Xtracylce Hooptie on the Yuba Mundo

Kludged the Hooptie onto the Yuba.

Lots of changes- no blogging. Now can blog from smartphone so lets see!

Current Yuba setup:
Fat Franks
Disc Brakes
Bread Platform
Kona Ute Bags
Rolling Jackass Stand
Xtracycle Hooptie

I love it!

Kona Ute Bag Repair

Kona's large Ute Bags are pretty good. It still puzzles me, however, why they sell the Ute with one bag. I guess you may not want to use their bags. So why supply any? Also, they do sell a sell a small Ute Bag. I thought that would have been the best of both worlds- you could travel balanced with 2 smalls for daily operations, and use 2 smalls and 1 large for the heavy days. This fell apart when it I discovered that 2 small Ute bags won't fit on one side.
I would be interested to hear comments on the Ute bag versus the Yuba Go-Getter-never having seen a Go Getter. The photo on the right shows how Kona looped the pull strap back on itself to keep it from dragging on the ground when a bunch of slack is taken up. Works well. Another good feature is that the straps may be buckled to the lid to cinch it down, or be buckled under the lid up near the top of the bag. There are 3 straps on each side.
One day as I was zoooming home I cut a corner a little sharp and caught one of the straps on the edge of a guardrail. This is when I found out that the buckles and slides on the Ute Bags aren't a very common style. (they are not fastex or national molding) I eventually (with the help of Kona tech support- THANK-YOU) learned that these buckles can be replaced without having to re-stitch the webbing. To repair the buckles you will need a "quick attach" buckle.
After you break a male or female buckle end you will need (1) male slide buckle, (1) ladder, and (2) female quick attach buckles. Remember you need 2, one for the lid and one for inside the lid. I replaced all 6 males and 12 females and now carry spares as shown in the picture. The quick attach is the one on the left and has a notch in it which to feed the stitched loop of webbing. You will have to cut or break the old female out. (not hard) I was a bit skeptical, but they work really well- and you can repair in the field with no tools.
The ladder slide is to attach the loose end of the strap back onto itself through a ring as seen in the first pic. Kona stitches this at the factory- just cut the stitching and put the ladder slider on before threading the female end. Cheers!

Ute at the Farmers Market

Here is a shot of the Ute and Chariot in tow at the local farmers market. (and the kids with their little Nutcase helmets)
Its a great little market, with vendors selling a good variety. The produce gets better as the summer goes on. Its very well attended, but we were probably the only ones that went by bike, yaah, its a real carfest. At least people are out supporting local agriculture- more people will bike in the future, I am sure.
I know a few of the growers, its a nice way to shop. Just beware of the reseller standing in gumboots with a widerange of produce you just know they didn't grow!
As an aside, the Chariot is a good piece of kit, but I don't like not seeing the kids. I am going to try and get them into a home-built bakfiets this summer- but lets save that for another post!