#38 - A big plan that may not even be possible

My last ride, was the first double century. Now about 10 days ago. The 8 weeks before, I had been riding a lot. I’ve spent more time on the trike then ever before, and I’ve done more distance because of it. Two achievements that come with consequences. I could feel my body was struggling a little. Muscles and joints were acting up a bit more than I’m used to. So it was time for a little brake from cycling. There was some garden work to be done, and the workshop needed some attention too.

While working at home, of course I started dreaming as usual. A long time ago, I started building a trike chopper. The idea was to scale everything of two wheels from an old VW Beatle I had lying around. The project never got finished, but the frame was pretty much done back then. Staring at that little project, my brain made some of the usual crazy jumps, and suddenly I was drawing some plans for a caravan for the trike. A tiny house on wheels I could pull with the trike. Would that even be possible? Wouldn’t it be to heavy to pull? How would I attach it? How would I build it? Materials? Techniques?

Dreaming big

Fellow recumbent rider “Le nomade du futur” has built a great home on wheels. He’s also a fellow AZUB rider, so i’m sure he’ll get wherever he wants to go.

In minutes, the first rough idea started to form, somehow I started thinking of a kingpin kind of setup. A mounting point on top of my trikes king rack, and simply drop the caravan on top of that. That would give me some more length to play with and I believe it would give a more stable connection compared to a long link low to the ground. The kind you see on of the shelve bike trailers. For the kind of weight I’m expecting to pull, they just seem too flimsy.

The dream is to really travel with the combination. Load everything I need for the time, and live out of the caravan. I’ll need power, water, food, clothes… I need space to pack it all, and I would like the weight distribution to be as low as possible.
For now, the plan is to weld a frame in rectangular tubing, and close that up with thin wood. Insulation on the inside and water sealing on the outside. I’m deciding on the way to go as I write this, but a lot is still to be determined. What kind of wheels will I use? Where will they go? Will I just use batterypacks, or is a solar panel the way to go? What about a watertank? A real bed or an inflatable mattress? What color will I make it? It has to go with the trike, so the options are limited. What kind of lighting will I put on the caravan? I’ll be traveling slow, so I will want to let other road users know they are approaching something weird and slow.

Le nomade du futur fully set up

Many things I’ll have to decide on, but luckily, I don’t have to decide right now. For now, it’s all about the general shape and the best techniques to do that. And that’s pretty much done. That brings me to one of the most important aspects for me to actually realize this project. Compartementalisation. In order to be able to actually do this, I’ll have to divide it in to separate little projects. Welding, mechanics, wood work, electrics, insulation, water sealing, the inside and everything I forgot right now.
Because this build will also be a fight against my autism. Especially staying motivated and not starting to stray from the path forward. I’m sure those things will still happen, but with some managing my time and efforts, I feel I can pull this off. And to parafrase my statement in the previous post: If they can do this… And others HAVE done this.
In my search for ideas, I came by the socials of “Le nomade du futur”. He’s a French guy who built his own trailer style tiny house / shop / workspace. And it looks epic. He’s traveling to every little corner of France, selling his pictures wherever he goes. A former professional photographer myself, that really got my

attention. All the pictures with this post are of his socials. Please make sure you pay him a visit.
FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM
As I write this post, he’s getting ready for the next leg of his journey. If you want to pay him a visit, you can find his route below.

12 septembre → L’Isle-sur-le-Doubs
13 septembre → Bavans
16 septembre → Montbéliard
17 septembre → dhericourt
18 septembre → Beaucourt
19 septembre → Fesche-le-Châtel
20 septembre → d'elle
23 septembre → betendorf
25 septembre → illfurt
26 septembre → Mulhouse
27 septembre → Mulhouse