Welcome to the Monsanto version of bike building, wherein all of the great parts of individual bikes are conjoined and con-fused into a super-being heretofore unknown to science. Today we’ll be showing you a few ideas from the Xtracycle drawing boards , and a few items that your host, Peter, has decided to add to his own xtracycle.

This fellow has been under constant construction for about six months now. Some things have worked better than others at this point, but all in all it’s a fun bike to ride. You’ll notice a few major differences from your standard xtracycle, including a custom kickstand and a long (some would say too long….) snap deck.

I’m going to throw this one in here just because it’s such a great way to store a lock. Kryptonite supplies a neat little hanger with their U-lock that doesn’t require you to fasten the lock over it. Instead, it slides in from the front, and clicks into place. Plus, it has little rubber bumpers on the lock itself that keep it from rattling around. So the upshot is that you don’t have to carry the lock around in your bags. The downside is that it’s less accessible as a threatening heavy object in traffic altercations. Not that we condone that sort of thing.

You’re looking at a short version of the stoker bars that are so popular among Xtracycle people. These are built with a stubby road stem with an aluminum shim. It uses old handlebar tape, and a wine cork to keep it all in place. Not only is it a great handhold for riders, but is also great for picking the bike up over obstacles.

Bamboo snap deck! It’s a strange 1/8″ bamboo-and-doorskin laminate that I had laying around from my ipod case design days, laminated together for a thicker material. (If you undertake something similar, remember that symmetrical layers will help minimize warping) The bamboo is a great dent-resistant surface (harder than oak, by far) and has a beautiful look to it. The coating is a water-based rattle-can urethane, in three light coats. The screws are countersunk to offer a smooth loading surface.

The front end wraps around the special section of tube that some Trek and Bontrager frames have atop the seat stays. The idea behind this is that the bike/freeRad system can flex within the vertical plane, yet keep the whole mess from twisting between the seat tube and the rear axle. It works okay, but I have a few changes yet still to make it really solid.

This is actually more of a prototype. I just point it out for those of you who see it in other photos. It’s a kickstand that offers a level loading platform. You may have seen its big brother at Interbike. We’re still working on the details of construction, so it won’t be out on the market for a little while. One cool part of the design I found is that it’s really easy to slide the plastic feet around on a concrete floor, which lets you get the bike into some tight space easily. You’ll also see that I looped the chain over the “front bridge” of the FreeRad.

Hot Metal! The first is a fender mount on the rear, which works great. The next is a custom disc brake mount, because my old frame lacked one. The holes are partly to lighten the part, and partly to help equalize the relative thermal mass of the part versus the frame. The trick with welding or brazing is to balance the heat in both parts that are being attached. My joints still look lumpy, though. The third photo is the front fender mount, which also works great. The fourth is an ex-brakepost-mount that was press-ganged into service as a FreeRad tongue mount. It works great, although I’ve had to shim a small piece of plastic to keep down squeaks.

Cable routing. I’m under the impression that minimizing the amount of cable housing present in a system will minimize sponginess in the brakes. I can’t say that I’ve noticed a huge difference, but it’s certainly novel. I cut the cable hangers from a cheap bike and braed them in strategic spots. All of the cables are running under the bottom bracket, so the top tube is visually clean. The cable stops on the FreeRad are situated as close to the mechanism as possible, and point directly at the BB. So I end up with only about 5 inches of housing at the end. This depends on a disc brake and a SRAM derailleur for this configuration.

Painting. This is a spray can job. I stripped the paint with a wire brush, used Bondo (evil stuff, that) on the pits and dents, and applied an auto primer. Actually, an SUV primer. Whatever. Then an auto paint and gloss coat over that. It doesn’t resist chips at all. I’m never going to do it again. I’m just going to drop $75 at the local powder coater’s next time. I went over the whole thing with silver lacquer to detail some little curlicues and other snazzy stuff.

All in all, it’s a work in progress. I’m trying to keep myself from spending too much cash on snazzy bike parts right now (I need snow tires for my car, perversely enough) so there are a few parts I still want to swap out. But it’s a hobby that keeps me out of a life of crime and sinful behavior, so it must be good.

We’d love to hear more about your projects on the Roots Radicals list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rootsradicals/ . Flickr.com is a great way to share photos for this, too.

Cheers,

Peter

Posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 11:25 am. Please leave a reply, trackback from your own site, or read more .