I do think the Xtra is further along the cargo capability scale and is a better match for a “do everything” car replacement. Perhaps one will be in my future if the whole cargo bug bites bad. With an 80mile round trip to work I’m not about to start commuting on a bike yet, but it’s going to be interesting to see what local trips I can replace.

Yes, I think there have been some good comparisons and it’s great to see people putting together some well thought out journalism that help put bike to need. One comment I read likened an Xtra to a transit van, whilst bikes like the Ute are more like an estate car/station wagon. I think that’s a good one line summary.

I’m definitely an Xtracycle fanboi — you’ve pegged me there. In this instance, though, I wasn’t being negative, just stating an observation over several hours of attendance at the 2008 Bash.

I imagine a lot of the negativity between the Xtra folks and users of the other cargo rigs stems from the “early adopter phenomenon”. Obviously, the Xtra wasn’t the first cargo bike ever created — cargo-haulers have been around as long as there have been bicycles. But frame this in the same way that people talk about rock bands: “I was into Band X before anyone!”. I think the same thing is going on here…Xtras captured the thrills of truly living car-free and had huge market penetration pretty much from the beginning. Then, Utes and Yubas and others came along, and an early reaction was, “aw, they’re just ripping off the concept.” We know now that that’s not the case — there’s room for many flavors of cargo-hauling machine out there, and every one of them offers the opportunity to reduce or eliminate motor vehicle use.

Still, there have been some very well-reasoned comparisons/contrasts of the various cargobike platforms — you may even find such articles on this site.

Stay tuned for an upcoming review of the RANS Hammertruck — another player on the cargobike market. Here’s a quick taste of what’s in store:

http://www.bikecommuters.com/2010/01/18/preview-rans-hammertruck/

I don’t doubt for one second your report that there was little interest in the Ute and plenty in the Xtracycle. But your sentences, for me at least, read negatively. I read your use of the ellipses in the first sentence as the pause before the sarcasm in the form of “football team X…blows. Particularly when contrasted to your second sentence and the use of ruled.

But look, I was being a little harsh on you. For all I know you might be a level headed person and it was a simple shout out for your passion.

My comment was motivated by what I had read going through all the pages Google returned when I was researching the Ute. If you go through the pages and read the comments it’s amazing how much negativity is out there from the Xtracycle/Big Dummy crowd. There seemed to be a real sense that many Xtracycle folks reaction was defensive and sometimes coupled with the need to attack these new cargo bikes which I just really couldn’t get my head around.

Personally I think it is good that manufacturers are shipping more cargo carrying bikes of all types and that the Ute and Xtracycle fulfil different needs. I think that whole market can grow and there is a lot of interesting conversation to be made about how people are using them in their lives.

Like I said in my post I can understand passionate advocacy in the form of look at all these cool lugging applications you can do with a bike and here is how a Xtracycle is great for them. But there seemed to be a hell alot of fanbois out there of the kind you see for Windows, Macs and games. I just happened to come across your post after reading many hours of this and my reply was my reaction to that as much as it was to your two short sentences. If I misinterpreted you as one of those Xtracycle fanbois whose comments I had waded through then my apologies. Peace and enjoy your Xtracycle. I have never had the pleasure of trying one, I hope I do.

are we reading the same sentence? Because I sure don’t see any “unnecessary negativity” in the above quote. Simply stating a fact: hardly anyone showed interest in the Ute but folks were ALL over the Xtra. I was there, you know…

I can understand people’s enthusiasm for the Xtracycle, but I’ve never really understood why people who have them seem to get so worked up about dissing other options like the Ute. It’s all just so unnecessarily negative. Why not just talk up the positives of the Xtracycle? It’s a whole lot more positive and will do more to bring people round to using a bike for more than the things they used them for when they were a kid. All the negativity just alienates people.

Congratulations, Jean — sweet win!

Although…I thought you said it was hot and breezy out. Is that why you look like you’re dressed for a nippy winter morning(see beanie and long sleeve shirt). You’re obviously fully acclimated to that Florida humidity!