Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.cerewa
03-10-06, 08:45 PM
Hey everybody,
I just built a bike trailer... haven't really gotten to test it out except pulling it behind me without a bike, on the way to the laundromat. I think it'll work pretty well for getting groceries and stuff. It's a 45-gallon plastic container on wheels.
The pictures are in our building's basement, which is cramped and messy, so they're not that good.
The "hitch" is completely untested, but I think it'll work out fine. Just a punctured tire tube. I was inspired by the couple of links people posted to "free plans" for bike trailers and the threads about other people's homemade trailers. Oh, and my bike (the one I ride a whole lot and intend to use to pull the trailer) is in the one picture.
I found the pieces of metal that are U-shaped on the side of the road. Bought some 3/4 inch conduit from Home Depot and used a conduit-bender to bend it around the plastic container. I used an electric drill with a metal-grinding bit and a drill bit to make all of the holes for bolts and the wheel axles. I don't have a giant drill bit so the grinder had to do a lot of work for the axles.
I intended to make the trailer ride low to the ground, but not quite as low as it does. Oh well, that means at least it won't be tippy when cornering.
EDIT:
oh yeah, so here's the parts list:
$13 - 45gal sterilite plastic tote
$20 - used 20in-wheeled child bike
$6 - 10ft length of
$3 - one large bolt with nut, several smaller ones
$0 - u-shaped piece of (galvanized steel?) metal found on roadside
$0 - old bike tire tube
tools used: conduit bender (home depot has them for $40), electric drill with bits, hacksaw, cone wrench and two adjustable wrenches, flathead screwdriver, two pairs of pliers.
I just built a bike trailer... haven't really gotten to test it out except pulling it behind me without a bike, on the way to the laundromat. I think it'll work pretty well for getting groceries and stuff. It's a 45-gallon plastic container on wheels.
The pictures are in our building's basement, which is cramped and messy, so they're not that good.
The "hitch" is completely untested, but I think it'll work out fine. Just a punctured tire tube. I was inspired by the couple of links people posted to "free plans" for bike trailers and the threads about other people's homemade trailers. Oh, and my bike (the one I ride a whole lot and intend to use to pull the trailer) is in the one picture.
I found the pieces of metal that are U-shaped on the side of the road. Bought some 3/4 inch conduit from Home Depot and used a conduit-bender to bend it around the plastic container. I used an electric drill with a metal-grinding bit and a drill bit to make all of the holes for bolts and the wheel axles. I don't have a giant drill bit so the grinder had to do a lot of work for the axles.
I intended to make the trailer ride low to the ground, but not quite as low as it does. Oh well, that means at least it won't be tippy when cornering.
EDIT:
oh yeah, so here's the parts list:
$13 - 45gal sterilite plastic tote
$20 - used 20in-wheeled child bike
$6 - 10ft length of
$3 - one large bolt with nut, several smaller ones
$0 - u-shaped piece of (galvanized steel?) metal found on roadside
$0 - old bike tire tube
tools used: conduit bender (home depot has them for $40), electric drill with bits, hacksaw, cone wrench and two adjustable wrenches, flathead screwdriver, two pairs of pliers.