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.
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.
 |
 |
Thanks for reading.
BikePortland has served this community with independent community journalism since 2005. We rely on subscriptions from readers like you to survive. Your financial support is vital in keeping this valuable resource alive and well.
Please subscribe today to strengthen and expand our work.
Gorgeous ingenuity Allen!
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.
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.
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.
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!!
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 😛
Dumpster: dirty, gross, already thrown away……..
Like you really need a Fat Chance for bike polo.