It's not a trailer... it's a Bicycle/RV???

Teardrop shaped bicycle travel trailers & related information

It's not a trailer... it's a Bicycle/RV???

Postby gyroguy » Mon Dec 04, 2006 3:38 pm

Thought I'd seen everything...BUT this is different!

An enclosed jinrickshaw?

A trailer with a front wheel and pedals on the tongue?


See it yourself and tell me what this is.

http://cyclinggeeks.blogspot.com/2006/12/rv-cycle.html


I'm not sure this fits on the T&TT forum... or anywhere else in the known world!

Sure looks like cheap travel, though!
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Postby Podunkfla » Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:21 pm

I think it's a "Rastabike" ... but you gotta have one of those hats to ride it! :lol:

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Its not a trailer

Postby 4123 » Tue Dec 09, 2008 8:54 pm

Actually this guy is a genius. Olga and I met him while he was staying in Cave Junction for a while. His drive train consists of four derailers, two running in series and two running in parallel. When he pedals, the peddling action does not directly turn the drive wheel in the rear but turns one of two internal flywheels. The flywheels are what propels the vehicle. He can ride it up a steep hill without any more exertion than on flat ground or downhill. As he pedals, he is spinning up one flywheel while at the same time the other flywheel is actually propelling the vehicle. There is an 'in & out' box thats shifts the power from one flywheel to the other as needed either manually or automatically.
The "living quarters" is made exclusively of Styrofoam. It has a small 6 volt battery that is charged by a vintage 6 volt bicycle generator that is in contact with one of the flywheels, also a small 6 volt solar panel. He uses a single LED that will last for hours.
He has ridden that bike over the Siskiyou Mountain Range all the way up to 6000 ft and down the other side without breaking a sweat.
He built this unique vehicle entirely by himself and has been featured in many newspapers and a couple of times on TV.
I'm sorry to say that while he was staying in a small town somewhere. some "good ol boys" destroyed his vehicle and beat him up pretty bad.
The last I heard, he was seen hitchhiking south on I-5.
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Postby Endo » Wed Dec 10, 2008 7:45 am

Interesting, any more info or pics of the bike?

The above link no longer works: "Blog has been removed"

Sorry to hear what happened to him.
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Postby Wimperdink » Wed Dec 10, 2008 12:07 pm

same for me.... I did a google search for RV bicycle and came up with this link....

http://bikeportland.org/2006/11/10/moto ... ppearance/
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Postby the pvc bike guy » Thu Jun 25, 2009 10:20 pm

Wimperdink wrote:same for me.... I did a google search for RV bicycle and came up with this link....

http://bikeportland.org/2006/11/10/moto ... ppearance/


I do wish some one would get a lot of photos of the under ca rage the bicycle is to have 5 or 6 Raleigh and a big back tire not of a bicycle. I'd love to see this :crying2:
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Postby Laredo » Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:15 am

if you go to that portland link, at the bottom are links to a series of stories. the bike was destroyed.

front wheel was originally off a Puch moped, with internal bearings.

photo here appears to show best views of frame, etc.
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more detail here?
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Postby the pvc bike guy » Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:38 am

Ya went to the site an read this thought people should read :noyes:

Beloved motorhome bike “torn to shambles” in NE Portland

Posted by Jonathan Maus (Editor) on August 30th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Brian and his motorhome-bike
before vandals destroyed it (see below).
(Photo: Bob Crispin)

Last November, I shared photos and the story of an amazing character making his home on the streets of Portland.

His name is Brian and he lives in a bicycle that he expertly engineered into a human-powered bicycle Winnebago. According to reports, he has been pedaling this unique vehicle all over the world for over three decades.

He had been making his street-home on SE Ankeny Street (near Citybikes) but had recently moved to northeast Portland, just east of MLK Blvd off of NE Ainsworth.

Yesterday, Ayleen Crotty (who lives in the area) announced on her blog that Brian was looking for donations to help him with some much-needed renovations to the bike. Ayleen’s employer, OR Bike, had already chipped in $200 to the cause.

Unfortunately, this morning I received this sad news from a reader:

“…by 10pm [last night] it was torn to shambles. This morning it was still there and still in pieces. I do not know what happened (whether he did it himself or it was vandalized), but it’s a damn shame. I almost cried when I saw it.”

Someone else reported that yesterday evening they noticed, “a big hole in the side and the contents strewn everywhere.”

Here are photos of the damage sent in from Ayleen Crotty:


(Photos by Ayleen Crotty)

I haven’t yet confirmed what exactly happened, but it doesn’t sound good. I hope Brian can recover and I look forward to finding out how/if the community can step up and help him out. Please contact me or leave a comment if you have any information (or photos of the damage).

Stay tuned


Updated: Motorhome-biker shares his story

Posted by Jonathan Maus (Editor) on August 30th, 2007 at 8:12 pm

[NOTE: This post has been updated since last night. Please hit your "refresh" button to make sure you are seeing the full story.]
brian camper bike-2
Brian
(Photos by Jonathan Maus)

Like most of you who read the story about how the famous motorhome-bike was destroyed Wednesday night, I instantly assumed it was the work of vandals.

But as the day wore on, evidence mounted that the bike’s creator, Brian, might have done it himself: a commenter who has spent time with him said he’d been wanting to “trash it and start from scratch”; Ayleen Crotty reported that he needed help with repairs; and Jonathon Severdia, who wrote an article about Brian for WorldChanging called to tell me he wouldn’t be surprised if Brian did it.

Despite all this, I didn’t want to jump to conclusions until I heard what happened directly from Brian.

Fortunately last night, on my way to catch the B:C:Clettes at the Clown House on Alberta, I happened to see Brian entering the Safeway at MLK Blvd. and NE Ainsworth.

“Nothing ever lines up for me, no jobs, no nothing…I’m invisible out here, like a ghost. People only notice me now that this happened.”
–Brian

I felt awkward introducing myself to him. No matter what the circumstances are around his bike, I knew he might not be in the best mood right now. Not to mention, I was a complete stranger.

At the outset of our conversation, things did not look good. I quickly realized he had destroyed the bike himself and he was mumbling and going on about how sick and tired he was of everything: living on the street; living in his “camper”; not finding work; not having many friends; being hungry; and so on.

He didn’t really look me in the eye and he was angry, frustrated and depressed.

I let Brian know that while I couldn’t relate to his experiences, I could understand why he felt angry and bitter at the world. Mixed in with my empathy, I let him know that there was a community of people who cared about him and who were willing to help; but only if he wanted it.

As we walked back to the site of his tattered bike, the warm breeze blew the wayward pieces of tattered foam all over the street. He had a few plastic trash bags and I asked for one to help him clean up the mess.

As we picked up bits of glass, metal, and foam, the picture of Brian’s breakdown became clearer.
brian camper bike-8

After decades of traveling the country in his camper-bike and living a seemingly carefree, nomadic existence, Brian had had enough.

Still upset, he said, “Nothing ever lines up for me, no jobs, no nothing…I’m invisible out here, like a ghost. People only notice me now that this happened.”

I offered (and he agreed) that perhaps people mistakenly assumed he was happy and content with his existence. After all, he was free-and-clear, without the stresses of work, mortgages, and other rat-race responsibilities. He was on an eternal bike tour, living off the land under his own power…how bad could that be?

As we talked, many people would honk and wave as they drove by.

He explained that last winter he reached a breaking point. The dark, cold, wet days found him “just lying there, in my cabin, staring out, losing weight from not eating.” “I can’t do that anymore,” he said “I felt like I was in jail in that thing, trapped…”

He pointed out mold that was spreading through sections of the cabin’s foam walls and expressed concern about breathing it in.

Despite his anxieties over the state of his life, I noticed that the more we spoke, the more stable, and less upset he became. Slowly but surely the fog around his mood began to lift. Eventually the conversation turned to how he could get rolling again and he even started joking and smiling.
brian camper bike-7
brian camper bike-6

With a huge grin he said, “This is what happens when you build a camper that’s not big enough for a woman.”

I told Brian that if he was interested, I would help him raise some money and maybe even have a little work party. He said he definitely wants to rebuild, “I can get this all fixed in just a couple of days.”

Staring at his bike and thinking of rebuilding, he said, “It will be like the big family argument that gets better when you buy a new car and everyone’s happy.”

That “joke” is actually a true story from Brian’s past. He told me about a “big blowout fight” between his mom and dad. Then, the next morning he noticed a brand new car in the driveway, and “the house was silent…and everyone seemed OK.” With a confused look and a sheepish grin, he said, “I could never figure that one out.”

I was relieved that his spirits seemed to be getting brighter. At this point, he was talking less of his frustrations and sadness, and more about how he could get rolling again.

Brian said he could re-build his camper for around $200 in supplies. Here’s a list of what he needs:

* 6 1″ thick, 4×8 feet Armax (?) double foil-backed sheets.
* A big roll of duct tape.
* A can of spray paint.
* A roll of silver flashing.
* Some glass.
* A front moped wheel.

Before I left, I wrote my name and phone number down and told him to stay in touch (he said he would). I offered my backyard as a backup place to crash if he needed it (he’s currently got a place to stay that’s off the streets).

Then, at his request, I went to Safeway and bought him a 40 oz. of Pabst and two cans of spaghetti.

If I do hear from Brian, and if there’s sufficient interest from the community (which I think there will be), I will coordinate a work party to happen in the next few days. Stay tuned to this post for more details.

In the meantime, I’ve created this PayPal button for anyone who wants to make online donations. All proceeds will go to help Brian rebuild his bike (and maybe a show of support from the community will help him rebuild his zeal and outlook on life as well.)
Smile all the time and thy will leave you alone.

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Postby Laredo » Fri Jun 26, 2009 6:04 pm

Well, that post went up in August '07, so whatever has happened since, we can only guess about.

pvcbikeguy: I can't get your link to load, it tells me Error 404.
Mopar's what my busted knuckles bleed, working on my 318s...
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Postby the pvc bike guy » Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:42 pm

Laredo wrote:Well, that post went up in August '07, so whatever has happened since, we can only guess about.

pvcbikeguy: I can't get your link to load, it tells me Error 404.


Hay thanks for letting me no about the problem :duh I'm sending you a E-mail
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Postby asorensen » Sun Jun 26, 2011 12:19 am

I came across this fellow on my summer time travels in 2006 and snapped some pictures.
Supper nice guy and as mentioned already pretty smart.
He explained to me in detail how the gearing worked.
What an absolute shame that it appears to be no longer functioning.

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He was definitely on a cosmic trip to bad it got cut short.

Andy
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Postby mikeschn » Wed Oct 26, 2011 7:31 pm

Did this guy ever recover from the incident and build anew?

Mike....
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Re: It's not a trailer... it's a Bicycle/RV???

Postby SuperTroll » Mon Aug 06, 2012 11:00 am

UPDATE!

Yep...but not as detailed as the last one..he's building them for sale now...

http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/bike-tr ... 0-obo.html
Keep thinking outside the box and all manner of ideas will become reality......

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