vik 

Have been listed on their online store. I've posted some links on my blog here.



This aluminum snapdeck replacement is the one new item that I quite like.

cman

I read your post last night and have the same feeling. It will always be a niche product with high prices. To get Xtracycle out of the early adopter stage, price need to come down. More sales at smaller margins.

Why do you think the Tekdek curves down in the front? Do you think the way it locks in provides as much stability as the current snapdeck, especially with a passenger? It looks like it pulls in instead of the snapdeck that push outward.

bikinpolitico

Good read.

I think Xtracycle really needs to work on getting other bike manufactures to build cargo bikes that work with their standard system like they have with Surly. By becoming the default cargo bike platform, accessories will become more readily available and the costs will come down.

This is one of my disappointments with the Kona Ute and the Mondo. We have three different non-interchangeable systems out there right now. Xtracycle seems to be best positioned to become the standard. I'd be spending some quality time talking to Trek, Specialized, and Giant about using their platform.

vik 

The only reason that pops to mind about the curve on the TekDek is that it's supposed to act as a bit of a fender for the rider?

I'd love to see a universal standard for cargo bikes - at least for the time being until the market gets big enough to support a variety of different solutions. I had hoped Kona and Trek would go the same route as Surly, but it seems that isn't going to happen.

EuroJoe

It would be nice if Kona and Mundo had gone the same way, but as discussed those two are very different machines, plus a full complement of extra cycle stuff is pushing 400$, half the price of the bikes, the lower cost at least makes them more assessable

JeffS

I'm actually hoping for the opposite - more competing products. Increasing customers will prompt xtracycle to create new products but provides no motivation for a price change.

vik 

You can't have increased "healthy" competition with such a small potential market. That will just mean poor revenue for all the competing standards and ultimately will result in the death of one or more. We don't need a Beta Max vs. VHS or Blu Ray vs. HD DVD war on our hands. One company will eventually win, but that will put us a few years behind the development curve for bike cargo products. There simply isn't enough market to support multiple cargo bike standards at the moment.

dscheidt

There's plenty of *potential* market. US consumers bought 16 million autos and trucks in 2007. If you replace 1/10 of 1% of those vehicles with a cargo bike, that's 16,000 bikes a year. Not a market to sneeze at. There's plenty of room for competition. There's no Xtracycle accessory (other than the free radical conversion itself) that's particularly revolutionary. The purpose built xtracycles (like the Big Dummy) aren't particularly elegant solutions to the basic problem (useful and functional, yes, but not elegent). A purpose built bike can be lighter, stronger, and shorter for the same load carrying capacity. It's also likely to be cheaper.

vik 

That would be true if you were able to get 1% of auto buyers to instead buy cargo bikes. That just won't happen. The people I'm seeing/reading about who bought cargo bikes were already enthusiastic cyclists who took their biking in the cargo direction - not someone looking for a Ford dealership who stumble across an Xtracycle in the window of a LBS and make a life change.

Fleetdog

I agree more with vik, but dscheidt has a bit of a point too. Take my situation as an example. My wife and I have a newish SUV and a 13 year old sedan that still runs well but is obviously not newish in any respect. Since it has been my wife's car since she was 16, she is ready to go car shopping.

I have been commuting to work by bike when the weather is dry for about a year. I very rarely ride other than to and from work and occasionally to church or the grocery store. I would not call myself a bike enthusiast, but rather someone who likes to bike and is starting to get more into it as a hobby.

Though I doubt it will go this way, I have considered putting a free radical on my commuter bike and suggesting that my wife fully claim the SUV as "her car" and I would just use my bike for more stuff and the sedan as a backup for when I need to go too far or the weather is too bad.

As more people become aware of how much stuff (and people) you can transport on these bikes I think a longbike vs a moped or car will become a real option for a lot of folks who currently only bike as a hobby.

crackerdog

I'm not sure it can be shorter. The whole point of the Xtra is that with the wheel base extended you can carry the weight comfortably. With a shorter bike, the weight gets outside the axles and quickly becomes clumsy to control.

dscheidt

I think you're being too short sighted. Many auto trips in the US are quite short, and can easily be replaced with other forms of transport. The rising price of motor fuel is going to drive some people away from the cars -- that's already happening, look at the usage numbers for public transport in many US cities. A convenient utility bike will go well with these people. The big dummy fails, because it's only sold as a frame set. The Ute fails, because it's not quite fully there. The '09 version is an improvement, but it's still not there. It needs built-in lighting, for instance.

flatboarder

I do not see a reason why Xtracycle should become a standardized platform for cargo bikes and utility cycles. There are too many different ways of usage.

In my opinion
- Xtracycle basically is a lightweighted platform for recreational usage, fun, shopping, kids, touring and adventure. Well, at least I hope the freeloaders are designed with some adventure in mind.
- Surly supports it with the BD frame ready for commuting, touring, adventure and sports usage onroad and offroad, also being ready for transportational tasks and every day usage.
- For routine hardcore transportation issues or chunky heavy stuff I would neither want to use lightweighted Xtracycle, nor delicate and fine BD frame tubing, but a real work bike, which would probably be by far heavier than an Xtracycle or BD, and where scratches and throwing heavy things on would not matter, but that would not at all be a touring or sports bicycle.

For me, the BD makes up a perfect allround bicycle covering a wide range of usage. It is great for my personal way of riding, but I do not believe it is the right choice for regular rough and hard transportation issues. I believe there is plenty of space for completely different cargo bicycles, trailers and whatsoever.

bikinpolitico

I think 1/10th of 1% is not an unreasonable market size and certainly large enough to build a successful business. That's what carsharing started out with, and even in it's most successful markets, it only accounts to 2-3% of all drivers.

What is more important is to get away from the car monoculture when talking about transportation. That means a mix of different options, and cars will be a part of that, probably a majority for the near future. For transportation biking to take off, it needs two things: good infrastructure and good products. We are woefully behind on both, but I think cargo bikes are good, practical product to counter the bikes as toys mentality out there.

You just need to reach a tipping point for the market to take off and have a lot more options. I don't think we are far from that now. Does that mean the streets will be full of cargo bikes and cars will be put out to pasture. No. But confronting and solving transportation problems does not require everyone to change, just enough people. Cargo bikes will be part of this solution and should not be dismissed just because the market share isn't big.

badmother

I think there is a limit to what most peopel is willing to do by bike. This sounds more like what you would want a horse and cart for.. or a pickup truck

JusticeZero

Another thing.
I can't put an Xtracycle on a bus. It's too long, won't fit, I spent twenty minutes with the head mechanic at the bus company trying. The best we could find was an arrangement that would necessitate removing the cranks and chain, then using tiedowns and a wood block. If they were a common bike type, there would be demand to make the racks accomodate them, but the competing longbikes have differing specs.
Honestly, I think what we're really going to need is a Wal-Mart longbike.

bikinpolitico

Awe, to quote John Stossel "Gimme a break." Not all bikes can be all things to all people (I think I'm also paraphrasing Abraham Lincoln.) Xtracycles are designed to haul big things or lots of things, not be your last mile commuter. Trying to make it that would mean it would not be good at hauling lots of stuff.

The nice thing about bikes it that their cost is low enough that you can have multiple bikes so you have the right bike for the right job. I think when you start building toward the consensus, you lose a lot of the utility. Let's not water down a great design to make it something it's not.

cman

Justicezero,

Maybe different buses but here are some photos from Rideyourbike.com

JusticeZero

The racks are similar, but that puts more than half of the weight of the bicycle directly on the inside of the crank sprocket and chain, for an hour long, 65mph bus ride with a few bumps.