General Cycling Discussion - DIY trailers

I'm thinking about building a trailer or two. For a big utility trailer, there's a really good looking plan up on instructables.com that I'll probably use, and the parts are all easy to get.
However, that's a wide 2-wheel trailer. For touring I'd rather have something like a BOB YAK. Since it has a grand total of one wheel and about $15 in metal and maybe $20 in other parts, I'd like to build it instead of paying $300.
Does anyone know where to get a good quality wheel of whatever size that is? It looks like, what, a 12" wheel or so? I suppose 16" wheels are easily obtainable from kids bikes, but where do you get good 12" wheels? For that matter, where do you get replacement 12" tires?

Go with a standard 20" wheel , mate. They are plenty strong when the axle
is supported on BOTH sides while tires/tubes are cheap and plentyful. I
used 20" my homebuilt trailer which hauls 300# with ease.

By using salvaged materials I built this trailer 25yrs ago for $20. I still use
it yet today at times. One change to the plans I made really helped make the
trailer much, much stonger. I changed the entire frame / toungue to WHITE OAK
wood salvaged from a new shipping skid. The plywood frame called for is a bit
to weak for my taste.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1981_July_August/Dime_on_the_Dollar_Bicycle_Trailer

Go with a standard 20" wheel , mate.

20" wheel for a single-wheel YAK clone? That's going to radically change the design, it'll be sitting a lot higher. Something to think about though I guess. Though 16" tires are pretty readily available on kids bikes. I guess 20" are common on bents and such so maybe a more upscale 20" would be available.

For my two wheel cargo trailer I'll definitely use 24 or even 26" tires.

They're all two wheeled trailers, but my Burley Flatbed and Wike Woody Wagon both use 20" wheels. The axle height is only 10". Compared to the 8" axle height of my 16" wheeled Burley Solo.

20" wheel for a single-wheel YAK clone? That's going to radically change the design, it'll be sitting a lot higher. Something to think about though I guess. Though 16" tires are pretty readily available on kids bikes. I guess 20" are common on bents and such so maybe a more upscale 20" would be available.

20" are used on all of the BMX types that kids graduate to from their 16" bikes... and kids ride them long enough to actually wear out tires unlike their 16's... I strongly suspect that 20" is far more available than 16"... and it has little or nothing to do with bents. You can find 20" at any *Mart...

Also, I am not an engineer, but by fashioning a trailer that sits below the axle of the single wheel, I would think it would be more stable... At the point where you would bring in the outer supports to meet the hub, they would just also angle upward from your platform level. It shouldn't be significantly more complex than having the hitch side rise to meet the hub on your bike at the right location. Don't raise the cargo area, just angle up to the axle at the end of the cargo area.

20" wheel for a single-wheel YAK clone? That's going to radically change the design, it'll be sitting a lot higher. Something to think about though I guess. Though 16" tires are pretty readily available on kids bikes. I guess 20" are common on bents and such so maybe a more upscale 20" would be available.

For my two wheel cargo trailer I'll definitely use 24 or even 26" tires.


NO ,mate. My suggestion is for a TWO WHEELED TRAILER. BTW.....Why are you being so picky?
Let's just help the mate........what say??

NO ,mate. My suggestion is for a TWO WHEELED TRAILER. BTW.....Why are you being so picky?
Let's just help the mate........what say??

No problem. It's just that I was specifically asking about single-wheel trailers. I already know that when I build my 2-wheel trailer for cargo, I'm going to use 26" wheels. I was asking if anyone knew a good source for the 12" wheels that are used for BOB trailers. For touring I'd think a single-wheel trailer would be nice. Two wheel for sure for cargo though.

However, I just pulled down the old kid carrier trailer and towed it for about 15 miles today, and I think I'm just going to strip the crud off of that (frame and tent for enclosing the kids) and use that for cargo. A few D-rings for attaching bungies and I should be OK.