Fluid design... well sort of... ...

I'm the sort of person who spends a lot of time thinking about things, all sorts of things, like how can I make this or that, what's the best way to fix this, and loads of stuff in between.
Building things makes me happy, and I think you get a grate deal of satisfaction when you find a problem and solve it, or when you build something from scratch.

With that in mind I have had to re-think the towing hitch for my bicycle trailer, I hadn't really considered it much before because what I had worked reasonably well and so I decided why fix it if it isn't broke ? that is until I realized it could be better, and because what I had was actually causing damage to my bike.

The first trailer hitched to my bike the same way as the second trailer, but it wasn't until I built the second that I decided to re-design the towing hitch, the trailer and the way it attaches to the bike are constantly being reviewed by me, hence the "Fluid design" post title. Basically I used a u-bolt to attach the trailer to my bike by way of a couple of d-shackles, these were the best option for the first trailer, and they work well for this one.

Here's a u-bolt -

U-bolt, which you can find in most hardware/diy shops.

What I did was to buy 2 of them and use the metal plate from 1 on the other, so I had 2 metal plates which I could use to clamp the u-bolt onto the bike frame, it was a pretty easy way to solve the problem of attaching the trailer to the bike.

Here's a very crude diagram of how I did it - 

Not the best technical drawing in the world.

As you can hopefully see I clamped the u-bolt to one of the rear forks of my bike, this was okay for the most part, but I started to notice that after time the bolt wouldn't stay in the right place, and it eventually moved quite a lot, especially when I had heavy loads in the trailer.

Here's a picture of the damage it has cause to the forks - 

You can see all the paint has gone, down to bare metal.

I had attached the bolt to the higher of the 2 forks, and it eventually started to move up and down, the damage on the lower fork was caused by the end of the trailers tow bar moving more than it should have been.

So not so long ago I set about re-designing the towing hitch, and I think I came up with a pretty good solution, I have managed to make a hitch that is easier to use, stronger and most importantly is very stable, it allows parts to move, but the right parts.

Here's the new hitch - 

It's a little rough, but it works.

As you can see by the picture above I still use d-shackles to attach the trailer, but the hitch is much better, I have re-used the u-bolt and the 2 metal plates from the original hitch, but I have added a strip of metal and 2 bolts, the new hitch now fixes to both of the rear forks (on the left side of the bike) the u-bolt makes up part of how it fixes to the bike. It is stuck where it is, it doesn't move in any direction, and hopefully it will stay that way, I just need to patch up the damage, I may just re-spray the whole bike.

Here's a picture of the back of the new hitch - 

The other side of the hitch.

So basically what I've done is to use the 2 metal plates to clamp the hitch to the forks, the u-bolt is in the middle of the large metal plate and using 2 extra bolts I have managed to make a much more secure fixing, which means increased stability when I have the trailer attached, it still moves a little, but it's the right kind of movement.

A picture with the trailer attached - 

I will explain the blue bar.

As you can see the shackles work well, and allow enough movement to be able to hitch and un-hitch the trailer easily. You can also see that I've used and eye bolt in the end of the towing bar and the shackles basically join the 2 to each other, you may also notice the cable that goes through the eye bolt, this is a safety and security measure, it provides a way to padlock the bicycle to the trailer, and should for some reason the towing hitch fail there is a back up, you may have also noticed the towing bar is bright blue :-) this is because I broke the original bar, and had to use this as a replacement, it's an old part of a climbing frame, very strong, but light weight (don't worry I didn't dismantle the kids climbing frame to build this)

And that's about it really, I had to find a better method, and this is it, well I think so, I have used the trailer several times since I made the new hitch and I have noticed a difference in the way the trailer behaves, it is much more stable at speed (not that I go that fast, but it wobbles less when loaded)

I will spray the hitch when I get round to spraying the rest of the bike, so it doesn't rust.

Now for my next trick....... finding a way to get rid of the bike and hitch the trailer to the dog, like a sledge :-) Just kidding.

Here's a pick of the dog -

Meet Pepper, the family mutt :-)

Thanks for reading.

Got a bicycle ? You need slime ... ...

As I've mentioned in previous posts I use a bicycle to get about, I leaned to ride a bike when I was about 8 years old, it was christmas and had snowed a lot, and it was hell, but I learned to do it.

I've been riding a bike for most of my life (about 26 years, but not constantly obviously) and I have learned that carrying certain equipment is a must, I've lost count the amount of times I've been caught out by a puncture, or a cable breaking or something coming loose.

This is why I now carrying a variety of stuff with me, even if I'm only going to the shops, I have some tools, an adjustable spanner, and of course a pump and a puncture repair kit (which includes tire levers) and in the past I've also carried a tin of tire weld (link opens in new window) which is basically a foam type substance that you can squirt into your tires or inner tubes if you get a puncture, this is usually enough to get you home so you can make a more permanent repair.

But what about puncture prevention ? you can avoid riding over a broken bottle, and other things, but sometimes you pick up a thorn or other sharp object and there's nothing you can really do about it, you can't avoid everything.

That's where slime (link opens in new window) comes in, it's basically a green (at least the stuff I use) coloured goo that you fill your inner tubes with, it has some kind of fibres in it as well, and the idea is it will stop punctures and holes up to a couple of millimetres which means you won't (or shouldn't) get caught out by a surprise puncture.

I've been using it for a few months now on my bike, and it has already come in useful, for some reason the tire on the back wheel developed some cracks in it, and the inner tube came through a little, enough for it to make contact with the ground, this isn't ideal and the inner tube did suffer a little, but the slime held and I got home, fixed the puncture and fitted a new tire, with out it I would have had a long walk home with a rucksack full of shopping, not good.

So get yourself a tube or two of slime, it's great stuff, and it works. If you enjoy cycling with the kids it's probably going to come in quite handy as well, you can use it in the inner tubes of bicycle trailers as well, I intend to get some for my trailers wheels, it's easy to use, you basically undo the valve on the inner tube (the tube comes with a tool for removing the valve) and squirt it in, a tube should be enough for two inner tubes, the wheels on my bike are 26inches and a tube did both of them.

Thanks for reading.

A bit of a rant ... ...

Are people who use bicycle trailers strange ? I don't think so, I use one.

But it seems to me that the majority of people must think it odd to have a trailer on a bike, I mean why not use a car ? at least that's must be what goes through the minds of some people.

As I said I have a trailer for my bike, it's a means to an end, I don't drive, in fact I have only taken my driving test once, that was when I was 17/18 I failed and haven't bothered since, I'm 34 now and whilst I admit a car would be handy, we seem to get by with out one.

I built my first bike trailer 2 years ago, as a why to move heavier stuff about on my bike, balancing shopping bags from each handle bar is a little precarious at times, so a cart/trailer was a plan (necessity is the mother of all invention after all) the mk1 :-) was built from the remains of my sons first buggy, it was one of those 3 wheeled things, the rear wheels made a great chassis, and I built the rest out of some steel tube and wood salvaged from an old bed (yes I did say bed) I used the buggy wheels at first, but soon found they couldn't cope with a lot of weight, so I adapted the trailer to use the wheels from a sack truck (and the mk1.1 was born)

The trailer was quite heavy and quite low as well, but it did the job, I carted cement bags and all sorts about in it, I also collected a 27inch tv in it, not a flat screen, but it eventually gave up, and so I set about constructing the mk 2.

Now the next trailer was built from scratch, I've used two 26inch mountain bike wheels, and steel tube for the frame, the sides and front and back are made from thin wood to keep the weight down, I used the same method to hitch the trailer to my bike, which is basically an eye bolt on the towing bar of the trailer and a d shaped bracket bolted to the bike, I join the two using a d shaped shackle for easy removal, I also incorporated a padlock and cable as well, just in case the main hitch fails, which to be honest is unlikely, unless I try transporting an elephant about.

Here's a picture of the basic frame, there's no towing bar etc because bikes vary and the hitch would depend on the bike and how the trailer was to be hitched.

The Mk 2 :-)

As you can see it's nothing elaborate, but it can hold a lot of weight, in fact when I'd finished building it (which was just after christmas 09) I weighed around 15 stone, so I used myself to weight test it, and it easily coped, of course after a few months of using it to get the weekly shop and other stuff I now weight a stone and a half less :-)

So why am I ranting ? well apart from the odd looks I seem to get when I use the thing, the nail in the coffin was when I was out doing the weekly shop, I had just stuffed the many bags of food and such like into the trailer and was just setting off for home, nothing odd you say ? well as I left the car park of the super market I rode past a chap with his daughter (she was about 6 or 7 maybe) she turned to her father and said look dad that man's got a trailer on his bike, nothing wrong with that, but it was what her father said in reply and more importantly the way he said it, almost with venom in his tone of voice " it's because he's an environmentalist " 

My first thought was wtf ! Did I just hear that right ? I'm all for being green, recycling and wind farms and the like, but this blokes comment made me feel like some kind of subversive.

I've wondered what kind of message this gave to his daughter ?

I'm not 100 % sure, but I'm willing to bet money that he got into a massive  4 wheel drive type vehicle (the fashion type 4x4's not the practical ones) and I live in Norfolk, no hills to speak off, and unless your a farmer who needs to drive out across wet muddy fields in the middle of the night for a sheep, why do you need what is basically a step down from a monster truck ? (that last comment is not meant to cause offence, just an observation)

I'm all for being green and such like, but the fact that this bloke didn't seem to consider any other reason for me using a trailer really wound me up if I'm honest, so bring on the bike trailers I say, the more the merrier, they are great things to have, cheap to run, good exercise and apparently annoy people who have 4 wheel drives :-)

I will be updating this post with some pictures and such like, to maybe give you some inspiration on how to build (or how not to build) your own trailer, and in the mean time have a look at this check out the " related " section on the right hand side, loads of different trailers :-)

Thanks for reading.