February 27th, 2009 by geoff ( )
I just saw that biketrailershop.com is having a great deal on xtracycles and so I went ahead and got the “Family Van” option, which includes “Magic Carpet, Footsies, and a Stoker Kit” — all things I wasn’t planning on buying for a while, but when they are included for free? I can’t pass that up! My kids aren’t quite ready to ride on the back, so for now we’ll keep using the trailer.
I’ve got the other build-up gear for the new ride, but now I’ll just wait until the xtracycle comes to do a full build.
Yeah!
February 26th, 2009 by geoff ( )
I was searching around online for some back issues of the Rivendell Reader (since I’m not willing to buy them at Rivendell, nor get the 4-CD pack on ebay). I found an old interview with Sheldon Brown here:
http://www.rivbike.com/images/static/upload/RR25.pdf
It’s quite long and is a nice rambling conversation with the man himself.
February 23rd, 2009 by geoff ( )
Geoff and Jason mountain biking
I just got back from Albuquerque where I was visiting a very good friend form high school. It’s been ages since I’ve seen him (well, a couple years) and it’s funny how our biking hobbies have progressed in the same direction. One of the priorities of our visit was for me to go on a few rides with him. It’s winter in Boston, and it’s such a pain to go on a nice ride. ABQ has, in addition to some nicer drier weather, lots of bike paths, both of the mountain and road variety.
The first trip was mountain biking in the northern Sandia foothills — here’s a similar route that jason does. I had never been mountain biking, and Jason was kind enough to lend me his Paragon 29er, while he borrowed a friend’s bike. I was amazed at the low gearing, but once we were moving, it seemed so natural. We did a pretty challenging course and I had to get off the bike a few times, but it was a blast. I have no idea if New England is a good place for mountain biking, but i think for now, I’m going to choose ignorance, because I certainly don’t need to get into a new sport. Plus, I can’t imagine it comparing to the high desert climate!
The second ride we did was around the city. The afternoons in ABQ were pretty windy, but didn’t really pose much of a problem. We rode on bike paths the entire time! It was absolutely wonderful. The first part went along a raised canal for the flooding that occurs when it rains. After that, we were riding along the river in the bosque for quite a bit. No cars whatsoever. Also a first was that I was riding his fixed gear Bianchi San Jose the whole time. Depending on how the Xtracycle build goes, maybe I’ll convert my panasonic to fixed gear, or at least single speed. Then again, there’s enough hills around here that I sort of like the gears.
As I’m waiting for the Boston snow to melt and for the bike paths to magically materialize, I’ll be missing the riding I did there. And obviously I’ll need to come back soon.
me coming up the path
February 20th, 2009 by geoff ( )
I just got a link from roots radical about some tips on connecting the chariot trailer to the xtracycle.
photostream of Wes’ X
Anyway, I just went to the hardware store, got a long threaded rod (I think mine was about 8″ long). The diameter of the rod should be the largest that will still fit through the hole on the hitch receiver. I also picked up 2 self-locking nuts and 2 rod collars (this was the only tricky part but I just brought my X into the store so I could make sure the collar fit inside the back/bottom tube of the X), and lastly some large washers (larger than the X’s tubing). Slide the rod through the back tube, put the collars on (I kept mine as far apart as possible), slide the washers on, then slide the hitch
receiver on the left side, then the nuts on both sides. Tighten nuts until everything is snug but loose enough that the hitch can still rotate a little.
I wonder what the Xtracycle people think of this? It looks great to me and is probably what I’ll do. I did read that there is a 50 lb weight limit for the tail end of the Free Radical, so I’ll probably put my kids in the trailer, then use a small hanging scale to see how much veritcal downward weight is on the connector.
UPDATE:Here’s the Xtracycle guy’s response
Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:38 pm (PST)
As long as the torque and stress on the frame doesn’t exceed the
called out weight limitations on your FreeRadical sticker/handbook,
then you should be fine. We notice cracking near the dropout when
people overload cargo on the tail, but that’s usually on day-in/day-
out trekkers who are touring non-stop and/or are generally hard on
their equipment.
Rick
SECOND UPDATE: a couple more pictures
On the hitch side, I only use the nylok nut to keep it on. no washers on this side of the xtracycle.
On the right side of the xtracycle, i have a large washer with another nylok nut.
On the inside, i coudln’t find any of wes’s aforementioned “2 self-locking nuts and 2 rod collars”, so I used some regular nuts and smaller washers that fit the inside diameter of the rear-tube. Hope this helps!
February 12th, 2009 by geoff ( )
I just read here that the 700c size of the Free Radical will be phased out. They’ll probably just start including a brake mount adapter or something. Still, this means I ought to get mine soon!
February 12th, 2009 by geoff ( )
My buddy Mike had an extra pair of Nitto Moustache bars hanging around and so I thought I’d try them. The first thing I noticed is that there are actually a few different shapes of moustache bars:
These are the high quality Nitto made of heat-treated 2014 T6 aluminum. They’re nice and light and have a shorter handlegrip area. These won’t fit cork grips, and are better made to be taped. They also work better with bar-end brakes or drop brakes mounted on the front.
These are the different shaped Dimension version — this is more like the style I have on my city bike, since I can’t actually find a link, having bought it from a bicycle discounter. The hand grips are longer and work well with MTB brake levers, which is how I have my city bike.
I mounted these on, sort of like the first image, and while i loved the feeling of the brakes and the bars, they were not high enough. The Ross is a bit too small for me, but perfect for my xtracycle conversion, so I think the moustache is out. and so, I just ordered the Albatross bars that I had mentioned before, to set up with MTB levers and bar end shifters. If those bars don’t work, I’ll just set ‘em up on Karen’s bike.
February 5th, 2009 by geoff ( )
A while back, I was asked by Neil Gunton (the founder of crazyguyonabike — see my ride archive to the left) if he could use one of my biking pictures for some online article in Japan. I had no problem and well, here it is:
http://www.nikkeibp.co.jp/ecomom/report/report_158.html
And of course: a Google translation!
February 3rd, 2009 by geoff ( )
This seems like it would be a perfect setup to wrap around the FreeRedical to give you the cargobike some super illumination:
http://www.bikeglowlights.com/
