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Originally Posted by Dorian Gray
Crazy project, atomicbartbeans!  |
Thanks!
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Originally Posted by 709
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After looking on their site for a few minutes, I sadly couldn't find any bicycle trailers.
I guess it's a marketing gimmick to illustrate the ease of towing one. Cool nonetheless!
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Originally Posted by Brad
If you're looking to save on a lot of weight, you might want to try polystyrene (plastic) instead of aluminum for the outer shell.
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Thanks for the info, but it's already taken care of - a friend had a dismantled old above-ground pool in his backyard, and he gladly gave me the aluminum wall - it's about 65 feet long (rolled up right now of course) and 5 feet high, so I have all the siding/roofing I need!
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Originally Posted by Dorian Gray
Also, make it as low and narrow as you think you can bear!
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Originally Posted by pscates2.0
I was wondering about that, but that's how you always see these things. I don't know much about aerodynamics and speed design, but you always see such thing tapering toward the trailing end. And it seems like you could get it lower (sitting up at the waist, you're not much over 3" feet tall...and if it was more of a pillow-propped "raise", you could get away with a trailer that was only about three feet tall?
Maybe a wedge/tear shape, with the skinniest part toward the back? And as low/small as possible. Would probably be much easier to deal with. You don't need a "has everything luxury RV" ...just a place to crash, stay warm and dry, etc? I'd go smaller/sleeker, rather than a big 6' x 4' "cube".
Slinging things around a bit in Illustrator (anything for an excuse to launch it)
I think of those tapered/wedged soapbox racer cars, where things narrow and come down. You could provide a really simple skeleton and easily tack the sheet aluminum to it? |
Leave it up to you guys to be this crafty.
Paul, I really love your diagram. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do tapering-wise, but I'm really not building this for speed - the bottom frame (I put it together today) is 7 feet long and 4 feet wide, and I don't really expect to exceed 10-15 mph (or scale any steep hills) considering that it'll already be heavy. Its purpose will be more of a "tow it 10-30 miles for camping trips" deal than long-distance touring. Hence, I don't care a ton about aerodynamics - this is already pretty big, and I'm designing it for plenty of room inside. Nonetheless, some tapering (such as
this) couldn't hurt.
Anyhow, the first day of design & construction went very well. Here are some pictures I took (
here is the full set on Flickr with bigger versions):
Yeah, I know it's huge. I kinda want it to be. The steel L-brackets will end up on the bottom, guarding the wood frame from knocks. Of course, I still need to add cross-pieces and mounting points for the wheel brackets; this is only the outer edge.
20 inch wheels, and brackets inspired from
here. The brackets will be bolted to the frame.
Hitch on bicycle - the towing arm will be made of an old bike frame; the end will be an open tube with holes in the top and bottom. The clevis pin (yes, that's really what it's called) will connect the eye bolt to the tube, held in place by the cotter pin. This design, while simple, gives the freedom of movement necessary while making turns.
Some lumber and square aluminum supports (siding not shown). I still haven't gotten the aluminum decking that my friend also offered me - I'll bring it home tomorrow using the trailer as a flatbed (once I get it together).
My goal for tomorrow is to finish the bottom frame and mount the wheels, construct a towing arm (to the bicycle), and take it for a test spin/materials pickup run. I'll also get a big sheet of plywood for the deck, cut it to size, and screw it down. Then I'll start working on the upper frame - using either 1x3s or those aluminum pieces (I'm leaning towards aluminum because they're hollow in the middle for routing cables), I'll build the wall frames. I'll design it so that the door and windows are mounted directly to the frame, not the siding.
This begs a few other questions...
- Where should I mount the wheels - right at the midpoint? Back further?
- Exactly where shall I attach the wall frame supports to the bottom frame?
- How tall should the interior be?
- What shape should I make it - to what degree should it be tapered, and how hard would it be to design a wood frame with such odd angles?
- What color should I paint this beast? White enamel or something sexier?