Bike and Cycling Forum > Bike Rack > General Bike Discussion > Show me your bike trailers!

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 09-27-2009, 11:06 AM   #1
♥'s Bicycles
 
HandsomeRyan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 454
Show me your bike trailers!

I have sort of a bike trailer fetish. Trailers can be used to haul your kids, your pets, your cargo or even some tunes. It doesn't matter what you do with it- I want to see your trailer(s)!

Here are a few of mine: (Note: I currently live in a 900 sqft apartment with no garage so I don't own all of these anymore)

My first trailer was built for an event called the "Tour de Lights" hosted by the City of Knoxville (where I lived at the time). They were offering prizes for best decorated bicycle so I opted to go all out and built a custom trailer complete with glitter finished sleigh, a santa, and I eve used my sewing skills to make a bag of presents for all the good cyclists out there. Here is a link to a video of some of the lighting on the sleigh. I won first place.




And I did get some smooches with this helmet...


The following year I built another trailer for the TdL but I went the other way. There are a lot more naughty cyclists out there than nice ones. This trailer was also custom made by me from welded steel frame. A body made of recycled oak (an old pallet) and the lid is made of composite fiberglass with real coal glued to the top. It was stupid heavy to pull but it was a real crowd pleaser. I even brought some little baggies of coal and passed them out to some of the local bike shop staffs who attended the ride.





My next project was a stereo trailer to use on casual group rides like city sponsored neighborhood rides and critical mass. Basically I built a car stereo outside of a car. The trailer is made of composite reinforced wood with a composite body. This thing weighed a ton because the car battery is quite literally a huge hunk of lead. It was awesome and got many smiles wherever we pulled it.







And finally- the only trailer that I still use in my tiny apartment- My WIKE cargo trailer. I didn't build this one.



Now lets see yours!


HandsomeRyan is offline  
 
Reply With Quote
Old 09-27-2009, 12:10 PM   #2
♥'s Bicycles
 
HandsomeRyan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 454
I just found a pic of my towing the TdL 2008 trailer...

HandsomeRyan is offline  
 
Reply With Quote
Old 09-28-2009, 04:59 PM   #3
Slowin it up.
 
funetical's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 4,308
Wow! that stereo rig is amazing. You should try and market it.
funetical is offline  
 
Reply With Quote
Old 09-28-2009, 07:30 PM   #4
♥'s Bicycles
 
HandsomeRyan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 454
Quote:
Originally Posted by funetical View Post
Wow! that stereo rig is amazing. You should try and market it.
It is/was a lot of fun but since I don't own any patents to the technology that goes into it I'd have a hard time keeping the idea from being ripped off. At best I would have a very limited market of people who'd buy one at the price I'd have to charge to make them too.

If you (or anyone else) wanted to build one I'd gladly offer my knowledge to help you do that. Outside of the trailer platform/wheels/tow bar the entire thing can pretty much be made with parts/materials you can buy at WalMart. I believe I had about $250 into building it (not counting the car battery which was on loan from a friends car). If you skipped the fancy composite skin and made a simpler wooden frame it could save quite a bit of time/money.
__________________
- - - Everyone must believe something. I believe I'll go ride my bike. - - -
HandsomeRyan is offline  
 
Reply With Quote
Old 09-29-2009, 01:31 PM   #5
Slowin it up.
 
funetical's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 4,308
Then get patents and market it to a biking company. That thing is truly an innovative Idea. You got something there man I'm telling you.
funetical is offline  
 
Reply With Quote
Old 02-24-2010, 09:19 PM   #6
Junior Member
Bikes
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 12
How do you hitch the tongue to the axle? I'm planning a cart to go with my motorized bike to tow around weedwackers/people/rocks/etc. I have it designed on Google Sketchup- it'll require welding, but could be adapted to be bolted together, although it would be weaker. What do you think?
I'll attach a coupla pics.
Attached Images
  
stevolandis is offline  
 
Reply With Quote
Old 02-24-2010, 09:31 PM   #7
Member
 
Keith's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 43
Seems like a pretty extreme angle for the connector but maybe it just looks that way in the image.
__________________
Why not Register? It's free and it's lonely talking to one's self.
Keith is offline  
 
Reply With Quote
Old 02-24-2010, 10:01 PM   #8
Junior Member
Bikes
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 12
The pipe has a 45* bend in it- i'm actually going to use a mirror thingy from a John Deere 8100- it's heavy metal that I can weld. But, I don't think I'll turn any sharper than 45*. If it hits the wheel, I can bend it out a little more(actually bend it sharper in the pipe to get more room at the wheel)
stevolandis is offline  
 
Reply With Quote
Old 02-24-2010, 11:58 PM   #9
♥'s Bicycles
 
HandsomeRyan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 454


I feel that you'll be very disappointed in this type of attachment as it will have a LOT of front/back up/down play as you accelerate and slow down.

If you weld, something like this made of a caster wheel bracket and some airline quick connect fittings. Much more stable design.







__________________
- - - Everyone must believe something. I believe I'll go ride my bike. - - -
HandsomeRyan is offline  
 
Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2010, 12:01 AM   #10
♥'s Bicycles
 
HandsomeRyan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Posts: 454




A couple more pics.


__________________
- - - Everyone must believe something. I believe I'll go ride my bike. - - -
HandsomeRyan is offline  
 
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
What's your favorite TV show? Naturegirl Off Topic 57 04-11-2011 02:57 PM
How do you track your gear or show off your ride? paulsingh General Bike Discussion 4 10-10-2009 03:15 PM

FOLLOW US ON
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Unforgettable Windy 2nd Century

Newest Classifieds