Living Car Free - Hobo Bikes - Photo Gallery

It always struck me as neat to see what fellow human beings who live on the street use and/or modify to ride. After seeing a guy with a huge custom welded waterbottle cage that he was pushing with his bike, on my last ride, I decided to start a thread so that these creations and standard beusaged/modded bikes can be seen.

I didnt get a picture of trash cage bike, but I have this overloaded plastic hobo-fort from Santa Monica LA to contribute instead.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/NukeouT/life%20photos/Photo0513.jpg

I like the idea of this thread, I'll see if I can add to the thread maybe later today:)

In February there are mostly hobos who bike around here, with some spandex warriors, middle aged commuters, and a messenger or two.

Some of the hobos have really good setups for hauling bottles! If I get a picture of the guy who uses a trailer I'll post it here.

Here is my contribution...

This guy cruises around the Iowa City area getting cans and bottles out of trash cans, and at a nickel a piece didn't seem to be doing too bad.

Aaron :)

http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/47299/2512881750066886751S600x600Q85.jpg

It always struck me as neat to see what fellow human beings who live on the street use and/or modify to ride.

I didnt get a picture of trash cage bike, but I have this overloaded plastic hobo-fort from Santa Monica LA to contribute instead.




In February there are mostly hobos who bike around here, with some spandex warriors, middle aged commuters, and a messenger or two.

Some of the hobos have really good setups for hauling bottles! If I get a picture of the guy who uses a trailer I'll post it here.

"Hobo" is not the proper term. That belonged to the migrant workers who rode trains or "hopped freights" during the Great Depression mostly-although they existed a bit before and even afterwards until the 1960s. You are describing what hobos themselves called that group of people "rubber tramps." They drove battered old cars or even bikes if they could afford them. The people nowadays are simply "street people" or "the homeless"-casualties of society's nonexistent safety nets, loss jobs, mental illness, or the like. My father was a hobo from 1934-1940. If I lose my job or home-I would not be as lucky as he was.

The people nowadays are simply "street people" or "the homeless"-casualties of society's nonexistent safety nets, loss jobs, mental illness, or the like.

To me the terms were interchangeable up until now. Thanks for setting that straight.

Here is my contribution...

This guy cruises around the Iowa City area getting cans and bottles out of trash cans, and at a nickel a piece didn't seem to be doing too bad.

Aaron :)

http://inlinethumb04.webshots.com/47299/2512881750066886751S600x600Q85.jpg

I love the double trailer. I just recently got a trailer, should I get a second one. :)

Here is my contribution...

This guy cruises around the Iowa City area getting cans and bottles out of trash cans, and at a nickel a piece didn't seem to be doing too bad.

Aaron :)


This reminds me of my favorite cycling rig, a guy who has two trailers in tow as in your picture. But throw in a boom box, 5 or 6 flags, and two dogs. One lazy dog always rides in the trailer, while the other one prefers to run alongside. I always thought this guy was a "hobo" but I saw him pull into a modest but nice house right next to the Rivertrail. When I talked to him once, he said he does live in that house. He also has a car :( but he said he only drives it in the winter.

There was a youngish guy who rode around in an adult trike in one of the suburbs (Holt, MI) for many years. He picked up cans and bottles and returned them to stores for the 10 cent deposits. They called him the Bird Man because the wild birds would land on him and his trike to be fed day-old sandwiches that he got from local stores and restaurants. When he died (he was only in his 30s), the newspaper ran quite a large article on him. Even though he mostly shunned human company, he was very much missed by the townspeople.

These "characters" who pedal to their own drummer are interesting and entertaining, and people just love to watch them on their bikes or trikes.

Todays pics

Jay McGinley (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041302195.html) looks like a hobo. He lives across the street from Barack Obama, sharing the 24hr peace vigil with Concepcion Picciotto (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Concepcion-Picciotto-24-Hour-Peace-Vigil-Since-1981/269336512824).
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr147/Rod_Smith/bike/DSC09447.jpg

Unknown car free person.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr147/Rod_Smith/bike/DSC09415.jpg

Todays pics

Jay McGinley (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041302195.html) looks like a hobo. He lives across the street from Barack Obama, sharing the 24hr peace vigil with Concepcion Picciotto (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Concepcion-Picciotto-24-Hour-Peace-Vigil-Since-1981/269336512824).
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr147/Rod_Smith/bike/DSC09447.jpg

Unknown car free person.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr147/Rod_Smith/bike/DSC09415.jpg

Rubber Tramps all-not a hobo in sight. See my previous post #5 above....".....The people nowadays are simply "street people" or "the homeless"-casualties of society's nonexistent safety nets, loss jobs, mental illness, or the like....."

If you click on Jay McGinley's name you can learn a little about him. He may look like a 'rubber tramp' to you but looks can be deceiving. Whether or not an individual meets your definition of 'hobo' means very little to me and probably even less to the person you're judging.

Around here we call these "Dewey bikes" Phonetic pronunciation of DUI.

Got to get a picture of the guy who has a nameless mountain bike with the basket of shopping cart attached to the back. Usually brimming with cans & bottles. The business of recycling is sure different in real life than on TV.

We don't call 'em that 'round here.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr147/Rod_Smith/bike/DSC07310.jpg

Clifford Ringwald (http://www.paloverdevalleytimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubsectionID=1&ArticleID=11256) rode here from California with two dogs.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr147/Rod_Smith/bike/DSC04114.jpg

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr147/Rod_Smith/bike/DSC04111.jpg

This itinerant worker was offering barbering and bike cleaning services.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr147/Rod_Smith/bike/DSC04599.jpg

A couple of decent shots here:
http://www.alternativecommutepueblo.com/2010/05/we-are-one.html
http://www.alternativecommutepueblo.com/2011/02/utility-cycling.html

Around here we call these "Dewey bikes" Phonetic pronunciation of DUI.

That's quite an assumption.

If you click on Jay McGinley's name you can learn a little about him.

That was good. I saw William Thomas and his exhibit on Pennsylvania Ave last week when I was there for the National Bike Summit. I was impressed, but I didn't realize that he's been doing it for so long.

Kinda cool that bikes are allowed in front of the White House but not cars. :)

Awesome pictures everyone! It is wonderful and fun to see all the unique contraptions.


http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr147/Rod_Smith/bike/DSC07310.jpg

Pretty awesome way to recycle hospital equipment. That guy is a BOSS!

Here is a bike I spotted at my local Von's in Hermosa Beach, LA. My favorite part about it has to be the combination of Olive Oil, WD-40, a Soft Drink and a Stuffed animal. Not sure if this guy was homeless or if he was just touring on that thing. Looked like an okay older man with a gray beard, in jeans and t-shirt.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/NukeouT/life%20photos/Photo0778.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/NukeouT/Photo0780.jpg

If he was roughing it, he was doing it in style! :) :thumb:

Awesome pictures everyone! It is wonderful and fun to see all the unique contraptions.



Pretty awesome way to recycle hospital equipment. That guy is a BOSS!

Here is a bike I spotted at my local Von's in Hermosa Beach, LA. My favorite part about it has to be the combination of Olive Oil, WD-40, a Soft Drink and a Stuffed animal. Not sure if this guy was homeless or if he was just touring on that thing. Looked like an okay older man with a gray beard, in jeans and t-shirt.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/NukeouT/life%20photos/Photo0778.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/NukeouT/Photo0780.jpg

Well, from casual observation, that looks like a fairly new Surly with a Brooks saddle and Ostrich Panniers. Not saying the guy isn't homeless, but if he is, he's got the plushest ride of all the homeless guys out there :thumb:

Steve is still in town. Canada done him wrong. He rode here for justice.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr147/Rod_Smith/DSC09164.jpg

Awesome pictures everyone! It is wonderful and fun to see all the unique contraptions.



Pretty awesome way to recycle hospital equipment. That guy is a BOSS!

Here is a bike I spotted at my local Von's in Hermosa Beach, LA. My favorite part about it has to be the combination of Olive Oil, WD-40, a Soft Drink and a Stuffed animal. Not sure if this guy was homeless or if he was just touring on that thing. Looked like an okay older man with a gray beard, in jeans and t-shirt.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/NukeouT/life%20photos/Photo0778.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/NukeouT/Photo0780.jpg

That looks more like a tour than homeless, but then again if you are on a long tour you could be technically homeless.

That is a fairly new Surly with some high dollar accessories.

Aaron :)

If you click on Jay McGinley's name you can learn a little about him. He may look like a 'rubber tramp' to you but looks can be deceiving. Whether or not an individual meets your definition of 'hobo' means very little to me and probably even less to the person you're judging.

In the fall of 2001, anguished by the plight of the children there, he left his wife of 27 years and their two sons, now 22 and 26, along with the bulk of his assets, moved into his car and put himself on a semi-starvation diet to express his outrage....."He's always been a person of very strong conviction. And I believe he truly believes in his cause," said his ex-wife, Cathy. But, she adds, "it's been very painful....But he has no illusions that his lone protest will make a difference...."

What are you saying? I am not judging, merely defining the original term of "hobo." As my father is no longer with us to speak for that group of mostly vanished people, I simply defined what was in our family's history. Whatever name is applied, that was many years ago during a different time, coping with different circumstances. Now the streets are filled with a different sort. Most are society's cast-offs, but a few are like the man with strong convictions, freely volunteer to do so and he should be free to choose that path as my father chose his when the opportunity came. By 1940 when the employment and the looming War began to go into overdrive, my father settled in the Southern California area, later served in the South Pacific with full military honors, then in federal Civil Service until retirement. My father never was ashamed of being a hobo. It was just is. And I remember where I came from with The Bicycle Hobo (http://www.artfire.com/users/TheBicycleHobo)'s basic business foundation as my father taught me and the rest of the generations that came after him how to be honest and hard working all those years ago.

Now here is a photograph of a real hobo on a motorcycle circa 1950s (my father did not know how to ride a bicycle-he was too poor to afford one when he was a boy):

Where do hobo's ride Harleys? I've been working my whole life and can't afford a Harley.How do you get Harleys on the train?I want to be a hobo.....

I hopped onto a stopped freight train once in the wee hours after a long night of partying at college. I had gone for a spin on my Raleigh Supercourse TT to clear my head. I came upon a stopped train and I climbed aboard with my bicycle. I got off at the next stop about 15 miles away and rode back to campus. I saw the sunrise thought the box car's open door.

When I was a young boy I aspired to become a hobo and there is still the possibility I may achieve that goal.

What are you saying? I am not judging, merely defining the original term of "hobo."

I'm saying your dad was bad. To the bone. The BOSS. But almost anyone who can ride a motorcycle has the ability to ride a bicycle. If dad told you he couldn't go for a bike ride with you, I think he meant he didn't want to.

Good luck on selling your 25 page PDF on how to carry a gym bag on a rear rack! You are The Bicycle Hobo and everyone else is not!

Where do hobo's ride Harleys? I've been working my whole life and can't afford a Harley.How do you get Harleys on the train?I want to be a hobo.....

Maybe you could read the message posted with the picture. That should answer your question.

Where do hobo's ride Harleys? I've been working my whole life and can't afford a Harley.How do you get Harleys on the train?I want to be a hobo.....

My father sure did....after he got a well paying job at the Post Office. Then he was able to buy his playthings he could well afford before he got married and had us. Do remember that this photo was taken around 1954 or 1955 or so-long after he left the hobo life behind him.

I'm saying your dad was bad. To the bone. The BOSS. But almost anyone who can ride a motorcycle has the ability to ride a bicycle. If dad told you he couldn't go for a bike ride with you, I think he meant he didn't want to.

Due to one of his War related injuries-and becoming a disabled veteran-his eardrum on his right side was completely missing, resulting in loss of hearing in that side (he never experienced stereo sound for example as that was introduced in the 1950s) and he could not balance on skates or bicycles. But a motorcycle does not require that same sense of balance that a bike or skates do. When he was an old man, I found that he could ride a adult 3 wheel bike, though. Growing up, I had to accept some limitations of him not sometimes being able to participate in some activities with me. He did live to 87 in spite of his disabilities and living such a hard life as a hobo out on the road. I do miss him still.


Good luck on selling your 25 page PDF on how to carry a gym bag on a rear rack! You are The Bicycle Hobo and everyone else is not!

Thank you (I think)
Actually to be more accurate, it is a 25 page PDF sewing pattern on how to adapt most any bag to the front handlebars or fixed attached Brompton frame (including the rear frame) of most any bike. The pattern covers all the possible combinations on doing so on most any bike making it 25 pages of photos, diagrams and testing the results over a period of a year or so. Even I was very surprised at the possible combinations beyond the simple directly mounted on the handlebar one (hint: that simple one is more like a basket). I am a bit taken back at the attitude that something rather simple should be easily known or guessed at by or to most others. Generally it is not. It has to be discovered and distributed in order to be appreciated the most. I will say that while I was testing an early version of the pattern's bag, someone was well on the way to copy it-without permission of course.

I chose not to give too much away as there are so many copycats that want everything for free-i.e. remember Napster?

Around here we call these "Dewey bikes" Phonetic pronunciation of DUI.


That's quite an assumption.


The name "Dewey bike" is what we call a bitter joke, reflecting Southern California's car culture. The underlying element of humor is based on the assumption that having one's license pulled for a DUI is the only way one would give up a car for a bike.



*sigh*

Can collector Carlos

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/Carlos%20Richard%20Deer/CarlosandRichardTy007.jpg

She has a dog in the back

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/10wheels/daveswife.jpg

That sounds better,nothing wrong with being a hobo or leading the hobo life for awhile,takes all kinds.Millions of people did it during the depression.I just don't remember seeing too many pictures of hobo's with much of anything,let alone a motorcycle.

My grandfather hobo'ed too, with his brother during the depression... it really was different from modern day 'hobo's'. They went from town to town working and mailed all of their money home to their mother, living off other people's goodness. Of course back then it was common for them to be invited to dinner after working for people. He told me that hobo meant 'HOpe BOys, as in they would ride around the country hoping to find work or a way to help their families. I've heard elsewhere it meant 'HOmeward BOund' as well.

Under the Cherry blossoms. Capitol Hill, Washington, DC.
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr147/Rod_Smith/bike/DSC09768.jpg

Camping woman I met while commuting the Strand in LA on the 21st of March. Shared a cliff bar with her, and took a phone call, before continuing up the route.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/NukeouT/life%20photos/Photo0794.jpg

That's a good picture.

This fellow traveler had the look of a vagabond. The White House barely visible at the end of the road (Sixteenth Street).
http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr147/Rod_Smith/bike/DSC00052.jpg

Definitely some interesting photos - it has been a long time since I have been about the forums - but it is good to see it is still alive and kicking. The great thing about bikeforums is that when I was writing up a post on bicycling from my recent tour I found myself referencing kenkifer and remembering the amazing things he contributed. I wonder if you did not know who he was and he had a crazy rig would he of been one of those featured here? :)

Great thread. Bicycling is serious transportation.

awesome pics. keep it up!

How in the world can you tell if someone is "homeless" just by looking at them?

That was good. I saw William Thomas and his exhibit on Pennsylvania Ave last week when I was there for the National Bike Summit. I was impressed, but I didn't realize that he's been doing it for so long.

Kinda cool that bikes are allowed in front of the White House but not cars. :)

William Thomas has passed away but Concepcion and Jay keep his vigil (http://www.prop1.org/conchita/) alive.

When 1600 block of Pennsylvania Ave. was closed to vehicular traffic I was afraid bikes would be banned too, but that didn't happen. :)

If you need a place to stay next year, I have a couch 5 miles from Capitol Hill that you are welcome to use. :)

How in the world can you tell if someone is "homeless" just by looking at them?

Actually, you cannot. It might be helpful to remember that there are degrees of being homeless or how you define being homeless. Crashing on a couch is one way. Living in mom's and dad's house as an adult with no job (and trying to get one with no success) is another. Or walking away from an abusive relationship with no place to go is another possibility. If you cannot afford to rent/lease a place yourself, and are forced to live someplace with another or have no place to rest your head, that is homelessness.

But if you voluntarily (freely of your own will and choose to do so) decide to either camp out overnight waiting for tickets/entering a shopping mall for a Black Friday deeply discounted prize, or protesting something and you have the money to go to a hotel/motel or rent/lease an apartment whenever you want or tire of waiting, then you are not homeless.

Taken a couple summers ago, outside the Barnes & Noble downtown.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e341/Doohickie/09FortWorth/0729091942-00.jpg

That's a good one doohickie^^ I hope he finds a job soon...and then continues to ride his bike.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/NukeouT/Bicycles/photo.jpg

Found this rig in Marina Del Rey, LA County.

Camping woman I met while commuting the Strand in LA on the 21st of March. Shared a cliff bar with her, and took a phone call, before continuing up the route.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/NukeouT/life%20photos/Photo0794.jpgI suppose having a trailer really makes a difference when living on the streets. The bicycle with a trailer is a big improvement on a shopping cart, though it can't haul as much.

It sure must be tough living that way in a northern climate. In winter I don't see such people in Montana. They would freeze to death.

It sure must be tough living that way in a northern climate. In winter I don't see such people in Montana. They would freeze to death.

If you're going to be a homeless, might as well gravitate towards a better climate.

I was admiring the rig that NukeouT showed. It looked like it was pretty secure.

Where do hobo's ride Harleys? I've been working my whole life and can't afford a Harley.How do you get Harleys on the train?I want to be a hobo.....

It's possible. According to Hobo.com (http://www.hobo.com/whatisahobo.html), "A hobo wanders and works, a tramp wanders and dreams, a bum neither wanders nor works."