bicycle camping/Bug Out vehicle/Hunting Rig

[CamoDeafie]

I have considered it....right now I'm looking more to lighten the load up..right now I only have the MOLLE sustainment pouches on the rack and the first aid kit and general purpose pouch; no tent bag, no duffel bag or alice frames; though for grocery getting, I'll have the frames and duffel bag on so that I can bring more groceries than is usual...
currently; I have this shelter instead of a full blown tent..and will look into either getting a 400 pound capacity pocket hammock or making my own; for extra light weight shelter/sleeping system so I can ditch the 8 pounds of sleeping bag/tent/poles/sleep pad in the stuff sack; I think the shelter used to be a hunter's blind or tree stand cover of some sort..and yes that is my current bike set up for commuting/around town....

 

[8mm Mauser]

Can you, CamoDeafie, address these theft allegations? Some people have evidence that you're taking orders, cashing money orders they send you, and then you go in to hiding.

Login

 

[bill may]

nice welcome to this forum.

 

[erudne]

Pre-SHTF
I would never paint a target on my back by packing open carry, be that fish in that ocean and stay Grey my friend.
The bike is great, a perfect BOV, keep a stout stick, or Taser clipped to the frame to discourage the BGs from grabbing the bike and pulling you to the ground

 

[bill may]

Pre-SHTF
I would never paint a target on my back by packing open carry, be that fish in that ocean and stay Grey my friend.
The bike is great, a perfect BOV, keep a stout stick, or Taser clipped to the frame to discourage the BGs from grabbing the bike and pulling you to the ground

jump from hiding and push stick into spokes will stop the bike.

 

[Kevinkris]

jump from hiding and push stick into spokes will stop the bike.

doesnt mork, me and my friends used to try that all the time growing up. you would be better off clubbing the person as they rode by. all the same, dont be one of those people who make the world a bad place if things went down hill.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

I know from personal experience that a big, mean dog can be stopped by smashing his face in with the chain set. I mean smash, not poke! I tried to kill that sod (son of a dog). Prob not going to work on a human though. Cool rig!

 

[CamoDeafie]

there's a reason I have a mallet somewhere on the bike along with a sturdy stick.....

as to the allegations; they are being dealt with; two of the packages have been shipped; and the other packages are awaiting address confirmations.

 

[bill may]

i have a trek bike i need to install tires on. i found one of the shelf type thing that goes backwards from seat and has 2 legs that go down to spindles. make sure to take a pice of tin foil along. if put on ground when starting fire it will increase length of time vasaline soaked cotton balls burn by 53% .. and is reusable.

 

[CamoDeafie]

Bill; that is excellent advice about tinfoil..... thanks! as for the rack/cargo shelf, be sure to not exceed 50 pounds in any given situation.... sure the steel rack I have can in theory hold more than 50 pounds; but this puts more stress on the back wheel; so I am cutting down on the weight of stuff to pack and going for more lightweight set ups...still haven't done the trailer design yet; but will keep you guys updated on the trailer if I should ever build one/acquire one.

 

[CamoDeafie]

recently acquired a lounger frame like the long one in this pic;


I plan on changing the wheels out with wheelchair quick release wheels; and use a caster wheel assembly as a hitch attachment, and either an expanded bike front fork or the rear fork from a donor frame as the hitch on the bike frame; and have it look kind of like this; only it wont be used as an ambulance, but rather, a cargo trailer/camp cot.. with detachable wheels so I can set it down..

 

[PolishedBrass]

The best deal on Petroleum Jelly is the Dollar Store mentholatum rub. 4 oz ... I already tried it.
Nice thing is then you have a medication also.

I think a quick liquifying of the rub ... soak cotton balls without squishing and let rack drain back into the melted batch might work the best.

Interested in your trailer design.
I have some nice well made sand chairs that are also a back pack that I would love to get a hitch and set of quick release wheels to take that extra versatility.

However I did get the Burly Travoy with an extra hitch ... pretty much the bomb for easiest travel trailers ... spendy tho.

 

[CamoDeafie]

The best deal on Petroleum Jelly is the Dollar Store mentholatum rub. 4 oz ... I already tried it.
Nice thing is then you have a medication also.

I think a quick liquifying of the rub ... soak cotton balls without squishing and let rack drain back into the melted batch might work the best.

I agree about Dollar Store jelly; I have a couple packs of em now

Interested in your trailer design.
I have some nice well made sand chairs that are also a back pack that I would love to get a hitch and set of quick release wheels to take that extra versatility.

However I did get the Burly Travoy with an extra hitch ... pretty much the bomb for easiest travel trailers ... spendy tho.

I couldnt justify the money for just the hitch on Amazon ...when I had to come up with a way to have a trailer; so now I'm on the look out for either cheap wheelchair wheels and axle assemblies, or cannibalize a couple front wheels in my spares pile and try to find a way to cantilever them...

 

[CamoDeafie]

OK progressing on the trailer; after this weekend I will be heading to the Local Bike Shop and see if they have the same 37mm front fork and same large handlebar clamp stem; just so that I can have same height/offset; here are the pics of two set ups; I have decided to use 26" wheels instead; as with the placements, it puts the trailer at a specific height where I can just use a fork as a hitch and a couple caster wheels; instead of rigging up something like a goose neck hitch or having a seriously high center of gravity. could in theory remove the mounting points for the armrests and have it set up so that it folds flat, and thus give me a flat cargo bed; but I lose the ability to have it as a cot...we'll see how it goes after I find the fork/handlebar clamp for the other side and get the hitch built
first pic; how the leg is mounted to the handlebar clamp/stem combo; after I removed the old axle;

the offset shown; its got enough clearance for the arms/frame to not interfere

with fork and wheel closer to middle; my concern is that it might make it back heavy if I don't watch how I load it...it is basically cantilevered from the rear legs;

with fork and wheel out to the far rear; same cantilevered set up, but longer wheel base from back wheel on bike to the trailer wheels; only real concern for it would be the ridiculously long turning radius..

 

[erudne]

Well if it is a quality 1960's USA built frame you may have an excellent chance of success. Doubeled/tripeled conduit tubing may work as well

The old bullock carts of spain and the of Ireland had 2 large wheels located amidships so that they could be backed into a "parking space" 4 wheeled wagons are almost impossible to back-up

 

[Camelfilter]

Very nice setup OP.

Linked in here from another thread, so I'm aware this is a very old thread...but the pic is of me & my rig from around this month...ten years ago. Somewhere between Xingjiang & Tibet...



Traveled: Paris to Vietnam, a goodly portion overland on that bike over a years time from 4/'06 thru 4'07.

I did take 3 airplane hops due to Visa timelines.

-Santiago Spain to Viena Austria, catching up to my Russian Visa timeline.

-Western Kazakhstan to Almaty Kazakhstan. Gunpoint in Western Khazakstan by the police was "uncomfortable", and simply couldn't cross Khazakstan on the month visa anyways.

-Katmandu Nepal to Bangkok Thailand. No overland route possible at the time. Bangkok is nice, but had a lot stolen there. Camera & all of my pictures, and backup files which were on a portable battery hard drive, and my electronic journal-gone.

I have about 6 pictures from that trip from other travelers.

Might be of interest to other folks considering bicycles as transport if SHTF. My longest distance covered in 1 day was about 100 miles, loaded heavier than pictured above. On flats with a steady tailwind over really good pavement in Eastern Europe.

My shortest distance covered was probably just a few days before when that picture was taken climbing up into the Aksai Chin plateau. I think it was about 4 miles. In a day.

 

[AMProducts]

In a lot of ways, I think the idea of a trailer really defeats the purpose of a bike. It just allows you to carry more junk. The advantages of the bike:

1) You're nearly silent, the zombies won't hear you coming until you're gone.
2) It's a light transportation system that can let you move in terrain that cars simply can't. Only things that compare are foot-mobile, or horseback, neither is as fast.
3) Less prone to mechanical failure (face it, bikes do fail, when I rode more than I do now, snapping a chain was not an irregular occurrence and without a spare, you're walking it. Same with a flat)

The more you load the bike down with stuff, the more you compromise the above.

I've got a walmart mt bike I'm thinking about doing something similar with. The only thing I can think of at this point, is that it seems you might want to push more of that weight forward. I'm a big dude... I'm hard on my gear, and unless that rear tire is fully inflated I can flatten it with my weight. It seems putting more junk on there is not helpful for me at least. (reference, I'm 6'7 about 280)

 

[Camelfilter]

There's all kinds of rigs you can build up, best for big guys like us are older steel non - suspension bikes with a long wheel base. The better the steel, the pricier though. Plus, the wheels are where it can get spendy. **

I had hand made wheels done up for that trip by an artisan up in New Hampshire named Peter White. I've never had to had them re-trued. Today, I'd imagine less expensive machine made wheels are probably aproaching craftsman quality.

Tires...Kevlar all the way. Again I haven't kept up on advancements made in that sport since that trip, but at the time we (almost every single cyclist I ran into) were running Schwalbe tires. I used 3 sets.

I also used 3 chains & swapped out the rear cassette once.

**for a while there was a "long bike" you could add into a standard chromoly steel mountain bike frame. Not sure if they're still around, or not, but that would make for an excellent SHTF rig.

Also, as for trailers, I'd go for a single wheel (like a BOB brand), over a multi wheel, hands down. Same track & easy to disconnect. Put a front rack on when hauling a trailer to even out any pull / center of gravity issues. Nice thing about a BOB trailer is its just one big bag in a cradle as opposed to a bunch of panniers. Could easily strap a broken down long gun on top too.

Depending on how its setup, a trailered bike would be easier to haul over fences than my setup above. Disconnect trailer & haul it over, then haul bike over. My rig? I had to remove at least half the bags or more. So the trailer would be quicker. Also quicker/easier to stash a trailer at a hidden camp if you want to scout about (food/water).

 

[Camelfilter]

**above

I was thinking along the lines of the "Big Dummy" line as seen here:

Big Dummy | Bikes | Surly Bikes

For a while you could buy just the rear frame section that would hook onto any cheapo chromoly steel MTB frame & add in a double chain length & you'd be all set.

It was very reasonably priced at the time. Quickie Google seems that system has gone the wayside in leu of complete bike sales. Still a very good option for hauling heavy loads comfortably...ample hauling capability for a week self supported...

 

[AMProducts]

Oddly enough, the bike I bought from wallyworld is an aluminum frame, however it has some of the largest tubes I've seen on a bike (ranging 1.375-1.5) arguably tube size is more important than wall thickness or material. This thing has tolerated me abusing it pretty badly, jumping off curbs and rocks etc. Despite my size, and it's size, I tend to treat it more like a BMX bike than a mountain bike.