Almost 2 years ago, we profiled Jay Marlette, who had decided to make his home inspection business greener by adding an Xtracycle to the mix. As you can see from our photos and video, this wasn’t a small commitment. The ladder is longer than the Xtracycle!
When people make a shift like this, it’s natural to wonder how things worked out. So guess who I ran into the other day just as he was wrapping up a home inspection:
Two years later and he’s still going strong! A lot of people can say they’ve gone green, but when you see Jay riding around town hauling that ladder, you know he’s walking the talk.
Some things need to be seen to be believed, so if you want to check out Jay’s geared-up Xtracycle and ask him about his experiences in going green via bike, both Jay and his ride will be at the Berkeley Earth Day celebration this Saturday, April 23rd (12-5pm, Civic Center Park). As part of the Earth Day celebration, Jay will be fielding general home questions and can also offer advice on ways to make your home more energy efficient.
The Earth Day celebration will have free valet bike parking (which we love to hear). For complete event details, click here.
Jennifer Dederich, co-owner of Portland Pedal Power, talks about using the Xtracycle Heavy Duty (HD) FreeRadical for her bicycle powered delivery service and business promotion.
The HD can handle 350 lbs of cargo, mounts to most 26″ mountain bicycle frames, accepts rim or disc brakes and can fit a 29er rear wheel.
We’re looking forward to more tests from PPP and our other Heavy Duty FreeRadical cargo bike testers, the Stomparillaz!
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Video and Editing done by Jon Garcia of Lake Productions with camera work by Lauren Pollock.
Check out some prototype photos on XtracycleGallery.com
Read the Riding the Spine review of their HD FreeRad.
The Xtracycle platform’s coolest feature, IMHO, is its modularity and ability to customize the platform for specific tasks. Numerous Xtracycle riders have utilized the plug-n-play features of their X’s for years. Wes Trout, an Xtra owner for 3 years, has taken customizing his Xtracycle to an impressive level.
We’ve occasionally interacted via the RootsRadicals Yahoo! Xtracycle user group, but recent record snowfalls and his newest invention, the Snow Plow, caught my eye and I had to get more details on his projects. Read the full interview below about how Wes started his own business, Shifting Gears, catering to the needs of businesses seeking sustainable solutions for their needs, and his perspective on cargo cycling culture.
Wes Trout with his cargo bike snow plow
Read the rest of this entry »
Ian Ritchie, a chef in Louisville, KY, delivers homemade “soup by cycle” after his own experience losing his job. Now he delivers his culinary delights on his Surly Big Dummy Xtracycle cargo bicycle.
Ritchie says he started his one-man business after being laid off. “I had trouble finding a job, you know, with today’s economy not too many people are hiring,” he says.
So after doing a little research, he began his operations at the end of winter. He says, “I just decided to cook some soup one night and go around and deliver it to make a little money.”
He started by delivering to a few friends, then word got around. So he’s been delivering a few more bowls of soup each week.
His business is not yet profitable, but he hopes to make it so as cooler weather approaches and there is more demand for his product.
The name of the business is SoupByCycle. Customers can order on line at http://www.soupbycycle.com. Mondays he spends shopping for the ingredients, Tuesday he spends the day cooking, and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are delivery days — about 25 miles of cycling in the hot summer weather each day.
“Everyone I run into seems to like soup, and I love making soup,” he says.
Soup delivered by bicycle – FOX41.com Louisville News Kentucky Indiana News Weather Sports.
On the third stop of the Xtracycle Holishift Tour, founder Ross Evans shared his inspirations and experiences with Maker Faire attendees.
Permaculture.TV has a great post up with video of his talk and some Worldbike.org videos as well.
Don’t miss out on the tour. Carmel is tonight, followed by some more stops in SoCal before heading west to Arizona and New Mexico!
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