The approach

So the idea is to cycle a multiperson beerbike from Kunming, China back to Western Europe.
This bike will probably have 12 bicycle seats (of whom 10 people cycle), a driver and a barman. On top of that we are still deciding if we will add a little bench at the back where two people can rest (as seen on the photo below [source: fietscafe]) or if it will be possible to add two more cycling seats there.

All in all the bike therefore will have a full capacity of 16 people.
Me, Oskar and Eoin, two friends from respectively Sweden and Ireland, plan to make this trip back home as we have all been studying Chinese in Kunming for over a year now and all want to go home. The three of us will therefore be the core of this expedition.
On top of that we plan to find friends, travellers and locals along the way that want to join us on a section of this trip. In fact we depend on you guys as we cannot move this 400+kg bicycle with only three people.

This being a long distance cycling trip, all the people participating will inevitably have luggage with them. We plan to design a little trailer for behind the beerbike to carry all this luggage.

The minimum amount of people required to move this bicycle on the flat will most likely be around five: four cyclists and one driver.
However, as we are inevitable gonna stumble upon some mountaineous sections the story is going to be different. For this reason we plan to build gears into the bike and a possibility to being towed behind cars and trucks.

Along the way we want to use www.couchsurfing.com and www.hospitalityclub.org to find accomodation. Hostels, guesthouses and camping are of course options as well as we realise that it will be hard to accomodate a big group of travellers via these hospitality websites only.

Any ideas, tips and/or tricks from you guys are always welcome. Just post a comment on this blog or drop me an email.