Monday, December 29, 2008

More Yurt Pictures

Here's two pictures, one from the front and one from the back of the completed bike yurt.  Thanks to everyone who's checked it out :) Happy Holidays. 

The things on the bars are poggies.  Anthony was sewing them late into the night for a surprise Christmas gift for me!  I call them "hot chocolate" because they keep my hands so warm, it's like holding a warm cup of hot chocolate on a cold night!  More on the poggies latter.  


  1. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Don't need a Yurt...but I am very interested in the Poggies. I used to use electrically heated ones on my motorcycles way back when.

    The Yurt is an awesome piece of work!


  2. Nice job on the Yurt. Might be a little worrisome in the wind, how does it do?

  3. Just like the rain cover that inspired it , it actually does quite well.

    While it has a larger visual presence than the two kids that sit atop it, it has a much cleaner profile, so if anything handles it better than when the cover is off and the air is swirling around two kiddos and their seats. This has an overall lentil shape which handles off angle airflow quite well.

    We were riding in a pretty strong wind yesterday, first headwind, then crosswind (averaging around 20mph and gusting into the mid 30's). Nickie and I both took turns switching between our single bike and the llama with the cover and kids, and honestly neither one felt better or worse than the other. If anything I would have guessed this handled it better between the long wheelbase and extra mass of kids and cargo it seemed blown around less.

  4. Hmm, have you thought about making a big cover for YOU? ;) he he.

  5. Wow, impressive! As I start to build a box for my Long Haul (similar to the Bakfiets) I'm thinking about a rain cover for it. I never thought of putting a rain cover on my Xtracycle!
    Though we are planning to carry an infant so I'll feel more comfortable with the box, lower load, and front passenger and save the Xtracycle for when they are older. Maybe by then someone will produce these cool bike yurts =).


  6. Hi Dave, Not seeing your comment here for some reason, only in my inbox. Weird If wind is your concern, I'd go with a sil-nylon wind cover. This yurt works awesomely, but I made it when i had a broken shoulder and I had 3 weeks of down-time to work on it. In short, unless you have a lot of time on your hands, this project is a bit restrictive. The wind cover on the other hand is pretty easy.

    I don't have a pattern to post, but the wind/rain cover is not too tricky to make. You must have some sort of ridged hoop under the cover to hold it up. I started by laying a big piece of sil-nylon over the bike, then cutting a triangle piece for the front and tailoring to fit. Cut window shapes out of vinyl and sew them on. Afterwards, cut the sil-nylon out of the window area. Attach clips of your choice to the corners and the front to hook onto the out-riggers and the seat-post. Pretty simple and keeps wind and water off brilliantly!

    Sil-nylon is super lightweight nylon impregnated with silicone to make it permanently water-proof. It is not breathable, but there should be enough air exchange at the bottom of the cover to keep the air inside fresh.