Sue’s Blog of Xtracycle Happiness

*** WARNING: GUSHING AHEAD ***

If my old Trextracycle was Sex on Wheels, then this Big Dummy is Sex on Clouds. [Thanks to Nick for the cloud metaphor.] The ride is so smooth and steady and effortless that I enter a dream state every time I mount it. It’s like a glide, not a ride.

Colin did a stellar job with the build. It shifts flawlessly and instantaneously. Braking is smooooooth. So smooth that I can steer the bike with my left hand, steer two 65 lb. dogs with my right hand and right foot, and still easily control my velocity (that would be direction and speed for any non physics majors in the house).

Here’s a picture of my favorite tube. It’s exquisite, don’t you think? I’m told that most people don’t have favorite tubes, and I’ve never had one before, so the Big Dummy must just inspire that kind of thing. In case it’s not obvious, I’m referring to the large flat-oval tube on the bottom there, aka the chain stay. Look how sexy that is! It’s a work of art, I tell you. You might need to see it in person to see what I mean.

You may have noticed by now that the wheels are smaller than your average twenty-six inchers. Yep, they’re twenty-four inchers. That’s because I’m short, and the smallest Big Dummy frame is a 16 inch. It turned out to fit me perfectly! Props to Dean for that, he’s the one who first suggested it to me. I was hesitant, but I knew it would be the only way to make the BD fit between my petite legs. … OK, short-and-so-super-strong-tree-trunkish legs. I don’t think I notice that the wheels are smaller when I ride, unless they’re making it more plush. It is a super plush ride; it reminds me of a certain motor vehicle I may have once owned (and may still, I’m not saying) when it was new. If it had heat seaters, it would be the Trooper of Bikes.

Did you notice the Nitto Albatross bars? And did you know that I wanted On-One Mary bars? Well, the Mary bars didn’t get here in time for the build, so some brilliant Clever Cycles employee (don’t know which one) put some temporary Albatrosses (Albatri?) bars on in the mean time. Because I’m, you know, me, I made it loud and clear to anyone who would listen that I hated them. After 1.5 minutes of riding with them. What? Snap judgements? Me? Nahhhhh. Apparently, I’m good at snap judging people (yes I am too), but not handle bars. I’m starting to really dig the Albatroi! When the Marys get here, I’ll try them (for more than a minute and a half this time), and I may have a difficult decision to make. Props to Todd, because he’s the one who kept telling me that I’d like them, and I kept thinking he was crazy. He’s also the one who told me I’d enjoy running my Big Apples with low pressure, and I scoffed at that, too. Then one day I checked the pressure and it turned out I was running and loving them at 15psi! I pumped them up to their max, 60, and now they’re not nearly as cushy. That was on my Trextracycle (too bad I didn’t think of that name until the bike was dismembered and sold for parts); the BD has it’s tires probably at thier max of 55, but even so it rides a million times smoother than the old bike. I think I’ll let them lose air naturally for now, and then I’ll probably settle on some middle number.

So I’ve had the bike approximately 51.5 hours now, and already 3 random strangers have taken test rides on it. I really love  sharing the love! The first two people were eating at the same sit-outside restaurant as we were, and very politely asked if they could check out our bikes (my Big Dummy and L’s Marin Novato Xtracycle). We got to talking, and I liked them right away (see, good people judgment skills), so I encouraged them both to take a test ride. He went first, she went second, and they declined to ride together on it. The third person was a dude I met at Clever Cycles today. He was bringing in his X for something or other, and it had weird holes in the snap deck, so I asked him about it. He told me the previous owner had some kind of 4-stroke engine attached there. Wow. I pointed out my Big Dummy to him (really, it just happened to come up in conversation!) and he said, ‘Oh! I’ve seen your blog – I recognize those stoker bars. My wife started reading it, and now I do too.” Holy wow-maybe-there-are-more-than-three-readers, Batman! He and his friend were both very nice guys. Naturally, I asked if he wanted to ride it, and of course he did. I told him to watch his knees (’cause my bike is too small for him), and off he rode. When he came back his friend asked him how it rode, and he said, “It’s like riding on two clouds.” He nailed it in a beautiful metaphor (I know, it’s really a simile, but the word ‘metaphor’ is more pleasing to my palate). Thanks!

OK, the last thing I want to mention here (or maybe not, now that I think about it) is the headlight. That thing ROCKS. No longer am I constrained to the daylight! It’s super bright and if I aim it at the ground just right, it looks like a loaf of bread. Plus it works off the front hub generator. No batteries – it just works. It’s like the Mac of lights. In fact, the whole bike is like the Mac of Bikes. Maybe I’ll call it iDummy. Nah, probably not.

OK, the really last thing I want to mention, just in case you or anyone you know is thinking about getting a Big Dummy or Xtracycle with 24″ wheels, is that the standard kickstand is about an inch too long for the little wheels. In its stock state, the bike was very tippy on the kickstand, so Mike very kindly cut it down an inch for me, and now it’s perfect. That is to say he cut the kickstand, not the bike. Plus he shortened the seat post by 2″ for me because I needed that a little lower than it could go. Thanks, Mike!

Thanks also to Martina and Tyler for always being wonderful – you guys are the best. And I’m sorry to have kept you late AGAIN last night! Seriously, you should lock the doors if you see me coming any later than 4:30!

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 9:26 pm and is filed under The Big Dummy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.