Letter to Xtracycle

Come up with another scheme to try and get Xtracycles into Adelaide. Already have about 6 "sold" without even trying! The good people from Xtracycle have yet to get back to me!! This is what I sent them...

"Hello Xtracycle and Greetings from Adelaide, South Australia!

I recently purchased a Xtracycle Free Radical from a dealer in Sydney and finally got it built on the weekend. To the best of my knowledge of the local cycling scene, this is the first Xtracycle to live in his city. Have already ridden about 50 km on it, picking up my daughter, shopping and moving bicycle parts. I bought the Xtracycle to replace an original Adelaide long bike, an extended wheel base bike that I have been getting around on for about a year, but which is a bit heavy and cumbersome.

I have quite an interest in developing cycling, sustainable transport and options that allow people to live car free or car light. I would like to develop a local market for Xtracycles and believe that there is a good deal of interest particularly through the local Bicycle User Groups and Permaculture people that I am involved with.

I have an idea to develop a direct distribution scheme, where a coalition makes a bulk purchase of Xtracycles and accessories and hold a install-a-thon weekend. I could effectively run this scheme through the Bicycle Institute of SA www.bisa.asn.au or my own consultancy business. However, I would like to keep the scheme essentially not for profit, mainly designed to develop cycling culture and cargo bike usage.

My question is whether Xtracycle the company would be interested in distributing directly to such a purchasing coalition? If so what sort of quantities would need to be ordered (10, 20, 50 units??), and also of course, what sort of dollars taking into account shipping etc would be anticipated for bulk orders.

At this stage I am developing the ideas and local interest to give such a scheme life, would intend to use my machine as a demo bike and promotional vehicle to 'sell' the idea and get commitment to the coalition.

Let me know what your thoughts are at this early stage as I would be interested if this is something you have done previously, or would hold appeal to develop further markets for your products based on the culture of developing community and local exchange and community capacity building.

Best Regards,

Jeremy Miller"