Ride Tonight

Wherever you live please join in The Ride of Silence tonight.

Xtracycle Build Pt5

Xtra-Fun

I finished up the Xtracycle build a few months ago, sorry about the delay in this final build post.

I swapped out my canti breaks for V-breaks. I really prefer the V-breaks – the canti’s were hard to adjust and were starting to become a real pain, but the “V’s” are a pleasure and have great stopping power. I’ve listed my setup for the Xtra below.

Xtra-Set

• 1990 Trek 520 [Trek's touring bike]
• 700c Xtracycle FreeRadical
• Shimano Deore V-brakes
• Tektro Road V-brake levers [curved and comfy handle, great for the Moustache bar]
  
• Nitto Moustache bar
• Cork Handlebar tape [tan with Bullseye amber shellac]
• Hemp Twine [wherever I felt like putting it, so OCD]
• Old Shimano Deore DX Triple Cranks and Derailleurs [drive train]
• Shimano Bar-End Shifters [don't leave home without'm]
• Grip King pedals [the most comfy/stable pedal I've pushed]
• Brooks Saddle
• Bontrager Hardcase tires [BUT I want Pasela TOUR GUARDS]
• Velo-Orange 45mm smooth fenders
• Velo-Orange Retro WB Cage [mounted on handle bar for coffee]
• VO Handlebar to Water Bottle Cage Mount
• Low Down Type 1 Light Mount
• Blaze™ one-watt LED Headlight
• SuperFlash tail light
• Nitto M12 Front Rack
• Wicker Bike Basket

That’s my set-up and I’m stickin’ to it. As soon as the Xtra was complete it was pressed into daily use. I loved using it for my commute because the bags are so cavernous. Laptop, books/files, clothes, lunch and any other incidentals just get dumped in and I’m out the door. This was one of the main reasons I wanted the Xtra. I was tired of trying to find the space for the things I needed to take on the bike. I was equally tired of the time it took to carefully organise everything in the bags so it would all fit. I really love the “dump factor” that came with the Xtra. It’s never full. There is always room to stop by the grocery store (or anywhere else) on my way home instead of heading to the house to drop off my commute stuff first.

We did all the usual Xtra stuff right off the bat; bargain “curb side” shopping, brought home the Christmas Tree, loaded it down with $200 + in groceries, etc… whatever came up we had the Xtra. My daughter started taking the Xtra to the library [never enough books] and we were jumping on it for just about any reason.

I have to admit that as Spring crept in I started riding my other bikes more. Long country rambles, brevets, and quick lite-load commutes saw me reaching for the lighter bikes. Now the Xtra has become just what it was intended to be. My cargo bike – “the truck” fun to ride and endlessly useful. It’s the easy choice when I’m headed out the door with an armful of stuff.

Follow the Build

• Xtracycle Build PT1
• Xtracycle Build PT2
• Xtracycle Build PT3
• Xtracycle Build PT4
• Xtracycle Build PT5

Xtracycle Build Pt4

With the bike striped down and the Freeradical attached it was time to re-attach the brakes and rear derailleur. I’ve never messed with the derailleur before so I admit I was intimidated by just the thought of adjusting it.

Here is were things got silly. I re-attached my brakes to the free-radical… my breaks are canti’s. That’s a bad thing. It’s not like I hadn’t read that I needed to use “v” brakes but I initially thought the canti brakes were “v”  brakes. [STOP THAT LAUGHING] they look like a “v” and all…

There are a couple major issues with this:

1. being these brakes won’t work with the freeradical [I know because I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to adjust them]
2. I took the super-nifty extra-long brake cable the people at Xtracycle sent me and cut it [way too short]

bummer dude…

I then re-attached the rear derailleur. As I tried to remove the old derailleur cable I pulled my bar end shifter out of the bar end… which tore my shellacked tan bar tape… [are you laughing again?] Once I had neatly ruined the tape I realized I only had to push the derailleur cable backwards to remove it – no need to touch the bar end shifter.

…but wait it gets better…

I ran the cable, cut what I thought was an appropriate amount of cable housing for the derailleur and put the Rollamajig in and slided the cable onto the derailleur – then I drew a blank – I’m not kidding – I couldn’t figure out how the cable was supposed to be “held tight” to the derailleur.

[I would like to pause this ridiculous story for a disclaimer:]
If you have not done ANY of this before, or worked with the above mentioned components then this is all  NEW to you. The directions that come with the xtracycle assume a certain amount of knowledge and most helper web sites out there do the same. I’m in no way knocking them – it would be impossible to give in-depth step by step instructions because of the vast array of bike configurations – I’m just trying to explain my lameness.
[back to the broadcast]

I was disappointed and tired at this point and went to bed, but not before I put the freeloaders on to at least look at what I was supposed to have.

of course I couldn’t sleep and it didn’t take that long for me to remember I had to loosen TWO things to remove the derailleur. I knew I could fix the derailleur and I did but it took awhile to realize I had run the cable over instead of under the freeradical and needed to change it. Once I did that I tightened the cable and the shifter worked great first try. [go figure]

I attached the freeloaders and snap deck and road the thing to work today – Monday – sans rear break.

I have ordered real “v” brakes and brake leavers [I don't want to use the travel agent] and a tandem brake cable. :p

I did get a little discouraged in the middle of this but all in all I only want to learn more about doing my own work, not less. I understand this is pretty basic stuff but it saved me $150 on the install and I gained a greater confidence level regarding my bike’s maintenance. I’m spending an extra $10 on another cable but I don’t care… good times…

Follow the Build

• Xtracycle Build PT1
• Xtracycle Build PT2
• Xtracycle Build PT3
• Xtracycle Build PT4
• Xtracycle Build PT5

What’s going on here

I had barely hit the publish button on my last post about how to change the average Americans perception on commuting by bike when I saw Xtracycle’s Twitter about this campaign ad.

I think the question to ask here is why would they run this ad?

They wouldn’t run it if they didn’t believe they were connecting with people. Is this really how America perceives cycling? As a “Silly Solution” to the economic and energy problems we face? Not even as it was put forth by the candidate in the ad as one of many solutions.

I know it’s a real solution in our home. I commute by bike and it quite literally saves our family a good deal of money, as well as other benefits I won’t go into now. I also know I’m perceived at work as a little more then different, and my experiences there tell me that most if not all of my co-workers could identify with this ad. I’m not sure if that would change if I were a younger male and not an older female. The bottom line is it’s not normal in this country to get places solely on a bike, and I get more then a few jokes about it.

What I don’t understand is the underling negativity. Why the subtle hostility, in the ad and at the office? How should the cycling community respond? And please, no more of the hate all car users thing. Responding with the same disdain “back at’cha” is hardly helpful here.

One more point I want to bring up is on the same blog: BikePortland that I watched the offensive ad I saw this advertisement:

That’s no race bike in that ad. It’s a commute bike and SOMETHINGS got to be changing in the perception of average individuals for a credit union to be advertising a cycle loan. I understand this is Portland we are talking about but I’m glad thinking is changing somewhere.

I am hoping we are going to see a “fast forward” if you will for the better in peoples perception of cycling and other forms of alternate transportation in a few short years. I think our country is reaching a red line in the economy that isn’t going away any time soon.

We are changing already – just look at me – a 40 something – never really that active in the past – commuting by bike on a daily basis.

Choose the Bike

This guy’s great and has other helpful videos here:

“We firmly believe that the bicycle is an instrument of good. It appears that there are a lot of people around the country that believe this too”

I’m not sure that the bicycle is an instrument of good. I think it can be used that way… It can be used as an instrument of “bad” as well. I’ve seen that too.

Whatever we think about the bicycle as an instrument (…for good, bad, recreation, transportation, inspiration, or for some drivers frustration) I think we as a country are (right now) taking another serious look at it. At the bicycle as a viable contender for getting there.

I know it’s nothing new, there are many of us who already do this and have been for a long while – but I’m talking about Joe-America here. The guy in the cubicle next to you who has been making the loudest fringe jokes about you biking all the time. That guy has got to start thinking about what it’s going to cost him to keep his SUV and mini van fueled and cruising. It’s getting painful, pushing right into his beer money. I usually hear at least one “really savin’ on gas, huh?” on my commutes now.

Biking is not the easy answer though, really – if we’re being honest. Plopping my big bottom down in the front seat and pushing down on the accelerator is the easy answer. I remember vividly my first ride around the neighborhood after years of not riding. A hill was more then a challenge – it was almost enough to make me never do it again. I was out of shape and riding a bike was NOT FUN. I think as cyclists we forget that. We clamor for everyone to ride a bike. Tell them it makes our morning – we get to work refreshed and invigorated. Another truth is it hurts – lots – at first, and people have a hard time getting through that. It’s more then worth it in the end and cycling can quite literally change your life, but how do we help the average – out of shape American make the commitment?

I think Chloe sums up what I’m talking about best in the video above when she says

” It’s a happy thing to do – and I used to be scared of it, ’cause I couldn’t do it… then finally I could do it on my own”.

It’s a great day when you realize there is no hill too steep for you – no ride too long – you can just keep on peddling. It feels tremendous and it’s worth much more then the effort it took to get there. But how do you help people understand that? That the benefits really do outweigh the difficulties. Joe-America looks and says – “I’ll get hot – I’ll get sweaty – I’ll get cold and it’s slippy – I need to carry stuff – I’ll get wet – it’ll get dark” – and he’s right, it’ll be all those things. It’ll also be your health, how you feel each day will change dramatically (sometimes I forget how I used to feel “before the bike”) as well as your energy level.

Riding a bike daily makes your life different – your attitude, appetite and even your sleep patterns. Maybe the bike really is “an instrument for good” it changes peoples lives… it can change your whole life.