pannierpacker

Is it really worth building your own trailer, from a cost standpoint for the average person? Granted you might save money on materials, but... what about the other factors, like the labor involved? How long would it take someone who is not very mechanically inclined to build something like this? Also, How much would you have to spend on the tools to do the job?

Another point, many people comment on getting the wheels for free or very cheap, but that's assuming you can find a good pair of 20" wheels that's being thrown aside. And you might have to wait a few weeks and spend time daily checking craigslist, just to see if something like that shows up.

I'm just thinking that there has to be a reason that Burely charges $200-400 for their trailers. They aren't just trying to take whatever money from us they can, right?

astronomerroyal

I think you've hit upon the important issues there. Depends what you want from the trailer & experience. I spent about 150-170USD on building my first trailer (excl. s&H costs), mostly new parts from hardware store and ebay. For touring as well as shopping. It's economical from the monetary point of view, but perhaps not when you consider the labour.

My hacksaw, file and drill combined cost only about 50 USD. All have since proved indispensible. Maybe another 20USD on bits and blades, at a minimum. The cost of aluminum angle is quite high, so my chassis alone cost tens of dollars. Still, an excellent material. The wheels were new. A major cost, probably about 40-50USD for a complete pair of front 16" wheels.

It took me several weeks to build it - in my living room - but only because I was toying with ideas. Actual manual labour was a few tens of hours. Since built two more. Some people claim to have built theirs in one afternoon. The hitch is the only really technically demanding part.

Benefits of DIY:
Obvious satisfaction
Custom design: width, capacity, type of hitch (I didn't want one of those long arm hitches), add dynamo etc.
Performance: can match commercial products easily, in terms of weight, handling. Plus DIY will probably be highly dismantleable too. I believe this is a scaling argument. For a trailer you can meet certain load capacities etc. with just basic engineering. Something larger would require more sophisticated engineering.
Cost: even a dream DIY trailer is probably still cost effective in parts.

Nightshade

One can always "buy" what they need but it's often better to DIY to get it your way.

Besides when you work for yourself the labor really is free!

vik 

Your labour is never free. You could spend the time you took to build the trailer actually out riding or earning money to buy a trailer. I'm not saying one approach is better than the other, but time is a valuable resource - you'll never get more [unlike money] so how you spend it really matters. If you enjoy DIY projects and have the tools/skills perhaps that time is spent doing something fun and saves you $$$ over buying. If you don't enjoy DIY projects and/or you don't have the tools/skills you might better of working and saving the needed cash.

I know that for me to have built my Bob trailer would not have saved me any $$$ as I have no tools or skills to build/weld it. Paying $300 and taking 30 mins to go pick it up was a good deal for me as I could just do a little more work at my job to offset the purchase cost.

istomtom

$40 (see mine in the post your trailer thread) in strictly monetary costs, 8 hours in time cost (though time well spent as I enjoy DIY).

The problem however, is that this is entirely subjective. I have lots of tools, including a welder. If I didn't have all these tools or the skill/desire to make a trailer, I would have just gone out and bought one.

If you like DIY, like buying (or have tools) and have free time, then I'd say go build one, otherwise buying one may be a better choice.

Commercial bike trailers are $300+ because of the labor/material and tooling costs involved. Now, if I charged myself my hourly rate at which I am compensated it technically would have cost me more than buying a commercially available trailer, though irrelevant in my case as building a trailer was a rewarding experience.

badmother

For some of us this is an addiction. Must bild, must bild, must bild...

istomtom

Places to find cheap wheels:

Local bike co-op / bike junkyard
Craigslist, I see at least one kids bike a week posted in my area with 20" wheels in the $20 range. Buy, remove wheels, donate the rest of the bike to local co-op and take a tax write off of $20.
Garage sales
Thrift shops

I picked up two front bmx wheels for $14 at my local bike co-op.

Nightshade

Do you hire someone else to do everything for you?

badmother

Not sure what you are asking. It is late, I am confused, tired from building Plse explain

Torrilin

I like making stuff. Right now (and for at least another year) I don't have real shop space. The building's basement is pretty dark, and we have to take over the (public, shared) laundry area to have a lit workspace. Not a nice space to work, and it's not safe to have power tools down there due to the layout. Too easy to set things up for an accident. Welding or anything where an air compressor is handy is *right* out. So right now, I'm best off buying a trailer.

Sometimes, it just doesn't matter how much you like making things and doing a job yourself. Having a safe work space matters too.