This is big mountain camping.  This is the official announcement for the Tour de Plumas, june 27-30. For those of you wanting, begging… nay, pleading to know what the trip is, refer to the belowmentioned writeup of the previous trip.  We are repeating the trip with some minor changes to the route and itinerary to make the whole shebang a little less grueling and a little more wahoo-esque.  Basically it will be a long mountain bike trip covering a lot of elevation, with long climbs and some short sections of technically challenging stuff.  We will eat may calories and see some of the untamed logging trails of the Sierra Nevada.  The schedule is as follows:  We will leave on the evening of thursday the 26th (five hour car ride), then ride and camp for the next three days and nights.  We will ride down and return to the bay area on Monday the 30th.  If a majority of those interested think that three days of riding is simply too much fun to be had at once, we may abbreviate the trip by a day.  The itinerary gives each day a long climb, a neat showpiece downhill, and a pleasant camping spot. What’s expected gear wise?  Food for three days, summer camping gear, four liters of water capacity, a mountainally functionable bike that can carry all that stuff reliably.  We of course recommend the Xtracycle.  Front shocks are nice but you can probably do without if you have to.  Knobby tires will help.  Our Fearless Leader will provide maps and guidance for the lost-prone.  You’ll be expected to cover the cost of your food, and we may allocate responsibility for one meal between everyone, if the numbers are right.   Email peter at xtracycle dot com if you’re interested in joining this ride.  We’re leaving from Oakland, so if that seems doable for you, give it a think-over.  We’ll provide a more detailed list of required gear and expectations of basic human decency as a group member. Yeah. I mean yeah.  Really 

http://www.dothetest.co.uk/
A powerful advert on awareness. And hilarious.

A number of Big Dummy customers have expressed concern about whether or not the Big Dummy will allow the Pea Pod to be attached. Indeed, the Pod is designed to fit the struts to the seatstays of your bike. The Big Dummy doesn’t exactly have seat stays in the same place as a regular bike. As a result, you must attach the Pea Pod to the Xtracycle V-racks. The struts on the Pea Pod are set such that you must either run them on the inside of the Xtracycle V-racks, forcing the V-racks out…or you can run them on the outside of the V-racks pushing them in. The snap deck works in the former situation, though isn’t perhaps as secure as it could be.  When running the struts outside, the V-rack decidedly will not fit.  As you will see in the photos, our 2nd Prototype TekDeck will work with the PeaPod struts running outside. But the length of the TekDeck doesn’t accommodate another passenger behind the PeaPod. *TekDecks, by the way, will be available later this year.

 As much as I love to talk endlessly about the virtues of working bikes in the city, my true love is the mountains.  Today I’m going to show you some shots of the Tour de Plumas ride that I organized in the summer of 2006.  And lest you think we’re just going to rest on our laurels of years past, we’re going to organize a similar trip to the hills this summer with whoever we can dig up.  This means you.  Even if you’re not in the Greater San Francisco Urban Bleed-Out, I want to invite you to organize similar trips with your friends, or regionally through the Roots Radical yahoo group.  (more…)

I’ve probably set up and ridden 10 different Xtracycle rigs over the last 5 years.  It’s been a bit of an obsession, finding the perfect pairing of bike and Freerad, the right gearing arrangement, the right riding position.   I’ve moved away from mountain bike style handlebars, even on my mountain bikes.  The purported handling benefits of traditional mountain bike bars seem to be at the expense of your visibility, comfort, ease and style.  Sipping a coffee while riding the Big Dummy is easy, so is snapping a photo.  In fact, you (more…)

Available to preorder in our store.Big Dummy Complete for $1799, Big Dummy Frame/Fork for $899.  Quantities are limited.

Introducing the Surly Big Dummy

Have you seen the spew?

http://www.surlybikes.com/spew19.html

Everything you ever wanted to know about you know who.

Check out the poster above for the details, but essentially, the waiting list is now open for the official Xtracycle spec of Surly’s LONG awaited Big Dummy longtail frame - the stoutest vehicle for every day adventure ever invented. Needless to say we’re thrilled with the thing, and we think you’ll love the way we’ve tricked it out. We’ve selected parts that are durable, look great, and don’t break the bank.

Xtracycle will have 55 Big Dummies slated for sale, come March 15th (date not confirmed, only estimated). You can call or e-mail now to get on the waiting list with no deposit. (call 888-537-1401 or email info@xtracycle.com) Once we’ve finalized the price by the 15th of January (give or take), we’ll contact those on the list to get payment for the bike, which will put you on the pre-sales list.

Folks can choose to remain on the waiting list and take their chances. Putting down a full deposit guarantees you a longtail built to last a lifetime. Note that there are four sizes (16″, 18″, 20″ 22″) and we only have a total of 55 units, so quantities for each size are limited. These will sell out before they make it to our headquarters.

See the details of our spec on the poster - click the image above, which will take you to flickr. Click “view all sizes” to read the fine print. We’ll have this info up on our site in about a week or so!

And no, they’re not available in pink. (We tried).

A holiday tale of hauling a Xmas tree by Xtracycle entitled “Biking in a Winter Wonderland”. Click to read full story in the Ottawa Citizen.

…

“A couple of summers ago, when Juergen offered to take me for a ride, I successfully refused. However, here we are, at the Christmas tree lot, and about to entrust one of the pivotal symbols of the season to this “LWB” (long-wheel-base) bicycle, so how can I refuse? I must show faith.

I grimace and Juergen counsels: “You straddle it like a horse,” indicating the plank behind him. “But don’t stand where the cargo goes.”

I am now precariously astride. I wonder where I should put my feet but with a lurch, we are mobile and I am too busy hanging on to ask.

I hadn’t thought of it as we circled the parking lot, but after dismounting I realize that the drag coefficient must’ve been something else. Yet there was no slipping of the tires on the snow-packed pavement as Juergen’s feet gripped the BMX pedals and he put his weight into moving mine.

“Carbide studs in the tires,” he explained with a wink. “This bike has electric assist but we didn’t need it.”

Our laughter has brought lot attendant Dan Simard from the small house trailer that is his December home. He tells us that this is his ninth year selling Christmas trees.
“Anyone ever come before on a bicycle?” I inquire. “Only him,” he says and points at Juergen. Gee, why does that not surprise me?

Prana Visit from Xtracycle and the 2 Mile Challenge, originally uploaded by xtracycleinc.

Mike Hill of Prana took this shot when the Clif Bar Two Mile Challenege rolled through southern california.

I don’t know if this was a conscious spoof on Xtracycle co-founder Ross Evan’s yoga shot of Darren Rhodes from Tucson’s legendary Yoga Oasis.

Regardless, the Xtracycle-Yoga connection is clear, apparently, it’s just not always clean.

Check more great photos from Mike’s website of the visit here: www.mikehill.com/data/web/2mile/. Really, not to be missed.