Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Why the Big Dummy?


When Surly announced that the Big Dummy was going to be hitting the streets in early 2008. I could feel a rush of excitement building that I haven't felt for a bike in a long time. My long standing interest in the Xtracycle concept had finally met the perfect bike at a time in my life when keeping my truck parked as much as possible was a priority.

The Big Dummy caught my eye because the purpose built design looked uber bomber and would mean a bike optimized for use with all the Xtracycle components. In particular I thought the added stiffness would be really important for controlling heavy loads and for traveling over rough terrain. Although many people are happily using Xtracycle Free Radicals on other bikes I could see that having an integrated system that was designed with heavy cargo hauling would be an improvement. That was the Xtra-incentive I needed to jump on the long tail band wagon.

So what are my plans for the Big Dummy? Well first off I'll use it for all the standard cargo missions - groceries, office supplies, hauling bikes, etc... Then I figure I can get a bunch of lifestyle missions accomplished - giving friends a lift, picking up someone on the way to dinner, coffee, etc... Finally I'm really stoked to see how the Big Dummy works for touring. Both on road and off road.

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