Xtracycle versus panniers

[stoneybowseat]

I am doing the Pacific Coast (Vancouver, BC to Mexico) in a month and need advice. I am thinking of using the Xtracycle instead of panniers. I do not want to use a trailer like the BOB. I am not looking to overload on gear but I like the extra capacity, utility, and I can use dry bags I already own. Also, I am riding a Jamis Ventura and it comes stock with a carbon fork... no pannier rack eyelets. So, I would need to change it out for panniers.

My concerns are these:
1) weight
2) ride quality, will it mess with steering or cause shimmies in the front?
3) 700c version, is it as good as the mountain bike version - or are there problems adapting it (brakes, chain, etc.)
4) will it damage my frame?

Scott

 

[EmmCeeBee]

Feel free to jump on me for offering an uninformed opinion.....

I never heard of Xtracycle till I read your post and googled it a few minutes ago.

Nice idea, seems pretty practical for picnic runs and tooling around with the family.

But I only see nightmares for touring. This is about the most extreme mod you can make to your bike, both mechanically and geometrically. Severe flex, longer chain slack, different brake/shifter cable lengths, completely different chain lines. Have you ever done a multi-day tour, not to mention 2000 miles border-to-border??? Even changing your seat before a tour can lead to a ruined first week while you try to find the right adjustments.

Your bike may not be designed for long-distance hauling, but it is engineered for strength and balance at speed. I wouldn't consider cresting Cape Arch on the Oregon coast and heading downhill at 40mph with 50 lbs of stuff on a bolted-on stretched frame like that. Not on my first test ride, anyhow. Now, I'm sure the marketing folks at Xtracycle would differ.

That said, if you do want to try it, I'd suggest several weeks of working out the bugs before you take off for 2000 miles.

-- Mark

 

[Tim Harvey]

Stoneybowseat USE THE EXTRACYCLE! You'll love it!!!
EXTRA CYCLES ARE THE ANSWER FOR TOURING.

EMCEEBEE - try testing a product before offering an opinion! You would change your tune drastically.



I just put 3000+ km on a Norco bigfoot with a kickass 2004 disc-brake equipped Xtracycle, with the kickass wideloader racks, and lugged, myself included, 150 kg from Vancouver BC to Whitehorse. Not an issue to report, only the joy of bombing up hills while my touring partner had his load stacked high with conventional panniers. Balance improves dramatically with an Xtracycle, they're built strong, to last, and now I'm in Russia about the cross the Eurasion continent, with you guessed it, my Xtracycle. It handles like magic even on loose and bumpy terrain (it actually smooths your ride). So for the next 10,000 or so km before this ride is over, hours by aircraft from the nearest bike store, there's really no sensible option but an Xtracycle.

Plus, when in the past we had trouble with a third group member whose brakes were failing on a 10-km downhill, we just unloaded her entire load, and threw it on the extracycle. It handled a superhuman load that no other two-wheeled system could have taken. Climbing wasn't an option, but that wasn't a concern for me just then. It was all about getting us and the gear down the hill, and the Xtracycle saved the day. (heading into Ashcroft BC - dropping into the Thompson River Vallley / canyon - for those who know BC!)

If you're unclear on what Gravity Advantage Ju-Ju is (an obscure quality of the extracycle the company mentions in their publicicy) try taking your unloaded bike onto a slick icy steep uphill road, with studded tires of course, and ride up it. There are lots of those here in Chukotka so I had no problem discovering the following:

1) with an Xtracycle attached, you fly up the road like you're gripping hot asphalt.
2) without the Xtracycle, as you tackle that heinously steep icy hill, you pull your bars and whoooops! Your front wheel lifts into the air and you risk an ugly wipe-out.

So the effect is, with a longer wheelbase you can pull on those handlebars with all your might and all that energy will go into your climb instead of destabalizing you. I like it!

Anyways, that's my two cents. 3000 km with a sub and loving it more by the day.

Next up, after a brutally cold ski from Chukotka to Yakutia, is the fabled Kolyma highway, including the never-before-toured upper reaches along the frozen kolyma river itself!!!! yeeha.

- Tim Harvey, on my way to Moscow....
.........................................................
........................................................

Feel free to jump on me for offering an uninformed opinion.....

I never heard of Xtracycle till I read your post and googled it a few minutes ago.

Nice idea, seems pretty practical for picnic runs and tooling around with the family.

But I only see nightmares for touring. This is about the most extreme mod you can make to your bike, both mechanically and geometrically. Severe flex, longer chain slack, different brake/shifter cable lengths, completely different chain lines. Have you ever done a multi-day tour, not to mention 2000 miles border-to-border??? Even changing your seat before a tour can lead to a ruined first week while you try to find the right adjustments.

Your bike may not be designed for long-distance hauling, but it is engineered for strength and balance at speed. I wouldn't consider cresting Cape Arch on the Oregon coast and heading downhill at 40mph with 50 lbs of stuff on a bolted-on stretched frame like that. Not on my first test ride, anyhow. Now, I'm sure the marketing folks at Xtracycle would differ.

That said, if you do want to try it, I'd suggest several weeks of working out the bugs before you take off for 2000 miles.

-- Mark

 

[Tim Harvey]

stony, from one BC boy to another, the only people who can tell you if your frame will be okay are the people at Xtracycle, who won't steer you wrong. But if my experience with a Norco bigfoot fitted with a 2004 Xtracycle and laden with an absurd amount of gear (video film gear plus regular touring equipment) and taken through some long unpaved roads like the Cassiar and the West Fraser roads in BC - it's the ideal touring set up. Way more space and better centre of gravity than you'll get with only panniers (but go for front racks if you can, it's always wise to distribute weight. You don't need tabs, I use some Old Man Mountain fronts on a disk wheel and they plug into my hubs and v-brake insert points)

but back to Xtracycle - you'll be a happy man. Beats panniers, you won't notice the xtra weight, and most importantly, chicks dig it. I'm serious! And you can maneuver your bike because you're not hauling a trailer.

Say hi to the Zapatistas for me.

I am doing the Pacific Coast (Vancouver, BC to Mexico) in a month and need advice. I am thinking of using the Xtracycle instead of panniers. I do not want to use a trailer like the BOB. I am not looking to overload on gear but I like the extra capacity, utility, and I can use dry bags I already own. Also, I am riding a Jamis Ventura and it comes stock with a carbon fork... no pannier rack eyelets. So, I would need to change it out for panniers.

My concerns are these:
1) weight
2) ride quality, will it mess with steering or cause shimmies in the front?
3) 700c version, is it as good as the mountain bike version - or are there problems adapting it (brakes, chain, etc.)
4) will it damage my frame?

Scott

 

[EmmCeeBee]

I'm never one to stand in the way of an informed opinion Beats skepticism every time.

But I'm still leery of making such a major mod only days before starting a 2000 mile tour....

Tim, are you posting updates on your trip anywhere on the web? Gees, making it to Whitehorse is envy enough, not to mention crossing Russia. Good luck on the Kolyma-to-Moscow run!

-- Mark

 

[wongaga]

Tim;

I will be spending some time working in Khabarovsk, north of Vladivostok. If you can give me any tips about short day tours in this region, or anything else relevant, I would be very grateful.

Happy touring, Graeme Lock

 

[geoffs]

Why would you need the Xtra cycle for touring unless you were going somewhere so far off the beaten track that you needed a months supply of food.
Tim, intrepid adventurer that he is, is sponsered by Xtracycle and I must declare that I have never tried one.
However, between myself and a few aquaintences, we have travelled through all the continents and most countries apart from what used to be Eastern Europe. We managed fine with either a touring bike or a MTB and conventional panniers. I now travel with a tandem with my wife and we are heading of to France and Austria in a few weeks on an unsupported ride during which we will be camping. There will be two of us with the same number of panniers that most people have on a single touring bike. We wil be using 40l panniers at the rear and 30l on the front and a medium sized handlebar bag.
Think about what you are taking really hard because it will be you pedaling your bike up the hills. If there is more room to pack stuff in, you will take more stuff.

Hope ou have a great trip. I spent a few months touring in Canada and had a ball.

Cheers

Geoff

 

[Airwick]

Re: Xtracycle vs. panniers

Did a cross-country with my two jack russell terriers, Airwick and Agape, with all of our gear and no other support. Trip wouldn't have been possible without the Xtracycle,.... Absolutely loved it and we will be using it from Alaska to Argentina.
http://www.agape.crazyguyonabike.com

and wrote this article for my friend's touring website discussing Xtracycle vs. panniers vs trailers http://www.bicycletouring101.com/BikeXtracycle.htm

Airwick