Every Day Adventurers

Bike Commuters recently posted that due to California law, our dealers can’t get Xtracycle products because of lead content.

The lead in our product was found in the little plastic plugs that you pull out and throw away after unboxing the Free Radical frame. Right now, our distributer is removing those by hand so they can continue to ship to shops buying from them.

We are thankful that these regulations have forced our suppliers to disclose that there was any lead anywhere in the product we ship, despite the slight inconvenience it has caused everyone.

We will be in full compliance with the regulations by January 1, 2009.

In the meantime, please don’t eat the plugs, and if you’re uncertain about how to dispose of them safely, please contact your local municipal waste center

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Gear up your cargo bikes - the third annual Supermarket Street Sweep will take place on December 6th in San Francisco.  Devised as a fun, competitive way to feed the hungry by stocking the San Francisco Food Bank, the Sweep is two races in one: a speed race to see who can bike to five local grocery stores, buy some food, and get back the fastest; and a points race to see who can buy and haul the most pounds of food by bike from those five stores.  Xtracycle has donated a FreeRadical to go to the winner of the points race, and is honored to be the title sponsor of the event.

The record for food amassed in the Sweep stands at 1595 pounds - this year the goal is to break the magical 2000 pound mark (*Warning* Carrying 1 ton exceeds the maximum capacity of any Xtracycle).   So get your legs ready, empty out your FreeLoaders, get out your panniers, your crates, your baskets, and let’s ride!

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In the frigid arctic tundra of Taiwan, few animals can survive the constant battle against the elements. One animal however, has shown time and time again the determination it takes to thrive in sub-zero temperatures and harsh winds: the Xtracycle.

Here the Xtracycles are shown in their long daily march in search of food. When their journey is completed, they will have traveled across the entire pacific ocean to arrive in the abundant feeding grounds of Oakland, California.

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Radish on the way to Taichung, by way of Taichung port, originally uploaded by xtracycleinc.

So we’ve got this great new bike prototype, but it’s too big to fit in our host’s car. We need to get it from the place it was born (Dajia 大甲）to downtown Taichung (台中). So whaddayado with a bike, Moe? Ya ride it!

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Just finished reading Earth Abides, on the recommendation of a friend. It’s post-apocalyptic sci-fi about the survivors of the next big plague (right here in berkeley, no less. I used to live within a stone’s throw of the hero’s house.). It’s written pretty insightfully for 1948, with a good amount of humility for what the real world has to offer. Themes of the breakdown of car culture really resonate with some of the more extreme calls for aggressive transport revolution these days. The rest of the book review aside, it was fun to speculate along these lines as a bike aficionado, and compare the antagonist’s search for motorized transport with out own explorations into bike travel. The bike-mounted human is an animal that can survive failed states and natural disasters pretty well. Granted, a lot of the tools are prohibitively specialized, but all in all it’s a machine you can do a lot with. I’m just glad I don’t have to go by dog-powered cart, as the hero does.

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