Every Day Adventurers

The 2010 FreeLoaders are a great product, and what’s greater, is that they were designed to work on more than just the Xtracycle FreeRadical, Surly Big Dummy, and Xtracycle Radish.

Their ability to clip to your frame allows them to work with any number of long bikes on the market, including the Kona Ute, the Yuba Mundo, and the new long(ish) bike by Gary Fisher.

Prompted by a few customer emails, I tried to install the FreeLoaders on a Ute this morning, and though I was not sure it would work, it appears as though there is some possibility for inter-compatibility. Some pictures provided below.

If you would like to receive a free set of 2010 FreeLoaders (blue or brown only) to test on your Ute, Mundo, or other LongTail, and document your findings thoroughly in words and writing, such that we can share your discoveries with others here on our blog and elsewhere, please send a 250 word (or less) email to us describing why you think you should be a designated tester. You should own the bike that your testing, and not be affiliated with a bicycle company to participate.

And no - the super-blue pictured above not available for sale.

Seems like every month we get a picture of another happy couple riding off into matrimonial bliss on the Xtracycle, which leads me to believe (okay, so I am a little biased) that Xtracycle is the definitive bike of choice for married couples, on that special day.

Why, I then ask myself, is it not tandems, that fill that special niche?

I suspect it is because tandems fail as the ideal vehicle for the following reasons:

1. Tandems force a true hierarchy by design - there’s the person that leads and then, there’s the stoker. The leader gets to steer and see the road. They get a boost from behind, and some extra mass when flying downhill. The stoker is an energy source but not much more - makes me think of the saying: “behind every great man is a great woman.” I don’t think this is a fun way to kick off a marriage - especially as we have come to understand marriage as a democratic union of two people, rather than ‘her’ obeying ‘him.’

2. Tandems are not that romantic - I once heard a man say that “my tandem bike saved my marriage” — as touching as that statement was, it wasn’t romantic. It conjured images in my mind of working through the greatest challenges in one’s relationship on lonely roads with brutal headwinds. Healthy? yes. Romantic? No. Not what you want to evoke on that oh-so romantic of days.

3. Tandems are too ‘equal.’ While we have given up on the hierarchical pretext of marriage - we have not yet given up on the notion that in marriage - each person is in service of the other. As such, shepherding your spouse-to-be on the back of your Xtracycle to/from/around the wedding ceremony does bring that proverbial tear to one’s eye. The lady (or the guy) seated casually, always sidesaddle (no straddling…ahem…yet), all makes for great photo-ops, and a good statement to those conservative wedding guests about your feelings about the global oil oligarchy wreaking havoc on our communities and our environment. What would a wedding be without a little drama - a little family politics?

No, the Bakfiets will never work as a wedding vehicle, though it’s alright for the photographer. Steering your bride or groom away in the front of a Bakfiets is not that far a stretch from to hauling them off in a wheelbarrow with “Just Married” chalked on the side and cans a-trailing. Just doesn’t have that elegant charm of the side-saddled steed.

If you like bike weddings, you’ll love this video posted to TucsonVelo’s blog. Mazel Tov!

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/05/noel-wiggins-bike.php

Seems like every time I pick up the phone these days- I get to talking to someone about electrified Xtracycles. I’ve been a purist in this regard for years- which was fairly easy when my whole world was within about a 1 mi radius, living in Berkeley. After my recent relocation to Tucson AZ, where my bike commute to daughter’s pre-schools is 7 miles, with a pretty swell climb on the way home, I’ve been seriously thinking about how electric assist would mean that my family drives less, rides more. The cost of many assist systems, while high in the bike world, is so vastly less than it would cost to 1) buy an electric car, 2) charge an electric car, 3) repair an electric car, the economics of it start to make some sense. But I can’t help but feel a little goofy increasing the weight of my bike 20 lbs so I can throttle my way aronud town - feels like I should just sell my bike and invest in a motorcycle, or better yet, this. Don’t think they make a child seat for that crotch rocket… Besides, my wife is an ER Nurse, and she’s not letting me on a motorcycle, let alone my daughter.

Over the next few months, I’ll be evaluating at two systems that come well recommended from Xtracycle riders, the Stokemonkey, and E-BikeKit (the founder of from E-BikeKit is going to be on Good Morning America tomorrow, check it out). My hope is to not only resolve whether or not I too could be an electric bike rider, but if in fact I can come to terms with my bike needing to be plugged in at night.

This guy (pictured above) seems pretty smug about his ride - just found this post about his electrified X on TreeHugger. This MadMax beast is the creation of some electric vehicle entrepreneurs out of Texas. They used to make electric assist kits for military use, now they’re selling vehicles to peaceful backpack hauling folk like you and me. Now go fig’re.

I’m very curious about your thoughts on e-assist bikes - are they the wave of the future? Or merely a bastardization of the simplicity of the bike?

Notorious Xtracycle aficianado, father of the Stokemonkey, patron of CleverCycles - Todd Fahrner offers some advice on Townies, Xtracycles, Suspension Forks, etc. Thanks Todd, and CleverCycles.

A discussion over info@xtracycle.com email this morning. Thanks Brian.

Brian:
As a Radish-owner (and pea pod pilot) I wanted to send along this article from The Seattle Times that has nothing to do with either. The article’s photo, however, includes a shot of a passing Xtracycle. I love to see these things getting numerous enough to show up in random shots of bike paths…
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011474918_montlake30m.html
Have a good one.

Xtracycle:
Thanks for the photo - funny how the article is all about cost/complexity of light rail, with the simple elegance of the bikes on the bike path in the foreground. Guess it’s all part of the solution, but sometimes, it seems, we humans like to make things more complex than they need to be.

Brian:
I completely agree about the complexity. Light rail is definitely part of the solution up here, creating non-car transportation options for people. But it is a fabulously expensive and inflexible (i.e., only goes to points A, B, and C) option. The bicycle can frequently cut through that complexity like a hot knife through butter.
Brian

Xtracycle:
Yeah - they really have to work together. Go Portland MAX! Wow, what a great system.