Comments on: Ultimate Hippie Commute Unit

Ultimate Hippie Commute Unit

andythebean — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:03:50 -0800

Ultimate Hippie Commute Unit The Xtracycle has been around since the mid-90's. The concept is meant to eliminate the need for panniers , handlebar packs, and traditional trailers, and is currently being sold by a company by the same name. treehugger loves it, this guy built one out of spare parts, and the bicycle company Surly wants to build some themselves. Go ahead, ditch your car!

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:16:29 -0800

I don't understand what a "hippie" is. But neat idea. Asian countries have all sorts of rides like that. The Bike is the worlds most common form of transportation, far outstripping cars and trucks.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:39:17 -0800

Love that, cool.

By: limon

limon — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:39:59 -0800

Are there any bike mechanics around to review the concept? I think it looks really cool. How well would it work for touring? The elongated chain looks vulnerable somehow, but what do I know?

By: boubelium

boubelium — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:50:07 -0800

Now if only they could develop a bike that didn't leave me wet with perspiration when I reached my destination. . .

By: Chinese Jet Pilot

Chinese Jet Pilot — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:51:19 -0800

This is my favorite kind of invention: Seemingly simple, immensely practical.

By: dibblda

dibblda — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:52:45 -0800

The bike is a neat concept. May work well but the chain looks like it may swing side to side a bit....that could lead to erratic shifting/broken chains. A stabilizer/tensioner ala downhill racing bikes may be in order. But then again, I haven't ridden one so maybe it isn't a problem.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:54:47 -0800

Longer chain is not such a problem; people hammer around on tandems and I haven't heard of broken chains being a particular problem, although I did break the chain on a prototype recumbent tandem up on Lemon Hill while watching a big bike race some years ago. But I am a monstrously awesome rider with huge powerful thighs. That said, I don't trust bolt-on rear triangles; I like things like that to be welded, so the Surly "long tails" are certainly an improvement. If I was still a messenger I would think about getting one of these as a cargo bike.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 12:55:29 -0800

dibblda - you're right, chain tensioner would do this thing a lot of good.

By: splatta

splatta — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:08:34 -0800

A friend of mine has one, he uses it to haul everything from groceries, to an extra person. One time he did this.

By: silence

silence — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:14:24 -0800

nope. If you really want to carry a load you need one of these : http://www.christianiabikes.com/

By: adamgreenfield

adamgreenfield — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:15:11 -0800

'Slong as you're trolling for retro descriptors, this is more cyberpunk than hippie, I'd think. You know: peak-oil-dystopia an' all. More to the point, this is really very Asian. I see all kinda cargobike adaptations every time I'm in Seoul, let alone somewhere really bikecentric like Vietnam.

By: schroedinger

schroedinger — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:18:08 -0800

That is about the sweetest thing I've ever seen. I wondered how dudes in more bikecentric countries carried those insane loads--probably through a modification like that?

By: jouke

jouke — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:18:24 -0800

some cargo bikes that are used a lot by parents to bring their kids to school.

By: pumpkin

pumpkin — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:21:34 -0800

My wife is a friend of the guy who started the company, very very cool. He travels to third-world countries to show them how to build their own. I have yet to have bought one, but soon.

By: the Real Dan

the Real Dan — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:22:20 -0800

Jeff hauls stuff with his.

By: keswick

keswick — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:25:44 -0800

some dirt-twirler on my college campus has one.

By: everichon

everichon — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:28:34 -0800

Those Surlys look nice; I would prefer welded to bolted, m'self. That, and dang, I wish those Bakfiets were available around here!

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:36:13 -0800

Those Christiania things are just trikes. They probably handle like a '58 Buick when loaded. Rear-mounted cargo is better. But if you must go with a heavy front end, get a cycle truck. Also, the Christiania site is the worst site yet seen in the current epoch of web design.

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:36:57 -0800

Wow, dirt-twirler. That's actually the second-cleverest thing you've ever posted, keswick.

By: the dief

the dief — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:41:28 -0800

I know a guy who worked for Xtracycle. I still occasionally kick myself for not getting in on his employee discount -- I coulda had one for half price if I'd been on the stick.

By: blue grama

blue grama — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:05:21 -0800

For extra hippie power, add an xtracycle to a recumbent.

By: adamrice

adamrice — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:15:22 -0800

I always thought that if you needed to haul a lot of stuff and refused to use a cargo trike or trailer, a longjohn would be your best bet. I saw a few of these in the Netherlands. Also there I saw a bike messenger riding the completely insane Flevo Trike.

By: Fuzzy Monster

Fuzzy Monster — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:16:22 -0800

I think I'll stick with my good old fashioned couch bike.

By: thecaddy

thecaddy — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:18:17 -0800

I want one of these real bad. And considering I was going to buy a car after graduation . . . this looks like a really good option to avoid doing that. Especially since there's nowhere in Charlottesville I need to go that's further than three miles from my house. The one question I have: would it be better to buy my bike locally and get a conversion kit, or should I just have the whole thing shipped over to here?

By: Mister_A

Mister_A — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:28:29 -0800

Well it seems the Surly model ain't available yet so you may have to settle for the conversion deal right now. Use a local bike shop.

By: hades

hades — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:40:03 -0800

I ditched my car for an Xtracycle-equipped bike last year. It's been awesome. And if I added a Stokemonkey, that would take care of the arriving-wet-with-perspiration problem.

By: Sr_Cluba

Sr_Cluba — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:42:20 -0800

saw a dude with one of these in SOMA - SF. He was a messenger. I was intrigued and asked, "hey man, what is this on your bike." He looked at me like I was Bill Gates and all that is evil, and sneered, "It's just for carrying stuff, if you can't tell." And unfortunately for me, ever since then I hate the sight of these things. But do understand them.

By: Bora Horza Gobuchul

Bora Horza Gobuchul — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 14:46:12 -0800

That's no bike trailer. This is a bike trailer.

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:00:08 -0800

I love that they offer a "no-pressure consultation." Seems like a good product made my good peeps.

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:00:49 -0800

(...BY good peeps.)

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:02:01 -0800

jouke writes "some cargo bikes that are used a lot by parents to bring their kids to school." After several trips to the Netherlands, I found myself very taken with those Bakfiets cargo bikes -- you see them everywhere in Amsterdam -- so I decided I'd take a look and see how much they cost. I almost fainted. I thought Dutch people prided themselves on using the cheapest boneshakers available, so that nobody would be bothered to steal them. Those cargo bikes sell for around £1200 a pop (that's over $2000). I'll stick to my Honda Civic, I think.

By: hades

hades — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:10:02 -0800

Six bags of groceries fit in the Xtracycle, with room on top for strapping down a case of beer or three. With the wideloader add-on, you can carry a 50-gallon rain barrel or big rubbermaid container on each side. There's an accessory that makes it easier to haul long loads than splatta's friend's solution. I've used mine to carry an oak half-barrel. Sure, a fully-tricked out Xtracycle or a Bakfiets is expensive. But having gotten rid of my car, I could buy a new cargo bike every couple years and still save money by not paying for auto insurance, fuel and maintenance. I live within three miles of my job, and there are multiple supermarkets and farmer's markets within easy biking distance of my house. Also, I have a Flexcar membership and a bus pass. That helps a lot. Replacing your car with a cargo bike isn't for everyone. But when it's possible, I highly recommend giving it a try.

By: elwoodwiles

elwoodwiles — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:38:47 -0800

I see these around quite often, actually, to the point that I stopped noting them. (That's not to say I'm too cool, but that the bikes are actually in regular use by regular folk.) I've been wanting one as a second (okay, I guess it'd be a third bike) for going to the grocery, hardware, farmer's market &c.

By: scruss

scruss — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:46:45 -0800

Burrows's 8 Freight [PDF] is cooler. The Xtracycle can't be "ultimate"; where's the full chainguard to keep the guck off you and on the chain? I used to see a couple in Glasgow riding one of these. They'd take turns one on the front, the other surfing on the back. Cool ,but ill-advised.

By: anthill

anthill — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:58:02 -0800

Not a freight bike, but I'd just love one of Hase's hybrid recumbents... compact and twice the horsepower...

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 16:01:49 -0800

Bonus Feature: They don't look like they could kill a pedestrian as easily as other speedy-speed bikes. (But I bet somebody's got a link to prove me wrong...)

By: gottabefunky

gottabefunky — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 17:39:35 -0800

So how exactly is one of these better than a Bob Yak trailer?

By: Listener

Listener — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 18:28:09 -0800

"I'll stick to my Honda Civic, I think." Sure, but how much does gas and insurance for that Honda come to each year? (Also maintenance, which is going to be less for that fancy bike than for a car.) Add that up for a couple years and you have your bike more than paid for.

By: keswick

keswick — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 21:12:44 -0800

Bikes are great if your job consists of blogging and posting links to your friends' websites. Most people have big boy jobs where they have to dress like grown-ups instead of jeans and threadless t-shirts.

By: ryanrs

ryanrs — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 21:27:20 -0800

Bora Horza Gobuchul wrote: That's no bike trailer. This is a bike trailer. YES. Bikes At Work trailers are the only serious work trailers I've ever come across. They're rated for 300 lbs, but I've found that even 400 lbs is OK if you pump up the tires a bit.

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 22:57:20 -0800

Looks like it might be possible to create a convertible extracycle.. That might be cool. It seems to me that those Yak trailers are very restrictive on the loading. Of course they also look very nimble and compact.. I got myself a trailer last year. An old 2 child Bell, that I moded with a cargo platform. I love it, but it isn't nimble, at all.

By: PeterMcDermott

PeterMcDermott — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 01:33:02 -0800

Listener writes "'I'll stick to my Honda Civic, I think.' "Sure, but how much does gas and insurance for that Honda come to each year? (Also maintenance, which is going to be less for that fancy bike than for a car.) Add that up for a couple years and you have your bike more than paid for." It all comes to much less than the cost of the train tickets I'd have to buy if I didn't own it, sadly. I'd be happy to deal with the inconvenience of waiting for public transport, and even my inability to smoke for hours on end, if it wasn't so goddamned expensive here in the UK. Also, I don't much fancy my chances of picking up a couple of hundredweight of sand and cement, and seventy-odd square meters of oak flooring from Costco on one of those bikes -- both things that I've used my Honda for in the last week. (OK, the flooring took me four trips, but it would have taken me seventy-odd trips on a pushbike and my heart would have asploded in the process.)

By: sneebler

sneebler — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 07:06:02 -0800

keswick: Bikes are great if your job consists of blogging and posting links to your friends' websites. Most people have big boy jobs where they have to dress like grown-ups instead of jeans and threadless t-shirts. Nonsense. I ride 12km back and forth to my job in the big shiny building downtown, and there are lots of people in our company who do the same. Some of us don't smell so shiny, but dude! my thighs are like rock!! We're lucky though, we have room to change.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 08:36:25 -0800

keswick writes "Most people have big boy jobs where they have to dress like grown-ups instead of jeans and threadless t-shirts." What they don't have washrooms are your work place?

By: everichon

everichon — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 10:05:25 -0800

~~Most~~ Some fortunate people have big boy jobs that provide a shower and changing room for bike commuters. Like mine does.

By: NewBornHippy

NewBornHippy — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 20:13:51 -0800

Most people have big boy jobs where they have to dress like grown-ups instead of jeans and threadless t-shirts. Some people are so much of big boys at their job that they can force their employers to let them work from home (or else.)

By: jouke

jouke — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 08:09:26 -0800

civic vs bakfiets: it's not really a choice. Most families still have a car but use the bike for getting the kids from school. Of course there are chinese knock-offs that are a lot cheaper.

By: jouke

jouke — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 08:13:21 -0800

I thought Dutch people prided themselves on using the cheapest boneshakers available, so that nobody would be bothered to steal them. It's a bit sad that we ride bikes so much and they have to be so bad. I regularly have to chase away the junks at the railway station; they are using pavement flags as big hammers to smash the locks. No pride here, as you can tell.