Joe Kline / The Bulletin Bret Graham is the owner of Bend Tour Company in Bend. The company offers guided tours of the city using Segways, the Cycle Pub and more.

Central Oregon has no shortage of guided tour options, but Bret Graham, founder of The Bend Tour Co. , found a lack of tours that focus on Bend itself.

For that reason, Graham began The Bend Tour Co. in 2011, a company that he calls a “purple cow.”

“When you look into a herd of cows, they’re all black and white,” Graham said. “You look into the herd of tourisms (in Bend), and everything we do is a purple cow in the middle of the herd.”

Graham and his wife moved to Bend in the late 1990s before deciding they weren’t done traveling. Eight years later, they came back to find a very different town, with a variety of quirks that would interest tourists and locals alike.

“The story is Bend, and we get to tell the story,” Graham said. “And the story is always evolving.”

During his travels, Graham used Segway personal transporters to traverse European city streets that are too narrow for cars. The vehicles, invented in New Hampshire in 2001, never caught on as transportation in America, but Graham realized how well they could work for tours.

Segway tours were all the company offered its first two years, but since 2013 the company has partnered with other tour providers in Bend, including electric bikes from Let it Ride and the mobile bar from Cycle Pub.

Graham said the transportation options, which also include electric cars and vans, help the company tailor its tours to different demographics.

“I’m not a Segway business anymore; I’m a tour business,” Graham said. “Segways were great, but they were a one-trick pony.”

Depending on their mode of transportation, riders can choose between three basic tours: a brewery tour, an art-specific tour and a general city tour. Tours range from $45 to $75 per person, and the Cycle Pub and Cycle Round can be rented for two hours for $350 and $165, respectively.

Graham said he prides himself on pointing out parts of Bend that even locals might not be familiar with.

City tours cover everything from historic downtown buildings to “Greg the Rock Guy,” who makes sculptures out of rocks in the yard of his NW Riverfront Avenue home.

“We can amaze people like the jungle boat ride at Disneyland and shoot the hippo for the tourists, but the locals when they come through, we’ve got to amuse, educate and entertain them.”

Alana Hughson, president and CEO of the Central Oregon Visitors Association, said Graham’s particular brand of cultural tourism helps the association market the region even during traditionally slower periods of the tourism calendar.

“He is a great ambassador for the region,” Hughson said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7818, shamway@bendbulletin.com

Q: Are a lot of your visitors curious about the Segways themselves?

A: The weirdness factor, the purple cow factor, is a very strong one. I’m always amazed at how many people say, “I’ve always wanted to do this.”

Q: Where do you see the business in three to five years?

A: I see us bringing on additional vendors. I see us growing the next purple cow.