I regard this video as one of the brightest among your many gems. Technology, historical context, beautiful countryside, project assessment and food independence! Thank you for sharing!
I love the philosophy of “Just build it!” And “It doesn’t have to be perfect, good will do”. Failing/not getting it right also leads to learning so even though you might “lose” you will always win! Always love your work and videos BTW.
I agree!!! I would love to see an E-Bike build!!!! At the least it should be much cheaper to only have to buy the motor and VFD and batteries, rather than just buy the whole e-bike. Tt would leave room for upgrades and ability to charge safely while using it by adding cheap protection circuitry to it. Possibly even use the batteries in the cart as auxiliary batteries for the e-bike.
I enjoy the projects you work on but I also enjoyed the field trip and the history of your home town. Respect to your father, his skills and his prepping are very cool.
Seeing your dads veggie garden reminds me of my grandfather, the older generation thought different. Being able to be self sufficient and self reliant is important. A great watch!
I think the best way to approach charging while driving is to have multiple removable batteries for the ebike, and while you are using one, you can have the one you just emptied charging off the batteries in the trailer.
I like the way that you tackle your projects and explain the process. I dont understand a lot of what you do electronically but its fascinating. thank you so much for your efforts and time posting videos
Thanks for the bike tour of the old country! Especially liked you showing us where you grew up, your parents gardens and some of his work! Just wish we got some introductions…haha. It helps to explain where you got some of your interest in building and fixing things! He must be proud of his son and I know you are proud to have a Father like him! Looking forward to the ebike build!
This is one of your best episodes, Gerolf. It has everything that you're good at! More videos like this will be very much appreciated! Keep it up, dude! 👍
Locating the trailer wheels further back, relative to the centre of gravity of the trailer/load, would provide a moment arm to transfer a greater force through the rear wheel of the bike - giving you better traction and better braking. Rather than hitching from the seat post, you could use a BOB Yak Ibex style mounting system on the quick release skewer. Croozer Kalle has an interesting suspension system you could try to replicate. edit* Consider regenerative front wheel hub motor too.
There's a tradeoff as in all things. Moving the wheels and coupling point further back increases the turning radius and makes it hard to get through those horrible chicane things that are put on bike paths as well as other tight spots. Still a good idea to load the trailer battery and anything else heavy you can as far forward as possible though.
@@schroedingershat7912 I've experimented with seat post hitched vs rear axel. Including weight distribution, braking distances and handling. Rear axel follows the path of the bike more closely. You don't want the trailer to cut corners you take because it can clip objects that the bike easily cleared. The problem with the offset wheel axis of rotation is that it stresses the coupling point more. Some commercial options use rubber/spring couplers as they're both flexible and dampen shocks. But they make the ride spongy and uncomfortable. I think that suspension and a solid connection to the rear wheel skewer would provide the best performance. Essentially, the same hook up as the Bob Yak/Ibex, with the Croozer Kalle suspension, but with heavy duty materials.
@@FrankReif Different optimization goals. Performance at speed/on rough terrain is nice, but for some uses it's better to be able to get where you're going without having to pick it up or uncouple it to deal with awful infrastructure
Good video, Kudos to your father for allowing the revelation of his prepper setup to the public and allowing his inventor son to attach a heavy prototype trailer to his light weight Ebike. A very tolerant Dad. Well done both of you.
Words of wisdom re cutting back on perfectionism, you absolutely nailed it. It's been said before but stands repeating, e.g. "Perfection is the enemy of the good" "Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without" . Much respect to your folks and to you. Keep on keeping on, you good thing.
Thank you for your shows they are an inspiration. Its nice to see more of Germany it's a beautiful place. All the best & heres to more of your talents. We really do need to fix & find more of the items that get throw away as junk.
Hiya, Like father, like son. As always a great video, and a great build. Thank you for sharing your father's farm, it's far more than a garden. Please thank your father too. I love the local historical references, please continue with these, we need to remember our past, it's what made us what we are. I was born in RAF Hospital, Wegberg Nr. Coln. Dad was a clerk, not a pilot. I wish my knees and hips worked so I could have an E-Bike. Not easy to use crutches on a bike. Stay safe, Steve...
4:12 This type of hitch has one fatal flaw: the trailer can slip out of it through the sides, even if it's tightened down. Which can absolutely happen if you lean into a particularly tight corner. Ask me how I know. I'd recommend something with a pin through the middle, like some tractor hitches have. Anyway, seeing bike trailers replace cars makes my Dutch heart happy. Prost, Nachbarn!
You have not made a video yet that I did not like. Watching you reuse things that you find inspires and encourages me to be more resourceful. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing a part of your upbringing and background. Truly some beautiful sights. When you do your own ebike, you may consider a parallel drive system for the trailer. It would relieve the burden from the bikes drive system, which probably struggles from the additional weight, and you could move the electronics to the undercarriage of your trailer. It seems like you've got plenty of ground clearance, it would give you more cargo space, help to better balance the trailer, and lower the trailers center of gravity. Keep up the great videos.
A high center of gravity may cause the trailer to tip over when cornering. It would also be useful to have some kind of suspension, even leaf suspension. Protect all electrical connections against vibrations. A loose live wire may cause a fire!
Fantastic proof of your concept and what a lovely cycling tour! I'm a huge fan of the German countryside and you've got me thinking of a cycling road trip. Thank you for your continued dedication to reuse, re-imagination and recycling.
The Paderborn area is beautitul and the people are very friendly as I remember from being there in my Dutch army days in the early nineties. Great project!
Another great project and an interesting video. Something happens to one in middle age that creates an urge to grow vegetables. My parents were great gardeners when I was small, but I never had any interest until, in my early 40s, I thought I'd give it a try. Now I grow just about every fruit and vegetable that the North British climate will support. Die Hobby-Landwirtschaft ist toll!
You might be able to hook up an alternator to one of the carts wheels to charge a second battery while you ride. I'd love to see you build your own E-Bike. 👍👍 Thanks for the upload TPAI and glad to see your doing good.
That would only work if it was used as brake otherwise no. For the alternator to make electricity there has to be power, it would take power from the movement of the bike. You would be using one battery to move the bike and then taking some of the movement to charge a second battery. But there is inefficiencies in the motors etc so you would end up with less power. You have no choice but to brake at some point so that power would be lost in heat etc with normal brakes. If that power could be captured and the weight of the equipment was low enough that would be a good idea.
@@johnclements6614 - I think Sad Panda wanted to make a perpetual motion trailer. On a serious yet TPAI theme... I first considered if an Auto Air Cond compressor clutch could be used to kick in an alternator when the bike's brake light switched on? Perhaps that would be too much of a on/off switch and make braking too sudden/violent?
Don’t forget to tell people that, in addition to liking and subscribing to your videos; to please watch until the actual end of the video! The TH-cam algorithms will make sure to suggest your videos across a wider spectrum of viewership if the video is played completely. I don’t pretend to fully understand how this works, but several of the people that I am subscribed to have found that it helps with there performance numbers. Great video, and I hope that your foot is feeling better!
It was really neat to see where your parents live and the terrain where you grew up! Your parents seem like amazing people! Now we know from where you get your amazingness! :) Maybe you could convince your father to do a video demonstrating traditional German wood-carving? I would gladly watch that!
I'm glad you weren't attacked by those cows. I was out camping a year ago and got attacked by three cows out of nowhere. I climbed the nearest tree I could see and stayed there for an hour. They trampled all over my tent and knocked down my dinner. Most of the tent poles were broken, but luckily, I had an extra tarp as a shelter. I picked up my steak from the ground, washed off the dirt and cooked it again. With a full belly, I somehow slept like a rock that night.
Awesome video! Especially the bonus minutes after the usual sign off. I think you would really enjoy permaculture, although I'm sure you know of it already. Would love to see a video on all the ways to make systems to track the sun for solar panels. PLC is one, and there is one beautifully simple approach that involves two light sensors behind the solar panels, that drive a motor (stepper) to shift the angle of the panels until the sensors are once again behind the panels. Or something like that?! Keep up the great work!
4:40 is the worst hitch you can get, those tight bends on the clamps just snap off after a while. i killed two in the past. unfourtainly those clamps get more rare, you only find the awful ones with the ring-screw on the side or the hebie ones made out of plastic i once found a quick locking one from a old mopped with a pull lever on the front, much more robust, never had anything break and im using it for 3 years now with my trailer with at least a thousand kilometers on it. i would throw away that ring clamp and just bent a piece of steel to fit around the saddle pipe and screw it tight onto the hitch so it clamps down tight. i additionally put some rubber sheets between the steel and saddle pipe to not scratch it. it never moved on me, ever. i usually tow quite a bit, 50kg up fully loaded on a ebike, never had it fall off on its own, only when hitting a curb, the trailer tips over and releases from the hitch. i wouldnt wanna have a steel cable there, it would drag me down aswell.
Great advice on trying things and making sure you don't set yourself up for failure with too high expectations. Do stuff, rather get it done than aim for perfection. Don't forget though that with continuous improvements you can often approach a level that you did not feel is possible with the first attempt.
your yard has so many gem's . and i really need to vsit mine. for raw materials. but prices are menta atm lol however ours dont hold old stuff :( just big bulk industrial waste still nice to tinker with.. recently got some nice square tubing for well pennies! rusty but only surface.. going to use it to make Car body rotisery! to help fix my car!
Well my history book says, the ship was shot to smithereens and was basically dead in the water, so the first oficcer decided to scuttle the ship to prevent it form getting captured. In the end 2104 of the 2200 man crew died.
Quite possibly the most wonderful video you have made. I adore your part of the world and hope to visit friends I have there soon. The bike and trailer is superb. Ha, loved the TPAI logo on the back!! Stay well Gerolf. :)
Interesting, I already have an ebike and a trailer which I use a lot so might think about doing something similar. If you want to charge directly from the battery I believe it would be better to do so avoiding the standard charger or a lot of power will be lost in the process to invert to mains AC voltage only to them drop back down into DC via the bike charger.
Gotz ta dig that urban gardening. Maximization of square meters and available resources. Augment the sunshine with LED lighting. Prices of equipment has reduced. While the technology has increased... Yeah, digging the German countryside. Could put a self destruction device on the bike trailer and solar panel. So if a thief jacks with equipment...he ends up paying for it(meaning with his life, "bought-it", or some serious bodily injury...haha). LED lighting for setting up the campsite ROCKS! I hate erecting a tent or cooking in the dark. After which darkness is ok. Thanks for the video.
That is what i thought this was going to be based on the title, but after watching it i am sitting here trying to figure what its purpose is. lol I guess just to have some electricity for for whatever. But i would hook a motor to the trailer and have it push the bike. Or at least have a connector where you can hook those batteries in that trailer directly into the electric bike. I was looking for a motor on those wheels of the trailer, but no motor. Then i looked for a wire coming from the trailer and connecting to the electric bike, but no wire.
@@TheRebelmanone The man said that he didn't 'Rig-up' anything on the setup because it was his folks $3000. E-bike. I understand what you are saying but that's an expensive bicycle (on loan) from his parents. I would like to build something along these lines and I am considering one of those add-on gasoline engine kits for hills and range. Ya'll Take care and be safe, John
@@TheRebelmanone There is a 12V power outlet so when he has his own E bike he could make a connection. I agree that power to the wheels could be a good idea, it may be an easier solution than powering the e bike whist on the road. It would make use of the power when the batteries are nearly fully charged or to use up power before stopping and spending time charging. Brakes on a heavy trailer would be good but why not make them regenerative.
a friend of mine has made a version. it's a recumbent bike that pulls a custom trailer, in the center of which is the back half of a gas scooter. the thing is really weird and VERY sketchy. he begged me for 4 months to give it a whirl. don't get me wrong, I love sketchy shit... but one could decrease the death factor by not using a recumbent. he swears he can drive the thing drunk on the bike trails... he think he's found some legal loophole like, "I'm not riding in a motor vehicle, it's a trailer." he's nuts, I don't buy it.
From MALTA, keep it up buddy. I watch your channel and it's very helpful. Recycling repurposing you are an inspiration to keep Earth healthy, save some money too.👍
I think you got scammed with the MPPT solar controller. I fell for the same bait and switch scam. Take a look inside and you will see pretty quickly that it is a PWM controller.
Actually, you could skip the wheels on the side entirely and put a single monowheel in the back - behind the box. This would reduce the axis of movement to two: up/down and left/right. It would reduce the drag (cause you avoid the second wheel) and would make it much more stable, as there's basically no way for any trailer-swing to occur. This way the whole trailer could also lean into the curves, avoiding the force pushing the back wheel to the outside of the curve, which can be quite dangerous if you're on gravel and have to brake. The single wheel could be driven by a small motor, where you tap into the output Amps of the main motor of the Pedelec and replicate it in the back. This would also allow for braking - as you can put a lever on the bike which then adjust the amount of braking force on both motors. The main advantage of this (additionally to the regenerative braking of course) is that you can incorporate anti lock braking action. My e-scooter does the same, and it's insanely good: It just turns off the regenerative braking if the tire is below 2 kph and turns it on again when it's above (with a small delay). I can even brake on black ice pretty nicely.
I wish I had a friend like you. Love all of the projects you start. There is no scrapyard that alows me to come in and have a look around were I live..
Paderborn is close to Öerlinghausen where I spent 3 magical weeks flying gliders including Silver C distance in a Schleicher Ka-8 as a kid in the ‘60’s. So much fun recalling those times prompted by your video. I also enjoyed your expression of a deepening respect for your father’s good works. The carving tools reminded me of my father and his violin making tools which I was lucky enough to inherit. Wonderful video.
Your description of how you grew up reminded me of my time in Italy. We all lived in the UK until 1979 but we went back to a tiny village in Italy & my parents immediately reverted back to rarely needing shops. We were't "land owners" by any stretch but they had chickens, raised their own pig, made wine, baked their own bread, had a few fruit trees, they grew vegetables that would last a long time. They even grew something translated as "winter tomatoes", picked when orange & kept on the vine & would just hang in the kitchen. Even made their own soap & tomato sauce for pasta. Obviously made their own pasta/pizza's too. A visit to the local small, privately owned shop was once a month for less than 2 baskets full of stuff. Now in that village, they can't live without their supermarkets & pizza delivery!!!!
Great video! I think you putting the batteries closer to the front is a good choice. It’s better for safety to prevent trailer swings, and it gives you the most practical space!
SO GLAD I stuck around after the video!!! I loved seeing what your Dad has created! That was really really cool! If you wanted to go around with your Dad in a video and have him show and explain the things his built and done. I'm just saying I would watch it 😁
Its a pretty cool trailer. I once met this homeless man who had one of those sit down bikes to which he had a massive 300 watt panel as his shade and another 300 watt panel on his trailer. He also had some of those flexible light weight panels that he stored in the roof of his trailer to which he would bring out and set up in like 5 mins when he was parked or stopped for a long lunch. He stopped in our town and found about 2 weeks worth of work helping out some older neighbors and see his set up and it was super cool. He said the money he makes moving from place to place has made him enough money that he was having a entire new right custom build which is lighter, faster and more stable than his current right. He came back to our town after I moved to another state, my friend said the new rig was bigger and far better and super cool. Led lights and everything and the trailer was set up to be able to sleep in it with a custom tent pop out type thing.
I like to see you riding without a helmet. That's what riding a bicycle should be all about: A peaceful and safe mode of transportation were you can use your own energy to go further.
Thank you SO much for this excellent episode! It was wonderful the way you paid homage to your father's garden and way of life. We can see how you became who you are, as often us kids become like our parents in more ways than one as time goes on. A good thing for most. Bravo for the scenery and concepts!
Der Garten von den Eltern ist echt geil. Sonne Schatten Gefälle Terrassen Gewächshaus und kleine Winterbeete Wasserreservoir. Alles da was das Gärtner Herz begehrt 😍😍😍
Great idea and execution! On a personal note I really enjoyed the bicycle tour as I have all of your trips into the countryside, I lived in Augsburg back in the late 80's and really love and miss terribly first the people and second the beautiful vistas, towns and countryside in Germany. Thank you and keep on doing what you do, you are appreciated!
Wonderful video - you should build an e-bike, solarpowered with the very best equipment on the market. Would be a hit, that young people could go biking/camping with electricity onboard. What a fantastic place it is, your old place, and what cool and hardworking parents, to make the place so nice!!!!!!!
"Prepper" may have its connotations. "Self reliant" is exactly this lifestyle. Growing some of your food, capturing rain water, recycling/finding value in and using what others have discarded as well as efficiency in energy usage is a great thing.
I have fond memories of working on stuff in my dad's workshop, I miss him pretty bad, but I get to use the skills he taught me everyday and pass them down to my own kids.
Beautiful property. I was jazzed to see this title solar ebike. I have an ebike I bought a few years ago, not as expensive as your parents but it's a hardy build & I use it weekly. The ebike popularity has really begun to blossom. I see more ebikes local & on trails than acoustic bikes. Looking forward to your hardy eBike build. This was a great video & seeing where you grew up is fascinating. Thank you for sharing
Nice project! To pick up on something you say in this video, I can recommend building your own ebike, something I've done a couple of times and done many thousands of KMs with. The bafung mid drives are really good. But you won't need to charge whilst riding then, you would just take power from the trailer batteries. The bigger ebike motors do like 48v, so building a bigger battery pack may be needed, or step-up output, or stay with 24v. Thanks for the video, that's a beautiful part of the world.
Tom Stanton may be willing to lend you his homemade e-bike. At least until you make your own... Great video as always and thank you for taking us along the entire journey and not just the build. I, as I'm sure many others, enjoy your point of view and commentaries on all the subjects you touch on. Even if it's showcasing local history and monuments, it's all very interesting and very well presented. I always look forward to watching your videos. Thank you.
2yrs ago at 73 I bought Merida City (Shimano) ebike. Bought online a light trailer but didn’t immediately fit it. I ride 15km to seaside regularly but 4months ago an ambulance found me sitting on a roundabout with broken shoulder and no memory of how. Bike apparently threw me against concrete barrier and went on a short distance unmarked. Next day I had a doctor ask me “do you know where you are yet”? I was kinda crippled for month or so but still able to unpack my trailer. Cut 200mm out to narrow it and made a side car attached to the kickstand point. Idea is to learn to ride upright to keep my daughters happy. Looks great. Test run proved I need to improve the steel brace to axle. I bent the first by leaning into my first corner. Loved you work and your country. Regards from Queensland Australia.
I really like your philosophy, many of my friends in Germany have an idea of life that "is more rich those who need less" and I find it very inspiring to find that way of life in each and every video of yours. You should think about make a (maybe short) list of ideas to share as an TPAI Decalogue of a great life for the future of humand kind. Thanks for share and always inspire us.
I am glad for a follow up video to the first one on that solar charging trailer. I am thankful for the information on the trailer hitch as those style from Germany are hard to find in the United States. Now I should start looking into finding myself an enclosed trailer I can convert into a trailer for my bicycle. That'd make for a faster time getting groceries and to a laundromat, too.
Thank you for showing us your parents home, absolutely beautiful! Germany is such a wonderful place and has some hidden gems. Thank you for sharing. Chris Manchester
Tipps for your bike build: 2y ago, i bought a FREY HT with the bafang g510 (1500w, 160nm) motor and attached a surly bill trailer. That replaces my car for any transportation needs within 20km for loads up to 250kg. Look out for good brakes with the heavy loads tough. I changed to 220mm rotors after having experienced heavy fading on steep downhills twice... Now there is no problem any more ☺️
Your dad seems very industrious, , clearly a family trait, so nice to pass on creative talents. I post fitted a big tyre mountain bike with a bafang motor I was given , fixed two water damaged ones, kept one for costs. Custom made 1.5KWh battery from China. Love all your projects, so well executed and finished.
You never cease to amaze and amuse. I would totally work in any business you run and live everyday with the knowledge that I'm actually doing something to make the world a better place.
I regard this video as one of the brightest among your many gems. Technology, historical context, beautiful countryside, project assessment and food independence! Thank you for sharing!
Can't wait to see your take on an E-Bike build. That garden is amazing!
Same here.
Here too ! 👏
Same here, I want to see what bike he chooses to convert.
Hopefully powerful with many extras 😀
I love the philosophy of “Just build it!” And “It doesn’t have to be perfect, good will do”. Failing/not getting it right also leads to learning so even though you might “lose” you will always win! Always love your work and videos BTW.
You should build your own E-bike with just materials from the scrapyards as a challenge!
Step 1: Visit local hardware shop and buy everything you need
Step 2: Scrap it
Step 3: Profit
Seriously who dumps a working power inverter!?
@@semiRockethr people who don’t know anything but plug it in and it works.
@@semiRockethr
people who think, every flooded electrical device is defective right away, will do such things. They're the majority in Germany.
I endorse this comment!
I agree!!! I would love to see an E-Bike build!!!! At the least it should be much cheaper to only have to buy the motor and VFD and batteries, rather than just buy the whole e-bike. Tt would leave room for upgrades and ability to charge safely while using it by adding cheap protection circuitry to it. Possibly even use the batteries in the cart as auxiliary batteries for the e-bike.
Your Dad's garden looks great - good terraced growing on the hillside. And the bike trailer looks like a top job too.
For me this was one of the most enjoyable of all your videos. I enjoyed seeing the countryside of Germany.
I enjoy the projects you work on but I also enjoyed the field trip and the history of your home town. Respect to your father, his skills and his prepping are very cool.
That is an amazing thing to see your home town and to see a little on the way you grow up. The place your dad has is beautiful as well
Seeing your dads veggie garden reminds me of my grandfather, the older generation thought different. Being able to be self sufficient and self reliant is important.
A great watch!
The garden was 10/10, cannot wait to see it in full bloom!
I love your little history lessons that you do with these videos. Great content.
Thank you.
I think the best way to approach charging while driving is to have multiple removable batteries for the ebike, and while you are using one, you can have the one you just emptied charging off the batteries in the trailer.
I like the way that you tackle your projects and explain the process. I dont understand a lot of what you do electronically but its fascinating. thank you so much for your efforts and time posting videos
Thanks for the bike tour of the old country! Especially liked you showing us where you grew up, your parents gardens and some of his work! Just wish we got some introductions…haha. It helps to explain where you got some of your interest in building and fixing things! He must be proud of his son and I know you are proud to have a Father like him! Looking forward to the ebike build!
"Dare to cut back on your perfectionism" Great quote! Probably the best advice one can give!
What an amazing garden yor father has set up. My highest respect to him
This is one of your best episodes, Gerolf. It has everything that you're good at! More videos like this will be very much appreciated! Keep it up, dude! 👍
Locating the trailer wheels further back, relative to the centre of gravity of the trailer/load, would provide a moment arm to transfer a greater force through the rear wheel of the bike - giving you better traction and better braking.
Rather than hitching from the seat post, you could use a BOB Yak Ibex style mounting system on the quick release skewer. Croozer Kalle has an interesting suspension system you could try to replicate.
edit* Consider regenerative front wheel hub motor too.
"moment arm..." you engineers are indeed a special group. Creators who make it work!
There's a tradeoff as in all things. Moving the wheels and coupling point further back increases the turning radius and makes it hard to get through those horrible chicane things that are put on bike paths as well as other tight spots. Still a good idea to load the trailer battery and anything else heavy you can as far forward as possible though.
@@schroedingershat7912 I've experimented with seat post hitched vs rear axel. Including weight distribution, braking distances and handling.
Rear axel follows the path of the bike more closely. You don't want the trailer to cut corners you take because it can clip objects that the bike easily cleared.
The problem with the offset wheel axis of rotation is that it stresses the coupling point more. Some commercial options use rubber/spring couplers as they're both flexible and dampen shocks. But they make the ride spongy and uncomfortable.
I think that suspension and a solid connection to the rear wheel skewer would provide the best performance. Essentially, the same hook up as the Bob Yak/Ibex, with the Croozer Kalle suspension, but with heavy duty materials.
@@FrankReif Different optimization goals. Performance at speed/on rough terrain is nice, but for some uses it's better to be able to get where you're going without having to pick it up or uncouple it to deal with awful infrastructure
Have you got a link to a dedicated regenerative front wheel motor (true regen not a motor) as this is something I've been looking for?
Good video, Kudos to your father for allowing the revelation of his prepper setup to the public and allowing his inventor son to attach a heavy prototype trailer to his light weight Ebike. A very tolerant Dad. Well done both of you.
I agree with cutting back on perfectionism....it tends to hold projects back quite a bit.
Words of wisdom re cutting back on perfectionism, you absolutely nailed it. It's been said before but stands repeating, e.g. "Perfection is the enemy of the good" "Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without" . Much respect to your folks and to you. Keep on keeping on, you good thing.
Thank you for your shows they are an inspiration. Its nice to see more of Germany it's a beautiful place. All the best & heres to more of your talents. We really do need to fix & find more of the items that get throw away as junk.
Your fathers garden is truly incredible.
Hiya,
Like father, like son. As always a great video, and a great build. Thank you for sharing your father's farm, it's far more than a garden. Please thank your father too. I love the local historical references, please continue with these, we need to remember our past, it's what made us what we are. I was born in RAF Hospital, Wegberg Nr. Coln. Dad was a clerk, not a pilot. I wish my knees and hips worked so I could have an E-Bike. Not easy to use crutches on a bike.
Stay safe, Steve...
4:12 This type of hitch has one fatal flaw: the trailer can slip out of it through the sides, even if it's tightened down. Which can absolutely happen if you lean into a particularly tight corner. Ask me how I know. I'd recommend something with a pin through the middle, like some tractor hitches have.
Anyway, seeing bike trailers replace cars makes my Dutch heart happy. Prost, Nachbarn!
Ok can you share the hitch your talking about?
Drag and force transmission issues might make a regen brake for the trailer difficult, but you've solved harder problems.
Keep it up!
You have not made a video yet that I did not like. Watching you reuse things that you find inspires and encourages me to be more resourceful. Thank you.
Wow You are so lucky to have a mother and father like yours ! Straight Ahead !
Thanks for sharing a part of your upbringing and background. Truly some beautiful sights. When you do your own ebike, you may consider a parallel drive system for the trailer. It would relieve the burden from the bikes drive system, which probably struggles from the additional weight, and you could move the electronics to the undercarriage of your trailer. It seems like you've got plenty of ground clearance, it would give you more cargo space, help to better balance the trailer, and lower the trailers center of gravity.
Keep up the great videos.
A high center of gravity may cause the trailer to tip over when cornering. It would also be useful to have some kind of suspension, even leaf suspension. Protect all electrical connections against vibrations. A loose live wire may cause a fire!
Oh man! I'm super hyped to see such a great maker as TPAI take on an biking setup like this!
A real weekend treat.
I also love your dad's garden your hometown is very beautiful.
Luv the scenic, picturesque views and your parents place. Very beautiful
This is an excellent video! Thank you for sharing this project with us.
Fantastic proof of your concept and what a lovely cycling tour! I'm a huge fan of the German countryside and you've got me thinking of a cycling road trip. Thank you for your continued dedication to reuse, re-imagination and recycling.
Re-cycling. Loved it.
The Paderborn area is beautitul and the people are very friendly as I remember from being there in my Dutch army days in the early nineties. Great project!
Another great project and an interesting video.
Something happens to one in middle age that creates an urge to grow vegetables. My parents were great gardeners when I was small, but I never had any interest until, in my early 40s, I thought I'd give it a try. Now I grow just about every fruit and vegetable that the North British climate will support. Die Hobby-Landwirtschaft ist toll!
Maybe add some electric brakes to the trailer for stopping when going down hill? Great build! I like these videos as much as the repair videos.
You might be able to hook up an alternator to one of the carts wheels to charge a second battery while you ride. I'd love to see you build your own E-Bike. 👍👍 Thanks for the upload TPAI and glad to see your doing good.
That would only work if it was used as brake otherwise no.
For the alternator to make electricity there has to be power, it would take power from the movement of the bike. You would be using one battery to move the bike and then taking some of the movement to charge a second battery. But there is inefficiencies in the motors etc so you would end up with less power.
You have no choice but to brake at some point so that power would be lost in heat etc with normal brakes. If that power could be captured and the weight of the equipment was low enough that would be a good idea.
@@johnclements6614 - I think Sad Panda wanted to make a perpetual motion trailer.
On a serious yet TPAI theme... I first considered if an Auto Air Cond compressor clutch could be used to kick in an alternator when the bike's brake light switched on? Perhaps that would be too much of a on/off switch and make braking too sudden/violent?
Don’t forget to tell people that, in addition to liking and subscribing to your videos; to please watch until the actual end of the video! The TH-cam algorithms will make sure to suggest your videos across a wider spectrum of viewership if the video is played completely. I don’t pretend to fully understand how this works, but several of the people that I am subscribed to have found that it helps with there performance numbers. Great video, and I hope that your foot is feeling better!
Your dads garden is great, it will be nice to see the produce from it. E-Bike is another great project
You should build a foldable system with multiple solar panels, so when parked the trailer would charge much faster.
That's a solid idea!
I was wondering about making the lid reverseable .. so one could flip the lid and hide the solar panel on the inside when not needed ..
Yes - this but with reflectors.
Tech Ingredients did a video on it.
th-cam.com/video/FKhszB4E1_M/w-d-xo.html
It was really neat to see where your parents live and the terrain where you grew up! Your parents seem like amazing people! Now we know from where you get your amazingness! :) Maybe you could convince your father to do a video demonstrating traditional German wood-carving? I would gladly watch that!
I'm glad you weren't attacked by those cows. I was out camping a year ago and got attacked by three cows out of nowhere. I climbed the nearest tree I could see and stayed there for an hour. They trampled all over my tent and knocked down my dinner. Most of the tent poles were broken, but luckily, I had an extra tarp as a shelter. I picked up my steak from the ground, washed off the dirt and cooked it again. With a full belly, I somehow slept like a rock that night.
Great video, making, travelling, wonderful German countryside, your Dad’s workshop and garden and some great future ideas 👍
Awesome video! Especially the bonus minutes after the usual sign off. I think you would really enjoy permaculture, although I'm sure you know of it already. Would love to see a video on all the ways to make systems to track the sun for solar panels. PLC is one, and there is one beautifully simple approach that involves two light sensors behind the solar panels, that drive a motor (stepper) to shift the angle of the panels until the sensors are once again behind the panels. Or something like that?! Keep up the great work!
4:40 is the worst hitch you can get, those tight bends on the clamps just snap off after a while. i killed two in the past.
unfourtainly those clamps get more rare, you only find the awful ones with the ring-screw on the side or the hebie ones made out of plastic
i once found a quick locking one from a old mopped with a pull lever on the front, much more robust, never had anything break and im using it for 3 years now with my trailer with at least a thousand kilometers on it.
i would throw away that ring clamp and just bent a piece of steel to fit around the saddle pipe and screw it tight onto the hitch so it clamps down tight.
i additionally put some rubber sheets between the steel and saddle pipe to not scratch it. it never moved on me, ever.
i usually tow quite a bit, 50kg up fully loaded on a ebike, never had it fall off on its own, only when hitting a curb, the trailer tips over and releases from the hitch. i wouldnt wanna have a steel cable there, it would drag me down aswell.
Great advice on trying things and making sure you don't set yourself up for failure with too high expectations. Do stuff, rather get it done than aim for perfection. Don't forget though that with continuous improvements you can often approach a level that you did not feel is possible with the first attempt.
Thank you for taking us with you on your trip. Beautiful country.
your yard has so many gem's . and i really need to vsit mine. for raw materials. but prices are menta atm lol however ours dont hold old stuff :( just big bulk industrial waste still nice to tinker with.. recently got some nice square tubing for well pennies! rusty but only surface.. going to use it to make Car body rotisery! to help fix my car!
American history books have a different end for the Bismarck. Interesting to hear it from the German point of view.
Well my history book says, the ship was shot to smithereens and was basically dead in the water, so the first oficcer decided to scuttle the ship to prevent it form getting captured. In the end 2104 of the 2200 man crew died.
Thank you for the history. It’s something Americans seems to like to forget here. Great project by the way
Building your own E Bike is right up your alley. Go for it !
Great to hear the term 'fabricobbled' haha skookum as frig
Quite possibly the most wonderful video you have made. I adore your part of the world and hope to visit friends I have there soon. The bike and trailer is superb. Ha, loved the TPAI logo on the back!! Stay well Gerolf. :)
That is a lovely garden, and hello from Texas, we are doing our best to keep the energy crises in check!
Your dad is a busy man, guess that's where you find the motivation and energy to do what you do. Thanks for sharing.
Interesting, I already have an ebike and a trailer which I use a lot so might think about doing something similar. If you want to charge directly from the battery I believe it would be better to do so avoiding the standard charger or a lot of power will be lost in the process to invert to mains AC voltage only to them drop back down into DC via the bike charger.
Spectacular job Brother thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise and hello from Detroit Michigan USA Great video Brother
I can see why you love nature so much. Growing up in a place with such natural beauty can have a profound effect on you.
Gotz ta dig that urban gardening. Maximization of square meters and available resources. Augment the sunshine with LED lighting. Prices of equipment has reduced. While the technology has increased... Yeah, digging the German countryside. Could put a self destruction device on the bike trailer and solar panel. So if a thief jacks with equipment...he ends up paying for it(meaning with his life, "bought-it", or some serious bodily injury...haha). LED lighting for setting up the campsite ROCKS! I hate erecting a tent or cooking in the dark. After which darkness is ok. Thanks for the video.
maybe use aluminium for trailer to lighten it, as usual great show.
I think he uses steel to be able to weld it .. however I was also wondering if at least L shaped beams would reduce the weight a bit
@@VVerVVurm agree
This makes me wonder if a motorised/assisted trailer would be possible?
A utility trike? Yes, there are all kinds available from pedal power to gas.
That is what i thought this was going to be based on the title, but after watching it i am sitting here trying to figure what its purpose is. lol I guess just to have some electricity for for whatever. But i would hook a motor to the trailer and have it push the bike.
Or at least have a connector where you can hook those batteries in that trailer directly into the electric bike. I was looking for a motor on those wheels of the trailer, but no motor. Then i looked for a wire coming from the trailer and connecting to the electric bike, but no wire.
@@TheRebelmanone The man said that he didn't 'Rig-up' anything on the setup because it was his folks $3000. E-bike. I understand what you are saying but that's an expensive bicycle (on loan) from his parents.
I would like to build something along these lines and I am considering one of those add-on gasoline engine kits for hills and range.
Ya'll Take care and be safe, John
@@TheRebelmanone There is a 12V power outlet so when he has his own E bike he could make a connection.
I agree that power to the wheels could be a good idea, it may be an easier solution than powering the e bike whist on the road. It would make use of the power when the batteries are nearly fully charged or to use up power before stopping and spending time charging.
Brakes on a heavy trailer would be good but why not make them regenerative.
a friend of mine has made a version. it's a recumbent bike that pulls a custom trailer, in the center of which is the back half of a gas scooter. the thing is really weird and VERY sketchy. he begged me for 4 months to give it a whirl. don't get me wrong, I love sketchy shit... but one could decrease the death factor by not using a recumbent. he swears he can drive the thing drunk on the bike trails... he think he's found some legal loophole like, "I'm not riding in a motor vehicle, it's a trailer." he's nuts, I don't buy it.
From MALTA, keep it up buddy. I watch your channel and it's very helpful. Recycling repurposing you are an inspiration to keep Earth healthy, save some money too.👍
Your father is a skilled and talented craftsman its easy to see where you get ur drive from
I think you got scammed with the MPPT solar controller. I fell for the same bait and switch scam. Take a look inside and you will see pretty quickly that it is a PWM controller.
Actually, you could skip the wheels on the side entirely and put a single monowheel in the back - behind the box. This would reduce the axis of movement to two: up/down and left/right. It would reduce the drag (cause you avoid the second wheel) and would make it much more stable, as there's basically no way for any trailer-swing to occur.
This way the whole trailer could also lean into the curves, avoiding the force pushing the back wheel to the outside of the curve, which can be quite dangerous if you're on gravel and have to brake.
The single wheel could be driven by a small motor, where you tap into the output Amps of the main motor of the Pedelec and replicate it in the back. This would also allow for braking - as you can put a lever on the bike which then adjust the amount of braking force on both motors.
The main advantage of this (additionally to the regenerative braking of course) is that you can incorporate anti lock braking action. My e-scooter does the same, and it's insanely good: It just turns off the regenerative braking if the tire is below 2 kph and turns it on again when it's above (with a small delay). I can even brake on black ice pretty nicely.
I wish I had a friend like you. Love all of the projects you start. There is no scrapyard that alows me to come in and have a look around were I live..
Paderborn is close to Öerlinghausen where I spent 3 magical weeks flying gliders including Silver C distance in a Schleicher Ka-8 as a kid in the ‘60’s. So much fun recalling those times prompted by your video. I also enjoyed your expression of a deepening respect for your father’s good works. The carving tools reminded me of my father and his violin making tools which I was lucky enough to inherit. Wonderful video.
Your description of how you grew up reminded me of my time in Italy. We all lived in the UK until 1979 but we went back to a tiny village in Italy & my parents immediately reverted back to rarely needing shops. We were't "land owners" by any stretch but they had chickens, raised their own pig, made wine, baked their own bread, had a few fruit trees, they grew vegetables that would last a long time. They even grew something translated as "winter tomatoes", picked when orange & kept on the vine & would just hang in the kitchen. Even made their own soap & tomato sauce for pasta. Obviously made their own pasta/pizza's too. A visit to the local small, privately owned shop was once a month for less than 2 baskets full of stuff. Now in that village, they can't live without their supermarkets & pizza delivery!!!!
Great video! I think you putting the batteries closer to the front is a good choice. It’s better for safety to prevent trailer swings, and it gives you the most practical space!
SO GLAD I stuck around after the video!!! I loved seeing what your Dad has created! That was really really cool! If you wanted to go around with your Dad in a video and have him show and explain the things his built and done. I'm just saying I would watch it 😁
Its a pretty cool trailer. I once met this homeless man who had one of those sit down bikes to which he had a massive 300 watt panel as his shade and another 300 watt panel on his trailer. He also had some of those flexible light weight panels that he stored in the roof of his trailer to which he would bring out and set up in like 5 mins when he was parked or stopped for a long lunch. He stopped in our town and found about 2 weeks worth of work helping out some older neighbors and see his set up and it was super cool. He said the money he makes moving from place to place has made him enough money that he was having a entire new right custom build which is lighter, faster and more stable than his current right. He came back to our town after I moved to another state, my friend said the new rig was bigger and far better and super cool. Led lights and everything and the trailer was set up to be able to sleep in it with a custom tent pop out type thing.
It was very neat to see your parents' place. Thank you for the prompt to revisit this video.
I like to see you riding without a helmet. That's what riding a bicycle should be all about: A peaceful and safe mode of transportation were you can use your own energy to go further.
Thank you SO much for this excellent episode! It was wonderful the way you paid homage to your father's garden and way of life. We can see how you became who you are, as often us kids become like our parents in more ways than one as time goes on. A good thing for most. Bravo for the scenery and concepts!
Der Garten von den Eltern ist echt geil. Sonne Schatten Gefälle Terrassen Gewächshaus und kleine Winterbeete Wasserreservoir. Alles da was das Gärtner Herz begehrt 😍😍😍
Thanks for taking us on this trip.
Very cool, thank you for sharing your road trip. Such amazing and beautiful scenery and historical notes.
Great idea and execution! On a personal note I really enjoyed the bicycle tour as I have all of your trips into the countryside, I lived in Augsburg back in the late 80's and really love and miss terribly first the people and second the beautiful vistas, towns and countryside in Germany. Thank you and keep on doing what you do, you are appreciated!
Wonderful video - you should build an e-bike, solarpowered with the very best equipment on the market. Would be a hit, that young people could go biking/camping with electricity onboard. What a fantastic place it is, your old place, and what cool and hardworking parents, to make the place so nice!!!!!!!
"Prepper" may have its connotations.
"Self reliant" is exactly this lifestyle. Growing some of your food, capturing rain water, recycling/finding value in and using what others have discarded as well as efficiency in energy usage is a great thing.
Yes please! E-bike project from as much scrap as possible! 👏
I have fond memories of working on stuff in my dad's workshop, I miss him pretty bad, but I get to use the skills he taught me everyday and pass them down to my own kids.
Beautiful property. I was jazzed to see this title solar ebike. I have an ebike I bought a few years ago, not as expensive as your parents but it's a hardy build & I use it weekly. The ebike popularity has really begun to blossom. I see more ebikes local & on trails than acoustic bikes. Looking forward to your hardy eBike build. This was a great video & seeing where you grew up is fascinating. Thank you for sharing
Nice project! To pick up on something you say in this video, I can recommend building your own ebike, something I've done a couple of times and done many thousands of KMs with. The bafung mid drives are really good. But you won't need to charge whilst riding then, you would just take power from the trailer batteries. The bigger ebike motors do like 48v, so building a bigger battery pack may be needed, or step-up output, or stay with 24v. Thanks for the video, that's a beautiful part of the world.
Tom Stanton may be willing to lend you his homemade e-bike. At least until you make your own...
Great video as always and thank you for taking us along the entire journey and not just the build. I, as I'm sure many others, enjoy your point of view and commentaries on all the subjects you touch on. Even if it's showcasing local history and monuments, it's all very interesting and very well presented. I always look forward to watching your videos.
Thank you.
A very interesting video with beautiful scenery, your dad is a very accomplished man.
2yrs ago at 73 I bought Merida City (Shimano) ebike. Bought online a light trailer but didn’t immediately fit it. I ride 15km to seaside regularly but 4months ago an ambulance found me sitting on a roundabout with broken shoulder and no memory of how. Bike apparently threw me against concrete barrier and went on a short distance unmarked. Next day I had a doctor ask me “do you know where you are yet”?
I was kinda crippled for month or so but still able to unpack my trailer. Cut 200mm out to narrow it and made a side car attached to the kickstand point. Idea is to learn to ride upright to keep my daughters happy. Looks great. Test run proved I need to improve the steel brace to axle. I bent the first by leaning into my first corner. Loved you work and your country. Regards from Queensland Australia.
I really like your philosophy, many of my friends in Germany have an idea of life that "is more rich those who need less" and I find it very inspiring to find that way of life in each and every video of yours. You should think about make a (maybe short) list of ideas to share as an TPAI Decalogue of a great life for the future of humand kind. Thanks for share and always inspire us.
I am glad for a follow up video to the first one on that solar charging trailer. I am thankful for the information on the trailer hitch as those style from Germany are hard to find in the United States. Now I should start looking into finding myself an enclosed trailer I can convert into a trailer for my bicycle. That'd make for a faster time getting groceries and to a laundromat, too.
Wow your father deserves a pat on the back for all of his hard work put into buikding that garden. Truely insiring.
Thank you for showing us your parents home, absolutely beautiful! Germany is such a wonderful place and has some hidden gems. Thank you for sharing. Chris Manchester
Tipps for your bike build: 2y ago, i bought a FREY HT with the bafang g510 (1500w, 160nm) motor and attached a surly bill trailer. That replaces my car for any transportation needs within 20km for loads up to 250kg. Look out for good brakes with the heavy loads tough. I changed to 220mm rotors after having experienced heavy fading on steep downhills twice... Now there is no problem any more ☺️
Love the pictures of dad's gardens ! It will be neat to see them in the fall
I loved your dad garden and green houses.
Your dad seems very industrious, , clearly a family trait, so nice to pass on creative talents. I post fitted a big tyre mountain bike with a bafang motor I was given , fixed two water damaged ones, kept one for costs. Custom made 1.5KWh battery from China. Love all your projects, so well executed and finished.
You never cease to amaze and amuse. I would totally work in any business you run and live everyday with the knowledge that I'm actually doing something to make the world a better place.
charge while riding? yes! i wanna see the range of that.🍻
You're father is a smart man . I see the apple didn't fall far from the family tree ! I can't wait to see you develop your version of the E- Bike .
Loved seeing your home town, the countryside is beautiful.