Every Day Adventurers

YouTube – The Bicycle Thief.

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34,000 kilometers later, RTS reaches the southernmost city in the world

Over three years ago, Goat, Sean and Jacob packed up their adventure gear, their Xtracycles and said goodbye to their families as they headed north to the Arctic Circle. Their destination? Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, at the tip of Tierra del Fuego in South America. Their route? The Continental Divide. The “longest contiguous mountain range in the world” and the source of their journey’s namesake: Riding the Spine.

Shunning pavement at every opportunity, rutted (and sometimes flooded) dirt roads, twisty single track, and abandoned backwoods paths became their routes of choice. Traveling from sea level to mountain tops required a variety of weather gear to fight the blasting sun of the deserts and sub-zero temperatures of the arctic and mountain ridges.

Their stories fill volumes. Here’s just a snippet of their every day adventures:

long the way, they cooked their own food, wild camped most every night, and found themselves looking back on some truly epic moments: being chased by a wolf in Alaska, riding for months in snow/subzero temperatures, getting held at gunpoint by the military during a drug bust in the Copper Canyon, riding down Central America’s tallest peak, sleeping at the base of active volcanos in Costa Rica while monkeys howled into the night, exploring the Cricamola River within the Ngobe-Bugle indigenous reserve, kayaking through the Kuna Yala in Panama all the way to Colombia, dragging their bikes through dangerous landslides in Colombia/Peru, crossing over the White Mountains of the Andes, rafting the Cotahuasi River, facing the intolerable winds of Patagonia, enjoying the classic landscape of the Carretera Austral in Chile, and eventually finding themselves in Tierra del Fuego – the end of the world.

We offer our heartfelt congratulations to these men for their stamina, courage and perseverance. They brought with them not only their open minds, but also their open hearts as they encountered hundreds of cultures differing from ours.

And thanks, also, for testing our our gear, putting it through some of the worst elements on earth and providing us with valuable feedback regarding design, function and form. We enjoyed the letters, photos and visits while you embarked on this amazing journey. You guys are world class Xtracycle Ambassadors.

Welcome home and best of luck on your next every day adventure.

Read more about their epic journey.

RTS reaches their destination, 34,000 km later

Owning an Xtracycle means more real estate for fun gadgets like air horns, electric motors and lights. One of our perennial favorites is Rock the Bike’s Down Low Glow. Their dual tube offering meshes perfectly with an Xtracycle’s long wheelbase, casting a fun glow that is guaranteed to excite passersby.

On my own Xtracycle, a Surly Big Dummy, I’ve rocked out a Down Low Glow for over a year and love it. But, it does have its drawbacks. I have to charge the battery after two-hours of use, the brightness dims after about 75 minutes of use and The lights last a useful four hours on a full charge, with the lights dimming around 3 hours*. The only downside? The transformer/battery/cables add visual clutter to my already over-cluttered rig, but I don’t lose sleep over it.

I wanted to see if another option existed for sweet ground effects that did away with the cluttered look, gave me longer battery life and still made me visible to others on the street. I figured an LED setup would be the way to go considering their low energy consumption and bright light output. A couple Google searches landed me on Bike Brightz. Their lights feature 6-LEDs, three functions (steady, slow blink, fast blink) and come in a variety of colors. Would this compare and offer a good replacement for my Down Low Glows? Well, I had to get some to test first!
Read the rest of this entry »

Peter’s truck had some mechanical hiccups on the way to HQ recently and needed to get it the last mile or so to park it ’til he got it workin’. The Xtra’ crew rolled out with three longtails and managed to lose neither life nor limb in another every day adventure.

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Save $90 on a FreeRadical cargo conversion kit through the rest of October and get a free mustache with your order!

If it looks like an Xtracycle... c/o Jason & XtracycleGallery.com

An undeniable facet of owning an Xtracycle is it’s magnetism for questions. “What is that?”, “Did you make it?”, “Is it like a normal bike?” are just a smidgen of the queries you’ll get.

We asked our twittersphere to share with us their off-the-cuff responses to the perennial question, “What is that?” Here are their responses:

• “It’s an extention frame that mounts to a normal bike allowing you to haul most anything, cargo and/or people.” @illintechnology
• “it’s a cargobike, I do my shopping & stuff without a car. It’s really just my old bike but longer and able to carry 200lbs” @shanerh
• i tell them its my grocery-getter & get-around-town eco ride! i also tell them how awesome it is (& that our 2yr old loves it)! @schwartzsheldon
• “It’s an #Xtracycle! It’s my station wagon/kid hauler/grocery getter. Lots of fun to ride!” @jessikate
• “It’s a long bike called an Xtracycle FreeRadical. I use it for getting groceries and having fun. Cars Suck!” @xtracycleTony
• Actually, the most frequent question I get is: “Did you make that?” To which a yes or no answer isn’t easy. @gauch0
• “It’s a sport utility bike, kind of like a bicycle pick-up truck.” @jasondcrane
• “Xtracycle: A hitchless trailer puts me at the center of gravity, making the ride smoother, even with up to 200 pounds behind me.” @jamcycler
• if I have time I put the footsies on and show them what it is! @redfieldbikes

Thanks everyone for sharing their tactics for spreading the LongTail revolution. Please share any responses you might have in the comments below. My personal favorite response to, “I like your bike!” is, “My bike likes YOU!”

Have a great commute, ride, spontaneous adventure this week!

Xtracycle Trickery, c/o CarFreeDays.com