Full time biker?

[Oopslala]

Lately while being outside and driving around town, I've been seeing the same man on his bike.

He's always peddling away at his road bike, set on one of the easier speeds, shirt off, headphones in with a cart attached to the back and a solar panels strapped on top.  I've been seeing him almost nearly every day, just riding around enjoying the days.  It's got me quite curious, and if I ever seen him stopped taking a break I'll definitely ask him about it.  

He may have somewhere he's actually staying, but why would he have the solar panels on his bike if he's got somewhere he can park in the sun and leave all day while biking?

 

[cyndi]

he may be full-timing or he may be on a long road trip. Either way, kudos to him!

 

[jl75]

I met a young man in Yellowstone some years ago who was there on his bicycle. He had traveled from New York and was on his way to California, on only a bike. Up until I met him I had felt like I was hot stuff, traveling across country as a solo female (and having no idea how common that was!) but he put me to shame.

Whenever I am trying to downsize possessions I think of him. He is who I aspire to be someday. I envy that kind of minimalism, and though I'm not there yet it's my lofty goal

 

[Oopslala]

I know that biking a certain route is quite common, but I've been seeing him for the last couple months. If he's a full timer on a bike in Michigan, props to him.

Hopefully he heads south before it gets nice and chilly here

 

[Oopslala]

Just thought I'd come back to this thread since I saw the guy again and was able to drive behind him for a good bit and observe.

It seems he's somehow got the solar rigged to power his bike to 20mph roughly. He was rarely peddling, and when he did it wasn't long or hard enough to maintain that speed. Very interesting to me how that may work. I know there's bikes that are motor-powered but a solar powered one, I've never seen. Definitely would take some ingenuity on his part.

 

[LeeRevell]

How big were his solar panels and where mounted?

 

[akrvbob]

It's an electric bike which can easily get up to 20 mph. He's probably using the panel to charge the LiPO battery so that the battery never runs down and he would never have to pedal.
Bob

 

[Patrick46]

My wife and I ran into this guy down in Ashland, OR, a bunch of years ago. Really nice guy.

http://bikeportland.org/2006/11/10/motorhome-bike-makes-portland-appearance-2516

He built it and lived in it for years. Very innovative!


He eventually disassembled it.

 

[Konaexpress]

We rented electric bikes in Hawaii, they are a blast and run at 20mph. the one drawback that i see is that they run about 3k to 5k so they are not cheep. If you have the cash and a small bike trailer.......yea, I could see it. They will run all day on a charge but if you had a solar panel, wow!

if this was the rout for me, not sure if I would want a Honda Ruckus with 114mpg instead.

John

 

[29chico]

That guy was in Chico for a few months.   Neat rig. 

Got to wonder how many miles a day he managed on that contraption. 

When I bike tour I usually ride somewhere around 50 miles a day.  I'd be thrilled if I was able to pedal that bikeRV even a quarter of that distance.