Thinking of building an Xtra up. I'm waffling on what to use for a base bike however. I have an older touring bike I could use or I could grab a Kona Smoke or a CX Bike from Bikesdirect for a decent price. Most Xtras seem to be made from commuter or mountain frames. Anyone have any experience with building one from a CX or drop bar touring bike? (pics would be bonus) I will use this for around town some but plan on touring with it quite a bit which is why I am looking in this direction.

With the rear wheel farther back and most of the weight [you] centered between the wheels, there is more weight on the front wheel than a normal bicycle. This is why you don't see many people using drops, the extra leverage helps.

I'd bet some butterfly touring bars would work nicely though.

Would it be weird to handle with the Drops then? I'm thinking of CX "dirt drop" type bars

The steering might feel a little sluggish, basically heavy, with small [road] bars. Most people run mountain or mustache bars which are wide enough to counteract this. Dirtdrops look pretty wide so you might be ok using them.

I ran mine on a Bianchi San Jose for awhile before taking it off. The drops were fine most of the time but didn't give a great 'get out of the seat and mash' position when loaded. I think a stiffer frame and gears would have been more important improvements to my experience however. All in all drops worked fine.

Hi there...saw this post and thought i'd respond...i've had my xtra for a few years and for the first build, i put it on a trek 520 with drops...

http://www.russroca.com/xtra/xtradvertising3.jpg

It performed well, however, I will say that it's tough to climb standing up with a big load....the rear just swings and it's harder (for me at least) to control it when using drops...the width and the position of the hands just didn't work with a big load....

My current build is with a rigid mtn bike and I'm using albatross bars....at first I felt they were too wide, but now I have grown to love them for cargo applications...

It really depends on your terrain. No hills, lots of wind - drops.....Lots of hills, little wind - swept backs.

Well no hills and a decent amount of wind is my area. It is dead flat around here, you have to go 50 miles to find anything bigger than a highway overpass.