How about a bicycle trailer?

[Robert Haas]

I ride around with my wife on a custom cruiser style bicycle that I built myself a few years ago. We like to ride around Santa Cruz California and in the past would pack a small picnic lunch and carry it in a back pack. I thought it would be nicer to have a little trailer that we could put our lunch, a coupl folding chairs and some warmer clothes if the fog rolls in on us. So I looked around for off the shelf stuff, decided I could build it better then what was for sale so I did

So I will post up a build thread here. This build is mostly .125" sheet aluminum. It is all anodized so I have to grind off all anodizing anywhere I want to weld it. That stuff is dang hard to get off but with enough perseverance I was successful so first pics are the forward wall and the the base.

I used small L clips to locate everything and welded them in place first. Then panel to panel like this

Then I attached the front and the sides together

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-...Inh4/w1496-h842-no/IMG_20140401_150518539.jpg

Just welding everything at the L clips for now, continue with this ...

 

[Robert Haas]

Starting to see the general shape here. Now to fab the inner wheel wells I took the pieces I cut out of the sides and using the fire extinguisher you see in these shots as a forming buck began bending and massaging the "tubs"

 

[Robert Haas]

start welding them.

time for the floor and hanging the tubs

This little guy is starting to look cool. Time to stitch weld all the interior seams burnt up a lot of rod doing it.

 

[Strouty]

Looks good, keep updating. Let's see some pictures of the custom bike too.

 

[Robert Haas]

here is a shot showing the uprights. The wheels are off a jogging baby stroller. They are quick release (just push the black rubber center and they pop right off) The uprights are 1/2" by 3" aluminum 6061 plate gusseted. I built the pivots out of steel and bolted it to the uprights.

needed to start figuring out the hitch, sorry but I accidentally deleted the photos of the hitch but do have a shot of laying it out
this is the bike I built that will do the tow duties

Asked the wife to pull it around to allow me to observe any problems

you can see the lid in this shot as well. used a salvaged Roton Gear hinge for the lid.



I painted the interior of the wells and bottom of the trailer as well as the interior in a single stage satin black urethane

the

 

[Robert Haas]

Blocking it out and laying on the epoxy primer.

I grabbed a latch off an old truck side tool box I had laying around to hold the lid shut and even be able to lock it to protect my sandwiches.

Color matched to the bicycle, needs to be rubbed out but 4 coats of color later and a bunch of wet sanding and polishing and it is damn shiny.

 

[Robert Haas]

Now one cool custom feature was the rear "bumper"

I wanted it to look like an oversize handlebar. I used some .125" wall aluminum tube and created this. before rubbing out the paint but you get the idea

I capped the ends and ground it to look like it is a solid tube, it is actually super light weight maybe around 1 pound total with the brackets

The bumper serves as a skid plate too. I wanted a low rider trailer but did not want to destroy it every time I forgot about how low it was and ran off a drive way or speed bump

So that is about it. here it is on the bike

this after its very first tow by its builder. It follows me around like an obedient puppy.

I think it came out decent for my first ever attempt.

So,.... How did I do?

 

[Jeff Ivers]

Nice job!

 

[aka Larry]

Looks great man. Nice work.

One question though. Why did you make those nice deep wheel wells to have the tire end up basically outside them when completed?

 

[theaton]

Drain plug for when the ice melts?

 

[Robert Haas]

Looks great man. Nice work.

One question though. Why did you make those nice deep wheel wells to have the tire end up basically outside them when completed?

The spindles, uprights eat up the inner part of the wheel wells. I wanted the tire to ride outside of the body slightly to ac as a side bumper. I am sure I will be running this thing into all kinds of stuff so wanted to protect the paint and sheet metal .

 

[aka Larry]

The spindles, uprights eat up the inner part of the wheel wells. I wanted the tire to ride outside of the body slightly to ac as a side bumper. I am sure I will be running this thing into all kinds of stuff so wanted to protect the paint and sheet metal .

I knew there was a reason, so I was just curious. Thanks!

 

[Sunbimmer]

I'm impressed, very cool trailer

 

[-Brent-]

Neat. After seeing it mated up to the bike I think if there's ever a second version is would complement the curviness of the bike to have a "canned ham" trailer shape. Nonetheless, I really like this one.

 

[Robert Haas]

Neat. After seeing it mated up to the bike I think if there's ever a second version is would complement the curviness of the bike to have a "canned ham" trailer shape. Nonetheless, I really like this one.

I wanted to radius the forward top and bottom edge but just could not figure out how to do it. If I owned a couple more metal forming tools I would be down right dangerous.

 

[lilredex]

Looks neat, really. But I wonder about the weight, even made from aluminum.

Have you tried it out?

I am not a fan of trailers tied to the axle, prefer the seat post or rear carrier.

This is my hitch and coupling...





http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-Rear-Rack/

 

[Robert Haas]

Looks neat, really. But I wonder about the weight, even made from aluminum.

Have you tried it out?

I am not a fan of trailers tied to the axle, prefer the seat post or rear carrier.

This is my hitch and coupling...





http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-Rear-Rack/

I built a steel plate that sisters up to the drop out on the frame to carry the load. (The bikes frame is aluminum so I sure did not want to harm it if anything bad happened. .

I have ridden a few bikes with trailers mounted to the seat and just hated them. when you pull up and put the kick stand down nine times out of ten the damn bike tip over. that and the fact that the trailer pushes the bike away from it when you are cornering makes for some entertaining cornering, especially down hill.

I used the trailer all weekend. towed it for around 25 miles. most of the time I could not even tell it was back there.

weight is around 45 pounds, not a feather weight but light enough to load it in and out of my truck by myself.

 

[rippered]

Some day I will build one like this.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Custom-bike-trailer-haul-your-kid-in-style/

 

[toolfanatic]

Nice work! I think a previous posters suggestion about a drain hole would be a great idea, makes it easy to wash the inside and pull the plug when your done.

 

[Robert Haas]

The interior is fully "carpeted"

I used a material normally used to cover speaker enclosures by high end stereo installers. It is a great way to keep the "pinging" noise away from a big aluminum box.

I am planning a rack that will be mounted to the lid. It will be a wood and aluminum trellis design with slender, thin oak strips supported on an aluminum riser.

 

[adstock]

That would be great for an expedition up or down the coast

 

[KULIWOBBY]

That is cool!

 

[Robert Haas]

I went ahead and finished the trailer yesterday. I wanted a small rack on top of it so I can bungee a couple chairs on top or what ever. I wanted it to look nice but not add a bunch of weight. I really like the old luggage racks on cars from the early 30's that were chrome and wood. I took that as an idea and constructed my own using aluminum and maple.

 

[Alexbn921]

Kudos. Turned out great. What is the final weight?

 

[-Brent-]

Sharp!

 

[Robert Haas]

Kudos. Turned out great. What is the final weight?

right at 50 lbs (48.5)

However it is cavernous and my wife filled that sucker up with blankets, 2 folding chairs a full ice chests and 4,... friggen 4,...... 4sweat shirts on our test ride. Holy mother of god... I need to put a motor on the bicycle now.

 

[spoonsports86]

wow that's a dope trailer

 

[dips hit]

This is so damn cool.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

 

[Robert Haas]

This is so damn cool.

Thank you very much. It sure does draw attention.

 

[gipraw]

That is a great job. Do you have any detail pictures of the hitch ?

 

[jason_etc]

How did you set up your axle to avoid deflection of your wheels under load? On burley and even some of the Bob trailers there is a typical quick release style wheel mount so the wheel's axle is supported on both sides. With the minimal clearance around your wheels I'd be afraid it would bind under weight. I had a failed attempt at a barrel trailer that did just that due to weak axles. Really like the style and how it fits your bike. Very nice work

 

[Robert Haas]

That is a great job. Do you have any detail pictures of the hitch ?

A piece of .125" wall mild steel with a 90 degree leg for stiffness that I welded a 1/2" heim joint on

you can see the unit better here

The trailer part is just a box channel steel unit with a simple clevis pin.

 

[jnkpile]

I like it, I like it a lot! The heim joint hitch is so simple it's genius