She arrived quite a long time ago, via the UPS truck, in a long box. You see, she started out her life as a big pile of aircraft chromo tubes. My sweetie cut, bent, and fillet brazed her together into this beautiful long bike frame. I picked out the colors and told him to do whatever he wanted with the paint job. I really wanted the sparkly purple for the whole bike, but I prudently chose the yellow for visibility.
Almost all of the remaining parts and components were salvaged from used bikes. The pedals are new and have a really cool feature. They light up when I pedal, using gyration technology rather than batteries. This gives me just a bit more visibility during the day and a lot more at night. Of course, at night I also use the bright rear blinker as well as a bright headlight. I want to see where I'm going and make sure that motorists see me.
Did you pick up on that "long bike" comment? Wondering what I'm talking about? Well, take a look at my sweetie's Xtracycle:
He has a standard mountain bike with the Xtracycle Free Radical kit on it. The kit moves the rear tire back to allow room for the snap deck and saddlebags. The company also offers complete kits which includes a longtail bike. My sweetie wanted to build a bike to my exact dimensions, though, so we just ordered the Longtail Kit. By insisting he paint the tubing for their racks to match my bike, I think I ended up with a really slick looking ride. If I had a little extra disposable income, it'd be really fun to trick it out with these lights.
Looks aside, though, the purpose of having this bike is to be able to avoid using the vehicle even when I must haul a big load. You can browse through my past posts tagged with Xtracycle for examples of loads my sweetie has hauled already and then go to the Xtracycle photo gallery. By the time you're done looking at these inspiring photos, you'll be inspired to jump on a bike yourself!
*Click on any photo to enlarge.
Very cool, but I'm tired just looking at it! How much does that sucker weigh?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, Grant, but I don't have Scratch-n-Sniff technology loaded on my computer. ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt weighs 37.5 pounds.
Super cool, I'm excited for you! If not just a little jealous.
ReplyDeleteThink of the hundreds of pounds of oranges you can ride up to Seattle for me (and I guess maybe Grant, too since he posted :).
Well, let's see Crunchy. We'd have some details to work out if you want bicycle delivery of oranges. There are meals to consider, overnight accomodations, temp help to do the chores at home... Just how much are you willing to pay for this citrus?!
ReplyDeleteOh my gourdy, that is one SWEET ride! Your honey is ROCKS for putting that together for you!
ReplyDeleteI had an Xtracycle like your "sweeties" I really liked it. I no longer have it because at the time we were moving into a small apartment and we didn't have the exta room. The bike was great for trips to the grocery store and to drop off our recycle in town. Boy did I have some strange looks.
ReplyDeletemandi
He does rock, Burbanmom. I got me a keeper! ;-)
ReplyDeleteThat's so sad you had to give yours up, Mandi. Oddly here, we don't get strange looks. For the most part, people seem to pretend we don't exist. I don't know if showing that biking, even with big loads, threatens them in some way so they decide it's easier to ignore us. It's puzzling.
What a gorgeous bike! Seriously! I'm salivating! I have a fancy-smancy bike we bought second-hand from some guy - it has way more shiny gizmos than I needed (or even know how to use), but was a good price for a very good bike, and it's comfortable, and I can actually handle it while pulling a trailer loaded with 70lbs worth of wiggly little girls, a few pounds of the stuff they have to have no matter where they're going, and some produce from the farm stand :).
ReplyDeleteBut I wanted one of those SUBs ... or a pedicab.
I'm looking forward to having the snow melt so that I can start riding again.
Wiggly girls - that made me laugh! We used to haul our last dog around in a bike trailer. Man, she hated it. She wanted to be in front, not riding in the back or middle of the pack. She'd howl like she was being tortured. :(
ReplyDeleteHave you ever checked out the Ice Bike site? It has a lot of suggestions for how to ride in icy and snowy conditions.
Hi Chile - How does it handle around corners, especially in icy conditions?
ReplyDeleteAso, do you find the extra weight is hard work on steep hills?
The reason I ask is this is one of the few add-ons or standard bike alternatives I've seen that looks decent and is a decent price. We've moved to a location that gets very icy and cold in winter, and has REALLY serious hills, so I'm wondering how stable and solid the add-on is. Have you been happy with it, and would you reccommend one?
Daharja - ice? We don't get much of that here, so I can't tell you. It does take corners a little wider than a regular bike, but not bad.
ReplyDeleteIt will be quite a bit more work going up steep hills. Every extra pound, especially near the ground, translates to considerably more work. (Hence Lance Armstrong's greatly increased hill-climbing ability with the loss of a mere 15 pounds body weight.)
In terms of stability and durability, Xtracycle has a very good reputation. On their website, you can also get on their listserv and pose some of your questions to a group of long-time users. :)
Thanks. I'll have a look at their website a bit more fully.
ReplyDeleteMay I post pictures of your xtracycles on my blog? naturally will attribute and so forth.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.xtracyclegallery.com
thanks in advance!!
john
http://bp2.blogger.com/_2H3G4C5T6s0/R9qJqmD8XqI/AAAAAAAAAos/bKy9yUKECqk/s400/my+xtracycle.jpg
Sure, John. Please do give me credit, though, with a link back to the blog here.
ReplyDeleteI've posted quite a few photos of my husband's Xtracycle free radical, with and without loads, too.
See here for the Xtracycle posts.
Many thanks -- here are the links
ReplyDelete#253 Chile Chew's Xtracycle
#254 Chile Chew's Xtracycle #2
Thanks, John. Just one correction: my name is not Sharon. I go by "Chile" online. :)
ReplyDeletethanks -- i totally got my wires crossed, that was a name for the prior entry. its updated now... :)
ReplyDeletehave a great new year!
j
Chile,
ReplyDeleteI'm getting involved more with the bicycling (thinking of having a dedicated bike blog) and thought about using an xtracycle to carry a surfboard to the beach. People have done it and it seems common enough in Santa Cruz, CA. Additionally since my husband carries the bulk of the groceries when we shop, it would make more sense for him to ride it.
Hey Beany - did you know that was the original motivation for creating the Xtracycle?! Hm, it's not on their history page now but I know I've read that...
ReplyDeleteThis is a super late comment but I just ran across this and I need to say "wow!"
ReplyDeleteHow's it holding up?
Tim - it's doing fine. At one point, the kickstand broke off but my hubby (who built the bike) determined that was because he used a piece of scrap metal he had lying around for the base of it. Since it wasn't the same kind of metal as the frame, it didn't adhere as well. He's repaired that and it's holding up just fine.
ReplyDeleteHey I just stumbled across this as I was surfing around -- my old Extracycle has new life as it has been built up on a nice solid urban bike and I am rediscovering my love of utility cycling! Nice bike!
ReplyDelete