Nate here, writing in the midst of the construction of my bike house – a 10 x 12 structure in my backyard that will, among other things, be home to my many bikes.

When I was 16, I was given a copy of Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher, and it changed my life. Someone had put to words my own inkling sensibility that less is more. And now 33, with two kids, I find that every time I get more stuff, I feel no corresponding increase in happiness. In fact, lately I have been selling off stuff – bikes, tools, furniture, kid stuff. With each good in the hand of a happy customer, I am less and less burdened by my own crap.

From Small is Beautiful

A Buddhist economist would consider this approach excessively irrational: since consumption is merely a means to human well-being, the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with the minimum of consumption…. The less toil there is, the more time and strength is left for artistic creativity. Modern economics, on the other hand, considers consumption to be the sole end and purpose of all economic activity.

I live West Berkeley, in a fairly dense urban area – not New York or SF by any stretch, but not the suburbs either. I have learned over the years that having bikes but no safe, dry place to store them is a recipe for riding less.

If it is true that what you appreciate, appreciates, the investment in my bike house will pay dividends in more riding, less servicing, more sense of security around my bikes.

As I researched small structures – I was drawn to the Modern Shed aesthetic – a simple box shape – with a sloped roof (no peak) – a structure referred to in architecture as the ‘lean-to.’ Peaked roof structures all looked a little too charming to me (a la ubiquitous Tuff Shed), and they seemed a lot less space efficient. You can pay a ton for a true ‘Modern-Shed’ with it’s concrete-board siding and aluminum windows. I searched around and found a small local building outfit that would do it for a lot less, working with more easily sourced and mass produced materials. I am a sucker for a good deal, no matter how much my eye is drawn to the high-end.

Above is a Modern-esque (post-modern?) shed that costs 1/10 what a true “modern shed” sells for, using simple and readily available materials.

In Berkeley, you can put up an un-permited structure (that is not plumbed or wired for electricity) up to 120 sq ft in footprint – if the structure is set off from the property line 4′ or more, you can have the structure go 12′ high. I opted for 10′ high, and the thing is still incredibly tall – a bit dominating, but so much capacity – more than double my 9′ x 7′ tin shed shown in the picture.

Of course, looking at such a large structure, my mind wanders to all kinds of man-cave territories: workshop, studio, office, band practice space… And then, my obsession with squeezing out economic value takes me far afield of the coveted man space to the distant realms of guest house, in-law unit, au-pair cottage, etc.

But no! My bikes groan as they fear being displaced again to the dewy purgatory of our backyard. There will always be a place for you here bikes. Au-pairs, you are forewarned.

Listen – I’m pretty excited, and I appreciate you reading this self-indulgent post – the cost per square foot of this structure with a window, door, and skylight, is about 1/10th that of my overpriced 100 year old house.

My own “little” modern shed (i.e. bike house) under construction.

Below are some great links to amazing small structures. As riding our Xtracycles enable us to enjoy the incredibly benefits a smaller transportation footprint, it’s only natural that we begin to look at other ways to scale back, scale down, enjoy life more, spend less time cleaning house, buying furniture, throwing stuff away, heating unused space, cooling unused space, lighting unused space, etc.

Micro Tree House

Shipping Container Studio

Tiny French House

This little structure in my backyard is quickly becoming an potential experiment in smaller living – could I make it both a bike shed and a living space? Off the grid? Composting toilet? I’m positive that the city of Berkeley would want to get in on the mix, exacting some exorbitant permit fee – but perhaps that’s the price of making sure that the firefighters come when called. I’m not sure – permits are so abhorrent to the average Do It Yourselfer, and yet, I do appreciate that my neighbor can’t do something with their house that jeopardizes the safety of my kids. Alas, I digress, no permit is needed to house bikes and tools, which will be the fate of this structure at least for the short term.

Maybe when my kids are grown, I’ll convert it to a micro-cottage, rent out my house, and spend more time reading, and less time chasing the American Dream.

Hope you enjoyed the links above, they really get the imagination going…

Historically, a lot of our stickers pushed the limits of ‘family friendly’ language. Scanning our sticker sheet included with every FreeRadical and Radish, you will find words like Sissy, Wuss, Booty, Ass, etc.

Skip down to take the poll.

Xtracycle's Old School Sticker Sheet

Many of you like the spirit of these stickers, like Rick Logue, as he describes on his My Two Mile Challenge Blog.

Some of you may find these stickers inappropriate, or just plain immature, but haven’t had a safe environment to say that.

We’re downright curious – do stickers with borderline offensive words help spread the message of bikes as a solution? Or does the message get lost in the medium?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Xtracycle has you covered. Why? Because we put the Sport in Sport Utility Bicycle.

Exhibit A: Kill Two Birds With One Bike

Check out this great video from an outfit called More Badasser – highlighting the the solution to the ‘grass is always greener dilemma’ mentioned above. Xtracycle allows you to enjoy the race and the beer, at the same time. Go ahead, pop one open and enjoy the ride.

Exhibit B: Seriously Now, People Do This.

This just found on our popular users forum. For serious enthusiasts only.

observations from racing a mtb longtail conversion
Posted by: “A” andyboote@yahoo.com.au
Mon Dec 19, 2011 7:08 pm (PST)

Not sure how many of you are interested but the other night decided to
race the ‘ute’ at one of our shortcourse twilight mtb meets.
It was one sprint lap of a very technical, rocky and sometimes steep 7
km course. It mainly singletrack with a few switchback sections. The
bike is an alloy mtb frame, salsa chromoly fork and xtracycle unit. I
swapped the big apples for a 2.1 maxxis ignitor on the rear and a 2.35
specialized all mountain knobby on the front. I rode to the race for a
good solid warmup also took the freeloaders and racks out to lighten it
up (a touch).
Anyway hear a few of my observations / tips

* run air pressures pretty low to increase grip
* run big bag tyres for better compliance and a little suspension
* get up the front of the pack because its a sluggish start
* on rocky sections the longer chain can start oscillating and throw
the chain off the ring
* (also high cadence pedalling on the trail and sudden coast can do
the same thing)
* be tactical with gear selections, as there is a slightly longer
delay in shifting and you might be battling extreme chain flap
* the beast seems to climb ok but grip is diminished because of less
weight over rear wheel
* caution rolling over rocky mounds as longer wheel base can lower
bottom bracket height / bash rings
* longer wheel base seems to handle roll off ledge sections a bit
better – like normally i have to hang over the back wheel (altho note
above caution about pedal and chainring clearance)
* corner entry / apex needs adjustment, wide entry on switch back and
hover on seat / hold higher gear to keep grip on uphill versions
* deore level v brakes are ok but need applying a bit sooner
* the long tail will do spectacular sliding skids into flat open
corners
* caution of chain slap when running knobbies – the chain (especially
when running high on the cluster / chainline closer to the rear wheel)
can catch on the tyre and inadvertantly get lifted / thrown
* try and be smoother in general (as a result of above factors seems
to be more put pressure/ leverage on the chain)

Anyway i made it 4/5 off the way round before snapping the chain and
running the bike to the finish.
regardless of the result it got lots of attention and questions from all
the other spectators and competitors, so I guess its a win for the
awareness of the versatility of the longtail. All in all a very
interesting experience.
(PS Will let you know how it compares when i finish building full xt /
disc equipped surly BD ?!?!)
Andy

Exhibit C: LongBikes Soar Further

Certainly one of the top 10 Xtracycle photos of all time. Hardcore Xtracycle rider/racer/evangelist, Max Cooper stuns the field with a flying LongTail leap past the short bike competition. Do that on your Bakfiets folks!

What are running boards?

Wikipedia describes running boards this way:

Typical of vintage cars which had much higher ground clearances than today’s cars, [they are] also used as a fashion statement on vehicles that would not require it.

Ahem, I think this photo says it all. Form meets function, meets absurd, yet somehow charming.

On your Xtracycle, RunningBoards serve a primarily practical purpose, providing stable foot support for 2 passengers riding on the back. As you can imagine, the demand for this product has historically come from parents needing a place for kids to rest their feet.

But Xtracycle RunningBoards are more than just passenger friendly – think of them as mini-WideLoaders that you can ride with at all times. They work great for cargo, providing a 6″ shelf to rest bulky objects atop. And because they are about half the width of conventional WideLoaders, they will easily pass through doors and gates.

Here is an example of why RunningBoards exist.

What’s so special about Xtracycle RunningBoards?

Well, first, they are here and ready to purchase. We’ve spent about 6 months testing and refining these. Some of the design constraints we were working with included 100% KickBack compatibility, FreeRadical, Radish and BigDummy friendly, high-style, ease of installation, and US made.

Cemil, who has worked with Xtracycle on other projects before, including the refurbishing of our Airstream trailer, is an expert woodworker and fanatical Xtracycler. As you will see – every aspect of these RunningBoards is well thought out, and expertly executed. Down to the anodized inserts that prevent the stainless hardware from gouging the wood, the risers sourced from skateboard manufacturing to allow clearance for the KickBack, and the elegant Xtracycle logo silk-screened on top.

Xtracycle RunningBoards are made entirely of US sourced parts and materials – assembly is done in California. Anodized aluminum tubes are sourced in CA, anodized outside of Petaluma, and finished in Cemil’s shop. An expert cabinet maker, Cemil has the RunningBoard decks cut on a CNC, then routed by hand, sanded, silk-screened and triple coated with UV resistant finish.

How Do I install Xtracycle RunningBoards?

Cemil helped us put together this brief video tutorial on how to install your Xtracycle RunningBoards. We’ll have more photos of RunningBoards in use, but for now, you’ll have to settle for this how-to video.

(R)evolutions Per Minute is a documentary about the growing cargo bike movement, or what we at Xtracycle refer to as the ‘cargo bike boom.’

Check out this exciting trailer for the video and learn how you can become a co-director by shooting and supplying footage for the film from around the country and the world.

Like much of what we do at Xtracycle, this film intends to be a DIT project. DIT stand for Do-It-Together.

More info about this project can be found at Liz’s website:

http://www.lizcanning.com/Liz_Canning_Creative/Cargo_Bike_Documentary.html

If you want to take a stab at your own re-imagination, here’s a version ready for your photoshop cleverness:

And one from Russ Roca, world traveler and amazing photographer. 

Some great written follow on: http://goo.gl/OHNoK.

No doubt, this ad represents a low blow to bikes and bikers everywhere, praying on broadly held fears that biking is uncool, unprofessional and unable to meet my needs (i.e. carry stuff).

Looking at this ad invokes a middle-schoolian anguish generally reserved for the sale of diet products and hair-replacement tonics.  Pictured are two apparent professionals overloaded with small objects – handbags, lunch, etc.  The woman gabs on, seemingly unaware of her own un-coolness.  The look on her colleague’s face no doubt reads “I would look so much cooler in a car.”

My immediate reaction to this ad was equally middle-schoolian.  Let’s shame the suckers, I thought. Maybe start a petition, create counter-ads and spin them through the Facebook web, but then, to what end?  And why?  As Zipcar is cynical about bikes, am I not equally cynical about cars?  Let’s skip the proverbial middle school slap-fest, dig deeper and ask ourselves, why is Zipcar bagging on the bike?

1.  Bikes for transportation are making a comeback.

This fact poses a threat to the Zipcar business model. The graph below shows recent bike commuting growth stats in some of Zipcar’s biggest cities.

Bike riders like us see the evidence supporting this graph every day.  More smart people are taking to the roads, and finding the equipment necessary to make traveling by bike easier, more stylish and more efficient.

On a morning ride with my kids to the park last Sunday, I met two new Xtracycle riders en route, saw one dad riding his son in a front loading Hank vs. Frank Bullitt, saw countless kids in trailers, and gobs of good old fashioned bikes with baskets or racks. What I didn’t see was very many racing or fitness cyclists.

Ask any bike shop what’s changed in their business in the last 10 years, and it’s this:  they are selling more city bikes, more hybrid bikes, more cargo bikes, more Xtracycles, and more racks, bags, panniers and baskets.

Recent statistics from Bicycle Retailers annual report corroborate this:

• hybrid bikes grew 13% nationwide in 2010, second only to road bikes
• “recreational riders slowed down their bike purchases” in 2010
• “26-inch mountain bike shipments to dealers dropped 8 percent” in 2010
• “2010 was one of the biggest years for kids bike imports”

In a nutshell, the US bike market is emerging from a nearly decade long slump, and much of what’s driving that growth is useful bikes that work well for transportation.

2.  Zipcar is expensive.

For the riders pictured in this ad to simply get a Zipcar account, before ever driving a single mile, they will need to spend $85 (a $60 Annual fee paid up-front, and a $25 registration fee).  For the same cost, they could both get a front basket from Wald which would accommodate their fairly meager loads with no additional per mile cost, daily cost, etc.  At Zipcar prices, these folks could pay themselves $77 a day NOT to use Zipcar to get around.

Which is to say, after only 4 full days of rentals with Zipcar, these riders would rack up a bill that would allow them to buy and have installed an Xtracycle FreeRadical Eco kit, which would easily swallow their loads, carry the occasional passenger, and cost virtually nothing to maintain, repair, or park.   You can get a FreeRadical Eco for only $299, and a Radish Eco for only $999.  Both require assembly in a shop ($50-$150).

3.  Zipcar stock value is plummeting

Zipcar’s stock value over the last 10 years looks like the one of the best places to find your self on a bike, going downhill.

In the world of business, this graph points to a rough future for Zipcar.  Zipcar and the car-share business model may in fact be another “bubble” showing signs of strain.

Zipcar’s valuation relative to their assets places the value of each of their rental cars at about $150,000, as pointed out by Robert Platt Bell in his “Living Stingy” blog.  Bell says:

The company has been losing money its entire life and really started losing a lot last year [2010].  And the growth model is very limited, as I, and other analysts have pointed out.

Why is the growth model limited, as suggested by Bell?  Growth can be limited for many reasons not the least of which is viable competition.  Zipcar has competitors in the rental space, like the non-profit City Car Share, and the large rental companies that have not historically rented by the hour.  Potentially more disruptive than any of these competitors is that of municipal bike sharing programs that are taking hold in cities around the world.

4.  Car sharing is lagging, bike sharing is exploding

Chad Emerson, professor of Law at Faulkner University of Law, points out:

The true proving ground was car-crazy Paris, whose ad-supported Velib [bike sharing] system, inaugurated in 2007, has proven massively popular. After overcoming initial problems with theft and vandalism, the Velib program has been embraced by Parisians; its 45,000 bikes have generated rentals in the millions.

Equally successful systems operate in Barcelona and Montreal, which has the largest in North America. Montreal’s Bixi system, run by the municipal parking authority, has contracted to install bike-share programs in Boston and London. Bike-sharing programs have also spread to Latin America, with one of the largest in Mexico City, and Asia.

In the United States, only Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis have installed bike-sharing programs of a size comparable to DecoBike’s, though they cover larger geographical areas. Washington’s 110-station Capital Bikeshare system, for instance, extends into a portion of suburban Arlington, Va.

The fact is, folks, bikes are working. Car companies like Zipcar are seeing bikes as viable competition.  Product companies like Xtracycle and many others have already solved the problem posed by this ad, and the solution is not just convenient, cool and comfortable, but it’s good for your health, your community, and the environment.

Zipcar’s business model is not proving successful, primarily because the areas where they concentrate their service (dense urban areas) are better served by bikes for short trips, than cars.  The cost of a rental car, plus associated parking fees, tolls, could be well over $100/day, likely higher than the cost of owning one’s own car.  In an economy like ours, this kind of discretionary income is drying up.  Meanwhile the desire for better quality of life is all around us.

Zipcar needs a better future, and bikes pose the solution. No major bike sharing program exists in any of the above mentioned cities (save for NYC), though they are coming on-line daily. Zipcar is incredibly well poised to sell off their automobile assets and invest in bike sharing technology, leveraging the thousands of parking spaces they own/rent to park their cars. Each of those spaces could fit a dozen bikes, raking in at least as much money for a fraction of the up-front and long-term costs.

So, after some consideration, I feel less angry at Zipcar, and more sympathetic. This ad is a dying gasp of a business built on a less-than-adequate solution. Meanwhile, the whispers of a transportation revolution to come (already here in places like Portland, OR) are increasing in volume.

Zipcar, your future lies in exactly what you attempt to discredit in this ad – affordable, capable and fun to ride bikes for the masses, available by the hour to anyone and everyone.

We’ve cropped the two articles onto one page above, which you can download as a .pdf here.

You can also read the full text of the main article at Bicycling’s website here.

Davis learns to pilot her own bike with the help of a ‘revolutionary’ new product called the Gyrowheel, based here in San Francisco. As much as I didn’t want to love a product that electrified the age-old learning to ride a bike challenge, as you can see from this video, it’s amazing. She literally learned to ride a bike in one ride. My throwback curmudgeon-y-ness is overshadowed by a love for a better solution. Training wheels really are no fun. And must on some level be a little humiliating for our youngest riders.

Davis has since graduated from riding in a PeaPod, but her younger brother, just now one, loves riding in the PeaPod III made by GMG (a dutch kid seat company). The PeaPod III is a step up from the PeaPod LT in so many ways, including a EVA-foam hammock design (think Croc cradle), quick-release capability, 4 colors (soon to be 5), and great reflectors behind. See more photos in our store.