Rans Rides and Flies
All of us here at Xtracycle try our best to live interesting, creative lives, but Randy Schlitter at Rans Aircraft and Bicycle puts some of us a bit to shame on that front. The name of his company says a lot - that’s right, bikes AND aircraft. Why not? Schlitter has been manufacturing all manner of things for a few decades now, and air and land sometimes meet - he proudly showed us a new long rack for carrying huge, closed cargo bags on one of his touring recumbents, then told us he had made the rack and the bag hangers out of aircraft aluminum scrap he had lying around.
What inspired this latest build? “It was a direct result of people asking us about the Xtracycle. People wished for a rack to fit on their Rans. You [Xtracycle] have pushed the culture and showed people they could do this.” He has also hooked a FreeRadical kit up to more than a few of his bikes, making them formidable, fast longtails. Among other things, he has also built over the years a trike to haul a large wooden wagon to haul his three kids (after the fourth, he admits he sometimes started using a minivan to haul them all around at once), and something he dubbed the Tricerical, a trike with a helicopter front to keep out the weather. We love innovations like these and also take a lot of inspiration from people like Schlitter who proudly states that “I’ve always lived on my bike.”
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