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So I came across this the other day while reading a bike commuting blog that I subscribe to. It's called an xtracycle. I think it's cool. It's sorta the "pickup truck" of bikes. This picture is of one of their "ready-made" xtracycles that you can buy complete. However, they sell a conversion kit that should work for most hard-tail bikes, which includes road bikes. Now, I don't think I could bear to convert my road cycle into a xtracycle. To me that would be like strapping a pickup truck bed on the back of a Corvette. In this case it would work, but it would ruin the bike for doing what I love to do with it, which is going fast for a long period of time. However, I have an old mountain bike that I don't really ride much that would be perfect. It's a hardtail, it's a steel frame, and has no suspension fork. I kinda look at it like a pickup truck. Most pickup trucks really aren't that great off road, although they can usually go there if necessary, it isn't that great on the road either, but they're durable and can carry stuff. If I turned this bike into an xtracycle it would be basically the same. I wouldn't really want to ride it off road, or long distance, but I could carry a ton of stuff (relatively speaking). Now the real question is, is this useful for me?
The short answer is, probably no. I don't think I'd want to do my current commute on it, and I don't do enough errands close to my house for it to really pay off. When I do bike commute I do it on my road bike, because it's 15 miles each way, and the road bike is the fastest and most comfortable way I can get there. I really wish I had a use for this thing, but I just don't see it right now. Unfortunately I'm like most people, so I really don't think there will be a huge market in the states for this thing. I blame American suburban sprawl for most of it. It's one of the major reasons more people don't bike commute. I feel like I have a reasonably short commute by car, compared to most people, and I'm on the edge of where I feel comfortable bike commuting from. 30 miles of riding each day isn't realistic for most people. If I lived in the city, my commute by car might be the same time wise as it is now, but mileage wise it would likely be 1/5 - 1/3 of my current commute. However, I really don't want to live in the city nor work in the city. So I live and work in the burbs, and drive 30 miles a day. For something like the xtracycle to really take off, I'd have to do most of my "trips" within about a 5 mile circle of my house. For me right now the only place I go regularly that is in that circle is the grocery store. Almost every place I go to regularly is over 5 miles from my house (church, work, school, shopping centers, friends houses). I'd love to do my grocery shopping by bike, but to buy a bike just for that, just doesn't seem like it would pay off, especially when I can combine the grocery trip with other trips, which basically saves the same amount of gas.
Anyway, I figured I'd mention the xtracycle, just because I think it is a cool product, and hopefully I'm wrong and there are those out there that would have a real use for it, in the US. In Europe I'm sure they could use it.
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| | Posted 9/23/2008 12:31 PM - 25 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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