Every Day Adventurers

Brad Lancaster, author of Harvesting Rainwater, lives in Tucson Arizona, which receives less than 12″ of rainfall a year. Brad has been riding an Xtracycle for nearly a decade, and well, it shows. This post was lifted from his blog, and we encourage you to read the full article there. If you are interested in rain water harvesting, consider Brad god, and his book the bible.

Years ago at a red light I looked into the car beside me and saw the frowning driver’s hair blowing into the back seat as though she were leaning into a mighty storm. But her windows were up. The gale was coming from her air conditioner — on a beautiful day when an open window could just as easily cool and refresh. Then I coughed, and looked back at her tail pipe spewing out toxic exhaust. I was on a bicycle, and loving the day, except for the coughing. And that’s when the simple realization hit me.

Everything we do, every choice we make, has consequences. And no matter how seemingly simple, they can be profound. We can choose to be and live problems — or solutions.

I realized every time I drove (or mechanically cooled myself) I was directly poisoning air, water, soil, and myself. However, every time I rode my bike, my exhaust was never worse than a flatulent. When I drove my car, I fueled it with toxic gasoline from a distant corporation. When I rode my bike, I fueled me, often with a burrito made from locally grown tepary beans and cooked in my backyard solar oven. A burrito I would’ve eaten anyway now tasted even better.

>>read full post here

Life is full of moments. But how many do we remember or feel deeply grateful for?

We have the classics – graduations, weddings, child birth – and some truly memorable everyday adventures.

It may sound corny, but my Xtracycle has a way of showing up in a lot of these moments.

My smartest/luckiest move ever:  marrying Shannon.

.

Our son Kale’s first bike ride (in the PeaPod) yesterday – plus, it was the quintessential everyday adventure: grocery shopping!  He was totally juiced and excited all night.  

.

I hardly ever blog.  But I had to share these moments with you.  I’d love to hear about yours.

- Ross

Xtracycle is featured in the latest Popular Mechanics issue alongside Sam Whittingham’s lust-inducing “Mule” LongTail.

Sam has made at least one other stunning Xtracycle LongTail Standard compliant LongTail called the GreenMachine. Read more about that here.

Every Xtracycle has a different effect on the life of the person (or people) using it. Sometimes the effect is profound.  We thought we’d share this letter we received from Liam Daly.  The photo is his as well:

Dear Xtracycle:

• I love you.
• Six years ago I bought a FreeRadical with freeloaders and wideloaders.
• I was living in car-centric Kansas City, and Xtracycle changed my life.
• I quickly told people that the FreeRad was the best thing I ever bought.
• Four years ago I moved home – to Ireland – with my XtraCycle.
  
• I work for myself as an artist, a painter. There is no canvas, no frame, no entire art show, that my xtracycle has been unable to carry.
• In 1992 I did a solo cycle through 10 countries from Ireland to Turkey.
• In 1996 I did a solo cycle through 24 US States from Boston to San Diego.
• I wish my bike had been XtraCycled back when I did those and other long-distance tours.
• Starting on July 1st, I am doing a solo trip of 2-3,000 miles around all 32 counties in Ireland, painting pictures for people who shelter and feed me. Those people are finding me online: http://paintingtour.com
• I posted a gallery the other day of 24 photos of my XtraCycle carrying various loads. A national newspaper saw it (Irish Independent) and interviewed me for a feature on cargo/utility bikes.
• I know of 2 cases in Ireland who have bought XtraCycles based on my witterings on Twitter and my blog.
• Six years of heavy use, American Midwest weather, and Irish rain, have taken their toll. It’s a long time since anybody could read my snapdeck or called it a skateboard.
• I still routinely tell people that XtraCycle is the greatest thing I ever bought. Because it still is.
• But most of all, I love you.

Thanks and best wishes,

Liam Daly

It came to our attention that our FreeLoader manufacturers have been mis-threading the rack straps through the buckles. Instead of just passing it through the outermost loop of the buckle, they’ve been threading it through both loops, which limits the range of the rack strap and can lead to stitching failure due to the increased stresses.

This video, featuring Alameda, CA resident and Xtracycler Marvin, shows you how to quickly re-thread the rack strap through the buckle to relieve the pressure on the strap and give you more maneuverability when buckling your FreeLoaders.