DIY cargo trailer

A while ago I built my third trailer, made without welding. And this
time I did a full photo documentation as I went along:

http://drumbent.com/trailer_big.html

Cheers,
Mark

wrote:
A while ago I built my third trailer, made without welding. And this
time I did a full photo documentation as I went along:

http://drumbent.com/trailer_big.html

Cheers,
Mark

Nice.

I am contemplating building a single wheel trailer (similar to a BOB)
for carrying children. I don't like the wide unwieldy feel of a 2-wheel
trailer with such valuable cargo.

Anyone have any suggestions or tips?

Joseph

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 11:24:52 -0800, wrote:


wrote:
A while ago I built my third trailer, made without welding. And this
time I did a full photo documentation as I went along:

http://drumbent.com/trailer_big.html

Cheers,
Mark

Nice.

I am contemplating building a single wheel trailer (similar to a BOB)
for carrying children. I don't like the wide unwieldy feel of a 2-wheel
trailer with such valuable cargo.

Anyone have any suggestions or tips?

Joseph


Don't. One wheel trailers are excellent for light cargo but any movement
in the trailer will be transmitted to the bike. I used to use a BOB Coz
and now use a BOB Yak and then I take my cat to the vet in a carrier in
the trailer her movement can be felt significantly. A child doing what a
child does could knock your bike around to a dangerous extent. Two wheel
trailers are more unwieldy, but more stable for live cargo.

Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

"Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact that a person
can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a newspaperman,
but if a man doesn't drive there's something wrong with him."
Art Buchwald

Lorenzo L. Love wrote:
On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 11:24:52 -0800, wrote:


wrote:
A while ago I built my third trailer, made without welding. And this
time I did a full photo documentation as I went along:

http://drumbent.com/trailer_big.html

Cheers,
Mark

Nice.

I am contemplating building a single wheel trailer (similar to a BOB)
for carrying children. I don't like the wide unwieldy feel of a 2-wheel
trailer with such valuable cargo.

Anyone have any suggestions or tips?

Joseph


Don't. One wheel trailers are excellent for light cargo but any movement
in the trailer will be transmitted to the bike. I used to use a BOB Coz
and now use a BOB Yak and then I take my cat to the vet in a carrier in
the trailer her movement can be felt significantly. A child doing what a
child does could knock your bike around to a dangerous extent. Two wheel
trailers are more unwieldy, but more stable for live cargo.

Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

"Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact that a person
can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a newspaperman,
but if a man doesn't drive there's something wrong with him."
Art Buchwald

Sometimes I ride with one of my kids in a seat mounted where a rear
rack would go. I notice when they wiggle around, but I think my 215
pounds sort of anchors us. Do you think a kid's movment on a BOB type
trailer would have a more pronounced affect? This is a regular bike, so
the kid's center of gravity is pretty high in the rear mounted seat, vs
pretty low siting in a roll-caged BOB.

What about a narrow 2-wheeled trailer, but long for 2-kid tandem
seating?

Joseph

wrote:

What about a narrow 2-wheeled trailer, but long for 2-kid tandem
seating?

Off hand, I'd say you either need a single wheel or a *wide* double
wheel. With two wheels the width is what keeps it from tipping over.

Ron Ruff wrote:
wrote:

What about a narrow 2-wheeled trailer, but long for 2-kid tandem
seating?


Off hand, I'd say you either need a single wheel or a *wide* double
wheel. With two wheels the width is what keeps it from tipping over.

How about some sort of narrow tandem design with two wheels say maybe 16
inches apart?

Ken
--
You never have the wind with you - either it is against you or you're
having a good day. ~Daniel Behrman, The Man Who Loved Bicycles

Homepage: http://kcm-home.tripod.com/

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 13:54:28 -0800, Ken M wrote:

Ron Ruff wrote:
wrote:

What about a narrow 2-wheeled trailer, but long for 2-kid tandem
seating?
Off hand, I'd say you either need a single wheel or a *wide* double
wheel. With two wheels the width is what keeps it from tipping over.

How about some sort of narrow tandem design with two wheels say maybe 16
inches apart?

Ken


Which would be stable as long as the kids didn't shift the trailer's
center of gravity by more then 8 inches. Look at commercially made
children trailers. They are all relatively wide for a reason. Even back
when BOB made a kid's trailer it was a two wheeler. But hey, it's your
kids.

Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

"The danger of the road is not in the distance,
Ten yards is far enough to break a wheel."
Meng Chiao, eighth century A.D.

In article op.s3lk00dkpheghf@ibm22761843607,
"Lorenzo L. Love" wrote:

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 13:54:28 -0800, Ken M wrote:

Ron Ruff wrote:
wrote:

What about a narrow 2-wheeled trailer, but long for 2-kid tandem
seating?
Off hand, I'd say you either need a single wheel or a *wide* double
wheel. With two wheels the width is what keeps it from tipping over.

How about some sort of narrow tandem design with two wheels say maybe 16
inches apart?

Ken


Which would be stable as long as the kids didn't shift the trailer's
center of gravity by more then 8 inches. Look at commercially made
children trailers. They are all relatively wide for a reason. Even back
when BOB made a kid's trailer it was a two wheeler. But hey, it's your
kids.

Time to bring back swaddling.

--
Michael Press

Yup. Until you've ridden with a trailer you have no idea how it will
can behave, both laden and unladen, in an emergency or through driver
error. The narrow ones will tip over quite easily unless a) they are
as low as possible, and b) you turn corners quite slowly. For kids you
definitely want as wide a track as you can get away with.

My friend Mike built a trailer, and decided to attach it to the bike
from the rear ala the BOB. Though as you'll read at the bottom of his
page he was able to inadvertently make it do a complete 360 roll! See:

http://mbowler.drunkcity.com/cycling/trailler.html

Mark

Yup. Until you've ridden with a trailer you have no idea how it will
can behave, both laden and unladen, in an emergency or through driver
error. The narrow ones will tip over quite easily unless a) they are
as low as possible, and b) you turn corners quite slowly. For kids you
definitely want as wide a track as you can get away with.

My friend Mike built a trailer, and decided to attach it to the bike
from the rear ala the BOB. Though as you'll read at the bottom of his
page he was able to inadvertently make it do a complete 360 roll! See:

http://mbowler.drunkcity.com/cycling/trailler.html

Mark