Every Day Adventurers

Whew, it’s tough keeping secrets, but making new products kinda demands it. One of our latest creations, Hoodie, has kicked around our brains, design tables and bikes for over a year now.

Last June, I got to borrow our solitary Hoodie to put it through some every day adventure pacing. While I couldn’t fit it on my Big Dummy (this current version is not compatible with Big Dummy, if you’re spending that kinda cash, just get the full blown FreeLoaders (plus they’re new for 2010!)), I was able to rock out the company FreeRadical.

My mission: gardening supplies and sustenance for los gatitos (cats for those not Spanishly inclined). Retrieve and pay for said items, load and lash as needed to my Xtracycle and ride home, event free.

My initial thoughts: lovin’ it. The sleek profile, minimalist style and straightforward features all appealed to me. The install was easy, like a glove. It felt secure, taught and ready to ride. The webbing down the spine seemed a bit over kill. Might be useful to tie things down to, but I can CamStrap more securely off the frame members of my bike or the FreeRadical (Note: the webbing is not on the production version). I’m happy the logo is small and subdued, a nice touch.

I thought I may have some issues with the lack of straps a la FreeLoaders, but the large side pockets held my goods with grace and fortitude. I wasn’t a big fan of how low the upper lip came, so we raised the height of the pocket about an 1″+.

Cinching down the pockets was easy and smooth. They held super tight, giving me confidence that they wouldn’t loosen or slowly open.

Since my pocket space was gobbled up by my soil bags, but still had cat food, litter and a lock left, I was happy I brought a CamStrap with me. Attaching to the handle of the FreeRadical, I looped it through the litter handle and over the food bag. I attached the cam end to the rear horizontal bridge of the FreeRad and cinched everything down nice and snug.

The ride home was uneventful. I shook, shimmied and slalomed down the biggest hills I could find, took the long way home, hopped a curb and nothing budged. Me like.

Conclusion: Hoodie rocks. From it’s clean looks, simple operation, nice lock pocket, reflective webbing and other features, I dig it. I know that may be a biased opinion, but keeping it simple has its merit. Another bonus, it’s $75! That, coupled with a FreeRadical, and you’re looking at $364 to fly your every day skies.

Learn more about what Hoodie features and fits at XC.com.

As we dial in our lives and rides we find things that work. When said things work smoothly, repeatedly we can sometimes become complacent and think, “That couldn’t/won’t/wouldn’t happen to me.”

Then, like a jealous, vengeful wrath, Murphy swings in and says, “Ah-a-ah… Let’s ground that ego for a bit,” and leaves you sweating, cursing and futzing with your previously perfect setup.

Vik experienced just that with his recent mega load on his Surly Big Dummy Xtracycle cargo bicycle in Victoria, BC.

Read his post at: Bow Cycle | Vik’s Picks » Murphy’s Law….

Oaklanders took to the streets yesterday to celebrate car-free adventures. Walk Oakland Bike Oakland organized Oaklavía, an inaugural event aimed at increasing pedestrian and cycling awareness and to show the city that its citizens want to bring back a human scale to their commons and local environment.

I rolled out after frequenting the farmers market (forgot spinach on my first trip, a must have in my household) with a friend. He on my single speed and me on my Big Dummy. We joined up with the route at Broadway and Grand. Being on the early side of things, it was actually eerie to see so few people out enjoying this rare occurrence: a downtown city street with zero vehicular traffic. A few families were sprinkled here and there, random cyclists, rollerbladers and walkers filling in the gaps.

We made our way down Broadway, stopping by the various vendor booths. Trek Bicycles was displaying their Bcycle bike rent station that they’re trying to launch across the country. Much like Paris’ Vélib’, a city run and organized urban bicycle share program, Bcycle aims to provide urban cyclists with rental stations and useful bikes with internal gearing, 20lbs rated front basket, lights and lock. I raised the saddle to see how much seat tube is provided and it seems to fit up to a 6′6″ person comfortably. Interestingly, while the literature doesn’t mention Trek at all, it was fairly obvious to me that this was a Trek venture. The bikes are Trek manufactured and the Bcycle company is located in Waterloo, Trek’s hometown. I know that most urban cities with bike share programs have their own style, supplier, etc. so I wonder if Trek is the only company trying to corner this potential market. Either way, I’m going to push for Oakland’s next mayor to seriously consider bicycle share programs for our city.

After that stop, we continued peddling down the streets, ringing our bells, saying hi to our neighbors and enjoying the beautiful day (80°+!). We encountered some unicyclists dribbling a basketball between each other (watch the video at the end to see), saw a monster bicycle and Xtracyclist do an impromptu track stand face off.

People were hula hooping on a street corner and circus arts were performed at Kinetic Arts Center. We reached the end of the route, slightly saddened that not every street in Oakland was shut down to vehicle traffic. Turning around, we headed to Liege to catch the Round of 16 fútbol match between Argentina and México. Sadly, North America was officially ousted from the Cup, maybe in the next four years.

After the game, we strolled back into the sunlight and were pleasantly surprised to see more people filling the streets, some listening to a live hip-hop performance, others dancing outside a Latin America restaurant learning a traditional song. All in all a wonderful Sunday afternoon. Wish this happened every month, if not every weekend. Ride on!

Ever since Motocross International started distributing Xtracycles in Japan, we’ve noticed some excited new Xtracycle owners and it’s inspiring us to no end.

ロングテールバイクの集い【湘南編】 山本修二のサイクリング情報「お気楽自転車散歩日和」 or for those not fluent in Japanese, Shonan Chapter Meeting, The Long Tail Bikes

Tarik goes on an epic quest to haul wood. Lots of it.