Multi Combination Bicycle Trailer - October 2013

Sometimes a job calls for serious haulage capacity; requiring maximum loading space that amateurs can't match!

Timber for the taking - Firewood once loaded - One mega haul up a 10% gradient, requiring every last inch of full emergency power; pushing mechanical integrity to the limit.

October 19th - Just a small haul today - didn't need to drop into low range gearing for this job. It was high range gears all the way home (approx 10 kilometers/ 6miles), and with fuel efficiency that would make an Arab oil sheikh weep tears of sorrow.

With the cost of fuel these days (being only a little less than extortion at the fuel pump), i can't afford to use the car for these jobs as it would send me bankrupt.

Getting the job done:

Is there a good builder's guide for making your own bicycle cart? As in, the basic parts needed and how to assemble them? For instance, if I wanted to build a cart to my own dimensions, the first step would be, how should the frame structure look? And how to make a trailer tongue that fits and pivots on the bicycle for turns and leans? And how to mount bicycle wheels to it without having forks for the hub? Just a basic guide for these things, but not so specific that you can only build the example cart to the exact size in the example.

The blue box trailer is built on the frame of a Burley Tailwagon Pet Trailer with 5mm thick aluminium C-secion welded onto the aluminium angle to accept a Burley flex Connector the square section tow arm. The plywood is 3/16" thick and the aluminium angle section is 30 x 50mm and 5mm thick.
The box lid uses automotive gas struts to allow easy opening and closing of the lid.
Wheels are 12" quick release which normally come attached to the front fork of a tri-wheel pusher pram. This keeps the trailer as low to the ground as possible.

The smaller trailers are basic bicycle trailers with steel 20mm x 20mm square section 1.6mm thick for the draw bar and the rear hitch pickup point; also having the quick release axle shaft running through the square section to further stabilise the axle shaft.

The hitch mechanism is designed around the Burley forged hitch and Burley Flex Connector for square Tow Arm:

http://www.amazon.com/Burley-Bicycle-Trailer-Standard-Forged/dp/B001GSMUDA

http://www.amazon.com/Burley-Design-Connector-Square-Black/dp/B001GSMUGC

i need four bundles of mesquite