May 21, 2008
The shakedown voyage of the Radish
Radish on the way to Taichung, by way of Taichung port, originally uploaded by xtracycleinc.
So we’ve got this great new bike prototype, but it’s too big to fit in our host’s car. We need to get it from the place it was born (Dajia 大甲）to downtown Taichung (台中). So whaddayado with a bike, Moe? Ya ride it!
Even in what seems like insane scare-the-pants-off-the-gringos survival driving. The traffic was really not as frightening as it would seem from the passenger seat of a car. Everyone, including the ubiquitous and omnipresent scooters, nest together in one flowing mass that seems intimately aware of what’s going on around them. More alert, certainly, than most American motorists.It was also interesting to navigate by mandarin and do at least a basic decoding of the ideograms representing port and road. i was following two major numbered roads, so it would actually take a pretty ignorant person to get lost. Which.. I did. But I found a great bike path along the way. The smooth ride almost made up for the inexplicable mass hatchings of gnats i ran into along the trail.
Some great graffiti on a random construction site wall.
Bare bones.  Steel deck.  Big long stem. 
Next time you’re in Taichung or traveling from Dajia to Taichung, go over the hump (Tadu Mountain) via Taichung Harbor Road (Chung Kang Lu), turn North on Guo-Ji-Jie and give me a call (04-2632-5484) when you get to the 7-11 at the junction of Art Street (I-Su-Jie) and Guo-Ji-Jie. I and my stokemonkeyed X live right around the corner (<1 minute by bike).
Exactly what IS the Radish?
So, others have asked in Flikr, but I’ll ask here too, how bout some closups and details on those freeloaders :)
“BAW Says:
Exactly what IS the Radish?”
The Radish is the bike shaped thing attached to the Xtracycle FreeRadical
taiwan has amazing cycling! try yu shan, or southern cross country hiway. great maountains and tea fields and not much traffic once you get out of the city.
jai yo!
The Radish is the newest all-in-one bike from Xtracycle. It’s a frame and component set built to our specifications, to incorporate all that is good in a round-the-town bike. You can see more at the store.
I’m going to be in Taichung studying this fall.
Everyone tells me it’s too hilly, but I’m dying to get a bike!
Let me know if I can meet up with someone: jasonjam829@sbcglobal.net
Somewhere I have seen … And if on that very much.