Every Day Adventurers

Xtracycle has graced the pages of Bicycling magazine (think the Newsweek of bike media) not once but twice in 2011.

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, daughter of Xtracycle COO Nate Byerley and star of the 2009 PeaPod promo video called “Scream with Me” learns to ride her own bike in the video below. Only 4, Davis manages to get why riding a bike is so amazing, on her first ride.

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.

Almost 2 years ago, we profiled Jay Marlette, who had decided to make his home inspection business greener by adding an Xtracycle to the mix. As you can see from our photos and video, this wasn’t a small commitment.  The ladder is longer than the Xtracycle!

When people make a shift like this, it’s natural to wonder how things worked out.  So guess who I ran into the other day just as he was wrapping up a home inspection:

Two years later and he’s still going strong!  A lot of people can say they’ve gone green, but when you see Jay riding around town hauling that ladder, you know he’s walking the talk.

Some things need to be seen to be believed, so if you want to check out Jay’s geared-up Xtracycle and ask him about his experiences in going green via bike, both Jay and his ride will be at the Berkeley Earth Day celebration this Saturday, April 23rd (12-5pm, Civic Center Park).  As part of the Earth Day celebration, Jay will be fielding general home questions and can also offer advice on ways to make your home more energy efficient.

The Earth Day celebration will have free valet bike parking (which we love to hear). For complete event details, click here.

Writing from another squat. This one is in Bilbao, Spain. 10 years old and aging gracefully. Kukutza, they call it. Squats really lubricate the Pleasant Revolution. This one has good vibes and confirms a big trend among squats: acrobatic arts facilities. Seems there’s some kind of latent need for modern Western humans to explore limits of human motion. Squats have come to the rescue. Just before we left, I assembled apparati for human flight: sprung gymnastics runway leading to large landing pads and a lovely high-performance springboard dividing the two. I saved this event for the morning of departure to keep the exposure to injurous flight short and to avoid the drinking end of the day. I invited Amanda Mora Jones (amandamora.com) and Paul Freedman (FossilFool.com).

Again: strategy to avoid injury: only those deemed to posses smarts about self-preservation and good coordination were invited. We helped Paul confront his fears about back-flips. Amanda called up some fantastic tumbling skills from her preteen gymnast life. I simply performed long unadulterated “superman” flights, terminated by late somersaults. This session was totally parallel in sensation to moving around Europe by bike: the limits of human motion, thrill of speed, no motor to distract. Graceful exertion with carefully crafted tools begets elation.

Elation? Well, well – how much elation is involved with hauling 190 pounds of gear around Europe with 15 other people? There’s certainly elation at the end of the day. The uphills are a bit of trouble – but I tell ya, low gears (28 teeth in front, 32 in the back) and lots of time allows for any car-navigable hill to be managed by countless mincing pedal strokes. It’s easier than it looks and sounds. A little fitness and a lot of confidence required.

Some of my favorite road tools. (a hint of fetish, to be sure)

The flats are totally breezy. One of my missions in life is to convince people of the tiny difference between hauling no load and hauling a huge load on the flats. The magic of wheels and momentum and the incredible efficiency of the bicycle deliver dividends. The only stipulation is that a huge load requires slooowww acceleration from a stop – beginning with a low gear as described above, then advancing through gear steps, almost one by one, until up to speed. Then – inertia butters your bread! An object in motion tends to stay in motion, especially when wheels, good bearings, and a heavy payload are involved. Non-cyclists can’t seem to imagine how easy this is. Damn shame.

And what about elation on the downhills? For me, with such a load, and such consequential frame-flex, elation is in short supply. I think I’m too spoiled by fine-tuned unburdened Italian racing machines – the kind of equipment that seems to just about react to your thoughts – blurring division between man and machine. My Pleasant Revolution rig is different. Gear must be symmetrically loaded and lashed tight. Headset must be smooth-spinning with NO play. Tires must be round in profile and properly inflated. With these measures, control is retained, but downhills are never approached with wide-eyed abandon. More like wide-eyed caution. The speed wobble demons are always ready to pounce on the disrespectful. Indeed, two of our Revolutionaries have been pounced upon. One, seemingly for a loose load violation, and another for a loose headset. Broken bodies resulted.

Speed wobbles (AKA shimmies) are terrifying and often rapidly escalating. Smooth, soft braking and clenching the frame’s top tube with inner thighs seem to be the only remedies.

So elation comes from cargobike touring indeed, but sometimes it’s subtle or drawn out or simply resultant from reflection. Reflection on life-affirming sustainability. Taken to the next level. This kind of elation leaves stains on the fabric of your soul. Stubborn stains.

{pictures by Paul Freedman}

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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