Every Day Adventurers

Editor Update: This is a semi-permanent solution for getting Footsies to work with KickBack. If you want to use WideLoaders, you’ll have to remove the bolts holding the Footsies on, so only do this mod if a) you’re fine voiding your warranty and b) don’t use WideLoaders.

KickBack is all the rage these days regarding our DIT tutorials. Our most recent tutorial focused on extending the peg platform of KickBack by using the handles off a Razor scooter. You can read up on that post here.

Taking passenger appeasement a step further, I wanted to explore a fast, simple solution to get your Footsies to play nice with KickBack. This mod will void your Footsie warranty, so proceed with caution (and if not installed properly, may void your KickBack warranty, too). Let’s begin!

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LongTail Technology’s (LT) modular system allows for creativity on many levels. Some users are fine with using our production model products and trim, but others see those tubes and imagination sparks go flyin’.

Galen (flickr: Muleteer) is just one of many creative tinkerers taking his Xtracycle to new levels. He recently wrote us, and posted photos on his flickr page of a rear trailer hitch for towing a bicycle behind your Xtracycle (as opposed to using a TrayBien, which mounts on the side). We’re calling it QuickHitch, for short.

Here’s Galen’s feedback on towing a bike using a QuickHitch:

“The bike in tow can pitch on the hub, and yawl on its own headset. Works great until the bike is at a right angle, and then, with no bike behind the fork anymore, the entire thing falls less than gracefully to the ground behind the big dummy. So, for those of you looking to replicate, make sure you don’t turn too slow too tight.”

Carting a second bike happens for a variety of reasons: A friend arrives on public transit, tow a spare bike on the way to greet them. A riding buddy flats or has mechanical breakdown, tow the crippled steed home with owner riding too! Or, you buy/sell/trade/barter/find a bicycle and need to transport it to its new home. Sure there’s more reasons, but that covers the usual fair.

How to get yourself setup with a QuickHitch

1. Installing Lamp Mount

Your QuickHitch attaches to the rear bridge of your Xtracycle. Clean the horizontal bridge before installing the Nitto lamp holder. Make sure the clamp plates on the bridge end of the clamp are on top, this keeps the hub end closer to the ground reducing wobble effects of the trailing bicycle. Use the 4mm Allen key to tighten the clamp bolts. Clamp should be horizontal to the ground, you can dip it a bit more if wobble is a factor in your test run. But, note that the lower the lamp holder is angled toward the ground, the more likely you’ll drag it when lifting the front wheel.

2. Prep towing bicycle and mount

Undo the front brake (ignore for disk brakes), remove the front wheel and stow in your FreeLoader. If you are using Adventure Racks or the Adventure Kit, snug to the side or your deck wheel using a CamStrap.

Insert fork onto QuitchHitch, be sure it’s just as snug as when you install your front wheel.

Turn on a blinky on the towing bike or tie a red flag on the saddle rails and roll!

Post any photos/videos of your DIT QuickHitch here or on our Facebook fan page. Ride on!

P.S. Some people like having a larger footrest than the pegs KickBack has built in. Galen solves this with a simple solution: folding footpegs!

UPDATECarl followed the tutorial and fashioned his own tow-hitch setup. He also suggested something that we forgot to mention, using CamStraps or some other lashing device (Joel mentioned bungees in the comments section) to keep the sway of the towed bicycle to a minimum.

UPDATEJnyyz commented with his HitchBack rear fork mount, check it:

Customizing our rides is one of the many things that draws us further into cycling culture. Sometimes it’s the perfect paint job, a well-worn leather saddle or that crazy doll you found in the gutter that now rides with you every where you go to help you identify with your bicycle.

For those rockin’ out KickBack, you can customize your ride some more. Use any tubing with a diameter of 7/8″ to replace the stock legs, but please use high-strength aluminum or steel if you’ll be carrying precious cargo like passengers, children or Fabergé eggs.

In the tutorial video below Nate demonstrates how to achieve a wider stance for your KickBack using steel cruiser handlebars. If you happen to customize your KickBack, please post some photos here or on our Facebook fan page. Ride on!

Jason Jamnik, a 22-year-old college student from Naperville, IL, works as a pizza-delivery boy man. Except he’s not delivering pizza the traditional way (in a beat up Honda Civic blasting teenage-angst rock), he’s using his Surly Big Dummy to get those pies to their final destination.

His customers are given two options for delivery: carbon-consuming-car or carbon-saving-cycle. Choosing the latter option saves them the $3 delivery fee, and helps their keep their community carbon-clean.

We don’t know yet if Jason is using our PizzaLoader design to help him deliver his pies, but we look forward to finding out!

Update: Well, looks like Jason IS using the PizzaLoader on his routes. Check out his comment below to see how he pulls it off. Thanks, Jason!

Read the entire article here

Our entire staff at Xtracycle commutes to work by bike. Some of us ride over 10 miles and that means multiple opportunities for glass to become buddies with our tires and inner tubes. On top of that, our HQ are in North Oakland and sometimes our fellow neighbors like to use the street as a testing ground for seeing how well glass bottles bounce.

In the spirit of Bike to Work Day/Week/Month/Year we wanted to help improve our fellow commuters commute by cleaning up the glass and various trash we encounter on our ride to work. We hope you find the time to wake up a little earlier to sweep up the shards of sadness on our streets.

Happy Bike to Work Month!

See all the photos, and video, of Jason and Rick’s cleaning efforts on their way to work!