VAN HALF-LIFE
The humble van, beloved of builders, getaway drivers and mountain bikers alike, it’s also one half of a double life for the Mtbvanlife guys
scribed to fit in perfectly, and stained. “It’s no carpentry job, but we think it looks good,” Luke says. Above the van things are a little out of the ordinary too, with a 40-litre water tank for showers and bike washing, with a Worx pressure washer, all bolted to a Frontrunner roof rack. “There are attachments for everything, it’s really modular, you can even get a fitment for a cauldron,” Luke says. “We have a light bar for night driving and we can put bikes up top if we want.”
Naturally there’s a leisure battery and a solar charger, and combined with the water Luke and Sam can go off grid for five days at a time. There’s also an inverter to charge the bikes. “It’s great, we’ve ridden places and exhausted the bikes’ batteries, then put them on charge as we drive to the next spot,” Luke says.
What it doesn’t have is a loo, there’s just no space. “You can get a pop up cardboard toilet, but we’ve always been fine without – a poo with a view, he says.”
DON’T BUY A CARAVAN You’re tied down to one place and can’t move around as easily or access as many places. With a van, you can park anywhere and do anything… as long as you’re not taking the mickey. n IF YOU’RE HAPPY WITH SOCIAL MEDIA GET SOME SPONSORSHIP Become an influencer, Luke reckons it helped hugely with the cost of everything. Don’t expect to make a living from it though, unless you’re very adept at it and very lucky. “Social media has changed so much and it is much harder to earn from this sort of thing now,” he says. “But we never set out to earn a living, just make memories and live for the adventure.”
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