The bicycle is a long-standing invention of mankind, in itself is a unique device. In order to expand its functionality, people began to use additional designs, and bicycle trailers belong to them. A bicycle trailer helps solve some of the transportation challenges.
What is the use of a bike trailer?
- The trailer allows you to significantly increase the amount and weight of the transported cargo, while the bike does not cause any damage when moving, because all the weight is redistributed to the trailer itself.
- Very comfortable trailers for transporting children, the journey will seem comfortable and easy.
- Dimensional loads can also be easily moved if the bike is equipped with a trailer.
Tourist unicycle bike trailer makes it easy to carry cargo when traveling even on narrow paths, it is easy and simple to move across rough terrain.
Bicycle trailer forthe child has requirements for a design that is tougher than just for transporting any cargo. Such trailers must be equipped with seat belts, shock absorbers. Anyone who builds a structure on their own should remember this. An industrial children's bike trailer must pass a rigorous test that is as important as a car trailer.
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Two-wheeled trailers are most commonly used, usually child or cargo trailers.
One-wheeled models are a flexible tandem, so to speak, an additional place that has an independent drive, a chain drive to an attached wheel. Such a trailer moves quite obediently along a straight section of the road, but when cornering, difficulties arise: the rear wheel starts to drag, not roll.
Another model that is much rarer is when the trailer is attached to the front. The bike does not drag the trailer behind it, but rather pushes it. This design is the most complicated and not easy to manage.
How to make a bike trailer
In the summer, many people change stuffy, uncomfortable transport for a light and easy-to-ride bike. To make traveling exciting not only for adults, but also for children, many people use a trailer for transportation. Buying a design costs money, so many craftsmen invent it in their own way. So how can you assemble a bike trailer with your own hands? Let's describe the simplest way.
What are the main materialsrequired for work?
- Three tubes, 2 cm in diameter, each three meters long.
- Sleeves.
- Copper basket or MDF sheet (which can be used to build a basket).
- Two locknuts.
- Thread cutter.
- Wheels.
- Shock absorbers.
- Seat belts.
Sequence of actions
When the material is prepared, you can safely, without doubting success, get to work. The frame will serve as the basis of the trailer. To create it, you just need to prepare a drawing in advance. A pipe will bend along it. Take a large sheet, draw on it the shape of the future frame, it is better if it is an oval. Bend the pipe along the drawn lines.
One such curved tube will serve as the bottom for the trailer, from the other bend the back like a sled. These two elements need to be soldered together. Solder bushings along the edges of the frame where the wheels will be attached. Install the wheels yourself.
The next step is to install the bottom. Now you need a copper basket. Instead, you can take a thick sheet of MDF, but the disadvantage of this material is that it gets wet quickly. For the bottom, it is better to use moisture-resistant materials, for example, laminated plywood is suitable. The side walls can be made from heavy canvas or thin wood panels.
If the trailer will be used to transport children, install shock absorbers. Equip comfortable seats with seat belts.
Bicycle connection
Solder a metal tube to the trailer, whenwith which the structure will be fastened to the bicycle. In addition to the trailer structure itself, it is necessary to make a node connecting the trailer to the bicycle, the so-called drawbar. You can make it from an inch pipe and metal plates. Bend the pipe into an L-shape. Solder metal plates in place of the corner, insert a bolt between them, which will play the role of a clamp. Install the lower bolt perpendicular to the upper one, it must cross the hole in the pipe and join the lower clamp.
Don't forget the hitch. The bike must have a luggage carrier. Install one hinged part on the drawbar, and the second on the trunk.
In such a simple way, a trailer for a bicycle is built with your own hands. It can serve you on family trips for transporting children or for moving small loads.
Operation
The bicycle trailer is not at all difficult to operate. Anyone who has tried it can attest to this. When riding on a horizontal surface, a trailer full of children is not felt at all. It does not constrain movements, does not interfere with control, maneuverability.
Just keep in mind that the trailer itself is wider than the bike, so don't forget to leave plenty of space when turning around or when driving in narrow places (between trees, along paths). Please note that when turning, the bicycle trailer moves along the inner arc. When going down a hill, it is the trailer that accelerates the bike, but this problem is easily solved by proper braking.
Problems occur when riding on loose ground or uphill. Of course, this is due to the weight of the trailer, because it weighs together with the load, whatever one may say, at least 50 kg. Still, trailering is somewhat easier than carrying the same weight on the trunk.
Of course, moving on asph alt with a trailer is much easier, but we can safely say that a bicycle trailer is also convenient for driving on dense dirt roads, paving stones, and grass. With such a design, you can even overcome shallow ruts, because the gap between the bottom and the road is not so small. There is no risk of rollover, even if one wheel is higher than the other in places on rough roads.
Loose climbs create a problem for movement. The bike, along with the trailer, digs into them too quickly. It is difficult to overcome some obstacles with a trailer, be it logs, ditches. Riding on narrow paths is also extremely inconvenient, the bike hardly fits into turns and touches everything that sticks out around.
In general, a bike trailer is a great help. Having thought over the route in advance, you can have fun and easily go on an interesting trip with the whole family.
