5mo ago

Has anyone attempted the bike setup from the Monk and Robot series?

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?

18 comments

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.)
- This is for sure the closest I’ve seen so far and I’d have never found it without you. Thank you!
  
  Happy to help!
- Wow, these are aMAZing!

Well now I have a new book (series?) to read, this looks super awesome, thank you
- This was kind of my secret agenda here, happy it worked out!
- Series as in there are two, or is there a third one already?
  
  Two so far. Hoping for more. X)
- It's a fantastic series, very digestible too. The audiobooks would be super easy to finish in a weekend.

Ooooooh! That sounds awesome! The fact that it was bear proof in the books, as well as being light enough to be pulled by an e bike makes me think carbon fiber and/or aluminum. Makes me wanna do some design mockups with rough sizing and structural estimates. Not artistic enough to do any of the murals on the sides with the gods but it would be fun to try to do structural theorizing.
(Not an engineer, i just like thinking through problems like this)
- Also I’d love to see your sketches!!!
- I’m not too concerned about bears since they’re very uncommon where I live (Northern Europe), but I was thinking fibreglass or possibly some special plywood with aluminium frame. I actually did some calculations on the weight of a frame and it’s pretty ok even with steel bars, especially if they’re hollow.

I'm pretty sure there is a part where they talk about the bike as separate from the wagon. Ah, here's the quote: "Mosscap nodded at the wagon trailing dutifully behind Dex’s ox-bike."

No, but I think about it all the time!!! I’m not an engineer but if anyone does sketch or attempt it, please post it, we would love to see it!

I've definitely seen similar things but with motorcycles! If you search 'motorcyle camper' there are lots of results
- Thanks!

18 comments