Fahrradwohnwagen (Bike Camper) meeting in Kassel Germany

[Eclectic]

What is a Fahrradwohnwagen? Bicycle(fahrrad) camping(wohn) vehicle(wagen) or a bicycle caravan or camping trailer. Apparently Germany has some unique camping laws and camping in a trailer instead of a tent is not camping. This loop-hole is making fahrradwohnwagens very popular. It's a little hard to tell because YT's auto-translate is not the greatest. Although Paul Elkins is considered the modern godfather of bicycle campers; during the pandemic, Rene Kreher published a “How to build” video on Youtube and since then dozens of German Youtubers started building fahrradwohnwagens (aka FoWoWa) and they even have annal meet-ups. There is currently one going on in Kassel, Germany (May 12, 2023).

Bicycle campers have been around for a long time but in the past they were somewhat unique. There are several “Kreher” and “Elkins” style trailers in the US and throughout Europe. There are getting to be even bigger ones now, some full blown stand-up tiny homes (a couple of them in Belgium?) and several double axle designs. Currently though the center of activity seems to be in Germany.

Search for “Fahrradwohnwagen” on Youtube and you will be amazed at how much content there is.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Fahrradwohnwagen

 

[Bigwheel]

Cool! Some of the homeless here in the states live off their homemade bicycle RV's but there is certainly no such thing as you show going on.

 

[fechter]

Some of those are pretty crazy looking. I've seen some old trailer projects where the trailer has motors and a battery. This might make sense for something this big (and a good braking system!). Steep hills would be a bad idea.





View attachment e-bike-fahrradwohnwagen.webp

 

[amberwolf]

The Xenforo search won't pull it up, so here's the archived site version of a camping trailer thread with some good stuff in it

Widepath Camper Trailer - ES 1.0 Graveyard

 

[Chalo]

I've seen some old trailer projects where the trailer has motors and a battery. This might make sense for something this big (and a good braking system!). Steep hills would be a bad idea.

View attachment 334065

An e-cycle camper seems like a good application for a steerable 3-wheeled trailer like Carla Cargo. Those are easy to fit with a hub motor:

 

[Eclectic]

The latest video from Alex TEK about the Treffen (meeting) in Kassel

 

[Eclectic]

An e-cycle camper seems like a good application for a steerable 3-wheeled trailer like Carla Cargo. Those are easy to fit with a hub motor:

I was thinking that also. In the last couple of months, 3 wheeled caravans have become popular:

B-Camper DIY 94's latest design

Schwarzwald-Cruiser TV's latest

Surprisingly not many have motorized them yet. I saw one guy a couple of years ago but I can't seem to find that video.

 

[Eclectic]

Jörg (one of the organizers) finally posted his video. He always does a lot of interviews and shows off everyone’s technology. Several of these people have thousands of kilometers on their trailers. Lots of very cool builds. Very interesting.