The Sit X bike

I suppose I would take my loaded touring bike. It's built to carry weight on or off-road (it's essentially a cyclecross bike with panniers) and geared wide enough to climb that load up some steep grades. Bike generators are nice to have for radios, phones, appliances etc... and because I have been stuck miles and miles from civilization with it on more than one occasion I have run flat tires as well as the standard patch/tire change supplies.

I've had to fix everything from blow-out breaks, snapped spokes, derailleur explosions, frame failures, and more out in the middle of nowhere without much for tools so I'm too worried about the bike ever becoming unrideable. The life of randoneur riding.

My only concern would be the eventual rusting of the steel frame. Aluminum wont rust but if you crash and bend aluminum you cant bend it back without seriously damaging the overall structural integrity of the bike.

I wouldnt even consider grabbing my cross country hardtail or my full suspension downhill bike or my carbon road bike or anything else hanging in the garage.

For me the loaded tourer is the way to go. They're designed to ride around the world over and over. I think I can escape a few miles North to the White Mountains with one.

Thanks for your info on the alloy wheels. Regrettfully, we don't have any additional information from the manufacturer (www.worksmancycles.com)..... they just say "alloy" which I took to mean "nonrustable". Here in the salt environment, even people rust (I think sometimes).

I was wrong about the carry capacity though. It isn't 4-500 lbs. it's 6-700 lbs. There's a flat metal plate welded onto the rear of the trike, and it has a wire basket that is 30" X 18" X 18" deep. I might build a fiberglass box, which is why we didn't order the optional aluminum box at $110.00. It also has a front basket -- the nominal size.

I like the sealed 3-speed/coaster brake. We have parts already to rebuild that, as well as other toys. For us, and our situation, a SitX bike is not an escape vehicle, but a hauler.

Agent T! good to seeya....... you can build your own trailer for likely less that the cost of purchasing one, although it mightn't be as shiny The main feature I'm going to incorporate into our homemade trailer is that it articulates in a manner similar to a trailer hitch. I intend to use our trike (if it EVER gets here before TSHTF) for my work -- construction -- and there's very few tools, besides my 1/3 yard concrete mixer that I won't be able to haul. Can you imagine it??? Tooling down the road, pumping uphill to pull the mixer That's the stuff legends are made of.

reply to post by argentus


Hey Argentus,

I second... err third that trailer idea. My Uncle and I built a mobile one couple of years back.

Approx. 10X9X6 with a fairly decent brake and suspension system.
The entire skin was two layers of heavy aluminum siding reinforced with steel plates in key areas on the outside and what I believe was 1/6" plywood sheets on the inside supported by the metal cage thing that I forgot the name of.
To add some flavor to the metal box we put in a 5.1 surround sound system.

Not a survival trailor by any means but hey... 5.1 Surround sound.

I mean c'mon.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
I suppose I would take my loaded touring bike. It's built to carry weight on or off-road (it's essentially a cyclecross bike with panniers) and geared wide enough to climb that load up some steep grades. Bike generators are nice to have for radios, phones, appliances etc... and because I have been stuck miles and miles from civilization with it on more than one occasion I have run flat tires as well as the standard patch/tire change supplies.

I've had to fix everything from blow-out breaks, snapped spokes, derailleur explosions, frame failures, and more out in the middle of nowhere without much for tools so I'm too worried about the bike ever becoming unrideable. The life of randoneur riding.

My only concern would be the eventual rusting of the steel frame. Aluminum wont rust but if you crash and bend aluminum you cant bend it back without seriously damaging the overall structural integrity of the bike.

I wouldnt even consider grabbing my cross country hardtail or my full suspension downhill bike or my carbon road bike or anything else hanging in the garage.

For me the loaded tourer is the way to go. They're designed to ride around the world over and over. I think I can escape a few miles North to the White Mountains with one.

Same here. Overall a bike is a good idea for certain locations and situations but it is almost useless when your tire goes flat right when the hungry zombies are chasing you.

What are you goin to tell them?

"Oh gee, uh, guys sorry to be the prickly prickle in your boot but my tire is flat so can we, you know, just take it easy for a bit. Grab some sodas and relax or something? I promise you can get back to trying to kill me once patch my tire up. I'm serious, Scout's honor."

Originally posted by argentus
Agent T! good to seeya....... you can build your own trailer for likely less that the cost of purchasing one,

Holidays next couple of weeks so it's ordered.
Should get it Wed/Thurs.Will do a run down on ease of setup/fit/pack etc.
Seems to be a popular one for world touring.
Should be able to easily get all my 85L Pack contents inside.. including pack bungeed to the top.

Can get my acoustic guitar and case on my back now

I have been thinking of building a type of tourer myself, I bought a nice Kona Lavadome frame a while back which would be perfect.


Just have to buy some parts to build it, I have some parts like profile carbon bars with some xtr components, My ebay is a bit screwed at the moment though so that ones on hold....

It would be totally useless in a sit x though.


[edit on 22-9-2008 by Dar Kuma]