Monday, December 04, 2006

Bicycle RV part 1


Bicycle RV part 1

Atomic Zombie has some information up about an in progress bicycle camper, powered by two pedalers. Pretty neat concept, it will be interesting to see how this progresses.

Since the day I began dreaming up bicycle creations, I have always wanted to create a large human powered camper that looked like a motorhome. This vehicle would have to be large enough to sleep at least two people and have enough room inside to stand up and move around. Of course, the entire unit would have to be made extremely light for its size and incorporate space age design and materials in order to remain human powered. With the new power assisted bicycle law, I could now add a 500 watt motor to the camper as well, so this would make hill climbing a lot easier, and allow for a larger battery bank that would run the motor for at least 30 KM and then power all of the onboard electronics and appliances when parked. The vehicle also had to have no more than three wheels, or it would not legally be classified as a bicycle in my area, so the trike design was the only option.
The inside of the camper will be 4 feet wide, 9 feet long, and 6 feet tall. There will also be an overhead sleeper giving an additional 6 foot long by 3 foot high area to the camper for an overall interior size of 288 square feet, which is about the same size as a large truck camper. Of course, there will be a main seating area that also pulls out for an additional 2 person bed, a large table, storage area, small sink, stove, heater, and built in LCD screen, all running off the battery bank. The battery will self charge using a large solar array mounted on the roof of the camper. This may sound like a lot of equipment, but I plan on a total weigh of no more than 300 pounds. 300 pounds is 150 pounds of cycle per person, and if you include the power of the electric assist motor, pedaling the Kyoto Camper will be as easy as riding any bicycle.

via TreeHugger

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