Living out of a Bicycle

[debit.servus]

I don't know why this vehicle hasn't been mentioned yet. You can live out of a bicycle cheaper than a van! If you need a place to sleep buy a $130 garden cart and a 4x8 plywood board, pull it behind you! No gas, insurance, registration expense! Only bicycle and wagon maintence which can done at retail for less than $20 a month! You can save thousands of dollars a year and be just as free as living in/out of a van; simply use your imagination. For long-distance trips, take the Greyhound bus and ship the bike & wagon on Greyhounds shipping service. Take the wagon apart and remove your bikes wheels and hitchhike for free!

I don't know why this isn't more popular than vandwelling. The pros outweigh the cons!

 

[1960HikerDude]

I don't know why this vehicle hasn't been mentioned yet. You can live out of a bicycle cheaper than a van! If you need a place to sleep buy a $130 garden cart and a 4x8 plywood board, pull it behind you! No gas, insurance, registration expense! Only bicycle and wagon maintence which can done at retail for less than $20 a month! You can save thousands of dollars a year and be just as free as living in/out of a van; simply use your imagination. For long-distance trips, take the Greyhound bus and ship the bike & wagon on Greyhounds shipping service. Take the wagon apart and remove your bikes wheels and hitchhike for free!

I don't know why this isn't more popular than vandwelling.   The pros outweigh the cons!

I did quite a bit of self-contained bicycle touring in my younger days.  This included several long-distance trips.   

Here are the pros and cons from my experience.

PROs
COST - There is no cheaper way to travel.  Period.  My only expense was food.  
STEALTH - I could camp undetected almost anywhere.  I would simply walk the bike 100 to 200 feet into the wood when nobody was watching.  I always practiced no-trace camping.  No-one ever knew I was there.  
SCENERY - IMHO there is no better way to see, I mean REALLY SEE,  the countryside than rolling through it silently at 12 to 15 MPH

CONs
WEATHER - You are extremely vulnerable to the weather on a bicycle.  Cycling in the rain sucks.  You're going to be cold and wet, no-matter what rain gear you have.
TRAFFIC/AGGRESSIVE DRIVERS - You are extremely vulnerable on a bicycle.  You WILL deal with A LOT of a##holes, clueless and distracted drivers.  That problem is worse today, now that everyone has a smart phone in their hands.  Interestingly enough, I had the best experience with traffic in Mexico.  Fewer Mexicans own cars and many of them use bicycles as transportation.  We encountered fewer cars on Mexican roads and the drivers were courteous towards us.

I started out pulling a small single-wheel trailer.  After a year or two, I switched to front and rear racks with panniers.  I found the trailer really slowed me down when climbing hills and tended to be unstable when descending.  They also had more aerodynamic drag than panniers.  A bike with panniers is much more stable.  And it's much easier drag into the woods than a bike with a trailer.  

MY OPINION - You need to be a hardy soul to live full time out of a bicycle.   It's not for everybody.

 

[ArtW]

well, it's sorta hard to travel 200 miles, then camp 2 weeks on a bike + trailer, your free campsites would need to be close together
also, you need room for the bucket lol
As for expense per mile, you can go farther on less on a small motorcycle, the bicyclist will have to confume far more in food than, say, a Ninja 250 will consume in gas, to cover the same distance

 

[1960HikerDude]

well, it's sorta hard to travel 200 miles, then camp 2 weeks on a bike + trailer, your free campsites would need to be close together
also, you need room for the bucket lol
As for expense per mile, you can go farther on less on a small motorcycle, the bicyclist will have to confume far more in food than, say, a Ninja 250 will consume in gas, to cover the same distance

I never had a problem finding free campsites.  A small patch of woods was all I needed.  

I didn't need a bucket either.  A small garden trowel to dig a cat hole did the trick.

 

[ArtW]

Well that probably beats all billy hell out of cleaning a black tank, but it does sort of limit how long you stay in one site, no?
And I meant legal campsites, not just ones where you didn't get busted, most states wren't real happy with folks just pitching a tent wherever

 

[rvpopeye]

I lived on my bicycle for 5 years after graduating.
I traveled everywhere I could . Tenting just out of site from the road , great views , great times .
Panniers , tent , down bag , Svea stove ,2 changes of clothes and really good rain gear.
There are bike trails on old RR track lines in a lot of places but they don't all connect !
Distracted drivers seem to be everywhere today so using the roads are way more dangerous than they were back then. Good luck !

So , what became of your wood powered truck?

 

[1960HikerDude]

I never stayed more than one night at any campsite.  I didn't camp on posted land or anywhere with signs specifically prohibiting camping.  Was I breaking the law?  I don't know.  Since I practiced stealth and leave no trace camping it was "No harm No Foul" to me.  Or as some might say, "It's only illegal if you get caught".

The trowel method has been S.O.P. for hikers and backpackers for decades.  

When I bicycled from Seattle to San Francisco, a lot of the state parks had communal hiker/biker sites that only cost $5/per night.  It was well worth the fee to have access to flush toilets and hot showers.  The best part was meeting other touring cyclists doing the same journey.  I wished more states had them.

 

[eDJ_]

Yes, there are people who do this.  They build all kinds of rigs.  Some powered and some not.  Much depends on where you live.

I had designed this for a group of enthusiast a few years ago.
This is the finished concept.   It employed a small gas motor
in stealth in the right front of the cart that would push the bicycle.
The control cable & kill switch would run through the tongue of the trailer and
clip to the frame where a control at the seat or handlebar neck
would operate the engine.  The bike would otherwise appear to be a
bare frame.   The trailer would have a live axle driven by a crentifugal
clutch.  The motor mounting would be open at the bottom
and have a slide back door to the right side for when the motor
is operating.  Exhaust would be vented to the right side of the
wagon. The recoil starter would be accessed from inside the
wagon. through the top cover. 

This sketch is actually a little out of proportion as the rear of the trailer would be about 20 inches wider.

At the top of the wheel you can see the engine compartment.

I think that there would be a lot of kids over at MAKE or Instructables who would love to put a project like this together during the summer vacation months from Jr High or Middle School.  Thus having it before they can legally drive a vehicle so they could go fishing or camping.  And before they discover girls.

Some guys may also find this intriguing if they live in a less populated area or in a Forest area where they could get some use of it.

 

[Bonobo]

I toured on my bike several hundred miles for a few months this summer, which isn't really that much I suppose, but was enough to give me a taste of the lifestyle. While it is great for a few months or even up to a couple of years, I definitely wouldn't want to live on a bike long-term. I would only recommend it long term if you literally have no money, or you absolutely love cycling. It does get tiring (both physically and mentally) and it doesn't really feel like "home" in the same way a van could. I would, however, recommend a couple month bike tour to almost anyone.

You may be more limited on a bike than you might initially think. If you really want to go off the beaten path, that will be difficult with most touring bikes with panniers. Loaded touring bikes are heavy and don't have the tires and suspension a mountain bike has. You are also limited by how much you can carry before needing to resupply back in civilization, which may only last a few days.

I definitely wouldn't recommend towing a "garden cart" (assuming we are thinking of the same thing). Panniers are far better, but if you did want a trailer then it would need to be built as light as possible. I played around with the idea of building a small camper and put quite a lot of time into designing one but in the end I never got around to building one. Check out this bike camper trailer, which is build out of corogated plastic so its lightweight yet can fit a bed and feel as homely as you can get with a bike trailer .

How practical living on a bike is depends quite heavily on the location. Certain parts of USA may make it difficult , with factors like climate, supply availability, amount of private land/ campsite availability. On my bike trip, I cycled in Holland, Belgium, and northern France, which is of the most densly populated areas in Europe. This meant that wild camping is almost impossible, but getting supplies was easy.

Keep in mind that you cannot carry large amounts of food (or water) so you miss out on savings by not buying food in bulk like you can in an rv/van, plus the food tends to be less healthy as carrying lots of fresh food isn't practical. Also, those little camping propane tanks are fairly expensive relative to larger tanks. And remember if you wanted to live as cheaply as possible, there is always the option of walking and living out of a backpack.

I lived on my bicycle for 5 years after graduating.

Wow, 5 years is impressive. Were you cycling one continuous route, or was it more of a case of "living out of" a bike and camping in spots for a long while in a general area?

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I did a few months on my Harley Sportster in 2008. You def notice more on a motorcycle than in a car, actually one thing that stuck out was how many long distance bikers are out there. And I imagine you notice more on a bicycle than a motorcycle. Two months on the motorcycle was all I could do, you are at the mercy of the weather and you really notice the weather......especially the extremes. Extreme heat, extreme cold, and extreme rain.

I tip my hat to anyone that's ever done long distance on a bike, it takes a willpower I deeply admire.

 

[Willy]

I'd love to live out of a bike (recumbent delta trike) but.. Canada. Winters here, even on the west coast, truly suck. If I were to live in Arizona/New Mex/Cali you better believe I'd be living off a bike. ..Willy.

 

[Reno]

I think the OP was being humorous. You guys ever read The Onion?

 

[Willy]

Nope, don't read The Onion, but I've met many people living off a bike over the years. One, who died last year, didn't even ride his bike. Instead, he loaded it with crap and walked the thing from Vancouver to Osoyoos every spring and back to Vancouver in the fall. That's about 250 miles each way through the mountains. ..Willy.

 

[debit.servus]

I don't plan to live out of a bicycle personally. I posted this to give ideas to other people, which looks like what happened after waking up to 2 pages of this.

 

[1960HikerDude]

Keep in mind that you cannot carry large amounts of food (or water) so you miss out on savings by not buying food in bulk like you can in an rv/van, plus the food tends to be less healthy as carrying lots of fresh food isn't practical. Also, those little camping propane tanks are fairly expensive relative to larger tanks. And remember if you wanted to live as cheaply as possible, there is always the option of walking and living out of a backpack.

This thread is bringing back some nice memories.

I  re-provisioned daily, as late in the day as possible to keep the weight down.  It was hit-or-miss especially in the small stores.  I remember stopping in one of those concession stores in Glacier National Park.  I was ravenously hungry from the big climb over Logan Pass.  The only thing in that store I could find to eat was Spaghetti-O's. Of course, they also had beer.  I had a seven course supper that night.

Compare this to folks hiking the AT or PCT, who have to go several miles off the trail to re-provision for the next 3 to 5 days.  And everything goes on their backs.

I didn't carry propane tanks.  I used an MSR Whisperlite International backpacking stove.  This is a liquid fuel stove that can burn just about anything, Coleman Fuel (aka White Gas), Jet Fuel (kerosene) and unleaded gasoline.  I kept, a one-liter fuel bottle in one of my bottle holders.  When I needed fuel, I would stop at a self-serve gas station and pump $.25 (gas was way cheaper back then) into the bottle and be good for another 4 to 5 days.   

Also, someone mentioned having a Svea stove.  I had one of those too when I was a teenager, way back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

 

[TMG51]

I think the OP was being humorous. You guys ever read The Onion?

Satire is far and removed from this one.

 

[rvpopeye]

Bonobo
Both !
Except in winter , then I still rode but no camping.

Dude
I bought the Svea in 1971 and used the aluminum bottle method for fuel too.
That thing was awesome !

Anyone thinking of doing this:
You need to really be into biking , steel spring legs and all.

 

[highdesertranger]

x2 on the Svea. I still have mine from the late 60's and it still works. highdesertranger

 

[rvpopeye]

I had mine till the rig fire...........11/'08 basically nothing to wear out!

 

[Milk Hauler]

This will get you 30 miles without peddling. You might want to pick up a few extra batts?

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