Really, I'm not quite sure what happened. The plans consisted primarily of pictures with no measurements so between guesstimating lengths, not knowing what would work well, and my flea-like attention span, I ended up with a long towing arm. It still pulls fine but I definitely wish it were shorter. I guess I might could cut the arm short, make a new bend, and reattach the hitch adapter, but there are oak dowels reinforcing the conduit where it is bolted together at the hitch arm and I don't want to disassemble it that much. *shrug* :-)

You could get a cayak to pull! I did. ;)

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9467/img0038sna0.jpg

My Trailer!
 

Here is the trailer that i built, it is made from .035 316 stainless steel that i scrounged from a old photo formatting machine. I made it so i can carry a Tupperware bin/ small stuff and still be manageable but it also needed to carry a 4 x 8 sheet of ply wood. I made it so that it would convert easily from a 2 x 3 foot bin to the 4 x 4 plus extension. The side rails can be removed and placed in the back creating the 4 x 4 foot platform. the front hitch mount also has a 4 foot extinction so the front of the sheet can be balanced.

Oh how I would love a tig welder.

AudiIsaac, that is one impressive trailer! It doesn't look home made at all, in fact it looks better quality than my store bought trailer. Top work.

Thanks! I spent a few years working in industry honeing my skills as a welder. It took me about 70 hours to make and over half was detailing/polishing (totally unessary, but i like the filited look for stainless. I am a student at RISD in the industrial design program and would like to get involved in all sorts of designing products for bicycles. I would like to produce a small batch of these trailers out of 4130 cromo or Aluminum (to lower the cost) and sell them to fund some other ideas that i have! But dont know of a venue to sell them.

Nice trailer! What did you use for the hitch mechanism?

V

Here's my beta-prototype
 

There's an awful lot of cool looking trailers here. Here's the one I'm working on. This is the beta prototype of a trailer I'm developing to sell in the Twin Cities area (Mpls and St. Paul MN) I've been testing testing several wheels and this is the one I have on my bike at home. So far it's been working great. I designed it with the urban user in mind - the box is designed to carry 4-bags of groceries and it's made from recycled materials.

Nice looking trailer, with a lovely big box to match your bike. What size are your trailer wheels - 20" ?
Also what type of clips are holding your box lid on ?

Have still to put a few finishing touches to a one wheeled job I had a mate weld up for me last weekend.
Its had a few test runs but not with any wheight in it. Also My box matches my bike - Great minds and all that ;)

Tom

PS....Pictures soon

here's a more easily seen picture of the trailer i posted a little while agoAttachment 98390

One Wheeled Trailer
 

Here's those pics of my monowheel....

Componments
An old bike with suspension on rear forks (forks were cut off and a frame made to hold box).
An old road sign for the angle iron to make frame.
Pedal arangement cut off bike (with 1 pedal left on and welded for hitch).
A large-ish strip of aluminium for mudguard

The Hitch (pedal assembly) was welded to a hinge, the hinge was reinforced with a piece of metal plate to stop it buckling. Hinge was then welded to angle iron frame.

http://uk.geocities.com/topcattc@btinternet.com/t3.jpg

A couple of metal rods were poked into fork stems and welded under the frame to strengthen it.

http://uk.geocities.com/topcattc@btinternet.com/t2.jpg

There were a few teething problems but they were soon solved after a few test runs.

http://uk.geocities.com/topcattc@btinternet.com/t4.jpg

You may just see in the above photo another piece of angle iron thats been added under the frame near the wheel, this is to hold a Dynamo. The dynamo will be driven by a a chain from the wheel. Hopefully if I can get the electrics sorted out it will charge a battery as I ride?

http://uk.geocities.com/topcattc@btinternet.com/t5.jpg

Still have to make some sort of hinge attachment for box lid (its held on with bungees at moment) - and padlock. Also another lick of paint.

Tom

I like it - using half of a crankset for the hitch is ingenious!

Brilliant idea. interesting hybrid sort of hitch. Does it perform well? Torsional issues?

Recently I needed a pulley for a motorized camera dolly I'd built - found an old bottom bracket. Absolutely wonderful things.

As for dynamos, have you considered putting a hub dynamo in the trailer wheel? I had a roller dynamo on my trailer but thought I might replace it with a hub.

My Bikes at Works trailer
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3280/...0c1e5a5d_b.jpg
55lbs of laundry
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3065/...7e4eac57_b.jpg
Going to the shop to get the frame assemble (same frame, but setting it up fixed gear)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3587/...dce0f312_b.jpg

Homemade Trailers
 

My first homemade trailer, a wooden tank but very rigid and smooth.

Thanks for the comments lads. Sadly I think my trailer has a design flaw?
I tried it out with about 2st of shopping yesterday. Firstly I found that with some weight in box it made the front wheel of my bike a bit light. I think if I had a bit more weight in the box I'd have been doing wheelies on the way home? - Maybe the hitch assembly is a bit long, I may try shortening it. Secondly I found the bike to be a bit wobbly, but I dont know if this is the norm as I have never ridden a one wheeled trailer before.

So it looks like its back to the drawingboard.

Tom

The next step for my prototype trailer
 

I posted an earlier prototype with cruder wheels - this is the same frame and box with the production wheels on it. I also included a close up picture of the hitch/joint assembly. This one has worked fairly well although it's vulnerable to twist. The production version will replace the twisted metal strap piece with two pieces of angle iron bolted together with a nylon washer between them. The clamp has a piece of hardwood with a notch cut into it to maintain orientation. The production model will also have a clamping bolt that's threaded all along it's length so I can dispense with the washers. A nicer T-knob will replace the wingnut

Looking at it again (sorry it took so long) I think there is indeed a flaw in your design - the hinge just in front of the box. My monowheel trailer, the Edinburgh Bicycle Company Revolution Cargo is vertically rigid along its entire length, pivoting only at the attachment point, on the rear wheel axle. This means that the front wheel of the bike doesn't lift - the load is evenly supported by the rear wheel of the bike, and the trailer wheel. With your hinge that far back, there is a lot of leverage trying to pivot the bike about the rear wheel, and lift the front wheel.

Good luck finding a solution.

I understand what you mean about the ridgity rbrian. I have since had a bit of a redesign and had a mate weld it up. Since this was done only yesterday I haven't had time to fully test it but right off the bat I found a flaw?
When turning - When the bike is turning (while walking with bike) at a sharpish angle the whole trailer drops to the ground and topples over? - This is a bit hard to explain without seeing what's happening.

I'll try and get a few photo's taken to let you see and better understand.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just came across this amazing homemade trailer. If any of you are about to embark on making a single wheeled trailer take a look at this one - Nicely constructed, and is one of the best looking trailers iv'e seen.

http://www.instructables.com/files/o...PVFSK1D81R.jpg

http://www.instructables.com/id/new_...eted_march_09/

Tom

That trailer looks just like my trailer, only twice the size!

I'm not sure what you mean about how it can topple over without seeing pictures, so let's see them.

I found a ragged instep kiddie trailer on cleanup day, figured I was due for a trailer upgrade. This is the instep with the cloth removed and some leftover trim for flooring:
http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...1&d=1241560000

Hitch is just a horizontal eyebolt on the bike and wingnut and bolt through a hole in the end of the trailer arm to capture the eyebolt.

The new trailer, model "BFT"

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...entown/bft.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...ntown/bft2.jpg

Here is my recently refurbished Bike trailer. I originally made it 10 years ago from various lengths of steel hydraulic pipe.

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m...trailer014.jpg

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m...trailer012.jpg

A quick mock up of the single wheel monocoque type space frame trailer that I am currently working on; again made from (10mm diametre) Steel hydraulic pipe.

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m...trailer008.jpg

Nice trailer Gareth, you done a nice job there mate :thumb:

TC

custom trailers
 

I've starting producing and selling my little red trailer here in Minneapolis. A surprising turn for this adventure is I've been getting a lot of custom orders. I thought I'd share them. One is just plain huge - it's got a 2' x 4' cargo box on it. I advertise that the LRT is like a pickup bed for your bike but this one really is. The other picture is just a custom paint job by the buyer. I had a cargo box that wasn't on a frame yet so she took it home and painted and the we assembled it to the frame. Nothing mechanically custom about it but it sure is cute.

Shiny Shiny
 

Nice Job dayworks, I like the nice shiny red one :thumb:
Hope you continue to get more orders and build up your trailer business. Close up piccys of the trailers would be nice to see.

Regards
TC

PS.... Mine is a BIG one :D

http://jwd.org.uk/newtrailer1.jpg

thanks Bosscat
 

Thank you for the compliment. The story of the trailer business is just beginning we'll see where it goes. I have posted close-up before of the standard Little Red Trailer. There's nothing radical about the it for the most part except maybe the price point. The cargo box is made from recycled wood from my main business. I'll attach a closeup of the hitch/joint again. It was the trickiest part to figure out and hence the most interesting. And yes you do have a very big trailer.Attachment 110474

My spankin' new WIKE cargo trailer. I have not had a chance to do anything more than tow it around the parking lot yet but I'll post a full review after I put it through its paces.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...n/IMG_0997.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...n/IMG_1001.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...n/IMG_1004.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...n/IMG_1005.jpg