(no subject)

I've got all the holes drilled for the wheel mounts, and I cleaned up the ends of the four center pieces so that the core frame that holds the wheels should go together a little squarer. This afternoon I should be able to get the welding done (Bill - the guy with the welder - says he'll probably have time to help me with it this afternoon).

Over lunch I need to run over to Budget Bike and buy a Burley hitch and an 'alternate hitch kit'. I need the hitch so that I can see what size tubing it needs to mount to and then order it (this make the arm on the front of the trailer that connects it to the bike). The alternate hitch is actually a replacement axle for teeka's bike because the standard hitch kit doesn't fit recumbents.

Tonight I'll start drilling the holes in the wheel mounts, and tomorrow I'll bring them back to work because I need to mill a slot in the bottom of each one to make wheel changes a little easier.

Bike trailer hitches

One side problem to building your own trailer is that you have to build your own hitch.

This shouldn't be hard. You take a piece of square or round tubing (we're using square), and bend it so that it goes from one side of your cart to close to the centerline of the cart. The bend appears to be important in that it provides room for the bike to rotate around the hitch point and allow you to turn corners without having your back wheel hit the hitch bar.

I figure that if I buy a 6' length of square stock, and put a 45 degree bend in it about 2 feet from one end, I can then cut it down to fit properly. That's the simple part.

The hard part is attaching it to the bike. We're going to cheat and use a Burley trailer hitch. Burley sells the bracket and the hitch connector because they want you to replace yours every 4-5 years. I looked online, and they seem to have 5 different models, depending on what trailer you have. Today, I went to Budget Bike to get one, and they only have one kind now (or so they said). I bought it (paying almost double the mail order price, but now I have it to work with), and walked over to the trailer store (remember, budget bike has 5 stores on regent, and each one sells a different thing) to look, and yes, it does appear that they're all the same now, and that there's no special sleeves or anything - the round rubber connector goes into the trailer tube and gets held by one bolt. There's no special effort made to hold the trailer connector snugly in the tube either.

My guess is that they want the rubber piece to move for two main reasons: First, it wears out faster that way; and, Second, the rubber connector is what flexes and twists to allow the bike to maneuver with the trailer. There's a pivot bolt where the connector meets the bracket, which does most of the left/right turning motion, but the flexible rubber bit gives you the twisting and vertical flex you need to maneuver.

Now I need to call around and find the alternate hitch bracket.

A Tale of Welding Woe

( After three hours of welding (for only 24 joints) and another hour or so of grinding, the frame is done. )

Next thing to make are the wheel brackets.