pick up scrap from a bike

the #1 reason to scrap from a bike? it runs on chesse burgers, and its overall cheaper to run. think about it, you have an almost endless supply of dirt cheap parts for a bike at the scrap yard. just buy them off your fellow junk runners before they run them across the scales. I pull a trailer w/my bike, that is hooked to a catilever that runs across the top of the frame,and over the back tire. All my tools are in a milk crate that is bolted to the rack. My trailer will hold 600 lbs.(gorrilla cart).I have pulled a whole frige w/this set up. I move faster than my truck bound brethren, and my lack of overhead makes up for my lack of truck bed space. Everything on this system is mildly modified and has been developed through alot of trial and error. A bike is not for anyone i know, but it is rewarding to pay for the car without driving it.

Pictures would be interesting, Mike.

I can however in my car, leave at 10am drive 25 miles to the other side of town for their garbage day, do my run and be back in time for lunch.

Time = Money

If Gas + car < Time = I make money.

True as i have stated, the bike is not for all. In my case garbage day greets me 25 seconds out my door, not twenty five miles down the road. When you are surrounded by neighborhoods its just faster and more profitable. 1 Cheese burger =$1 = 1 dayrun <1 Tank gas = $40 = 1 dayrun.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cyclescrapper

True as i have stated, the bike is not for all. In my case garbage day greets me 25 seconds out my door, not twenty five miles down the road. When you are surrounded by neighborhoods its just faster and more profitable. 1 Cheese burger =$1 = 1 dayrun <1 Tank gas = $40 = 1 dayrun.

---

My city picks up trash 6 days a week then add in the various town just outside the city. I have more than enough people living near me. You cant go all day on 1 cheese burger, add fries, and a few drinks.

A bike is fine if you.

1: cant afford a car
2: cant drive a car
3: want the exercise

But if you are going to be serious about scrapping a car is your most important tool.

you are right. i just collect and stage with a bike. i then seperate and load a vehicle to run the scale.

trying to figure out pics from phone.

Personally I love this post. First off, even if you are scrapping from a vehicle you will still need that cheeseburger, fries, and drink. Every scrapper has had a poor day in scrapping, on a bike you are not out any money. I've never actually done trash runs but from what I have seen/heard most people could fit what they get into a bicycle trailer. The more scrap you get the more exercise you get! Never scrapped from a bike but I like the idea.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cyclescrapper

True as i have stated, the bike is not for all. In my case garbage day greets me 25 seconds out my door, not twenty five miles down the road. When you are surrounded by neighborhoods its just faster and more profitable. 1 Cheese burger =$1 = 1 dayrun <1 Tank gas = $40 = 1 dayrun.

---

My tank is an A$80.00 fill up and I get about ten mph. A bike would be wonderful but it is all hills around here and I'm not as young as I used to be. What about a moped, could you hook up to something like that?

i used to ride my bike around for scrap, but instead of grabing the scrap, i would go threw areas a car couldnt see on my bike, spot out a bunch of stuff grab the truck and go grab it, less gas money spent on looking around for stuff.

with all the spare parts folks put to the curb anything is possible. really. granted i did purchase the cart, it has since been modified a bit from the time it rolled out of wally world. in theory you could, but i dont think all the hills would allow the crank case to keep from scattering.;^)

I like your style..makin' the money!! Can-cycle!! Only problem is some yards will not serve anything but "drive up customers" very discriminatory in my book.

Good on yah for doing what you do, a couple of thoughts though which I think are worth mentioning. In fort worth a bike might be handy most of the time, for many of us in colder and wetter climates there will be many many days where it would not be so ideal. Most importantly your cart might be able to handle a 600lb load but what can the little brakes on your bike safely bring to a hault? I mountain bike a fair bit and I honestly can't even imagine how difficult it would be to safely come to a controlled stop in any kind of a hurry if I had a whole bunch of extra weight behind me and if going downhill.... could get dicey very quickly.

i want to see pictures of the setup

loaded down thick = slow steady work . however truly loaded down is also equal to a shocking amount of stuff . i have filled the bucket up with radomness, put a chest freezer atop the bucket, filled the chest up, and then stacked on the top. ill drop off all the goods at one of my staging areas and filler up again.

also were at 850' asl not many white knucle hills round here

I remember during a neighborhood free garbage pickup day, there was a team of two guys in a truck and a guy on a bike. the guy on the bike would scout out garbage piles, pull out the good stuff while the guys on the truck came over to load it up as the guy on the bike would search out more scrap

Quote:

---

What about a moped, could you hook up to something like that?

---

Only if you knew of some of the wrench turners that know how to modify them for more power and speed.

also the scrap yard in richmond ca... more bikes in the yard than trucks. that city is GHETTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOOOO

old crackheads in suits with a suitcases holding 2 batteries, a brass statue and random pieces of copper

qhettotech? trashnological? dumpster engineered? wasteologist?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Scrapette

My tank is an A$80.00 fill up and I get about ten mph. A bike would be wonderful but it is all hills around here and I'm not as young as I used to be. What about a moped, could you hook up to something like that?

---

It cost me $110 or so to fill my truck tanks (its a duel diesel tank) I want to install a bed tank as I hate filling her up all most everyday...be nice to have another 90gallons on board.

http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t...thout_pics.gif

Quote:

---

be nice to have another 90gallons on board.

---

I've got an extra 45 gal bed tank (rectangle) that I haven't cut up yet, Used to be used for diesel fuel. If anyone's interested.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by cyclescrapper

My trailer will hold 600 lbs.(gorrilla cart).

---

Burning calories is a lot cheaper than burning gas. Where I live you'd have to be a gorilla to haul 600 lbs on a bike. Too many hills.

I think it was on this forum that I read about this. Some would take their truck/trailer. Park it at a subdivision or wherever you're scrapping. Get the bike/cart out and make your way through, come back and drop your goodies and repeat.

Only problem I can foresee is while you're looking for more goodies, someone comes along and cleans out your lot.

gears are great for hills/
my bike cost me more then my work truck
van = $300
bike = $1,000

I would die on the hills around me if I was going downhill with 600lbs in a trailer behind me! Sounds like a real good Idea tho if you live in flat country!

I think this is part of the future of scrapping, along with other small lightweight options, such as pickup trikes and Harleys pulling trailers. The last time at the yard I saw someone walk there with a load in a baby stroller.