My "new" wheels!

On May 30th, I finally got my Xtracycle FreeRadical hitchless trailer installed! Now I have an S.U.B. (Sport Utility Bike) Here are some before and after pictures. Sorry they're not quite the same angle. In both pictures the front tire is all the way to the wall. That will give you an idea of how LONG my bike is now!































Because it is a very unusual bike, I've met lots of people on the few rides I've taken with it! It is definitely a conversation starter! Today a kid I passed told his mom I had a cool bike! :-)

I've only taken about 4 rides with it so far, but I already like it! It really doesn't seem to handle much different than a regular bike as long as I remember it is longer and wider. (The optional wideloaders are currently installed to give me more package hauling ability).

Since my apartment is on 2nd floor, I thought it would be a lot harder to get the bike up the stairs. Nope. It's actually easier, believe it or not! In the picture above, look below the fire extinguisher. You will see a slightly curved silver bar near the bottom of the bike frame. I grab that and haul it up the stairs. Before the Xtracycle, I had to hoist the whole thing over my shoulder and carry it up. Not fun after a long, tiring ride! The folks at Xtracycle call it GravityAdvantage JuJu. I even carried it down the stairs with a 15lb box strapped on it. (Down is easier. Later I had a different 15 lb load. I took it off before going up!)

The other day I borrowed my friends kids to see how it handled with people/heavier loads. Two of the kids got on. It was slightly wobbly as we started because we were going slow out the driveway because of the way their curb is. Didn't want anyone to fall off! The four year old wanted off. The six year old got on. I warned him it would be just a little wobbly until we got going. He decided he didn't want to go down the hill. (He walks his bike down all hills because he hates them.) OK, so it's down to just me and the 9 year old. He loved it and said his mom should get one! He did think we were going a little fast down the hill, so I slowed down & lost my momentum to make it up the next one. I warned him I was going to stand up to pedal the rest of the way up the hill and it might wobble just a little. Surprisingly, there was only a slight wobble. I had worse wobble with my old setup carrying a 25 lb box. He weighs a little over 60 lbs. Barely noticed him there except the big hills. But it didn't feel like I was pulling that much weight. Never thought I'd say that about a load that size!

I also went to the grocery store this week. I took my cooler since it's been so hot this week and I need to pick up some ice and other refrigerated stuff. The cooler & contents weighed at least 15 lbs. Balancing the load on both sides is better, but didn't really have an option in this case. Didn't make a difference. Handled beautifully! Here's a picture:














Today on the way home from running some errands, a cyclist going the other direction gave me a thumbs up and hollered, "Nice Xtracycle!" Wow! Not that many people actually know what it is! He turned around and caught up to me. Turns out he's the only other guy I know of in town that has one! His bike is actually in the shop right now for some work and he was riding one without the "X". I had actually seen his when I was at the shop! It's taken some abuse. He rode cross country on it with his dogs. He's planning an "around the US" tour now.

Yep, I'm glad I bought my Xtracycle. Now I can't wait for the Stokemonkey to be released!