My wife and I live in a small apartment with five of our bicycles living with us. The first moment of zen came when I realized I was tall enough to store my lighter road/mtn bikes horizontally against the ceiling, but my Big Dummy still took up a commanding amount of square footage.
We recently shifted the rooms around and need that precious footprint to be reduced. Problem was, I need to store the Dummy on it’s tail, but maneuvering a wheel-less Big Dummy like that was bound to scratch and damage the rear bridge tube. What I need were some casters to allow me easy positioning and storage of my Xtracycle cargo bike in a vertical position.
I sketched up a design diagram, chatted with Ross about some potential pitfalls, and dove right in. Was a bit hasty about the initial two prototypes, but finally ironed out my issues with the third version.
Now I can easily bring the bike inside, hold the rear brake, lift up the wheel, TailWheels make contact, and then I push on my MagicCarpet with my knee while still holding the handlebars to get it into full, mobile and upright position.
It’s also been a boon for use on BART and elevators. No more scratched paint or dented tubes!
Ride on!
The Xtracycle platform’s coolest feature, IMHO, is its modularity and ability to customize the platform for specific tasks. Numerous Xtracycle riders have utilized the plug-n-play features of their X’s for years. Wes Trout, an Xtra owner for 3 years, has taken customizing his Xtracycle to an impressive level.
We’ve occasionally interacted via the RootsRadicals Yahoo! Xtracycle user group, but recent record snowfalls and his newest invention, the Snow Plow, caught my eye and I had to get more details on his projects. Read the full interview below about how Wes started his own business, Shifting Gears, catering to the needs of businesses seeking sustainable solutions for their needs, and his perspective on cargo cycling culture.
Wes Trout with his cargo bike snow plow
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Talk about DIY. Larry, of BikeForth.org, details his Xtracycle canopy, Conastoga-style solar panel roof and future micro-car project. Very fun, inspiring design and tinkering. :D
Bike Forth » Blog Archive » Bike Wagon Takes Form.
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!
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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