Familia de tres Xtracycles

Left to right: Xtracycle Schwinn Panther (big sis), Xtracycle Breezer Villager (mom), and Surly Big Dummy (dad and lil' sis)

After an Xtracycle on long term loan was recently returned, we now have three longtail cargo bikes in the bike barn. During the time the loaned Xtracycle was absent, big sister grew enough to be able to ride it. Since about the age of three, when she first started riding as co-pilot on the Big Dummy, she's been talking about having a longtail of her own. Now she does. There are not likely too many 10 year-olds in command of a cargo bike, so it will be interesting to see what sort of adventures it inspires.

In other news, little sister is on the brink of moving up from 12" wheels to 16" wheels. Out of storage comes our 16 inch-wheeled Schwinn Trixie, an old friend that has seen a string of riders in our family. This venerable steed is a great introductory dirt bike for our local suburban singletrack, and has logged hundreds of miles and scorched thousands of skid marks. With a little tune up, it'll be ready for many more.

Speedster

Yesterday was the first time that we all took a ride together, each on our own bikes. Little sister has no problem keeping up for most of the distance of our neighborhood loop. When she gets tired, she hops on the Big Dummy, along with her Strider. She's already asked about a bike with pedals, which I have waiting in the wings, but I want her to further improve her handling skills before I make the introduction.

DIY Longtail of the future: Xtracycle MegaRack

A Surly Krampus with a MegaRack and kid seat. Looks like fun. Images in this post are from Xtracycle.

I ordinarily post only photos and content that I've created, though I occasionally make an exception. This is one of those occasions. The images in this post came from a Google Hangouts video hosted today by Ross Evans of Xtracycle, in which he announced a replacement to the vaunted Xtracycle Freeradical bolt-on kit that was retired last year. I have long been a fan and DIY enthusiast of Xtracycle, and beside my Big Dummy, have owned two Xtracycle Freeradicals.

The new Xtracycle bolt-on looks to be an improved and more capable design, called the MegaRack. It is designed to be considerably more beefy and stable than the old Freeradical, with versions for multiple tire/wheel sizes, including 29+. For me, this is great news, as in the past few years, I've discovered that 29-inch wheels are more compatible with my height and preferred fit of a bike, and the larger diameter wheels excel for much of how I ride.

Functional though it may be, the Xtracycle Edgerunner never appealed much to me, with its 20-inch rear wheel. I understand that designing a cargo bike around a smaller diameter wheel lowers the center of gravity and makes for a stronger wheel, but small wheels are not ideal for the rough surfaces where I like to go, and make for a more jarring ride elsewhere. I've nearly maxed out the clearance on my Big Dummy with 26" x 2.3" tires, so the possibility of going much bigger has me cogitating. As a matter of fact, with a set of 29+ wheels, the new MegaRack would make an unsuspended 29er like my Monocog 29er quite a viable supersized cargo and passenger machine. It's hard to say when or if I'll get my hands on a MegaRack, but it appears to be more than worthy of consideration.

CAD images of the MegaRack design. Via Xtracycle.

A MegaRack on a folding bike. For this, 20-inch wheels make sense. Via Xtracycle.

Ross showing the new, more stout chainstay bridge connector. Welcome indeed. Via Xtracycle. 

Sprucing up the Big Dummy

The before photo; rear rack, deck and bags removed.

After 5 1/2 years of mostly trouble free riding, a few things on the Dummy have been hanging out on the pending maintenance list, perhaps a bit too long. Last weekend, I finally got to some of them, but not before taking a ride with the girls to enjoy the great weather with a picnic.

Current primary Big Dummy co-pilot and little sister.

Former primary Big Dummy co-pilot, occasional Big Dummy caboose rider, and big sister. Lael's old glasses undoubtedly make her faster.

After the ride, first up was to swap out some cable housing. The housing has suffered more than any other part from the weather and inattention to which the bike has been exposed as a kid hauler/utility beast over the years. Because it still shifted fine, I had been comfortable in my neglect, but the time for action had arrived. A Big Dummy is a big bike with what seems like miles of cables and housing. With a swept back handlebar that makes the housing jut forward before eventually arching rearward, not to mention the fact that it is a lanky 22" frame, the noodle-y effect seems even more exaggerated.

A crack in the housing near the junction with the head tube had been there long enough for the exposed compression cables to rust.

Another crack just past where the housing exits from the front shifter. 

Refurbishing the housing sucked up much of a roll of the derailleur housing I had on hand, which happened to be blue.

Just prior to my decision to tackle some much needed maintenance, I decided to see how a Surly Open Bar felt on the Dummy, in comparison to the Nitto Albatross bar that had lived on the bike since I first put it together in 2008. As I happened to have one around, I quickly swapped the bars just before taking the earlier ride with the girls. By the time we arrived back at home, I knew the Surly Open Bar was on the bike to stay.

A Surly Open Bar, this one with the 40 mm rise, is wider than a Nitto Albatross.

The Nitto Albatross has perhaps a bit more rise than the +40 mm Surly Open Bar.

The Nitto Albatross and Surly Open Bar are both great handlebars for enabling a comfortable upright riding position, which is especially useful for seeing and being seen in traffic around town. Both are made of high quality chromoly steel, have minimal but pleasant flex, and a nice swept back profile.

As much as I've enjoyed the position and shape of the Nitto Albatross on the Dummy, at a mere 560 mm wide, it feels far too narrow as compared to the much wider bars that I now have on some of my other bikes. The Surly Open Bar is 666 mm wide, which is a bit better, but what I'd really like is a bar of similar shape in the range of 750 mm or so wide. I've become a huge fan of the Salsa Rustler 2 bar on my Monocog, but would prefer something with much more sweep and a bit more rise if installed on the Dummy. To my knowledge, a truly wide, highly swept, good quality, modern riser bar does not exist.

Both Maxxis Larsen TT tires had developed goathead induced slow leaks that I'd been nursing for a few weeks. 

Next up were the tires. The Dummy has been shod in a pair of Maxxis Larsen TT 2.0" tires for about the past three years. The Larsens have been terrific tires, with low rolling resistance and just the right amount of traction whether on or off pavement. They don't excel in mud, but that's not a common surface around here. They have held up exceedingly well, and I couldn't say enough positive about them, though I'd probably prefer the 2.35" to the 2.0" version. However, time and miles had taken their toll, with the tread wearing thin and the sidewalls beginning to separate near the bead.

As I have perhaps too much tire stock on hand, instead of buying another pair of Larsens, I chose a pair of mildly used Specialized Roll-X 2.0" tires that have been in my bike barn for some time. They have more aggressive knobs than the Larsens, but are no-frills and have a less fancy casing with standard steel beads. The rims on the Dummy are Mavic X 823 UST-compatible tubeless, which I've had for several years but always run with tubes. Until now, that is.

I installed a couple of Mavic tubeless valve stems, mounted the tires, squirted in 2 ounces of Stan's and pumped 'em up with a compressor. One bead on each tire needed a little encouragement to pop into place, but after that, they were good to go. I didn't have to do any Gorilla Tape chicanery with the tubeless specific rims. Three bikes in my fleet are now tubeless, each by a slightly different method, but I can't see going back to using tubes unless absolutely necessary.

The after photo. There are still a few tasks left to do, but the Big Dummy is revitalized.

I ran out of available time before completing a few other maintenance tasks, but the Dummy already feels a lot happier. It's about due for some somewhat more intensive bearing work, and the Freeloader saddle bags need some repair work, but I have no doubt that the bike is up for just about anything. This is easily the most useful bike I've ever owned, and I look forward to many more years of harnessing its utility.

Regresamos de México

This kid personified the joy of biciclettas. Note his bikey t-shirt.

It seems that I'm always making some flimsy excuse for not providing timely updates to this blog, but this time, it's a solid excuse. To commemorate 20 years of matrimonial bliss, Mrs. Big Dummy Daddy and I took a trip to Mexico. In fact, this was our first non family-related destination, kidless trip since our 10th anniversary, so we were well overdue.

We found Baja California Sur to be a terrific place to get some sun, spectacular food and drinks, and recharge our batteries. However, the bike element of the trip was passive, limited to spectating the vibrant array of pedal powered life visible almost everywhere. That's right; seven days without a ride. You won't hear me complain though.

I'll post something more red-meat-ish regarding bikes before long, but in the mean time, here are a few random photos from our trip. Some are with bikes and some without.

Another pic of the kid above.

A nice bike lane with bump separators, and protected by traffic control personnel.

Lots of bike traffic in the bike lane, and no helmets to be seen. Residents and tourists alike made good use.

Pedal-powered vendors were omnipresent.

We had this beach nearly to ourselves.

The only other occupants were a mare and her filly.

A cliff with an arch tunnel on Isla Partida.

That's a sea lion underwater. We did some snorkeling and they swam around us.

367 consecutive days on a bike, and counting...

My bike barn in the gloaming of a late Fall sunset.

This oft neglected blog has once again fallen by the wayside in the face of all of the things that tend to demand attention toward the end of the year. However, I would be remiss not to report that I've crossed over the symbolic milestone of having ridden a bike every consecutive day for more than a year, of this past Tuesday. Counting today, the number stands at 367. It all began with the TSBC Challenge last year.

I have long had bikes as a pivotal element of my life, but had never kept track of a streak of consecutive days ridden. I don't track miles ridden, as that isn't really feasible for me, but none of my rides in the past year could be considered particularly noteworthy. Most were fairly antithetical to being epic, with rides on the majority of days capturing some combination of transportation, research purposes as part of my job, social activities, dog exercise, or family fun. Regardless of purpose, I feel better after every ride than I did before.

During the past year, my bike experiences have included:

• riding nearly every bike I own (causing me to evaluate those that weren't ridden)
• riding some bikes that I do not own, most of which were borrowed from bike sharing programs
• selling or donating several bikes and buying a few, for a net total of fewer bikes at my house than this time last year (seemingly counterintuitive, this is progress toward a goal)
• seeing my younger daughter take her first ride on a balance bike
• watching my older daughter blossom into a mountain biker
• encouraging others around me to enjoy riding bikes, too

My ride on the 365th consecutive day was poorly documented photographically, and included just Scout and myself. However, on the 366th consecutive day, counting myself there were nine human and one canine companions dispersed over eight bikes with five different tire sizes. I like riding alone, but it is also fun to be part of an impromptu bike parade, mostly outfitted with bikes from my household. 

My niece on her new-to-her big kid 24" mountain bike that I was commissioned to refurbish. She's a natural dirt biker.

A handful of cousins stacked up at the starting line for our ride. Note many are still in pajamas, well into mid-afternoon.

My brother Chris rode the Dummy with his five year-old daughter, freeing me up to get some pics. 

On our ride, the popular request was to hit the local dirt tracks. Many circuits by many kids ensured plentiful fun. We are fortunate to have some great dirt trails a short ride from our house. Such is a benefit of life in the suburbs.

20-inch wheels.

26-inch wheels.

24-inch wheels.

16-inch wheels. My six year-old nephew was undaunted with being matched up to a pink girl's bike with basket and fenders. Nobody in our group took more challenging lines down the trail or relished going fast more than he did. 

29-inch wheels; speckled medium-sized paws.

I'll likely continue to count the days that I'm on a bike until, inevitably, I miss one. However, I have several internal and external motivators in place to make it unlikely that I'll miss a day for some time to come. An unanticipated bonus has been that I've remained remarkably healthy this past year, only getting a single cold in October. I don't know if I can attribute the drive to ride every day to keeping healthy, but it probably didn't hurt. 

I plan to enjoy the sun as much as possible, especially during these winter months. Here's to a fun and bike filled 2014 to everyone out there. 

Surly ECR encounter at Buffalo Creek

A Surly ECR perfectly at home in Buffalo Creek along the Colorado Trail.

Update: I got home to discover that this little post was featured on the Official Surly Intergalactic Regional HQ Facebook page. I am more than a bit shocked and even more honored. As one of the 12 remaining humans who is not a denizen of Facebook, I can't comment there, but I welcome your visit by proxy. And yes, whiskey does enhance language. Thanks, Surly purveyors and enthusiasts!

Last year, the good folks at Surly, Salvagetti, and Basic Kneads teamed up to bring to life a little something that they termed the "Unicorn Petting Zoo" near my little corner of Colorado. I was fortunate enough to attend and spend a little quality time with a Surly Krampus. At the time, I was blown away with the Krampus' inherent groundbreaking features. The bike as a whole felt fast and nimble on the trail as it veritably flew on its cushion of 29+ tires. Everything about it seemed to deftly redefine what an all terrain bike could be in a nearly ideal form.

In total, the Krampus is a bike that I believe to be a central catalyst in changing the perceptions of what it means to ride off road. As evidence, a distinctly Krampus-flavored milieu permeated many of the best designs of this year's North American Handmade Bicycle Show. The 29+ concept is, in many ways, the most logical evolution of the genus duo luto via rota; it offers terrific traction, a smooth ride enabled by a large rolling diameter, and a nice cushion to take the edge off without the maintenance needs of mechanical suspension. About the only shortcoming of the Krampus that I noted last year to keep it from being an ideal adventure bike was its relative paucity of braze-ons.

Once again, last weekend the three generous entities of last year's event got together to show off a couple of new Surly models, in addition to drinking bear (edit: or beer, as the case may be), eating pizza, camping, and having a good time. Again, I was fortunate enough to attend, though for a shorter time. Just as nature abhors a vaccum, I am happy to report that lack of braze-ons is no longer a concern with the introduction of the Surly ECR, the seriously capable cousin of the Krampus.

The ECR is perhaps a little darker in color than my first generation Big Dummy, but it is a good color that blends in well with the forest. Personally, green is my favorite bike color, and Surly has a track record of delivering terrific verdant hues. 

The ECR stock parts spec is no-nonsense and highly dependable. Surly's new O.D. crank is very nice. 

Please note, that this is more of a conceptual reckoning of a bike, more than a practical review, as I didn't have adequate time to make thorough acquaintance. I borrowed a size medium ECR to test; a couple of sizes too small for me but the only one available at the time. A bit later, I tried out a size XL, which fit me very well. For reference, I'm about 6'2", have a 89.5cm PBH, and ride a Surly Big Dummy and Surly Pugsley, both in size XL. I'd already taken the photos shown here, so please note that all ECR photos on this page are of a size medium.

The ECR is very utilitarian in build quality and appearance. This is a bike that exudes an aura of solid dependability in much the same way as an International Scout, a Coleman stove, or a good Thermos; each imbued with timeless aesthetic and functional value. It is no nonsense in design, and is equipped with tried-and-true components known to be simple to repair and maintain. Dependability and value are qualities with great appeal when the going gets rough, more so than low weight at the expense of strength, or any other transitory flash factor. Though this rationale may not hold true for some people, if you have an interest in the ECR, you're probably not going to be disappointed.

As seems to have been the case with the initial design of the Krampus, the ECR also benefits from cross-pollination with other Surly bikes. Its Krampus-derived foundation is obvious, but the ECR is also equipped with the copious range of braze-ons and multifunctional dropouts found on the Troll and Ogre. With a lower fork and more similar angles, the ECR's ride is perhaps closer to a Pugsley than the Krampus; feeling somewhat less aggressive and speedy, though it does not feel at all slow.

The ECR features a Jones Loop H-bar, perfectly suited for holding devices or baggage, in addition to enabling a great riding position. The MicroShift thumb shifters  have become my favorite, as similarly equipped on my Pugsley. 

Cockpit view. A Garmin GPS mount is installed to place the unit directly in front of the stem. 

The stock Surly ECR build incorporates a Jones Loop H-bar. This bar plays an integral role in establishing the character of the bike, in much the same way that the super wide 780mm Salsa Whammy bar does on the stock Krampus. I loved the Whammy bar on the Krampus, and credited the bar as being the perfect feedback device for the intent of the bike. In much the same way, there could not be a better rider interface for the ECR than the Jones Loop H-bar. In addition, the loop section provides practical dashboard space for mounting lights, a GPS unit, bells, bags or any number of items that might be favored by stalwart adventurers.

Over the years, I've become a huge fan of highly backswept bars for a few key reasons. Highly swept bars are much more comfortable for long rides, with the more natural position contributing to reduced wrist, shoulder and neck strain. Swept bars also afford a more upright seating position, and as such a better view. A good view is essential to an adventure bike, as a primary purpose for riding to exotic or difficult to reach places is for the experience. It's not a coincidence that my most ridden bikes are equipped with either Nitto Albatross or Surly Open Bars, and Salsa backswept low rise bars are close behind. In the short time I spent with the H-bar equipped ECR, I was very impressed. Perhaps my Pugsley could benefit from an H-bar.

Big and fat 29x3 tires make a lot of contact with the ground.

The specially designed chainstay yoke that makes it possible to handle 29x3 with chainring clearance on a 73mm BB shell. The ECR has a one-piece yoke that is somewhat less artisanal than the early model Krampus I rode last year, but serves the purpose at least as well. 

In the end, the ECR is currently at the pinnacle of off-road touring bike technology. It is imminently capable, superbly outfitted, and a lot of fun to ride. I can't imagine a better platform for the dedicated off-road adventurers I've had the good fortune to encounter, such as this guy, this gal, or this other guy. But, for me, perhaps the most astounding feature of the bike is in how it creates ripples in the lineage of the emerging 29+ platform, and provides cues as to the future course of two-wheeled exploration.

I bought my first Surly (a bean green Cross-Check frameset) in January of 2002, when Surly was a quirky little offshoot specializing in odd bike-y things. Then, as now, Surly is part of QBP, a large juggernaut in the bike world, but mostly unknown to the public. I now own three Surly bikes, and am happy to know that even though as an organization Surly has grown quite a bit, it retains core values embracing quirkiness, and utilizes this character to continue to drive development of innovative and fun bike products within a broader context.

Not long ago, fatbikes were a mere oddity in the two-wheeled kingdom; objects of perplexed stares at their cartoonishly huge tires. Surly didn't invent fatbikes, but with the advent of the Pugsley and supporting rims and tires, the company made fatbike technology accessible to a much larger degree than ever before, contributing to an emerging normalization of huge volume tires. This year, two of the industry's largest players, Trek and Specialized, have fatbike models, which would have been unthinkable just a couple of years back. From the vantage point of the present, I can foresee the impact of 29+ resonating in much the same way.

The fact that Surly's revelry in what would be considered odd within the greater sphere of the bicycle industry has served as a bellwether to eventual change, is at the heart of what, to me, makes bicycles much more than just machines. The ECR is a precursor of the larger off-road bicycling landscape. It is a significant step along the way to the next big thing. Surly has been a bit evasive as to its intended meaning of the acronym ECR, but for me it means "Evolutionary Change Rocks!"