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.

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.

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