Cargo Cult

I have an xtracycle free radical. about 15 years ago, I paid $850 for mine all built up by a bike mechanic in Albany CA. I used it for commuting at work with helmet, coat, bunker pants, steel toes, sleeping bag, pillow, uniform, jersey, ball cap, cap and tie, food... all without a motor. Sometimes the bike would oscillate, but generally it was fine, if a bit energetic in response to changes in direction when fully loaded. That bike in Santa Rosa is a great deal!

sotaro said:

I have an xtracycle free radical. about 15 years ago, I paid $850 for mine all built up by a bike mechanic in Albany CA. I used it for commuting at work with helmet, coat, bunker pants, steel toes, sleeping bag, pillow, uniform, jersey, ball cap, cap and tie, food... all without a motor. Sometimes the bike would oscillate, but generally it was fine, if a bit energetic in response to changes in direction when fully loaded. That bike in Santa Rosa is a great deal!

Click to expand...

Cool. Sounds like $850 well spent.

This bike is pretty new to me even if all the base parts are pretty old. I'm cruising 20-25 mph with the StokeMonkey and it feels pretty solid. There is some flex due to the length of the assembly. I wonder if the large tubing of the 820 helps stiffen things a bit laterally?

Anyway, just tonight I loaded up two 15 packs and a 12 pack of soda on the U-Tube on one side. I only had one good strong strap, so that's why I loaded it so lopsided. Even with such an unbalanced load, everything seemed pretty solid. But I haven't really loaded it up with much more than 50 lbs or so yet. I guess time will tell. But so far it's been nice and makes using the car that much less likely.

Hwy89 said:

I have a Surly Big Dummy with dual motors and all the cargo bags. It rides like a Cadillac and is ready to go but I never use it. To get to the store I have to pass the strech of Hwy 89 where I was hit a couple of years ago and ended up on a medevac helicopter heading to a trauma center down in the valley near you.
I can’t make myself ride through that area so I do multiple loops daily around the neighborhood on one of my lighter bikes for exercise and drive the truck when I need to go to the store.
I’m ashamed to be such a coward and just wish ADOT would care enough to add rideable shoulders to our highways.

Click to expand...

You're not, by any means, being cowardly with your decision. It's an all too common circumstance to have dangerous bicycle riding conditions.

I get asked about e-biking by the unaware but potentially interested. I must bring up the danger caveat first and foremost - especially to interested parties with others at stake (such as dependents). And if AZ's DOT is anything like my state's DOT, fat chance they'll ever improve the safety - the cost would be immense, I'd bet.

Vaguely related to this very nice build is another, using the relatively inexpensive ~$630 Mongoose Envoy as a starting point. An owner's detailed write-up series is here.

Hwy89 said:

Cyclists don’t have much in the way of lobbyists and don’t pay road taxes, so you’re right, we will never be ackowleded as equal users of the highways.

Click to expand...

Don't pay road taxes? How do you figure? The majority of road funding comes from general resources. So cyclists pay substantially to road costs. The problem is that they are outnumbered by motorists and other interests.

Mongo said:

Vaguely related to this very nice build is another, using the relatively inexpensive ~$630 Mongoose Envoy as a starting point. There's a very detailed write-up series here.

Click to expand...

I think that bicycle came out about five years ago when I was starting this build. It was on the list of directions to consider. If I remember correctly, it was hard to actually locate one to purchase. And then I found the used xtracycle Free Radical.

Hwy89 said:

I apologize for taking this thread off topic. After this I will but out.​

Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF)​

The state of Arizona taxes motor fuels and collects a variety of fees and charges relating to the registration and operation of motor vehicles on the public highways of the state. These collections include gasoline and use-fuel taxes, motor-carrier taxes, vehicle-license taxes, motor vehicle registration fees and other miscellaneous fees. These revenues are deposited in the Arizona Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF) and are then distributed to the cities, towns and counties and to the State Highway Fund. These taxes represent a primary source of revenues available to the state for highway construction, improvements and other related expenses.

Click to expand...

Well, if you are going to take it off-topic, at least make a point.

We all know that fuel taxes are used for highways. But they are not even the majority source of highway funding much less all road funding.

Federal Aid Highway Program (FAHP)​

The FAHP is currently a primary source of funding for construction of Arizona highways, roads and streets. Most of the funding falls into several core programs, including the National Highway Performance Program (NHPP), Surface Transportation Block Grant Program (STBGP), Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ). The FAHP is funded from the transportation user-related revenues deposited in the Federal Highway Trust Fund, primarily federal excise taxes on motor fuels along with excise taxes on tires, trucks and trailers and truck-use taxes.
The FAHP is a reimbursement program. Once projects are authorized in advance by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and federal funds are obligated, the federal government reimburses states for costs as they are incurred. With few exceptions, federal reimbursements must be matched with state or local funds. For most projects in Arizona, the federal share is 94.3 percent, and the state/local share is 5.7 percent."

@wturber / @99t4 what are/do you using for an Xtracycle kickstand? Is it a Pletcher-ish single leg, or similar?

My cargo bike, being a regular wheelbase / basketed short fork conversion, tends to be a bit tippy. I currently have a Copenhagen Dual Leg Kickstand, but the stand's foot stance may be too narrow. I'm eyeing a Ursus Jumbo Kickstand as a possible replacement, but it's costly.

The Free Radical has a mount for a standard single leg kickstand and that's what I've been using so far. I really want to mount a dual leg kickstand. I've already run into a situation where loading up one side was sketchy. It worked, but wasn't as stable as I'd have liked. The problem is in where to mount it. xtracycle's Kickback 3 is $200 and I need to find an adapter second hand. In keeping with the rest of the bike, I'll probably roll my own solution.

I used the Ursus Jumbo Kickstand on my IronHorse ebike. It works great. That bike is over 80 lbs and the kickstand is still going strong.

gromike said:

Yes, I did find and go through that thread. What I noticed is that on your longtail conversion kit is it transfers the load from the conversions rear lugs to the bike's bottom bracket. Something you don't see on those diy conversions.

Click to expand...

I happened across this DIY cargo bike conversion. This guy's approach distributes load very much like the xtracycle Free Radical. While this extends the bike, it doesn't add any cargo carrying capacity. So you'd have to figure that out. Note: if the bike donating the rear triangle has braze-ons for rack mounts, that might help. I still think you are better off looking for a used Free Radical, but in case you go DIY, this may give you some good ideas.

To get the extra cargo capacity, the slings of Extracycle or bags of Yuba are the easiest way to go. There are many other solutions if cash is scarce. The slings are a substantial part of the oscillation that the Extracycle can suffer from. I have carried up to about 100 lbs and it gets a bit flexible at that weight.