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Campercycle

Human Powered Mobile Home
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(+7)
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I have done a lot of cycle touring in the past. I used tent for sleeping and cooking was done outside with small gas cooker. Bicycle was left outside on the rain and sometimes I was worried about someone stealing my bike while I was sleeping.

My idea is to combine the HPV, shelter, sleeping ,cooker and luggage storage into one lightweight campertricycle or camperquadcycle.

Frame would be made of aluminium and other features would employ latest space and weight saving technologies.

The reclining seat would turn into bed. Cooker would be part of the frame and ducted through the roof. Cooker would also provide some heating.

Riding lights would double as reading lights and would utilise existing low power LED technology.

Small battery would be charged on downhills. When the brakes are applied this would also turn on a dynamo to charge the battery.

Streamlined hard shell fairing would cover the campercycle during riding and once parked you would open pop top roof for extra height to allow enough space to do cooking and reading or maybe also using PDA to submit some crazy ideas to halfbakery?

There would be two berth models for couples and some clever cantilever design would make the vehicle wider, when parked, to accommodate double bed.

Of course it is going to be heavier than your average touring bike but having 32 gears and all those lightweight gadgets might help. I will be taking my titanium spork with me.

Two berth models would have some luxuries like small screen TV, GPS, cooler box and solar panels to charge those extra gadgets.

Pellepeloton, Oct 03 2006

Camper Bike http://home.versate...-log/BikeCamper.gif
The not-so-aerodynamic version. [jurist, Oct 03 2006]

Bikamper http://caveviews.bl...ikamper_lets_y.html
The spartan version. [jurist, Oct 03 2006]

Rhoades Car http://www.rhoadescar.com/jumpshow.htm
This could be possible to modify into bike camper by replacing the seat , folding steering column and other mods. [Pellepeloton, Oct 03 2006]

(???) Human Powered MotorHome Project! -> http://www.atomiczo...m/camper/camper.htm
Yes, I thought of that idea as well, and started making a two perswon human powered motorhome. Should be on the road by summer 2007. [AtomicZombie, Dec 01 2006]

HPV Mobile home http://www.atomiczo...cturus/arcturus.htm
I found this link to atomiczombies project, probably inspired by me, which is still not baked yet but close to go to the oven. [Pellepeloton, Aug 20 2007]


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       sounds like it could become bloody heavy mate, just stick a couple of liquid vanadium batteries in it, and a small electric motor, and hey presto, no more pedalling well for half the day anyways
Stork, Oct 03 2006
  

       I really like this, although there's an awful lot of bells and whistles here that aren't really part of the idea itself. I mean, you'd have to keep it as minimal as possible to avoid weight issues, so I suspect the ducted cooker might vanish.   

       In fact, in my head I've boiled it down to using the fairing of an HPV as a structural element for an unfolding tent, but that's a very attractive concept, and I'll be stealing it. Ta.
moomintroll, Oct 03 2006
  

       No worries Moomintroll, you make those camper bikes and I buy one of you later. Saves me pouring lot of money and time into the R & D. Might become a succesful item once fuel is double of the price.   

       The bumper sticker would read: " What's the hurry, I am already at home!"
Pellepeloton, Oct 03 2006
  

       To which the irate driver behind you would counter "But I'm not!"   

       An ultra slow, ultra wide vehicle would not be welcome on most roads.
Texticle, Oct 03 2006
  

       This will become practical when when the roads are much less crowded due to expensive gasoline. I would be frightened to ride such a cumbersome bike on most of the roads I ride today, but it might work OK if one stayed to very little-travelled roads. Might be practical when gasoline hits the 2006 equivalent of about $20 per gallon--so maybe in another 30 or 40 years or so.
RunVentura, Oct 04 2006
  

       ./\
/+\
  

       //An ultra slow, ultra wide vehicle would not be welcome on most roads.//   

       But do you really care? In the UK at least all road vehicles have the same standing and have to obey broadly the same laws, apart from busses, which you must give way to.
webfishrune, Oct 04 2006
  

       In Finland they have light traffic paths everywhere so cyclists, walkers, rollerbladers, kickscooters and even mopeds can use those about 2 metres wide mainly asfalted paths. These light traffic paths are separate from the roads and have underpasses under the main road so they are very safe.   

       So width is not a problem in some countries. A bit different here in New Zealand, unfortunately not many of those separate light traffic paths but just painted narrow bicycle ways on the roadside. Some car drivers are agressive towards cyclists and some plain ignorant when opening doors while parked on the roadside. But I heard recumbents are given wide berth as they are noticed better because of the odd shape of the vehicle.
Pellepeloton, Oct 04 2006
  

       [stork] I said human powered. So that disqualifies using electric motor. Using latest technology this camperbike could be made relatively light but it will be very expensive.   

       In bicycles, less you get the more you pay when it comes to weight of the frame. I guess same applies to many sportscars?   

       back to your suggestion: "just stick a couple of liquid vanadium batteries in it, and a small electric motor, and hey presto, no more pedalling well for half the day anyways" Those batteries would be heavy and adding a small electric motor might not be big enough to climb hills? How do you charge the batteries? Solar panels would add more weight and when you run out of batteries it would be hard pedalling.   

       Adding all that electric motors and other technology would make it 3 times more expensive than HPV version so there would be even less buyers.
Pellepeloton, Oct 04 2006
  

       Did some crosscountry bike riding / hitchhiking and could have benefitted from this myself.   

       You could make the frame articulated so that you could fold it up when riding, and then unfold it to camp and cover it with a lightweight nylon or plastic skin.   

       That would help address the weight and aerodynamics issues.
normzone, Aug 20 2007
  

       A realistic human powered camper is a backpack, a tent, and a bike trailer. Lightweight backpacking principles , plus a bike and trailer. 4 wheels not 2, and thus more drag, but not the problem of having to stuff gear into 4 panniers, with no mobility for them once they are off the bike. Not to mention structural fatigue and balance issues. A little known fact concerning 2 wheel bike trailers is that they greatly increase the stability of a bike.
yikes!!!, Jan 06 2008
  


 

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