The Fahrradzukunft magazine published a highly interesting review about dynohub chargers conducted by dynohub manufacturer Schmidt and others. The article was published in German language and unfortunately does not cover my Jawetec charger due to its unavailability. However, there are several interesting devices including the pedalpower+ stuff (check my link bar for more information on it!).
Update: the Fahrradzukunft magazine recently published part II of the USB charger article with some more very interesting devices and updates.

A short note on this blog: Most likely I will continue writing this blog at slow rate in German language. Xtracycle released several very interesting new addons and pannier kits and things are going on, but it is not such a big hype anymore. I believe it is worth of talking about in our native language, although big dummy cargo bicycles are still not a big issue here. At least, people realize the concept is useful, and I still love its great versatility and riding style.

Every now and then there are certain highlights that I am thankful for and enjoy them very much. It has been a busy summer and I had to reduce some of my occupations. There was not much time left for anything. However, we finally managed to meet nearly 6 months after his arrival at Salzburg. I am talking about Robert from Ohio who had his Big Dummy shipped to Salzburg from the US, and who will be leaving soon. I was in fear we would completely fail to meet at all.

I will be thinking a lot about those things we discussed as like our environment, nature, cycling, big dummy bicycles and Surly bikes, motorcycles, work, family, economy, USA, Austria. Once more I may indicate my dedication to cycling even this time where my bicycling percentage has dropped due to time and many other constraints.
Robert, I wish you a nice trip back home and I will be looking forward to your next visit over here.

Xtracycle offers some custom program for new Big Dummies, together with those previous options of frame kit and complete build. In my opinion this is a pretty good idea and a valuable option for us Big Dummy home designers. I think custom colors are totally appropriate for Big Dummies.

My friend Markus, who had created some comments at this blog, sent me a flickr link showing pictures of a purple big dummy. I like this. Check these custom freeloaders! Great.

I am very sorry for any availability issues of this site. On the other hand, I have been reorganizing my stuff a bit and changed the wordpress theme. Additionally a new type of image gallery was introduced for my trip image galleries providing better viewing convenience.

Björns blog article describes a new and interesting Big Dummy build up project starting right now. His 20″ frame was announced to arrive today. His assembly kit includes heavy duty sports components as like Magura Gustav M downhill brakes in combination with Shimano Alfine internal hub and hub dynamo for allround and offroad usage. I am really curious how it will work. Check his complete blog for any further information. Björn, have fun with it!

These are garage mates, both used for commuting and riding around, onroad and offroad. The ruckus is a 2005 and for the big dummy there was no choice in color. Perfect.

Utility vehicles

Commuting to me currently means 2x25km a day with 500 meters of elevation altogether, and my slope is extendable as like appropriate both in length and altitude difference. I am trying to use the bicycle probably three times a week for riding to work, and the ruckus or another small motorcycle at the remaining two days. Besides from sportive or fun riding, shopping, etc.

According to yesterdays Surly blog entry there is a considerable increase in big dummy frame pricing ($895 -> $1050) due to several reasons. When I ordered my frame in May 2008 after being told there would be no hurry, there were still some available, I luckywise got the last 18″ frame available in Germany. Otherwise I would probably be on the waiting list right now. On the other hand, it looks like this frame is selling well. Hopefully in Europe as well. German Xtracycle distributor USED HQ reports running out of wideloaders, so maybe there is some appreciable demand over here for SUBs and longtails.

Saturday shopping

Welcome to my little cycling blog, covering the Surly Big Dummy Xtracycle frameset. Click here to find out more about this issue and this blog!

Well, at first I would like to say thanks to Clemens from obda.net for providing this shiny new blog system.

Please note: this blog is non professional stuff and in no way related to any manufacturers or dealers. Please click here for more information.

I hope these texts can be useful or inspiring in some way.