Xtra Cycle Baby!

What a great Christmas gift! From my wonderful wife of course. She scoured the country trying to find one of these bad boys for me, and ended up finally getting one shipped from BIKEFACE, in Durham, Ontario. Doug from Bikeface, thanks so much for all of your help. My wife says you were an incredible help and spent a lot of time finding one of these in time for Christmas for me. Most appreciated.

Thanks so much honey!

I somehow had a feeling that I was getting one, but you never know for sure right?


Here is the picture of my Xtra cycle being dropped off by Doug at the UPS store with an extra cycle, of course.
Anyway, I hoped to get it built while the boys were napping on Christmas day, but no such luck. I ended up scrounging the parts together from my parts bin(s) and finished it up last night, in time for me to take it to work today.

I never even test road it after I got it together last night, but things are pretty nicely dialed in. A few tweaks here and there and she'll be set. I'm not to happy with the old rear derailleur I installed, so I'll be keeping my eye open for a new one, but for now it's doing the job. This is my old winter commuter that I converted. This bike was originally my moms and I've rebuilt it several times. The frame would be a little on the small side for me, but who cares, this bike has been good to me for the past 12 years and I've grown quite fond of it.

The mounting was very simple and straight forward. I had to shift my rear axle and add some spacers to center the wheel in the frame, but other than that, it was pretty much just a matter of swapping the parts to the new rear end. (yeah, now I got some serious junk in the trunk!)

Riding an Extra cycle you do notice that you are longer, but you've also got a much smoother ride. Even over the railroad tracks on the way back to work. I used to ride my uncle's tandem around town solo just for fun, and it reminds me of that.

I needed some of my tools from work at home tonight, and that is just the kind of thing that the extra cycle is made for. There was too much for me to carry on a regular bike, but not near enough to justify my truck. Enter, the extra cycle.

I'm thinking I need to name this bad boy. Doug name his Blue Truck, and calling mine Black Truck, would be copying. Smudge, did you name yours?

Christmas was very bike heavy for me. Other than 2 Toblerone bars, every single thing I got was bike related. From headlights, rear flashers, fenders, a jersey, fenders, and two things I've been longing for: A Brooks B-17 Special with it's oh so sweetly hand-hammered rivets, and a Nitto Mustache bar. Both of which are destined for the fixie.

Great Christmas indeed and it has really charged me up again on building up and tinkering on bikes.....Stay tuned.

Peace.