DIY Bike Trailer: Woodworker at Work

Thanks to a reader stumbling upon an old dead link, we are reposting this great Bike Hacks classic. Christopher also has a request, if you have leads feel free to leave comments.  Christopher writes:

BTW, if you know anyone in central NC (near Chapel Hill of UNC basketball fame) looking to get rid of a trike that doesn't say "little tykes" on it, I might be interested ;) gots to be super cheap or free though. I'm *really* poor, and my mobility is limited, but I can try, right?

If other readers stumble upon dead links, let us know and we will seek to resuscitate.  Enjoy!

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Reader Toby from Tennessee reached out to us and shared a great hack he came up with to haul stuff, along with a DIY repair stand to boot.  Take it away Toby!

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I made this trailer out of wood as I am a woodworker. I used metal electrical junction box covers cut in half to make my plates for the wheels. The fenders are made out of the middle of a piece of vinyl gutter that I bought at Lowe's. A 10' piece of gutter was only about $7.00 and you score it with a utility knife and then just snap it off. Flexes nice and Krylon fusion paint will stick to it well if you let it dry overnight.

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The arm for attaching it to the bike is made from a piece of electrical conduit and it attaches using a clevis. The black box that it attaches to is made from some 3/4" ply and some 1/4" luan and has a key lock to keep people out. The box is bolted to my rear rack.

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My repair stand is 2x4 feet and black pipe. The clamp is one of my wood clamps with some innertube taped over the metal parts to keep from scratching the bicycle.

Comments

[Christopher]

Hey, just wanted to explain my situation a little more -- and while I'm thinking about it, thank you Matt for posting my little appeal.

My mother and I live together in a large house in Siler City, NC. She is on disability (I'm not allowed to say much, but she has worked very hard all her life, being formally employed (often by herself) from approximately 1966 through 2007) and we live on her SSDI income and a small food-stamp allotment. Our home is in foreclosure right now (we have high hopes, though, because the original company really screwed up the paperwork, and because we've been living here for over 30 years) mostly because our mortgage company is demanding payments larger than our monthly income and will not accept a partial payment.

We are currently in the process of applying for disability for me, partially out of monetary necessity, but mostly because I have a form of Autism Spectrum Disorder, called Asperger's Syndrome. I am quite intelligent about some things, but having some significantly odd tendencies about me due to the Asperger's, there simply isn't any chance in this economy of me getting hired in this town.

The nearest store to us is a Wal*Mart, 1.6mi away according to Google Maps. I've walked there probably a dozen times -- we have one car, and I know myself well enough to know I'm not qualified to use it. (I have so far chosen not to learn, because of my own limitations.) While I have attempted a kid's bike sometime in the distant past (I stopped riding when we ran out of training-wheel sizes) I think I could handle a trike, and it would be great to have the freedom of a vehicle without the burden of a proper car. I do plan on equipping my trike with an electric drive system at some point in time (it will probably be an ugly rig simply due to our resources and circumstances), I should be able to use the trike just fine, assuming it arrives in operable condition.

My one concern with this, is indeed related to our location -- I live on a small loop road off of Highway 64, and although it's not an "access controlled highway" (no on-ramps or off-ramps are present for Hwy64 itself), I can't imagine the police here being friendly to cyclists.

[James Kingston]

I see painted shoulders on Hwy 64 in the satellite view on Google Maps, Christopher. Be visible and I think you'll be fine. My grandmother was triking in the streets of LA county into her 80s.