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Stokemonkey understands the needs of those who are committed to utilizing their bike in all facets of life. From picking your kid up at school, to making a Saturday morning trip to the farmers market... they have you covered.

"It’s for people who want to transport their spouse, their child, and their camping gear a dozen hilly miles offroad and back. It’s for picking up a friend with two checked bags at the airport. It’s for your knees. And if there are thousands of vertical feet between your farmers’ market and your family kitchen, now you can pedal those couple dozen melons home without qualifying for charitable sponsorship.
It’s for people who commute twenty-five miles each way, can’t shower at the office, and never want to sit in traffic. It’s for taking the lane without slowing motorists down.
It’s for people who understand that vehicles heavier than what they carry are inefficient almost by definition; that fiddling with their fuels comes at sustainability problems from the wrong end, and ignores the social and health problems of car dependence in built environments altogether."

Strokemonkey is a battery assist for your bicycle. It's the red thing in the photo above. It (give or take) can go 50 miles without recharging and has settings to lengthen that time by using less power.
The Strokemonkey is intended for use with the Xtracycle. The additional triangle of space not only elongates the bike, but gives the strokemonkey and battery pack a place to reside. You may use it without the Xtracycle, although some MacGyver engineering skills would come in handy.

Here's how it works. It not only runs virtually silent, but will increase your power without you really knowing it's on your bike.
You can take it onroad, offroad, through snow and rain, without any hassles at all (although immersion of the unit isn't advised.... so no snorkeling).
Their website is full of fascinating thoughts (it's not often we get to say that, usually they are just full of pretty pictures) on the true science that went into creating such a product. If you have time, give it a read, even if this isn't the product for you; we dare you to read it and not feel motivated to do something... anything... or even just stay indoors.

See them hands on at:
Clever Cycles
1516 SE 9th Ave.
Portland, OR 97214; 11-7 Wed-Sat; 11-5 Sun

Photos by Cleverchimp via Flickr