Building A Trailer For My Tdm

[Norwegian]

I've been wanting to build a bike trailer for some time. Like when we go visiting my inlaws in the mountains I usually want to bring the bike along, there are some great gravel roads up there as well as an abundance of narrow twisties. The three hour ride to get there gets tiresome, though, and the weather isn't always too motivating, either. Not to mention the poor economics of driving the car and the bike in parallel. 

 

So I scored this old (1981) trailer for 50 £ and got to it.

[attachment=o13088]

 

Stripped down:

[attachment=o13089]

 

I bolted on an old fiberboard, made four anchor points and bent some old galvanized tubing to support the front wheel. The tube bending was a bit of a learning process. I borrowed a hydraulic tube bender, and after a number of kinks and collapsed tube walls I developed a feel of the minimum radius achievable. Filling the tubes with compacted sand before bending yielded a lot better results, allowing smaller radii. 

[attachment=o13090]

 

Sandblasted and painted rims:

[attachment=o13091]

 

Loaded and ready to go. Good balance, with 40 kg on the ball. Plastic fenders saved 5 kg over the old steel ones.

[attachment=o13092]

 

Got new taillights and made a lightweight, hinged and easily detachable lightbar. 

[attachment=o13093]

 

Test ride was good, it seems to be quite stable with a low center of gravity. Fun also to have those angry looking headlights so close up in the rear mirror.

 

Left to do:

• Change a possibly dodgy wheel bearing, a teensy bit of slack in it.
• Fabricate or buy a loading ramp.
• Trim off a few non-essential bits and pieces to get the total weight safely below 300 kgs, then it can legally be hauled in 80 km/h instead of 60 (due to no brakes). 

Total cost of build just shy of a 100 £, not including wheel bearing(s).

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

This post was last modified: 07-05-2020, 11:14 AM by Norwegian.

[dapleb]

Very neat.

[dablik]

Bargain i say. good job Norwegian :good:

[Matlock]

Top job sir.  :good:

[marko67]

Great job.

 

I would be keen to see how you got the bike on without a ramp.

 

Did ya wheelie it on?

[bjorge]

Very nice ! I do like !!! 

 

This was interesting, as I have been working on a way to transport 2 bikes on a trailer for this summer's trip to northern Norway 

Having a 1300km trip to the "base camp", going 60km/h isn't really an option. So, would need a braked trailer. They're expensive, even the cheapest wrecks advertised. My plan was doing exactly what you've done here, albeit for 2 bikes.

 

Think we end up hiring a 1000kg standard trailer and strap the bikes using more or less just the existing fastener points. Maybe buy a couple of these but uncertain whether it's a good idea if you can't bolt them on...

[Norwegian]

Got one of those, Bjørge, and not too happy with it. The front loop is a tad too narrow to support the front wheel much, also the forward horisontal bar will fall on the outside of a normal trailer bed. I'd rather take the other one. It won't have to be bolted either, once you start strapping down nothing will move. 

 

I would be keen to see how you got the bike on without a ramp.

 

Did ya wheelie it on?

 

Fast wheelie, then a hard front brake to flip the rear wheel neatly over the edge. Easy peasy. 

 

Or I backed the trailer into the elevated lawn seen on the second last pic. 

Looking at these, for less than 50 £ - in yellow, of course. Need one more yellow strap, too.

 



 

UK link

[marko67]

And a nose wheelie!!

 

Those ramps look exactly the same as mine. I have had no issues.

 

The biggest thing I have found with trailering bikes is to eliminate suspension bounce, particularly the forks. I made a "gator" for my trials bike which clips onto the fork leg. The bike gets strapped down onto the gator locking the suspension in place. No bouncing.

 

I just have to remember to take it off before I start riding...

[Catteeclan]

I used a lump of wood that fits between the mudguard and tyre. Worked well on the off road bike.

[marko67]

I used a lump of wood that fits between the mudguard and tyre. Worked well on the off road bike.

Exacary, you obviously engineer the same way as me. :good:  I have a length of profiled pvc tube for the Enduro.

 

The trials bike has the mudguard low on the wheel like the TDM hence the gator. Had to scratch my head a little to come up with the idea.

 

The gator is another length of pvc pipe with a vertical section cut out. It has enough flex to clip snuggly onto the fork and locks solid once the strops are tightened up.

 

I'm scratching my head on a system which will lock the bikes down via the footrests, summit with a cam or a ratchet. They are commercially available but spendy. Ugh. It would save a lot of faff with the strops and be a lot more secure.

 

I trailer the bikes on a normal flatbed trailer via rough, corrugated gravel roads and have had a few failures, shall we say... :punishment:

[madmopedracer]

for those of you on facebook 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...cipG&ifg=1

 

Use turnbuckles on foot pegs to hold and steady bike and abs pipes on wheel chock to fill in wide space. ( drill and attach pipe with zip ties - drill only the abs pipe )

[wicklamulla]

for those of you on facebook 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=...cipG&ifg=1

 

Use turnbuckles on foot pegs to hold and steady bike and abs pipes on wheel chock to fill in wide space. ( drill and attach pipe with zip ties - drill only the abs pipe )

 

 

dud link lad.

[madmopedracer]

 

 

dud link lad.

not a big facebooker think you have to be dsubscibed ill try again

[wicklamulla]

not a big facebooker think you have to be dsubscibed ill try again

 

 

nope thas not for me,  i'd rather meaty tie down points and i'd compress the suspension front and rear using ratchet straps. 

[Catteeclan]

I've seen the turnbuckles used before but once again you're pulling the suspension down.

A friend used the turnbuckles with the bike on the work stand on the trailer. Seemed to work ok but looked very insecure.

[Norwegian]

I've seen the turnbuckles used before but once again you're pulling the suspension down.

Now I understand what you mean - interesting idea! How about a custom made cradle for each bike, supporting the pegs, which you can then buckle (cam, ratchet) the bike down against? Shouldn't need to be too elaborate, and leaves the suspension out of it. Prolly won't be necessary to fix the cradle to the trailer, either.

[Norwegian]

Decided to open up the dodgy hub, and found inner bearing completely shot. The lip seal was long gone, and the bearing was filled with a sandy smergel paste (the turdlike goo at the bottom of the pic). Luckily it's standard bearings (6204 and 6205), available at our local el cheapo car supply chain. £8 for the two of them!

[attachment=o13119]



A minor setback when I bought the wrong seal - I stupidly assumed the same inner diameter as the inner bearing, not realizing that it would in fact be riding on a shoulder next to bearing. Upon assembly the seal was then squashed between the bearing and said shoulder.

[attachment=o13120]



Got new ones today, bicycle delivered 40 km (one way) by a mate, and now all is good.

[marko67]

Smergel.... What a great word.

 

I was a little sceptical to google it.....

[dapleb]

I think the old bearing would have been just fine once the smergel paste was out.

[Norwegian]

I think the old bearing would have been just fine once the smergel paste was out.

 

Well ... judge for yourself. Outer bearing was still good, though.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOKug5R_KmE