tourist!". It's like going to Hawaii and renting a red convertible - everyone knows you're not a local. The second bike I tried had flat tires. There needs to be a way to report a defective bike instantly so others can't try to use it too. The keypads are very slow to respond as well. read more

The keypads simply don't work on 50% of the bikes. Don't waste your time unless you have lots of it. Never had these problems while using bike shares in Minneapolis or Las Vegas. read more

We had a great experience on Biketown Bikes. I had friends visiting and we were able to participate in the SE neighborhood ride all because of Biketown. It would not have happened had it not been for them. A great time was had by all. Thank you read more

Super convenient to explore other neighborhoods of Portland by bicycle, especially when its 100 degrees out. Although biking in the extreme heat may not be preferred method either. The sign up process is a little tedious however I was able to bike around the Ladd's Addition area with overhanging trees covering the streets. What a beauty. However, I don't like the fact that if you return the bike to a Biketown station outside of the designated area, you'll incur an additional $20 charge. I wasn't planning on it anyway, but seems like an additional useless fee. read more

Crappy bikes. Always dirty and in disrepair. I was a member for a month and rarely found a bike near my home. The racks were always empty. I cancelled my membership half way through the month and not only did they not refund for a partial month, they also charged me what looked to be trip fees for the few times I used a bike. Useful if you are just walking around and need a bike quickly to get from point A to point B, but definitely don't recommend for regular usage. read more

Well, I just tag along with my adult children to use Biketown when I'm in Portland. It's super easy for them to rent me a bike on their accounts and such a reasonable price. Usually lots of bikes to choose from at the racks. It's super fun to ride across Tilikum Crossing bridge on the bikes, just for the pleasure of it. Great tourist choice! Last time we road from near the Fremont Bridge to the most south bike racks near OHSU at the waterfront. Easy ride with not much traffic. So glad this came to Portland! read more

Giving it a 1 star based solely on the fact, that when I went to return the bike..there was no available slots to return it to and had to ride around to find other locations that had open spots to return the bike to..equating in extra charge for us! The bike was too big for us shorter folks to ride and the gears did not change smoothly. Love the concept, but dislike the fact we spent 15 minutes riding around to find racks to return it to. This was downtown/near waterfront location ! read more

The BEST bike share I ever used. The bikes are a bit of a tank but they roll fine. I like the lock is always with you and the app tracks your ride and the basket is actually usefull unlike every other bike share I have used. You can actually see your smartphone in the bottom of the basket and I THINK its pretty secure, it may get banged around a bit but I din't care. Like the LED generator lights. Like the Amsterdam style loop step thru frames and orange color bikes. LOVE PDX but HATE to be there bikeless Biketown is the awnser. read more

Biketown's Day Pass system gives the impression that renting two bikes for my family to bike around for the day would cost me $24, but it ended up costing me $79.80. The "Day Pass" has a limit of 180 minutes of ride time, and a $20 fee for "ending your trip" outside of the ride zone. We called beforehand to see if there was a way to park our bikes outside the ride zone without "ending" our trip. We were told that we were able to "hold" the bikes, using the keypad in the back, for up to two hours, and then we could unlock them and then lock them again to extend the hold time, in order not be charged the fee. Admittedly, we forgot to do this the first time, which is two $20 fees. But we did it each time after. However, on the back of the bikes the computer told us the hold time was 30 minutes, with the option to extend to 90 minutes. So we extended it to 90 minutes, but later it reset to 30 minutes and we were charged the fees again. Because I bought one day pass and checked out two bikes, I was being charged a day rate for the first, and a per ride rate for the second, which led to slightly higher charges on the second. This wasn't clear to me, but makes sense after the fact. But the ride limit "per ride" is only 30 minutes, so I believe I was charged a fee for that bike when we rode longer than 30 minutes. It is not entirely clear, though, because the bill is really confusing. It also looks as though we were also charged continuous ride minutes during the time we were actually locked up for dinner. This charge of $79.80 is the final charge AFTER I wrote a complaint to Biketown and they refunded THREE $20 charges. It was going to cost me $139.80. And all of this was for a short, easy bike ride from the Clinton St. area to Oaks park, which is a common and popular ride, but Sellwood is entirely out of the Biketown service area. I understand that Biketown is expanding slowly, but as is, it's beyond useless. It is also absolutely not accessible to low income people, despite its efforts, as you need a smart phone or computer access to get started, and because it's so easy to accrue a series of large, unexpected fees. Anyone with $80 to spare can and should just buy a crappy Walmart bike. It will serve you better. read more

Visiting Portland for the weekend and this bike is a super convenient way to beat-bop around! A few issues- the kiosk machine ate my credit card, and after finally getting it out (with the help of a Stanford-educated lawyer!), the kiosk stopped working. I was highly disappointed and thought my whole day of adventure was kiboshed! Fortunately, I could download the app and away we went. The other negative that I would have to report is riding a cruiser style bike around the hills of Portland. I am an experienced cyclist and would love a ride that I can lean into! Other than this, a great & convenient way to see the city! read more

Biketown, $166 for renting 3 bikes last night is a bit much don't you think? #biketown I'm not sure what this service is designed for. 2 mile radius biking zone, "day pass" that allows for 3 hours of riding, a $2 charge for every time you lock up the bike, a $20 charge for locking up the bike outside of the riding radius. Rider beware. read more

Terrible experience! At first, it seemed like a cool idea to rent the bikes. However, the charges and customer service is horrible. I got charged 3 times. Got charged $34.80 for a day pass($20 for not knowing to put bike on hold). It was my first time. I didn't know how it worked. 2nd day, i had the bike for 30 mins and got charged a full day pass and thats not what i selected!!! And to top it off, they charged me 2 days later and I didn't rent a bike. Trying to get this resolved has been a nightmare. I sent email Tuesday and still dealing with this today!!! Rip off or scam! Never renting bike again. read more

Beware, do not pick up or leave these bikes outside of a hub or they will charge you exorbitant fees! My husband picked up one on 17th and Alberta, rode it for 24 minutes, locked it up for 15 minutes. It was still there, so he rode it for another 12 minutes back to where he picked it up. After less than an hour of riding this heavy and uncomfortable bike, he was charged a grand total of $52: $12 for this initial day rental that he did not use because he did not like the bike and $20 each for leaving the bike twice "outside the service area" even though that was where he found it. This was not a billing error. Customer service would not refund the additional charges. This company should be run out of business! read more

We signed up for an account but ended up not using the service. We contacted customer service and they accommodated us very promptedly and to our satisfaction. read more

Nothing works. It's terrible. Got a full refund and closed 2 accounts after trying to rent bikes for an hour. Keypads suck, bikes suck, app sucks, it all fucking sucks. read more

Unfortunately, didn't even have a chance to go anywhere on Biketown bikes. Four of us Spent a half an hour uploading app, signing up, confirming email, registering with Social Bike? Finally put in code and it "could not submit". Tried several more times and walked away. One of our cc was charged $60!? We have rented from bike system in San Diego numerous times and it takes 3 minutes with a debit and email only. Geez PDX! Get it together. Ruined our day with family. read more

Like it seems others have mentioned, I'm just here to reiterate that 80% of the time your bike is going to have a faulty locking mechanism and non responsive keypad. As a result you'll still be charged for having a bike that's locked up, and when you go to report this you'll be speaking to a vapid support agent that will react condescendingly and not only suggest your inability to lock the bike but suggest you attend a workshop on how to insert a round peg into a round hole. They'll even suspend your account after this happens a certain amount of times, and like I said, it happens more often than it doesn't. read more

I signed up to use the bike and put $10 (+ the $5 membership fee) on the account. What a mistake. I should have read the reviews first. I had great difficulty getting the bikes to take my account code and the password. I had to try on 5 or 6 bikes till I was able to unlock one. This happened each time I tried to unlock a bike. The bikes are unwieldy, heavy and difficult to ride (and I ride bikes all the time). The seats kept sliding down and the gears were difficult to change - which proved a real challange when going up and down hills around the bridges. As much as I enjoy physical activity and exploring when I am in a new town, my recommendation is to either rent proper bikes for the duration of your visit, or utilize public transportation. Such a dissapointment - much better bike systems other cities such as Chicago, New Orleans, Boston & Detroit. read more

We as a family of 5 decided to go biking in Portland. Just opposite of the appartment building at Yamhill and Park ave there was a Biketown station. We decided to try that, registered online and went down to get the bikes. It took us nearly half an hour to get 5 bikes out, because the keypads were not functioning at all. There were about 15 bikes available and we tried them all several times and one by one got the bikes out. After a 2 hor ride we delivered the bikes back at the same station, locked them all and double checked and discovered that 4 of the bikes showed duration and costs on the display and one bike had a dead display. At around 6.30pm I received an email saying I didn't deliver my bike back yet. I called the indicated helpline and spent an expensive phonecall (using a Dutch cellphone) to try to explain to a kind lady where the bike was and what had happened. Finally she decided that a technician was going to check whether the bike was at the station and would reset the bikes computer. I am now waiting for that confirmation. If the bike is not there it will cost me $ 1500! But what can you do when the display stops functioning and you can't check whether it has been correctly delivered? DON'T USE THIS SERVICE GO TO A COMMERCIAL RENTAL SHOP, SAVES TIME AND POTENTIALLY MONEY! read more

This service is absolutely terrible. The information is all messed up and they snuck in random charges like having to pay $20 for locking your bike out of bounds! The 24 hour pass which has an absolute wrong name is actually only 3 hours. When you lock your bike you think that you are paused but the time still keeps ticking. That is so unfair. I am very mad about how much they have charged me. I would have put zero stars but the lowest amount of stars you can put is one. Never ever use this service it is a huge rip off. I will never use this company again and will not recommend this to anybody I know. read more

Had a very hard time finding a bike that worked. Nearly impossible to see the screen where you have to type in account number and PIN. And the buttons didn't work and a lot of the bikes were dead, so you couldn't unlock.. We tried about eight at one station and couldn't get any working. We gave up that time and rented a Lime Scooter. At another Biketown station we finally got one to work after trying three or four.. We really tried. I doubt I'll do it again. It took way too long toeo try and try again. In Seattle I ride a different bike with a phone app that unlock the bikes. Super easy. read more

Spent a half an hour downloading their app and trying to figure out their system. It became too much of a hassle we ended up not riding. But not until they had asked me to type in the number of minutes (to which I typed 60) and then they ended up charging me $60 instead. So disappointing. read more

So we have been standing in the heat for 30 minutes trying to rent bikes for the 4 of us. My son rented a bike with this company in Santa Monica last year. To rent one in Portland they would not let him use his email address because it is tied up in the Santa Monica system. He lives in Portland. They told him he would have to create a new email address. Who does that!!!! I am so annoyed. We are now trying to download other people's emails. What a pain. read more

I live in a studio apartment, so owning a bike isn't realistic. I love having daily access to a bike. It's wonderful to bike around town, over the Tilikum bridge, and along the river. I have a membership, and I love that I can give my code to my friends when they visit from out of town. This allows me to pay for their bike... making it really convenient for my guests. I love that! The bikes I've used have generally been well maintained. On two occasions, the gears wouldn't change. The bikes are equipped with a basket, bell, and solar light. I've also had excellent experience with the Nikebike Customer service. Danielle is the best!!! read more

Expensive!!!!!! If you want to use the bike for an actual day (more than the 180 minutes included in a "biketown day") you may as well rent a car. At 5 or 6 hours even if you lock it to a designated biketown lock it's still super pricey. read more

This is an another awesomeness of Portland!!!! Since it launched everywhere in portland, I just couldn't resist it. Be a member of annual pass!!! When registering Annual membership, it shows you $144 to register. BUT! It doesn't take $144 at once. Only $12 dollars per month will be charged. I used this service with Single-ride first which i need to pre-pay some certain amount of money like $10, $20.. I charged $10 and rode on it. All bikes are new and has 7 gears with basket on the front. After i rode about 5 miles, it charged me $7.50 and i felt refreshed. So i just registered annual membership. To change your plan(single ride to annual membership), you just need to unsubscribe (your money won't be disappeared) and login again. Then you can choose annual plan!!! GREAT!!! I'm so enjoying a lot!! Thanks read more

Terrible. I have an annual membership and will NOT be renewing. 3 times now my account has been frozen in "error" for over 30 days, during that time I was still charged for my account for those months, yet was unable to use the service I was paying for. All I've gotten is an apology each time. No credit to my account, etc.. bikes often dont lock all the way and don't alert you so it appears your ride has ended correctly, but you continue to get charged for many hours after. Homeless people know this and check the bikes and use them if they find one that opens. One homeless person found one of mine like that and racked up a bill of over 70$. Biketown did nothing to help and didn't reimburse my charges. My friend had to go find the guy by tracking the location on my app and had to get the bike himself and was even physically assaulted by the guy that was using it in order to lock the bike to end the charges. I am constantly having issues and have paid literally 100s of dollars in charges due to bad bikes and got nothing in return. read more

Biketown was an easy app to download and use, I wish the bike and rental agreement had been just as easy. First, I learned that a day's rental is only 180 minutes, which just proves the days are getting shorter as winter is coming. "Holding" the bike is pointless, which you can only do for up to 90 minutes, and the 180 minutes keep ticking down. That was a bonus though, as it made my time closer to ending the ride on a tank of a bike that doesn't maneuver well, and dear god don't try to shift. The poor quality of the bike might lend to the fact they don't want you to go far. 33rd and Alberta? Not on those bikes unless you want to be charged $20 for "out of service area" which I was... at 33rd & Alberta?! Oh, that just made all the $2 "hold fees" seem acceptable. I mean who needs to run a 30 minute errand for free? So heads up a daily 180 minute rental can end up costing you not $12 but $39 after returning it after a few hours. Yes, I should have read the rental agreement, then I would have just gone to one of the many local bike rental shops that still believe in quality bikes, you can ride any where, and still think a day is a full 24 hours and cost less. read more

Our second experience changed my review from a 1 to a 4. Here's why: Today we called bike town and they were able to help us convert our single trip subscription to a day use pass and that worked better. (They didn't offer to correct the problems we had yesterday, however) It was impossible to do that change online-that's why we had to call. But today's experience was good. What follows is the description of yesterday's issues. I think things could be improved by making the pricing less complex. Very disappointing experience. We have our own bikes, but wanted one for my visiting sister, her first time in Portland. We found all the ins and outs of the "contract" to be very confusing. Leave it one place, a charge'; leave it another? a bigger charge; If you lock it even at a hub, you're charged more. The bike my sister rode had a seat that would NOT stay at her adjusted height, so she traded that bike for a second one at a nearby hub--we were charged for another ride. Day pass? yes, but it's only good for 3 hours of ride time. The charges read like an insurance policy or an Apple license agreement. That's ridiculous. The charges add up. We went for an hour and a half outing with 2 stops and we ended up with $13,50 in charges. Seems a bit steep. Turns out we HAD to lock it to a public rack twice cuz the orange racks were full in Slabtown. So we got charged for locking it there. And again, it's just too confusing and charges just add up. By the way, the lights did NOT work on the bikes (2) she used. Tomorrow we will try a day pass, but I'm afraid we'll end up with an exorbitant charge. We won't do this again, tho. I'm glad she had a bike, but there are enuf bike rental places that we'd probably go to one of them. The best thing about the bikes is the locking--very easy and convenient. read more

Our first day in town we decided to give the Biketown bike share a try because it seemed like it could be cool and useful. Our ignorance was rewarded with two clunky tank-like bikes on which we looked like total tourists which cost an unreasonable amount of money. We were both charged $20 for taking our bikes outside the "Service Area" and locking them up for 10 minuted which also ate into our 180 minutes of ride time. So for the rest of our ride we had to stay inside the service area which was not convenient for us. Our biketown use ended up costing us way more than it would have been to just rent bikes from a local shop (which we did the next day and it was awesome! No restrictions, no hidden fees, helmets too!) and the bikes are a real pain to ride. Biketown is probably fine for locals who want to commute to work and back, but if you want to explore Portland, you will find yourself quite limited. read more