Teardrop for High Gas Prices

[angib]

Why does one always find things on the 'net when looking for something completely different?

Today I came across this tiny trailer:




This is the Vagabund Campingwagen from Germany - probably from the late 50s or early 60s, judging by the DKW 200cc motorcycle that's the tow vehicle.

The Vagabund page from Oldiecaravan.de is in German but if you paste the link into Babelfish you find out:
Unladen weight 58kg / 128lb
Body length 2.20m / 7' 2"
Body width 1.20m / 4'
Body height 1.38m / 4' 6"
The chassis has torsion bar suspension (that "ensures calm driving"!)and the body can be unbolted to use the chassis as a utility trailer. The body is made of 4mm plywood "strengthened by light alloy angles".

Makes Steve Wolverton's Cowper at 400+lb seem a bit heavy, don't it?

Andrew

[mikeschn]

Today I came across this tiny trailer:

I like those "wire wheels"!

[asianflava]

That's why it is a tear for high gas prices - Low rolling resistance tires!

[angib]

The wheels on the Vagabund are quoted as 20x2,25 - which is now a BMX bicycle tire size, not a motorcycle tire! Mind you, a 128lb trailer on two tires probably only needs bicycle tires.

Andrew

[mikeschn]

Hey, we should have put this in the bicycle teardrop thread... It's kinda lonely in that thread. No one has posted there in a long time...

Mike...

[punkelf]

I know I'm bumping this, but that is exactly what I want to build... Well maybe I'd put some motorcycle tires on it...
I want a tear that I can pull on a 200cc Vespa... Now at least I know it can be done.

This forum was SO worth joining!

[Ira]

Andrew, are you sure about the year of that motorcycle?

I could swear that the Germans invaded all of Czechoslovakia with just like ten of those combos.

And invaded France with THREE!

(Thank God there are no frogs here, because then I would REALLY get myself in trouble.)

[RAYVILLIAN]

Hey Ira I resent that my ancester were frogs. course they got ran out of France in 1681 so I don't know if that counts or not.
GAry

[Micro469]

Andrew, are you sure about the year of that motorcycle?

I could swear that the Germans invaded all of Czechoslovakia with just like ten of those combos.

And invaded France with THREE!

(Thank God there are no frogs here, because then I would REALLY get myself in trouble.)

RIBBIT!!!.................................(Not)

[angib]

Well maybe I'd put some motorcycle tires on it...

They had to use motorcycle tyres back then, as that was all they had. Now we've got little trailer tyres which would be more suitable - and riding a Vespa, you're not likely to complain that small tyres are unsafe!

For suspension, you could use the little rubber torsion half-axle from Northern Tool though by the time you've bought hubs and wheels/tyres, it would probably be cheaper to cannibalise a small HF trailer.

And, Ira, that is not what the Germans used to invade Czechoslovakia, because those ten guys went on to invade Russia afterwards and one of them left his bike behind - and it's still being copied in both Russia and Ukraine.

KMZ in Ukraine build a nice three-wheeler version, the Dnepr-300, that would be the ideal base for a teardrop motorhome:



Now that would be the way to invade somewhere in style and comfort!

Andrew

[ALAN GEDDES]

We had a Ural dealer here in town a few years back but the demand just wasn't there. I wanted one with the side car but couldn't fit it in to the budget at the time. A future project is a VW tricycle/tear. Just picture the back of the seat against the front of the cabin and a flat 4, killer bug engine in the galley and the bike front end sticking wayyyyy out there.

[Jiminsav]

I was gonna say, at the south beats north rally, we talked about welding the front of a motercycle to a teardrop..weld it such that your back rests agaist the front of the Tear..that would be a cool RV.

[AlaskaJack]

You'd sure need some long...... extended mirrors for that! But I like the idea.