Freerider/Xtracycle Mating

[Atlatl]

Well so I've gone and done it. I've mated the Freerider and The Xtracycle 'Free Radical' to birthe a long bike mid weight class hauler/carrier. While riding around town to my various stops, I always seemed to be lacking any where to carry what & as much as I would like, and THIS vision kept haunting my dreams. I know it's been done succesfully before so I finally just manifested the living picture. I've heretofore only ridden a couple of miles and as yet, no loads, but just the ride so far equals my hope and exceeds my expectations. It rides almost nearly just as light feeling and makes turns really smoothly. So far, it seems to feel very grounded. I know I sacrifice some of the sporty nimblenes & maybe even quickness & speed but I think by the way it feels presently that will likely be minimal. There's a nice mid-frame grab bar behind the seat I use to pick up the rear of the bike to turn around in my garage and it feels just a couple or so pounds heavier than before on the rear wheel. I don't know at this point that I'll be hauling any bags of cement or long lumber from home depot but we'll see what's possible. One thing at least is that I'm not totally & irrevocably commited to this change as it can very easily be reversed with no residuals at any time. My LBS charged me $50. to make the marriage and had to do some minor axle spacing to accomodate since the Xtracycle frame is wider than the Freerider's. I'm currently quite pleased with the arrangement. Not a lot of experience with it yet but I wanted to get some pics out to look at. I may though feel the need someday for a Sofrider for that sporty jaunt again. I cajoled a neighbor with some Mudslide cookies to bring his camera over and snap some shots for me. He had to upload to his computer and email to me but they came out nicely. Riding on----

"Bicycling is a big part of the future. It has to be. There's something wrong with a society that drives a car to workout in a gym." - Bill Nye, the Science Guy

 

[Doug Burton]

A most excellent truckster!

Add a pair of footpegs to the false bottom bracket in the swing arm and you could be runnin' a taxi service!

Nice job.

 

[Atlatl]

SO now it's having been about 150 miles with the Xtracycle/Cruzbike combo & what a great ride. At the time of mating the pair, I was a relative newbie yet with the Cruzbike riding style, meaning, I hadn't quite honed my abilities and didn't yet feel totally comfortable with the spirited thorobred feel of the machine. Adding the Xtracycle 'Free Radical' component was like putting a tail on a kite, you know, one of the twitchy acrobatic types, until you learned to control it. that's how it felt with the Free Radical addition; It stabilized and kinda tamed it down a bit while I continued to become very comfy with the handling. We had some great times decked out in lights for nights through the park and days, all about town. Oh, the comments; Hey, look at that, What kind of bike is that" However it was not to last between us. I felt that the load capacity of the pairing was wholly inadequate to the capabilities of the Xtracycle component whether due to the suspension or the lighter frame, it felt squishy and flexing with any load over 25-30lbs and increased with more load. I'd had great hopes for the combo but alas could not deny the evidence and, as I felt, continue to do undue injustice to both parts. So while the ride was great I made the decision to reverse the pairing and re-pair the 'Free radical to my old mountain bike ( and a Landrider auto shifter at that) and gratefully resumed my ride on the original Cruzbike arrangement but I must say I felt much more comfy for the experience and had gained much more riding confidence and ability with the Cruzbike. It was rather like I had ridden for awhile with training wheels and now they were off and the ride was flowing and free. I'm now able to turn easily either direction, figure eights, ride easily over grass, dirt trails, and hilly contours, do tight turns while pedaling, practice slow riding as well as fast. In other words I guess I feel nearly about as comfy and confident as I had on typical uprights in past except now I ride on avg. at least about ten miles a day where I didn't even conceive of that before. Now it's sooo comfortable. The 'mating' was fun and without regrets as I would never have known my true preference had I not tried it but I'm happier the way it is now and the Mountain bike has new life as an 'SUB' (Sport Utility Bike) for which it was better suited and fills it's role splendidly. It carries much more cargo capacity. I carried home eight gal.s of water easily recently and will try ten next time. So my stable has grown by one in the split and all are happier for the new arrangement.
No I don't ride in the 'El Zariba' parade as my picture might evoke. Just usually a one man parade.
My current stable. All are ridden daily & as the Cruzbike Freerider is ridden every day and probably the most of any. With it's suspension it rides the smoothest. I'm really happy with it. Now if I can just locate the right fit for a light rear pannier rack.
My regrets and apologies for not originally placing this material in the already running 'Cruz/Xtra' thread. Somehow I missed it or forgot.

 

[Peder Torgersen]

Nice report good to read your riding skill is improving. You also went back to the original mode of the Freerider and were able to experience the difference. Nice pictures smart of you having a neighbor taking pictures. The garden looks also nice what temperatures do you have in the winter?

Peder

 

[Atlatl]

Peder;
Here in Arizona we are currently, during the end of Nov. '08, enjoying dry days in the general range of the 80's F and lows in the low to mid 50's F. Generally the most exceptional time for riding and outdoor activities. This is our high time for activities and it seems generally warmer in winter the past few years than much earlier years I remember as a child here, though always rather temperate, in sharp contrast to our summers that are scorching and nearly intolerable. It's very easy to become overheated or burned by leaning on a car or picking up a tool without a cloth in one hand to protect from burn and also in the other to wipe the sweat from your eyes. Needless to say, almost, that any bike paths and rideable areas are devoid of traffic in summer except in the earliest hours of morning. I believe that is why there are not more biking paths and bike culture in our area of Phoenix, though I hope to see this change with the latest trends in biking. It's great now, in our 'winter', when riding around to see the range of bikes and trikes of all types on the trails, paths and parkways that only a few years ago were never seen or anticipated as viable ways or alternatives of travel. Hopefully more cities in general will adopt some of the more conducive practices of pedestrian, biking, auto corridors for safer and consistant flow together as some northern European cities and some others have adopted succesfully. Alas though, I suppose the summer biking scene here in AZ will likely not improve until refrigeration is available on a bicycle. Temps in the triple digits F. are simply not conducive & we tend to find ourselves house bound much in opposite of extreme north or south latitudes in winter where cabin fever and lack of sunlight may become depressive. Here we sometimes seek to escape the bright white hot light of summer and if we are unable to occassionaly escape for a breather into the mountains, we seek out troglodyte ambiance for relief. Thanks for asking.

 

[Peder Torgersen]

Atlatl wrote: Peder;
Here in Arizona we are currently, during the end of Nov. '08, enjoying dry days in the general range of the 80's F and lows in the low to mid 50's F. Generally the most exceptional time for riding and outdoor activities. This is our high time for activities and it seems generally warmer in winter the past few years than much earlier years I remember as a child here, though always rather temperate, in sharp contrast to our summers that are scorching and nearly intolerable. It's very easy to become overheated or burned by leaning on a car or picking up a tool without a cloth in one hand to protect from burn and also in the other to wipe the sweat from your eyes. Needless to say, almost, that any bike paths and rideable areas are devoid of traffic in summer except in the earliest hours of morning. I believe that is why there are not more biking paths and bike culture in our area of Phoenix, though I hope to see this change with the latest trends in biking. It's great now, in our 'winter', when riding around to see the range of bikes and trikes of all types on the trails, paths and parkways that only a few years ago were never seen or anticipated as viable ways or alternatives of travel. Hopefully more cities in general will adopt some of the more conducive practices of pedestrian, biking, auto corridors for safer and consistant flow together as some northern European cities and some others have adopted succesfully. Alas though, I suppose the summer biking scene here in AZ will likely not improve until refrigeration is available on a bicycle. Temps in the triple digits F. are simply not conducive & we tend to find ourselves house bound much in opposite of extreme north or south latitudes in winter where cabin fever and lack of sunlight may become depressive. Here we sometimes seek to escape the bright white hot light of summer and if we are unable to occassionaly escape for a breather into the mountains, we seek out troglodyte ambiance for relief. Thanks for asking.

Nice to read about your good weather your sommers are too hot for me! This morning we had -3°C the roads were dry no ice today when i cycled to work. There has been some wind the last days without the wind there would have been ice on the roads. The weather is lovely today here a clear blue sky day temperture around 2°C so I will have a nice ride home this afternoon. Our winters are now shorter and our average temerature has gone up. Some people here in Norway spend the winter in a warmer climate. I don’t mind winter but when spring comes I appreciate the warmer weather and being able to change to sommer tires on my Sofrider.
Peder

 

[Mark B]

Getting back to the original topic, I remember reading on the xtra-cycle website that the unit was not intended for suspension bikes. That being the case, I wonder if it would have made a difference had you somehow locked out the suspension? I've been thinking about having a new rear-end made for my conversion with an incorporated rack, stretching out the wheelbase and making it rigid. I think it would be the hot ticket.

Mark

 

[Gromit]

Mark B wrote: Getting back to the original topic, I remember reading on the xtra-cycle website that the unit was not intended for suspension bikes. That being the case, I wonder if it would have made a difference had you somehow locked out the suspension? I've been thinking about having a new rear-end made for my conversion with an incorporated rack, stretching out the wheelbase and making it rigid. I think it would be the hot ticket.

Mark

One assumes that Atlatl would have tried the Xtracycle/Cruzbike at different suspension spring settings. With the spring fully tightened down wouldn't that be close to locking out the rear suspension?

 

[Atlatl]

Gromit wrote:

Mark B wrote: Getting back to the original topic, I remember reading on the xtra-cycle website that the unit was not intended for suspension bikes. That being the case, I wonder if it would have made a difference had you somehow locked out the suspension? I've been thinking about having a new rear-end made for my conversion with an incorporated rack, stretching out the wheelbase and making it rigid. I think it would be the hot ticket.

Mark

One assumes that Atlatl would have tried the Xtracycle/Cruzbike at different suspension spring settings. With the spring fully tightened down wouldn't that be close to locking out the rear suspension?

I did find I needed to crank tight the suspension pretty much all the way and as I mentioned earlier, the ride was great and if it could handle the loads I burdened it with I might have left it converted. I feel that the suspension coupled with the comparatively light weight frame contributed to the flex I felt under load. I felt little or no such flex unloaded with all except my butt and could ride as far and long as I ever could. Xtracycle-<http://www.xtracycle.com/>
claims their 'Free Radical' adapts best to a rigid 'steel' frame to achieve the best results, but I had to find out the hard way for myself if just below best results would be good enough for my purposes and give what I wanted from the benefits of a recumbant style ride coupled with cargo-ability over what had become for me an uncomfortable riding style in an upright for duration and distance. Even though I knew that the 'Cruzbike' style would not be a likely candidate for single track riding in out of town situations, as a hybrid I hoped it would be a good around towner with expanded capabilities. I'm just trying to utilize other ways to replace my car whenever possible. The Newly hybridized Xtracycle/Mountain style bike with steel frame is now quite rigid under load, more than twice the rigidity and load hauling capability. People who have ridden both the hybrid style and the new Xtracycle/Surley cooperative creation of a complete one piece long bike frame called 'The Big Dummy' claim that it is even more stiff and sturdy under load than the the conversion models. I've attached a pic of the mountain style conversion I made for comparative clarity. Mind you the base bike is a 'Landrider' autoshifter Standard deluxe steel frame. I get a bit of chain/tire scrub in low gear of high range but otherwise rides fine for what it is and rather excellent for what it does. Cruiser bars and a more comfy seat make the ride better than the standard issue components. In conclusion, I'd guess that if one began with a stiff steel frame and made a 'Cruzbike/Xtracycle' conversion, with a well padded seat of course, It would lkely be one fine town/road touring bike with large capabilities. A fatter rear tire like a Schwalbe 'Big Apple' or some other balloon tire coupled with the long frame may give one all the suspension that is needed. For now, I'll just make myself content with the current conversion and enjoy the Freerider as it is - happily. It remains one fine comfortable & efficient ride that gives the most miles on average than my other bikes together.

 

[nomad85]

This is terrible news... I really wanted to get a cruzbike to mate it up with my xtracycle, seems like it would be the best of both worlds... but I regularly carry 150lbs loads on the xtracycle and sometimes over 270lbs at fairly high speeds to boot (20-25 mph)... I though the weight being over the rear wheel would make it impact the rear suspension less...

 

[John Tolhurst]

nomad85 wrote: This is terrible news... I really wanted to get a cruzbike to mate it up with my xtracycle, seems like it would be the best of both worlds... but I regularly carry 150lbs loads on the xtracycle and sometimes over 270lbs at fairly high speeds to boot (20-25 mph)... I though the weight being over the rear wheel would make it impact the rear suspension less...

We need to appreciate the leverage that the rear wheel has on teh shock spring. Usually its about 3:1, with the extracycle its more like 5 to 1. The shock is rated 850 pounds per inch, so you would need to put a shock that is 5/3 times the 850 rating, so about 1400. Or, fit a solid rod instead of shock unit. On the standard set up, the head is close to being above the rear wheel, but with theh extracycle its away back, which means that you only feel half the bump you might otherwise.

I am a big believer in the mating of the freerider and xtracycle.

 

[nomad85]

I did some searching but I cannot find a 1400lb rated spring, do you know where I can find one, as well as a solid rod to lock it up(I'd want to have both options).
If I can handle 2 passengers on my upright mountain bike @ 27mph(down a hill and the flat following) with very little trouble, do you think it would be much harder on a cruzbike(freerider). I keep reading stories from (the few) people that have tried the cruzbike/xtracycle, and 2 out of 3 seem to think carrying a passenger is not possible the one that said it was no biggie was on a conversion not a stock cruzbike... Passenger capability is huge part of my biking priorities.

 

[John Tolhurst]

My factory catalog give rates up to 2000 lbs, but where to get them in retail land I can't help. An mtb forum would be the place to ask.