Is Swoosh Bikes coming to Portland?

It looks more likely now than it did 20 minutes ago. The Portland Bureau of Transportation put out a cryptic news release this evening, announcing a "major bike share partnership" with Nike that'll be formally unveiled tomorrow at 9 am. PBOT spokesman John Brady very adamantly refused to say anything about what the agreement is, and it's always possible there's something else in the works, but the tenor of this "significant new partnership" could be a sponsorship agreement the city's hoped for for years.

If so, it comes at an opportune time. Last fall, PBOT announced it's finally rolling out a bike share system this year after years of difficulty finding the money to do so—and selected New York City-based Social Bicycles as a supplier (much more on what the system will look like here). The deal the city's struck creates some fairly large risks for system operator Motivate (formerly Alta Bicycle Share) if the company can't find corporate money to help run the system. Most keenly, the city's hoping for a $4 million, 5-year title sponsorship.

If it's that PBOT plans to announce tomorrow, then the bikes that roll out on Portland streets in coming months probably wont look much like the prototype officials showed off last year (pictured above). They'll be ...swooshier.