Cargo trailer ingenuity

homeless cargo ingenuity

Riding home today I noticed this peculiar trailer set-up. The guy who owns it was stopped and fiddling with his derailleur so I decided to introduce myself and take a closer look.

Allen (picture below), who calls his bike his home, has put together this hi-capacity cargo trailer for hauling cans, bottles, and other stuff he finds on the side of the road.

homeless cargo ingenuity

The design is really pretty brilliant. He made it out of an old kids bike, the basket of a shopping cart, and lawn mower wheels. Allen was particularly excited about the lawn mower wheels because they’re tubeless and they’ll never go flat.

Unfortunately the whole set up is pretty heavy, so he’s hoping to find a lighter bike.

He told me he’s pulled 500 lbs. with this trailer before. That seems like a lot of weight but for some reason I believe him. You know what they say, necessity is the mother of invention.

Ride on Allen.

homeless cargo ingenuity homeless cargo ingenuity


Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, contact me via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a paying subscriber.

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Caroline
18 years ago

Gorgeous ingenuity Allen!

lianagan
lianagan
18 years ago

I hate to be suspicious, but I’m wondering where he gets his parts. I don’t think you can make a decent living cashing in bottles and cans. With all the theft in the news I find myself scrutinizing all the street people I see on bikes.

half pint
half pint
18 years ago

to lianagan
are you serious?
i don’t even know where to begin.
but, yeah you are being suspicious.
i find bikes and bike parts all over.
and, no, “you” can’t make a living on cashing in bottles and cans, but there are plenty that are able to. just look around.
not all homeless people are thieves.
if they were, maybe they wouldn’t be homeless.

Donna
Donna
18 years ago

A lot of folks ride to Vancouver and get bottles and cans there. Residents in the inner eastside core are very generous about leaving empties out for them to pick up. They know where to go. If you’re persistant, you can usually make enough cash for incidentials that food stamps don’t pay for.

Consider a homeless person having a friend with some kind of job and maybe a place to live. They say “Hey, I’ll buy you your groceries with my Oregon Trail card if you go pick up these inner tubes for me.” This sort of thing happens all the time.

John
John
18 years ago

Have read about similar bike collaborations in third world countries. Would love to see a breakdown of parts, and your method for assembling them. Just bought a Licoln Electric MIG kit, and hope to creat a similar trailer for offroad hauling of chainsaws and other trimming equipment for work on the Appalachian Trail. Actually hope to create a flat frame wheelbarrow. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks! Nice job!!

SKiDmark
SKiDmark
18 years ago

He has a knockoff of a GT mountain bike and a trailer made from a MAGNA kids bike and a shopping cart and some what, garbage can wheels? Maybe if you got down off your high horse and into a dumpster you could find similar parts to build your bike and trailer 😛

Dabby
Dabby
18 years ago

Dumpster: dirty, gross, already thrown away……..

SKiDmark
SKiDmark
18 years ago

Like you really need a Fat Chance for bike polo.