The Next Step

This job is much easier when you have a repair stand but you can do it with the bike upside down. When you install the Extracycle you just about have to do it with the bike upside down, more on that in a minute.
First you want to remove the rear wheel, rear brake, rear derailleur, the cables, chain, and the kickstand if it has one.
Now if you don't already have the bike upside down flip it and gravity will hold the extracycle in place while you get it all sorted. Be sure to follow the specific instructions in the manual so the dropouts fully support the new addition. The nuts need to insert in the extracycle frame or they will not tighten properly.

Now some pictures:

The nuts sit in the dropouts like this.


A close up of the fitting.


The front part of the Extracycle rests against the the chainstay bridge.


Here is the plate they provide to clamp the front down. If your bike lacks a stay bridge, you will need to get a second one to clamp the stays properly.


Next time we start putting all the parts we stripped off back on and setting it all up.

Technical difficulties

Looks like there is an issue with the images below. Trust me the other half of that bike is somewhere, but that is just going to wait for tomorrow to fix

Edit: Fixed, forgot to resize.

Making an Xtracycle

So. It has been about 8 (Yes, eight) months since my last post. Games, work, movies, what-not.
But I am going to make up with it by doing some posts on setting up an Xtracycle. If you don't know, an Xtracycle is a frame that you can bolt on to a bike collecting dust in your shed to create a great new cargo bike.
There is also a prefab frameset, made by Surly, called the Big Dummy. But we want to recycle an existing bike.
First you need to get a (near)complete bike to bolt the Xtracycle to. I used a '94 M800 Cannondale I had set up as a commuter bike, that had become the shop dust collector, so it was a perfect start for this project.


(Yes I know the seatpost is sticking way out of the frame, relax. I don't have a 50" inseam on a 5'10" frame. That was "pre adjustment"

Next we need the Xtracycle. The kit I got included the frameset, all the hardware to mount the frame, a snapdeck, two freeloaders, and instructions.

Here is the frameset,



Next time we strip the brakes and derailleur and get ready to install the Xtracyle frame. You also might get to find out just what a freeloader and a snap deck are.