cycle trailer

[HobbyMan]

Anyone have a good cycle trailer? I love riding the distance. but the only way to get the family on the vacation, is to trailer the bikes and ride when we get to the location. I have a utility trailer with a wood deck set up for cycle use, but I would like to build a dedicated cycle trailer. I have selected the axles and springs that I want to use, but I am not set on the frame design. If anyone has bough/built a cycle trailer, do you have any tips for frame design? I just want something light, strong, somewhat aerodynamic, and able to cary a max of 3 XS's. I am thinking of a 3 rail setup and having the first 2 bikes side by side and the third one offset back between the first two. If 3 is too much, I would reduce the load to 2 cycles. I am not hauling HD's so the weight per bike would be on average 600lbs per bike, I think. The trailers available to me are A: way too expensive and B: very poorly designed. Any tips/photos would be cool. Thanks guys, Keep on kepin on

[TopCatGr58]

Archie Bunker would be proud!

Hey Andrew,

You keep earning your title!!

A little search for Motorcycle Trailer, or Bike Trailer will yield you 3 pages worth of posts!

Here's a Thread about halfway down the 2nd page starts some photos of the one I built. It was very small though, only 1 bike capacity, but I was striving for weight control, and very low pulling resistance, only gives a 1 mpg hit on mileage of SUV vs. not pulling it! I also opted for no springs, does bounce a little over rough roads, but behaves otherwise very well! YMMV!
T.C.

[HobbyMan]

Sorry, that completly slipped my mind. My bad. I told you that my title suited me very well. I did a search on the internet and I keep getting results for trailers towed by a motorcycle. Thanks I wil do a search here

[Pat Kelly]

I've heard that a boat trailer works well.
One bike in the center up front and two further back.
Opposite what you were saying but seems easy to do, just add 3 rails/troughs to roll/hold the bikes.
Could probably add truckbed side boxes for storage.

[HobbyMan]

Why do you want the two furthur in the back? Don't you want more toung weight? What are the advantages of having two in the back if the trailer is balanced at the axle?

[Pat Kelly]

If one bike is in front, the other two should be centered about at the axle. This will load the tongue of the trailer.
You can put the bike stops wherever you need to.
With a boat on the trailer you have more mass at the back of the boat along with the weight of the engine. I think boat trailers have the axles set pretty far back for this reason.

It was just a suggestion I was passing along from someone that did it.

[HobbyMan]

well, on most boats, there isn't much of anything forward of the engine. Back in the day when stuff was cheaper, my family gt a fairly decent boat. Even with 200lbs of toung weight, when it is settled 2 inches too far aft, it is extreemly hard to tow. THe 125gal fuel tank is situated directly above the triple axles. Aft of that is some exqipment and the engine. I think that in order to keep it cheap to build, I am going to cut down the load to 2 XS's. One thing is for sure, there is ample towing power available. The ford excursion(7.3DL) makes a formitable tow vehicle. Although, I would still like to be able to tow it with my 86' GMC suburban 1500. I have been doing some searches here and I have put together some more ideas. Maby a 4inch drop axle with appropriate springs. I will still have 3 channels so I can have 1 bike properly loaded if possible. The ramps will be permanently installed with a locking hinge in the middle so they will fold in half when not in use.(cut down on ar drag) I also need a light deck, but I will not use any wood.( I have replaced several large wood trailer decks, never again). What would the best way to make a small deck just to keep the dirt down. I would be fine with just a grated metal as long as it keeps te dirt/rocks down. Would the best way to start be like TC did? (Wheel channel and then frame underneath, etc.. One more question, at what point do you begin to need brakes? There is probably some legal limit, but for saftey's sake, I would err on the conservative side.


I gotta make up for my one word posts.

[DiverRay]

Andrew,
Brakes should be on any trailer with a 1,500lb load or more. You could put on a "surge" hitch, and disk brakes on the axle. I used Northern Tool for most of the brake parts I put on a trailer.
The weight on a loaded trailer needs to be 10% of the total weight on the hitch, 60% of the TOTAL weight in FRONT of the axle, and 40% BEHIND the axle. This is VERY important for the handling of the trailer.
Northern also has some nice axles, including nice "torsion" axle stubs that can be welded onto the frame.
Ray

[skippy344]

Check this out!

Dude, you so have to check out:

Trailer in a bag!

Expensive, but the design is way cool and portable. Now, I think it can only carry two scoots, but someone needs the butt time in the saddle, right?

greg

[HobbyMan]

Thanks for the info. that is what I was really looking for. For some reason when I search, out of 3 pages, only a couple of interesting results come up. I just found a Nrthn Tll Equip store here in town. I had never been there before last Sunday. That is where I am getting the axle and springs from. Now I am drawing up some plans for the frame. If I get hired at my new job, I will be able to start, say next week or so. Those tralers in a bag aren't bad, but I like TC trailer design much better for that type of trailer. Also, I want to use springs. I know motorcycles have their own suspension, but I want to reduce as much stress on the trailer as possible. Loading height wont be a problem because I have pushed most of my XS's up a steep ramp to my utuilty trailer which has a higher deck than I am planning to build