Lolly Pop

Not sure if anyone saw this, but I think he's on to something!

Portland story re bike motorhome

Or on something, not sure.

Bekologist

that is one rightous bike!

Miles2go

Wow.

And I'd imagine a strong crosswind from the right could end the whole thing; at least around here anyway.

Visionquest

perhaps a whale tail would keep it down. That's pretty awesome. But where does he keep his water? ;-)

2manybikes

If he does that and waits for no wind I can see how he would like it. I guess if you have a place to sleep you can wait. At that pace it would be fun. More camping than riding really. Maybe he has some kind of outriger or braces before going inside.

But there are some places where I would think he might get caught in the wind with no place to stop and pull over. With much wind it is totally unrideable. 10-12 mph side wind, and he's done riding. This is why most Velomobiles are trikes. A passing tractor trailer would be a problem. Wind and traffic would be too dangerous. He basically has a sailboat sail on wheels.

brotherdan

That's pretty cool. Not for me, but I like to see people out there doing stuff like that. I hope I come across that guy some day on a tour. I bet he has some cool stories to tell.

2manybikes

Of course a breeze will knock him over.
If it were a trike it would be possible. But that's a sail, he can't ride in any wind.

UM...disc wheels.......or fully faired bikes.....wind.....no.

His kickstands are marginal with some wind.

Bekologist

he probably does five or ten miles every other day, and is lovin' every minute of it!

DavidARayJaxNC

Obviously it works... com'n give the man some credit

Miles2go

Well, I wouldn't think this works... in my definition of the word.

Let's assume we'd like to take it out on a four week tour of the Pacific Coast. For it to withstand even moderate gusts it would have to be pretty darn heavy and I'm not even talking about riding it yet. Just structurally holding together.

I can't see it being safe to ride even in 8-10 knot breezes unless he has the Walmart parking lot all to himself. That airfoil (effectively) above his head would do more steering than he could hope to counter. There are several other excellent wind surfaces integral to this craft's design that would work against the rider.

It's cool to look at and of course I could be wrong... but my 20+ years experience in the aviation industry tells me this thing would be no fun to fly the roads with.

Cheers,

Erick L

You could always fly above it.

NoReg

You have to think in different terms, why not just wait until the wind subsides to a reasonable level. He isn't in a rush. We tend to think of ourselves as being more patient than cagers, not in so much of a rush, stopping to smell the asphalt. He is obviously in a completely different time zone. But he is slipping under the radar, people are treating him like some kind of charity case or homeless person, and he gets all kinds of slack for sleeping wherever he pleases.

Bekologist

His four week tour goals on the California coast might be only Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay. IF that.

tacomee

The guy is still alive, so it must somehow work!

I'd like a pop-up camper/bike trailer. I'd be lighter and better in wind.

Miles2go

Brian Campbell is his name, he's in the neighborhood of 49 years old and has been living in one of the 15 or so of these he's built in the last 9 years. Brian is basically a homeless guy that built a human powered shelter.

It's a lot heavier than I thought. The current version is estimated at roughly 700 pounds.

Certainly a cool accomplishment to be able to rig a gearing system to allow moving from town to town on the thing. It reportedly has 135 gears and he's claimed that one of these beasts has been up to 80 mph (downhill?) but I'd have to see that. I'd still be surprised if he can really cover much ground in a day's ride.

Here are a couple of the more informative articles I came across.

https://www.mailtribune.com/archive/2...y/052000n1.htm

https://tinyurl.com/ymo7cm

raybo

I think I ran into this guy one day when I was riding the Paradise loop in Marin County (north of San Francisco). I talked with him a short while and concluded that he was a homeless guy with a gimmick. From what I could tell, not much of his "equipment" worked and he was askingi me for a map and trying to find a route that didn't have any hills.

I haven't thought about it until now but the guy and the design look the same.

Ray

WestOz

But does it have a toilet?

We tour with a toilet

https://www.bicyclewa.com/funny/touringinstyle.html

Lolly Pop

You guys are a laugh!

NoReg

Found Brad's build:


https://atomiczombie.com/gallery/brad...per/camper.htm


I also have my own camper project, but I don't take it seriously enough to start assembling the materials.

NoReg

Always wondered what "BOB" stood for: Butt over basin, big old basin. I suppose after the flush it's draggin the line down the road.

Visionquest

maybe he could prop that roof up and use it as a sail...hm...sail biking.....eeexxxcellent.

Portis

Looks like a climber.

Thor29

After reading all the articles, I'd take any claims made by the rider/designer with a grain of salt. For one thing, what exactly would be the point in having 135 gears? That makes no logical sense at all. I like the idea though. I've dreamed of building a 3-wheeled velomobile RV contraption. Something that you could ride through bad weather that had a pop-up camper top. And maybe a solar powered water pump for a sink/shower. Maybe with 2 sets of cranks side by side so you could tour with a friend or significant other. Imagine all the possibilities.

paule

Irie

gpsblake

Has anyone actually seen this thing ridden for more than a few feet at a time? All the pictures I see are the unit standing still.