Every Day Adventurers

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!
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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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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!

Footsies modified to play nice with KickBack

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Jessy Clonts, our neighbor in the Bay Area, test rode a Radish for 30-days this spring. This is a journal about her expectations, experiences and feedback. Enjoy!

Week 4 Recap

This week I experimented with comparing the Xtracycle experience with the rusted vintage Specialized experience. Having no cargo to haul for once, I hopped on my old bike and went for a ride around the neighborhood. Instantly, I felt a major difference. My handlebars didn’t seem as sturdy. My turns were noticeably more challenging. My shocks were nonexistent and bumps in the road popped out everywhere. My seat was not nearly as comfortable.

I want my Radish back! Even if I don’t have anything to carry, the ride is just so much more superior. And who needs twelve gears? I get by just fine with eight on the Radish. Chalk up another ten points for Team Xtracycle.

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Jessy Clonts, our neighbor in the Bay Area, test rode a Radish for 30-days this spring. This is a journal about her expectations, experiences and feedback. Enjoy!

Day 19

Today seemed like the perfect day to boulder with a couple of friends on a 30-foot hunk of rhyolite in the Berkeley Hills, also known as Indian Rock. I-Rock is about 2.5 miles uphill from where I live, and thus, “totally bikeable.” However the temperature on this day turned out to be 80 degrees by 11:00 a.m.

I’m going to admit something; please don’t judge. I staked out my proposed route in a car first. Then I decided not to bike it.

But here is my reasoning. Bouldering is a passion of mine, and it’s not often that I get to boulder outdoors with friends in the middle of a perfect day. In 80-degree weather, I couldn’t afford to be zapped of all my energy from biking before ever reaching the rock. It wouldn’t be safe for either activity.

And so, Indian Rock will have to wait for cooler weather before it gets to meet the Radish. It’s okay for the Radish to have high standards.

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