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SpaceCamperBike Turns Your e-Bike Into a Camper and Workstation

Car ownership isn’t a prerequisite for a nice camping or workcation experience. Come next summer, a motorcycle or even a scooter won’t be either, because cyclists might be able to enjoy it with their e-bike.
SpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionality 24 photos
Photo: SpaceCamper
SpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionalitySpaceCamperBike uses a top-of-the-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionality
The idea of a bicycle camper or trailer is not new, and SpaceCamperBike doesn’t claim to be the first company to bring it to market. This type of bike-made accessories started gaining in popularity in the first months of the international health crisis in 2020, at about the same time electric bicycles became a fixture on the urban mobility market.

As of the time of press, though, bicycle campers and trailers remain a curiosity and a niche product, with the latter due mostly to their prohibitive prices. Whether SpaceCamperBike will be able to outgrow this stage remains to be seen.

SpaceCamperBike is the first camper from German company SpaceCamper, designed exclusively for electric bicycles. SpaceCamper is already famous, locally and internationally, for its Volkswagen bus conversions, but turning their attention to the e-bike segment is a step towards the democratization of recreational vehicles – and, according to the company itself, towards the creation of a new type of “home office.”

SpaceCamperBike uses a top\-of\-the\-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionality
Photo: SpaceCamper
Ben Wawra, who co-founded SpaceCamper in 2005 and serves as its CEO, lives in one of the company’s VW conversions, but he’s also an avid cyclist. This is how he came up with the idea to take an electric bicycle and try and convert it into a fully-functional camper that could double as a workstation for today’s digital nomads. On considerations of payload, storage space, reliability, and functionality, he opted for a cargo bike.

The base of the SpaceCamperBike is a Load 75 cargo bike from the famous manufacturer Riese & Muller. In fact, Markus Riese, the other co-founder of SpaceCamper, is also the founder of Riese & Muller, and he shares Wawra’s enthusiasm for thinking outside the box and trying to defy the norms in search of the perfect product.

The SpaceCamperBike is their first effort on two wheels that aims to do both. After one year in development, it was most recently on display at the 2023 Caravaning, Motor, Touristik (CMT) trade show in Stuttgart, Germany, with a press release announcing later that it would become available in the summer of this year. Pricing and an exact timeline are yet to be revealed, but one thing is certain: it won’t be cheap, if only considering what the bike is based on.

The SpaceCamperBike is a bike camper that makes use of the Load 75’s storage space to add extra functionality in camp mode. The cargo bay can become a recliner during the day and a flat-out single-person bed at night, while retaining its hauling functionality in the city – whether for cargo or two kids on the daily school dropoff. The handlebar folds down and you can attach a small table onto it, so that you get a workstation wherever you might be.

SpaceCamperBike uses a top\-of\-the\-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionality
Photo: SpaceCamper
The camper is designed to offer some protection from the elements, as well. A tarp can be affixed to the frame of the bike just like you would a regular tent, and the rider is protected from the wind or the rain, and can get some privacy as well. The advantage to this setup, in addition to the fact that it deploys in a matter of minutes and is a very smooth process, is that everything remains above the ground: you won’t sleep on the wet or cold ground, and won’t have to go through the trouble of sticking pegs into the soil, or tying and tensioning ropes.

“[The] concept includes being functional in everyday work and family life, but at the same time offering fun on camping weekends and adventure holidays,” SpaceCamper says. There’s no exaggeration about that, though the degree of comfort with one such camper is only one notch above what the old way of bikepacking delivers.

The Load 75 cargo e-bike has been on the market for almost a decade, and is a viable two-wheel replacement for the daily driver. Powered by a Bosch Cargo Line Cruiser motor, it comes with dual 500 Wh batteries, suspension, and optionals like hydraulic braking and off-road tires.

The model used for the conversion is the top-of-the-line Load 75, so it includes all the optionals, as well as the Rohloff E-14 Speedhub 500/14, with 14-speed hub gear and belt drive. This model is all about premium components and premium materials, and it comes with a price to match that starts at $15,189 – whereas the lesser-specced model goes from $12,389.

SpaceCamperBike uses a top\-of\-the\-line Riese & Muller cargo bike to offer camper and work station functionality
Photo: SpaceCamper
This is what one pays for the Riese & Mueller bike alone, without any modification and without any of the gear that turns it into a camper slash workstation on weekend trips. Once you factor these in, we’re probably looking at a two-wheel rig upwards of $18,000. “There’s more to it than you might think,” Wawra told audiences at the CMT trade fair, perhaps trying to counter anticipated criticism of how this is the kind of money you could pay for a proper car.
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About the author: Elena Gorgan
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Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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