A bicycle trailer for camping and sleeping on.

[delport]

A bicycle trailer for camping and sleeping on

Anyone interested in this subject of building a bicycle trailer that can be used as a bed?

I'm currently building one, after looking at what could be bought for around £100, and seeing trailers for carrying very little weight and fairly small too.The argos trailer at £100 is an example of small and unable to carry much weight.
Mine will be 6 1/2 feet in length, and be able to carry above 13 stone in weight.Visibly the trailer will only appear to be 4 feet long, the extra 2 1/2 foot platform will fold into the first section of the trailer,i may just use hinges for that section.This part is my own concept, partly influenced by something i saw on the web.

I have recently wild camped 23 nights in a row, so i thought it time now to create something solid to sleep on rather than just sleeping on any old patch of grass with tree roots and rocks under me.

Cost of the trailer so far has mostly been made up of buying power tools, as i had next to nothing before i began.
Cost of wood and materials has been above £50 but under £100 so far.

I found 2 bike frames over the last few months, and 2 wheels.So that part is free.

The difficult parts i find of building a trailer are setting the wheels up correctly, so that they can be safe and not beyond control, sometimes i go down hills at 30 to 40 mph, i don't think i'm going to get away with those speeds with a trailer though.I am probably going to fit brakes.The trailer arm is the other tricky part.

After lots of thought, and some advice, i've worked out a way to secure the wheels using the headset of the 2 old bikes, this involves using part of the frame of a bike, and the headset and fork.This in theory should provide an ultra strong set up, only the headset and the fork will be visible at the side of the trailer, the main frame of the bike goes under the trailer and provides strength to the headset and fork.
A person suggested to put the wheels as far back as possible on the trailer rather than up at the front, to help with steering so i am doing that.

So far i've been doing a lot of cutting and sanding.My base is made of 4 foot by 2 foot plywood cost £17, and i cut up an aluminium step ladder to use somewhere on the trailer, i have 3 aluminium ladders so didn't need the one i cut.Step ladders can carry 15 stone in weight,and is lightweight, so that was my logic behind using it.So far i've used the aluminium as a trailer handle, it also gives me something to design the trailer arm around.

 

[mark barker]

I've built a couple of trailers in the past, and once you get the basic frame sorted they really do come together quickly. Not sure about using plywood as a base, sounds pretty heavy for little gain. A while back I saw a trailer/tent combo that had a fabric (nylon?) base. This seemed to work well. I am curious about how you're planning on running the brakes on the trailer...

 

[delport]

I've built a couple of trailers in the past, and once you get the basic frame sorted they really do come together quickly. Not sure about using plywood as a base, sounds pretty heavy for little gain. A while back I saw a trailer/tent combo that had a fabric (nylon?) base. This seemed to work well. I am curious about how you're planning on running the brakes on the trailer...

Haven't thought a lot about the brakes yet, but i have seen a similar sized trailer with brakes working fine.Here is a picture of that bike trailer i saw
http://s270.photobuc...nt=DSCN4148.jpg
the owner and i cycled together for a few hours.
p.s: he doesn't sell ice cream or hot dogs out of the trailer.
The trailer carries a guitar and amplifier round europe for months on end.The owner spends nearly all year cycling round europe.

 

[mcshroom]

I'm trying to figure out how the brake works on that thing. Do you have a third lever or is it attached to the rear brake in some way?

 

[delport]

I'm trying to figure out how the brake works on that thing. Do you have a third lever or is it attached to the rear brake in some way?

not sure how it works really.
Here are 2 more photos of that trailer
http://s270.photobuc...nt=DSCN4147.jpg
http://s270.photobuc...nt=DSCN4146.jpg

I've just noticed he has a gold handled 3rd brake lever in the middle from what i can see in the 2nd picture.

I took some video footage of him and the trailer to check how it ran, but the video is all from the back.

His trailer cost £250 to put together and he set the wheels at an angle rather than setting them in a traditional way.
The trailer handled quite well, though it was very heavy and he struggled on hills.

 

[mark barker]

His trailer cost £250 to put together and he set the wheels at an angle rather than setting them in a traditional way.
The trailer handled quite well, though it was very heavy and he struggled on hills.

Having a small amount of camber on the wheels (top of the wheel leaning in slightly) does make quite a difference to the stability of trailers, but it can add a lot of wear to tyres and bearings if overdone.

Assuming the brakes are cable operated, I guess the easiest way to make them work would be to use a spring mechanism in the towing arm so that the brakes are applied automatically if the trailer starts to accelerate towards the bike (ie the bike has slowed down or is going down hill). The same concept is used on braked trailers for cars.

 

[mcshroom]

Assuming the brakes are cable operated, I guess the easiest way to make them work would be to use a spring mechanism in the towing arm so that the brakes are applied automatically if the trailer starts to accelerate towards the bike (ie the bike has slowed down or is going down hill). The same concept is used on braked trailers for cars.

That would make sense, and would solve the problem I could see that any connection to the bikes braking system would mean messy cable fiddling every time you wanted to disconnect the trailer

 

[mark barker]

The trailer arm is the other tricky part.

The trailers I've built had the arm attached as per your picture (ie to one side of the bike frame, attached using the rear wheel nut). I've found that with an empty trailer this is fine, but if the weight starts to increase it can cause curious handling, especially under braking. I also have a trailgator for towing my daughters bike, and this attaches to the seat post and feels far more stable. Not sure if this type of attachment could be used for a trailer, but might be worth considering. I've also seen a trailer being attached to the centre of the rear of the bike by using a bracket fitted to the rear of the bike (it looked a little like a tow bar on a car), again fitted to the rear wheel nuts, but this time on both sides. I figured this would reduce the handling issues with the traditional fitting.

 

[chillyuk]

I wouldn't waste my time. just go the whole hog:

My link


maybe some interesting (and serious) ideas here if you haven't already seen it:

Camping trailers

 

[Amanda P]

Here's one I built a couple of years ago; there have been others, but this one's my favourite and I still have it (now it's powder coated bright yellow).

A couple of points come to mind.

Brakes on the trailer seem like a good idea, but they're going to add quite a bit of complication, especially if you try to come up with some sort of automatically-applied mechanism, like the overrun brakes on car trailers. I think to make such a thing would need quite a bit of engineering know-how, and loads of maintenance and adjustment.

If you add an extra brake lever to the bike, the problem will be that when you really need the trailer brakes, your hands will be full with working the bike's own brakes. What might work would be a drag brake on the trailer, similar to the setups some people have with a third brake on a tandem. Sometimes these are worked with an old-fashioned friction down-tube gear lever. The drag brake is engaged at the top of the hill and disengaged at the bottom - no further attention needed.

On a trailer, though, you'll also need a brake for each wheel. And if they aren't precisely balanced, the trailer will tend to slew to one side. Keeping them balanced could be tricky - unless you apply more engineering and further complication. (Look at caravan or car trailer brakes to see how they're balanced - but there's no weight concern there! - and they still tend to malfunction unless scrupulously maintained).

If your trailer is going to use 700C wheels, and sit above the axles, it's going to ride fairly high off the ground. If you're planning to carry any serious weight on it, consider using smaller wheels which will give the whole thing a lower centre of gravity. That will make it very much more stable. Smaller wheels are also generally stiffer and stronger.

A lower-riding trailer will tend to affect the towing bike's handling less than a tall one.

Having the trailer wheels behind the balance point is a good idea, as you don't want the trailer to be tail-heavy. If it's tail-heavy enough, when you get off the bike, the trailer will see-saw and lift the back of the bike off the ground. Trailers in general handle better if they're slightly nose-heavy. BUT if it's too nose-heavy, you're putting a lot of load on the point of the bike to which it's hitched. Make sure it can handle the extra load. Load the trailer thoutfully. My advice would be to have around 2/3 of the load in front of the axle. You'll see my trailer has the axle 2/3 of the way along its load bed.

If the bike frame can handle the downward weight of the trailer on the hitch, consider too, that, without brakes on the trailer, on a downhill there'll be quite a bit of force pushing forward from the trailer onto the bike frame. On an uphill, the same force will be dragging back on that point.

And while I'm talking about forces, consider too that dynamic forces from a trailer moving along the road can be several times higher than the static forces you see when it's standing still. They get a hard time and need to be tough.

Trailers also tend to waggle and vibrate a bit on their small wheels, so anything fastened to the trailer will need to be fastened in a secure and vibration-resistant way. The same applies to fastenings that are part of the construction of the trailer.

Keep the weight on the bike (you and any load) more than the weight on the trailer. Towing a trailer that weighs more than you do can lead to the tail wagging the dog in a seriously scary way!

For all these reasons, I'd urge you to consider the following:

Make a steel frame for your trailer. Steel is cheap, tough and elastic (handles and absorbs vibration well). That's why it's always been used for bike frames! Weld it or braze it together or find someone who can do that for you. It needn't cost much.

Use small wheels.

Don't load the trailer too much - split the load between the bike and the trailer so that the trailer will be lighter. (That'd save you having to unload it before you slept on it anyway).

 

[snorri]

Here is a picture of that bike trailer i saw

Hi delport, do you realise you have given access to 272 of your pics with that link?
I haven't looked at them, well I did look at 3 of them.

 

[psmiffy]

Haven't thought a lot about the brakes yet, but i have seen a similar sized trailer with brakes working fine.Here is a picture of that bike trailer i saw
http://s270.photobuc...nt=DSCN4148.jpg
the owner and i cycled together for a few hours.
p.s: he doesn't sell ice cream or hot dogs out of the trailer.
The trailer carries a guitar and amplifier round europe for months on end.The owner spends nearly all year cycling round europe.

The guy towing it wasn't a scot was he? Looks like a posh version of a trailer that was behind a bloke I met on the Col Mont Cenis about 15years ago - contained about 10 litres of cheap red wine - he had also infilled the frame of the bike with aluminium cabinets which contained his tool kit

 

[delport]

The guy towing it wasn't a scot was he? Looks like a posh version of a trailer that was behind a bloke I met on the Col Mont Cenis about 15years ago - contained about 10 litres of cheap red wine - he had also infilled the frame of the bike with aluminium cabinets which contained his tool kit

No, he was a Londoner,,born in the east end

He spends every year cycling, doesn’t have a home,

The picture shows trailer mark 3, mark 1 was a basic halfords type trailer that wore out.

I think his trailer looks great.There are solar panels on it too.



Thanks for all the comments,I’m still reading them.

To poster Uncle phil
thanks for all the advice, unfortunately i began building the trailer a few days ago, and the base is plywood.Which i've started building around, at the moment i'm cutting space for the bike frame to go under the trailer.
The only wheels i have are mountain bike wheels, the idea was to try and make it all for something near £100.I realise mountain bike wheels aren't ideal,i would have preferred something smaller.

I do need help with the trailer arm, how to make a trailer arm without welding?I was planning to have the trailer connected up centrally, i've bolted the top section of an aluminium ladder to the very top centre of the plywood.

Although the plywood is 2 foot across, i don't feel limited to only having that amount of space.2 foot is barely enough room to breathe, there are ways to make the trailer temporarily wider,something that can fold back onto the base of the trailer,ideally i'm looking for it to be as wide as a 2 man tent for night time use.
I'm trying to keep the trailer narrow as cycle paths often have bollards that i feel the trailer would catch on.

And i'm beginning to go off the idea off having brakes on the trailer, after what you said.

 

[delport]

Hi delport, do you realise you have given access to 272 of your pics with that link?
I haven't looked at them, well I did look at 3 of them.

yes no problem, i knew, i don' t have anything to hide.

 

[ufkacbln]

For a true nomadic bike lifestyle... BEHEMOTH!
The trailer carried:

Trailer

• 72-watt Solarex photovoltaic array (4.8 Amps at 12V)
• Qualcomm OmniTRACS satellite terminal
• Ham Radio station:
  • Icom 725 for HF
  • Yaesu 290/790 for VHF and UHF
  • AEA Television transceiver
  • Audio filtration and Magic Notch
  • Antenna management and SWR/power meters
  • Automatic CW keyer
  • Outbacker folding dipole antenna on fiberglass mast
  • Dual-band VHF/UHF antenna
• Oki cellular phone, repackaged and integrated
• Telebit CellBlazer high-speed modem
• Telular Celjack RJ-11 interface
• Credit card verifier for on-the-road sales
• Trailer Control Processor (FORTH 68HC11)
• Audio crosspoint network, bussed to console
• Bike power management hardware
• Two 15 amp-hour sealed lead-acid batteries
• Security system pager
• Canon BubbleJet printer
• Fluke digital multimeter
• Mobile R&D lab, tools, parts, etc.
• Makita battery charger (for drill and flashlight)
• Microfiche documentation and CD library
• Camping, video, camera, personal gear
• Fiberglass-over-cardboard composite structure
• High-brightness LED taillight clusters

THe bike carried:

Console

• Macintosh 68K (control GUI and primary workspace)
• Bicycle Control Processor (FORTH 68HC11)
• Ampro 286 DOS platform for CAD system
• Toshiba 1000 repackaged laptop for scrolling FAQ
• 80 MB hard disk space
• Audapter speech synthesizer
• Speech recognition board
• Trimble GPS satellite navigation receiver
• Audio and serial crosspoint switch networks (homebrew)
• PacComm packet TNC (VHF datacomm)
• MFJ 1278 for AMTOR (HF datacomm)
• Diagnostic tools (LED matrix, DPM, etc)
• Handlebar keyboard processor
• Ultrasonic head mouse controller
• Icom 2-meter transceiver; dedicated Larsen half-wave antenna on seat
• Radiation monitor
• Cordless phone and answering machine on RJ-11 bus
• Folding 6-segment aluminum console
• Fiberglass fairing

RUMP (white enclosure behind seat)

• Stereo System (Blaupunkt speakers, Yamaha 18W amp)
• 10 GHz Microwave motion sensor (security)
• UNGO physical motion sensor (security)
• Rump Control Processor (FORTH 68HC11)
• Audio crosspoint network, bussed to console
• Ampro DOS core module for heads-up display
• LED taillight switch-mode controller (including turn signal logic)
• Single LED taillight cluster
• Motorola 9600-baud packet modem for backpack link
• 7-liter helmet-cooling tank and pump
• Personal accessory storage
• Air compressor for pneumatic system
• 15 amp-hour sealed lead-acid battery (1 of 3)

Brain-Interface Unit (Helmet)

• Reflection Technology Private Eye display
• Ultrasonic head-mouse sensors
• Helmet lights (2)
• Life Support Systems heat exchanger for head cooling
• Setcom headset with boom microphone
• Rear-view mirror on gimbaled mount
• Jacks for stereo ear-insert headphones

SPARCpack (aluminum case atop RUMP)

• Sun SPARCstation IPC with 12MB RAM and 424 MB disk
• Sharp Color active-matrix display
• Motorola 9600-baud packet modem
• 10-watt solar panel