…from the ashes of an old Raleigh:

I’ve not seen any other Xtracycles in the UK, but I doubt this is the first; however it was notable that my LBS completely messed-up the replacement bottom bracket when I brought the naked frame in for servicing, but when I brought in the nearly-finished bike they a) had never seen anything like that before and b) paid a *LOT* more attention to the work.

Tip for better customer service: ride something odd.

For the geeks, the parts list includes:

• 1992-ish Raleigh Amazon MTB steel-frame
• 26 Inch 36 Hole Mavic EX721 Black Rims
• Schwalbe Marathon Slicks
• Shimano Deore M530 Black Hubs
• Shimano Alivio M410 Square Taper Chainset 42/32/22T
• Shimano HG50 7 Speed Cassette 11/34
• Shimano Alivio FD-M413 8 Speed Conventional Swing Dual Pull Multifit Front Derailleur
• Spacer For Shimano 8/9 Speed Body to 7 Speed Conversion
• Xtracycle FreeRadical complete Kit
• Xtracycle KickBack centre stand
• Xtracycle Wideloaders (not shown)

…so it’s a bunch of reused parts, cheap parts and a FreeRadical; it’s not meant to be a performance bike, it’s meant for hauling shopping and stuff. The refit has cost a modest amount but it’s still way cheaper than importing a BigDummy.

So far it’s done one shopping run and a trip to the recycling, and handled it all well; it rides much as before, although with immensely lower gearing available (22 ring onto a 34 sprocket?) and the weirdness of not having a tight turning circle any more.

More photos once it’s run-in properly. Many thanks to @bubbva and Mark for helping me source the parts. 🙂