This Is the Ultimate e-Bike Camper: Cheap, DIY, and With Its Own Powertrain

So, here is the "ultimate bike camper." By the basic definition of the word, it's the greatest possible achievement on the niche of bike campers, or quite possibly the camper that comes to replace all others before it. The one and only, the alpha and omega, and all that.

Do take the phrasing with a grain of salt, is what we're saying. But that doesn't mean that it's not an impressive (micro) camper worthy of your time and attention. It might even serve as inspiration, if you're feeling up to it.

With e-bikes rising to incredible popularity in recent years, demand for this type of towables has also spiked. When you have motor assist on the two-wheeler, which allows you to ride farther than you would on a conventional pedal-powered bike, why not extend your adventures beyond a single day? And why settle for bikepacking when you could have just a bit more comfort and convenience?

e-Bike trailers have been popping up at an increasing speed, and that's a good thing. The bad news is that they remain priced ridiculously high, are not in mass production yet, or are limited locally for shipping. In much simpler words, if an e-bike rider is determined to put the e-bike to use this way, the best and most affordable alternative remains that of building the trailer from scratch.

That's exactly what creators from the President Chay channel did earlier this year. Chay Denne and his family are quite popular for their DIY (do it yourself) builds, many of which explore the possibility of making your own towables to save cash or get a product that best suits your needs and existing gear. That's not to say that their builds are flawless – because they're not, this one included – but they still put in the effort to do quality work.

This bike camper is actually inspired by the one-person lightweight teardrop trailer they'd built just weeks before. The idea remained the same: to build a towable that was lightweight but durable, which could offer the basics in terms of comfort for a limited number of nights, and that was the cheapest possible.

In this sense, this bike camper is the "ultimate." There's no mention of the budget or the final weight, but the detailed building process shows that they didn't use expensive materials and that the focus in choosing them was always on weight reduction.

The bike camper is teardrop trailer-inspired in shape, too. The base is 30 inches by 80 inches (76.2 cm by 203.2 cm), so enough to allow lying down. It's taken up by a single-bed mattress facing a wall-mounted 20-inch TV, with overhead lights and the teeniest-tiniest window on the side to allow fresh air in. A bug screen is included.

The door features a locking mechanism for extra safety. Of the two existing outlets, one is located near the head of the bed and can be used for charging devices. All power comes from the battery of the camper, which also runs the two in-wheel motors.

They are the pièce de résistance of the camper. Whereas most e-bike trailers, whether DIY builds or limited production series, rely on the e-bike's motor, this one doesn't. Chay argues that using dual 1,000W motors will eliminate friction, but he soon discovers that it also makes the bike (seemingly a Super73) much faster.

The camper moves under its own power, which the rider controls with the torque switch on the left-hand side of the handlebar. The difference is immediately felt at a dead start up a hill: what would have been a challenge with other types of non-motorized trailers is a breeze here. The weight of the motors also makes the camper very stable, even when traveling at 38 mph (61.1 kph).

Chay used the same technique in the build of this camper as for the teardrop one. He built a lightweight frame from steel and wood, used plywood for the walls and the roof, and spray foam insulation on the roof. The walls aren't insulated, but the floor is. On the downside, there is no underside protection for the floor, so the foam insulation is exposed to water and mud underneath.

For waterproofing, Chay uses truck bedliner, adding a layer of paint and graphics afterward, for aesthetic purposes only. All the wiring for the electrics is on top, in the space between the ceiling and the roof.

It's a basic trailer with a relatively simple construction, and that's because it doesn't need to be more. An e-bike camper is meant to offer shelter for one night, two at most, and the mere fact that it puts a roof over the rider's head makes it an infinitely better alternative to bikepacking.

This one does all this but throws in a TV, a comfy-looking mattress, and a locking door to sweeten the deal. More importantly, though, it has its own motors, so it won't add weight to the e-bike's payload and drain the battery faster. If you also factor in that it's a DIY project with an admittedly small budget, that pretty much makes it the "ultimate camper." Even if we know better than to fall for big words like that.