The Monk and Robot books by Becky Chambers take place in a very solar punk setting where significant rewilding has taken place. The main character is a travelling tea monk (you don’t need to know what that is) who travels with what is called an ox-bike. Essentially the setup is an e-bike-driven lightweight campervan or possibly wagon. My impression from the book is that the front bike does not detach from the back.

I’ve done some literal back of the envelope calculations and I think it would be possible to make something like that in real life with our current technology. But I’ve not been able to find any prior art, except for the Wide path bicycle camper, which is more like a trailer than a campervan. My guess is you could improve on the if you made the bike built in, not least because it’s easier to stop without the damned bike falling over.

Have you ever heard of or seen anyone make something like this? Do you think it could work?

  • JacobCoffinWrites@slrpnk.net
    0·
    4 months ago

    There was this very cool handmade bike trailer wagon thing: https://slrpnk.net/post/1833883

    For the artist’s experiences living out of it: https://theaimlesslywanderingartist.blogspot.com/2013/12/winter-comes-to-southern-california.html

    But that’s a trailer. It sounds like you’re describing something closer to a Bicycle Rickshaw, possibly on a tricycle frame.

    You could even do a recumbent bike:

    It seems like either could be enclosed using techniques learned from popup campers for a fairly comfortable living space.

    (I think a lot about all the crazy contraptions people would make if the roads weren’t exclusively the domain of giant trucks and SUVs, and if cargo bikes didn’t have to fit themselves into narrow bike lanes and roadsides. I think people would come up with some really cool and weird stuff. Add solar panels and ebike parts, and they’d get really interesting.)