Danielle got a me a subscription to Dirt Rag for x-mas. It overtook Dirt as my favourite magazine a while ago, since it has better writing and covers all the stuff I am into rather than Dirt's narrower focus. More counter-culture oriented, more RADICAL! Anyway, Danielle picked up the issue out right now (#125) for me since my sub won't kick in until the next issue. Within, I found a pic of Surly's new frameset, the Big Dummy. Surly worked in collaboration with XtraCycle to develop this frame. As this writeup http://todd.cleverchimp.com/blog/?p=150 suggests, it ought to be stiffer than the mod version from XtraCycle. XtraCycle's modular fixings slap right on.

Rodd introduced me to the XtraCycle before x-mas sometime when he sent me pics of his setup, which I seem to have misplaced (post em Rodd). His is rigged up to an old Marin 26 incher, and he is presently using an electrified cruiser from Suzanne's porchlight project. This E-machine is the one I saw in person first. Rodd gave me a taxi ride home from the Prescott after drinks at x-mas time, which was a treat, It was quite stable and I actually felt safe being so low to the ground. A week or so later, he towed me home with my gear on board after a MTB-then-fixie-ride in the coldness. This was pretty cool, since his ability to help me cart my stuff home made our extra ride possible.





A great deal of the XtraCycle's appeal for me is its versatility. First and foremost, it can be fixed to an old MTB frame, as Rodd did to re-cycle it. Excellent. Second, it can be swapped to another frame if a problem arises with your present one, you want to use the bike in regular mode, or say, you want to lend it to a friend. Good stuff. The Surly seems more appropriate for those who do not have ready access to used frames (I guess this is the case for some), don't need interchangeability, need more rigidity, or any combination of these. The frame and fork is $850 USD, which is probably significantly more than a frame and kit. I would love to get an XtraCycle going on a used steel frame down the road. I don't think I could justify a new frame when this option is available to me, on ethical or economic grounds. It seems to me that it is absolultely necessary to have a ground level parking enclosire for such a rig, so until I have such a space, I will not get one. I'll use the trailer for haulin until then.

Another item I am interested in is the double threaded cog offered by Surly (at least), the Dinglecog:



This part allows you to run two gears on your fixie in two ways. Either with one chainring, which would require a different axle position, or with a second front ring for the same chain length. On the second setup, the gear differential would indeed be greater, but you would save having to make brake adjustments on switching. I will likely try this out at some point on my Surly. White Industries also makes a freewheel version, and a double ring crank to match, but it/they is/are rather pricey - I'd use a cassette hub for that myself.