Yes, I got a new bike (I am giving an old one away though). This new ride is the Surly Big Dummy, which accepts the cargo accessories designed by Xtracycle. I just barely managed to get one, but get one I did. I bought it as a frame and fork, having had plenty of time to figure out what components to install. They were first seen at the 2006 Interbike tradeshow in the fall, then at the 2007 Interbike, and finally became available at the end of February 2008. Surly did quite a bit of research and development, along with ironing out complications with painting and shipping a really non-traditionally sized frame.
I built the wheelset, with a Shimano generator (dynamo) hub in the front, 32 spokes, straight gauge, 3-cross, laced to a SunRingle Equalizer rim (31mm wide).
Rear wheel is a Shimano LX hub, 36 spokes; also straight gauge 3-cross lacing. Both hubs accept disc brakes, I went with a slightly oversized rotor up front, with my favorite cable-pull (mechanical) disc brake, the Avid BB-7's.
On the first trip, I rode out all the way to the veterinarian, to pick up some old dog medicine. Riding back to town, I spotted a big chunk of firewood, rode past it twenty feet, circled back, and thought - here we go! No excuse with this thing not to pick something up. The bike has a whopping 200lb payload -plus rider! A BOB trailer is rated somewhere around 70lbs. What this means is that "smaller" loads are easy to handle with the Big Dummy. (Which is a Sanford and Sons reference). A purpose-built, one piece frame is going to be torsionally stiffer than anything else.
For instance I was riding home one night in the dark with a loaded BOB trailer. They have an attachment point on either the specially designed skewer or axle nuts. It's very simple, secure, and easy to use. Riding gently out of the saddle, the load was causing enough leverage on the rear frame dropouts to cause the tire-driven generator to pulse, as it pulled away from, then pushed against the sidewall. No wheel axle slip, just flex. Most of it probably in the spokes, but even that bike has a sturdy wheel build. And that time with the chicken wire, well, I knew what to expect at that point.
The bashguard is handmade out of aluminum stock, made by a friend of a friend's back in Ithaca. Note the heart, diamond cutouts. This was the first piece for the bike, which then led the search for a crankset with a 58x94mm bolt pattern. Which I found on a compact Shimano crank spider, which I then mounted onto a set of square taper XT crankarms. From Team Velveeta, a 14x32 7spd cassette, still brand new in the box. I fitted a spacer onto the 9spd cassette freehub body, which helps the chain clear the tire in the lowest gear. And a set of almost new Deore thumshifters, mounted to a Jeff Jones licensed Titec H-bar.
It rides amazingly well, expecially when previous bikes used for commuting are a 47 lb single speed Rollfast cruiser, or a typically overloaded-trailer-towing 3spd GT bicycle.
. . . and it made the Minneapolis news, where the Surly folks are based. Here's the link.
