Arleigh is building, documenting and writing out her build up of a Salsa Ala Carte mountain bike with 650b wheels and a Xtracycle Free Radical Kit. This is an on going series so stay tuned for more installments.
One thing that is a bit daunting if you aren’t mechanically inclined is the huge parts bag that comes with the Xtracycle box. There’s bit pieces and things that simply don’t make sense. This requires reading directions and diagrams which, let’s be honest, most folks don’t.
First I seperated all the goodies into seperate piles to make sure I had everything I needed. There’s a couple stray chainring bolts that didn’t make it to their right pile but you get the idea.
Kickstand plate, and soft, durable fabric to save your frame from being scratched.
Chainring bolts used in with screws to attach the freeloader bags to the Xtracycle frame. This is a new design to keep the bags from having to be tied to the frame.
Avid Rollamajig. Used to help ease the bend of the derailleur cable into the derailleur. Mostly used if the cable stop is too close to derailleur, or for older style Shimano derailleurs. (I didn’t use mine.)
French Nut. These are the parts that your frame rear dropouts sit on. They tighten through the drop out to bolts on the outside of the Xtracycle frame.
End Caps & Spacers. These seem to have many purposes (spacers, plugs, etc), I’m still researching all the possibilities for them.
V-Rack Spacers. Used with the above to space out your top deck.
FAP Bolt. Used to connect Xtracycle at the FAP tab near the chainstay/bottom bracket area.
4 Shorter Bolts. Goes with chain ring bolts to attach Freeloaders.
Washers. Big washers are used to space out 130mm frame for Xtracycle. Small washers are used with bolts.
I’m sure that there will be more parts along the way, and uses but we will document as we go.