Supporting Lives and Communities

Xtracycle's vision might have started in the third world, but we've learned that transportation and community ride tandem across the globe. Regardless of whether you live in an agrarian village or amidst urban sprawl, our aim is to build a bond between our customers' lifestyles and the surrounding community. Our philosophy is simple: It isn't the bike that defines a person. It's the people, places, and adventures experienced along the ride.

Striving For Simplicity

We understand that the modern world operates at breakneck speed. Freeways are cluttered, errands are always looming, and there never seems to be enough time to get everything done. That's why we put simplicity first. By crafting highly customizable, cargo-friendly bikes we've set out to create a sensible and affordable alternative to automobile dependence. No fluctuating fuel prices, no traffic, and no handlebar balancing acts -- just get on and go.

Fostering Excitement and Adventure

What is adventure? For some it's riding through traffic during the morning commute. For others, it's zipping down a trail while toting passengers and cargo. Either way, we're all about empowering our customers to experience life in new and exciting ways. Over the years we've loaded up everything from surf boards, computers, passengeners, tents -- you name it. And, even after 15 years, our community continues to surprise us by incorporating their longtails in new and audacious activities.

Working Toward Positive Change

Everyone's heard the saying, "be the change you want to see." One of our ongoing missions is to work and live within this credo. As avid cyclists, we're fans of riding's health benefits, but we're committed to promoting its environmental and social advantages as well. We believe our bikes have the capacity to put a dent in our customers' carbon footprints, but we're also realists. A single company can't save the entire world. But, even if we never quite get there, we'd love to have you along for the ride.

Products that Engage

Far from building toys that invite you to 'unplug,' Xtracycle products are designed to be your key to engagement; riding to work becomes a substitute for spinning idly at the gym, time in 'traffic' transforms into quality time with yourself and your kids. We love the notion of stacking functions, and turning 'wasted' time into timeless memories. If you've ever relished the labor of home grown carrots, spent weekends remodeling your house, trained for a triathalon, or parented a child, you know what we're talking about. No one said this was going to be easy - but damn if we're not having a blast.

Long is the New Fast

Xtracycle products unlock healthy futures and creative growth for people, families, neighborhoods and communities. As product designers, we strive to empower people to maximize their enjoyment of life while mitigating their environmental footprint. Within the bicycle world, we are interested in creating products built around 'resiliency,' not merely 'efficiency.'

The Right Tool for the Job

Xtracycle prefers to see our customers as more than a commodity - you are our community. As a result, we cannot help but respect you, and we offer our products to you in a modular way. Honestly, nothing feels better than getting just the right tool for the job, and then finding out that that tool has multiple uses. We create our products with as many opportunities for extension as possible, trusting that you know best exactly how your set up will equip you for success.

Xtracycle: The Original Longtail Company

Xtracycle isn't just another bicycle company. It's a labor of love devoted to the evolution of simple, versatile, and sustainable transportation. After 15 years of development in locales like Nicaragua, Kenya, and Stanford University's engineering labs, we're proud to be producing a full line of bicycles and accessories fit for cargo, passengers, and everyday adventures.

Our Commitment

As a company we are committed to healthy business practices that support our employees, our community, and our earth. As individuals, we are inclined to work incredibly hard to achieve our vision of bikes becoming viewed as viable transportation for most of our trips, most of the time, but we also want to support one another in having time to share with our friends, our families, our bikes. We like to think of doing business as gardening - gone are the days when pesticides were the ideal solution for dealing with the proverbial pests; now we must engage the process to create healthy and holistic solutions to the challenges we face. As a company we are inspired by honesty, accountability, and creative problem solving. Xtracycle donates 5% of its profit to Worldbike to further the development of Xtracycle-like solutions worldwide.

XC World Headquarters

Our global headquarters is located in sunny Oakland, California, and we're distributed in 6 countries and 4 continents. For up to date news on what's going on in the shop (or in the community), be sure to drop by the company blog, follow us on Twitter and fan us on Facebook.

A Fifteen Year Journey

A longtime fan of the bicycle as a simple, efficient, fun, affordable, and clean means of transport, Ross Evans set out in the spring of 1995 to fill a gap in its potential. In his travels and work in the developing world, especially Central America, he noted that while bicycles were abundant, they weren’t as useful to people as they could be. There was an obvious need for cargo-carrying capacity that the conventional bicycle doesn’t offer. A passage from his design journal from that time asks, “What is the cheapest, lightest, simplest, most maneuverable, most adaptable, strongest way to carry cargo with a bicycle?” During the following four years, while pursuing graduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Latin American Studies, Ross worked on answering that question. With grant funding from several organizations, he traveled from Managua to Havana to Johannesburg evolving the Xtracycle design with input from headloaders, paper collectors, farmers and engineers. In 1998, Kipchoge Spencer joined him to launch a company to bring the product into the world.

Where They Are Today

Our Suppliers

Xtracycle has worked with the same suppliers since day one. We moved our core production to Taiwan when it became evident that the expertise and infrastructure for production bicycle manufacturing was well established there. We celebrate the re-emergence of bicycle building movement in the states and anticipate that we will shift production of products stateside whenever we can. In Taiwan we choose to work with small factories where we can observe working practices, speak to the workers and share meals with them and their management. Our suppliers are like family, and we are proud to have them on our team. We are committed to all members of the Xtracycle supply chain being supported and nourished by the process.