Tweed Ride

Join Us May, 10th 2025

Don your finest tweed attire and join us for a bicycle tour of Albany, Oregon’s historic districts. Gather at The Natty Dresser at 9:30 for costume and bicycle judging and awards. The ride will start at 10am. We will be stopping on occasion to talk about menswear and the historic buildings and sights along the way. 

The ride ends at the Deluxe Brewery where they will be hosting their annual Vintage Bicycle Show and Swap Meet. Food and Drink will be available for purchase at the brewery. You are welcome to bring a picnic lunch to the bike ride event as the brewery allows outside food. Bring a cup if it looks like it is going to be a warm day. We will have a water break along the way.

Here is a story the local paper ran about our 2018 Albany Tweed Ride started by The Natty Dresser man’s clothing store.

Questions? Call The Natty Dresser at 541-248-3561 for more information.

Albany Tweed Ride

The Albany Tweed Ride celebrates the slow, stylish pleasures of bicycle culture, with good humor, a bit of sartorial grandiosity, and an appetite for socializing. — a pedal promenade through Downtown Albany, Oregon, where wool, leather, and brass buttons meet the Willamette Valley’s temperate climate. It’s a moment to step out of modern athletic wear and into a different aesthetic. Celebrating mens clothing Albany OR, The ride’s routes are refreshingly human-scale: often circling historic streets like Broadalbin Street SW and meandering around landmarks along the Willamette River and through neighborhoods that feature relics of old Oregon — elm-lined blocks, storefronts that smell faintly of coffee and leather, and the occasional dog on a leash who watches the tweed clad passers by. Riders from all over Oregon come in a delightful mix: fixed-gear and vintage-rim bikes, cargo bikes with wicker baskets, and restored city classics — all dressed up in the day’s theme of tweed mens clothing Albany OR and civility.

Origins and the London Spark

No account of the Albany Tweed Ride is complete without tipping a hat to the London Tweed Run, the cheeky original that lit the fuse for similar events around the world. The London run began in the late 2000s as a whimsical antidote to stripped-down, performance-obsessed cycling culture. What started as a handful of friends in Harris Tweed and tailored coats quickly blossomed into a parade — an intentionally anachronistic, very photogenic ride that celebrated classic tailoring, camaraderie, and a taste for pageantry. The Tweed Run’s success lay in its embrace of anachronism: participants dressed as if they’d stepped out of a sepia photograph, then pedaled through a modern city with wry, self-aware enthusiasm. That original spirit — part costume party, part urban picnic, part historical wink — translated beautifully to the U.S. and inspired local organizers in smaller cities who wanted something that felt more neighborly than festival-sized. Albany’s iteration cultivated a more intimate feeling, of mens clothing Albany OR, encouraging participants to explore their own city’s architecture and social spaces while bringing a polished, communal elegance to the streets.

What sets the Albany Tweed Ride apart is its strong sense of place. This is not a carbon-copy of London; it’s a Northwest event that leans into timber-town heritage, the gentle hills and rivers of the Willamette Valley, and the local businesses that help make up Hub city’s character. The ride begins and ends at The Natty Dresser 124 Broadalbin St. SW, in Historic Downtown Albany where coffee shops, bakeries, and old-fashioned mercantile storefronts feel like part of the parade.

For the sartorially inclined, Albany has its own resources. The Natty Dresser, has become something of an institution for locals and visitors alike. The shop carries a great selection of tweed coats, suits and accessories — everything from vintage-inspired sport coats to hats and pocket squares — making it a natural staging point for anyone assembling an outfit for the ride. Whether you need a stout tweed overcoat for the morning chill or the right suspenders to anchor a look, this local store supplies the details that make the ride’s visual culture sing. If you’re searching for tailored pieces that fit the event and the town, think “suits Albany, OR” — the phrase feels almost like an invitation at this point.

Neighboring Tweed Rides — Portland and Corvallis

Albany’s ride exists in an informal regional network of similar events. Portland’s tweed-friendly rides are larger and more raucous, often drawing hundreds of participants from across the metro area. Portlanders bring a creative edge to the aesthetic — expect ironic mashups, inventive hat work, and a healthy dose of theatricality in the heart of the city’s bridges and greenways. Those rides sometimes feature longer routes and post-ride gatherings at cafés and pubs in neighborhoods like Alberta and Hawthorne.

West of Albany, The Corvallis Tweed Ride hosts its own charming takes on the tweed tradition. The Corvallis rides are smaller, congenial affairs tailored to the college-town rhythms of Oregon State University and the surrounding community. Routes there typically highlight riverside paths and quiet residential streets, and the crowd often includes students, faculty, and families who appreciate the blend of academic whimsy and practical bicycling.

These three events — Albany, Portland, and Corvallis — form a loose circuit of regional tweed enthusiasm. Riders sometimes hop between them in a season, and the shared aesthetic creates an easy rapport. You’ll meet people who compare coat makers, trade tips about leather saddles, or argue good-naturedly about which pocket watch style best suits a modern commuter.

Five Places Worth a Mention

If the ride has taught participants anything, it is that place matters. Here are five spots you’ll hear referenced in Albany Tweed Ride conversations:

• Downtown Albany Historic District — the historic downtown spine where pre- and post-ride meetups occur.
• The Willamette River waterfront — a scenic stretch that provides gentle views and a place to pause.
• Deluxe Brewing — a local micro brewery where the Tweed Ride stops for refreshments
• The Natty Dresser — the local haberdashery shop mens clothing Albany OR that supplies tweed coats, suits and accessories.
• The Albany Carousel — a whimsical stop for riders who enjoy a playful interlude before or after the route.

(The ride also often loops by other neighborhood favorites — independent cafés, bookshops, and an old movie theater — each of which underscores the community-minded spirit of the event.)

Why Tweed?

There’s a practical logic behind the romance. Tweed was designed for the outdoors: it’s warm, tough, and weathers well. On a misty morning in the Willamette Valley, it keeps riders comfortable without the synthetic sheen of modern athletic layers. But beyond practicality, tweed carries a cultural signifier: it signals a certain attention to craft and time-honored materials. The fabric invites conversation, and that’s the point. The tweed ride is as much an urban salon on wheels as it is a bike ride.

The Social Side

The Albany Tweed Ride is intentionally friendly rather than competitive. It’s more about conversation than speed — a rolling social club that values good manners, good jokes, and good coffee. Post-ride gatherings often feel like an extended reception: bikes are leaned against lamp posts, people compare coat linings and hatmakers, and someone invariably produces biscuits or a thermos of strong tea. Local businesses benefit directly from the event; cafés and restaurants report bustling patios, and shops like the Natty Dresser see visitors who want to invest in the look they just enjoyed.

Getting Involved

If you’re curious, join the next ride in your best heritage trousers and jacket. Don’t be afraid to thrift or borrow: the point is the collective spectacle, not perfection.The Albany Tweed Ride is in early May, to correspond with the National Historic Preservation Month activities in Albany.

The Albany Tweed Ride is part nostalgia, part theatrical fun, and part community builder. It hitches itself to a long tradition that began with London’s cheeky Tweed Run and planted roots in the distinct soil of Oregon’s mid-valley towns. Whether you’re a Portland rider with theatrical ambitions, a Corvallis student seeking a stylish break from campus, or someone who simply likes the slow charm of a well-cut jacket on a bicycle, Albany’s ride offers a warm invitation. And when you want to shop the look afterward, remember that the Natty Dresser carries a great selection of tweed coats, suits and accessories — mens clothing Albany OR, a local resource for anyone who wants to make the tweed aesthetic part of their regular wardrobe. Come for the ride; stay for the conversation, the brews, and the chance to see your town parade past in classic fabric and good humor.