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Gateway Bicycles in Portland, Oregon is owned by Mike Healy, who is himself a triathlete (always a good sign). He raced his first Kona in 1985 and has completed the most recent two IM Floridas. His shop is certainly the only one which specializes in tandems and triathlon. He sells over 100 tandems a year and many more tri bikes than that. Gateway is a very large Cervelo and QR dealer, and also sells Colnago, Aegis and Litespeed. Bianchi and C'dale are its mainstays at the lower end. (Contact information for the above dealer).

Pros: They practice what they preach. Also, solid finances help. Healy owns the building he's in, and next door to Gateway (in the same building) is Tri Sport, which is a running store, and a soft goods seller. Tri Sport is where the wetsuits are sold, and a lot of them are sold there: QR and Orca for example. Healy has some form of financial relationship with Tri Sport and the more we hear of what goes on in this building (Orca's U.S. warehouse is also run out of here) the more we think this is turning into the sort of tri-specific juggernaut one thinks of when one hears names like Mission Bay and Inside Out Sports.

Cons: The insularity of Portland might occasionally keep the newest and hottest in ideas and products from this shop.

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