Trailer from scrounged shopping cart
- Thread starter maniac57
- Start date
Huffydavidson
STREETRACER/MANUFACTURER
Dollar General has a little bit smaller shopping cart. I'm freind with the store manager at my local Dollar General I'm going to see if I can't coming dear one that's one out they do replace them from time to time. Junk bike at a yard sale, conduit at cheap-o-depot, thanks for fathers day project .
mapbike
Well-Known Member
Huffydavidson
STREETRACER/MANUFACTURER
How are gona trailer hitch It????
silverbear
The Boy Who Never Grew Up
I think you're on to something here. I also agree that with real cargo or a passenger you need to have real good brakes at least on the bike, but better yet also on the trailer. That said, I don't think it would have to be like rocket science to set up rear brakes and still be able to connect, disconnect the trailer without too much hassle.
What immediately comes to mind is the use of a pair of mountain bike type forks... something that had V brakes which for the money (scrounged) are hard to beat. The problem area is having a kind of junction at the front of the trailer where a single cable coming from the handlebar brake lever comes to a point where the single cable connects to a Y so that it becomes a dual pull to activate both V brakes. The single cable coming from the bike needs to be able to easily disconnect at the Y. I think there is such a critter out there in the bike world. If not, then one needs to be fabricated.
I have a drum brake on my sidecar and it is simple and quick to remove the cable from the brake when I detach the sidecar. I just coil up the cable and hook it into my rear rack.
Something to think about in the middle of the night... what does that Y union/disconnect look like? How to make it from junk?
And why couldn't you use a shopping cart body for a sidecar?
SB
What immediately comes to mind is the use of a pair of mountain bike type forks... something that had V brakes which for the money (scrounged) are hard to beat. The problem area is having a kind of junction at the front of the trailer where a single cable coming from the handlebar brake lever comes to a point where the single cable connects to a Y so that it becomes a dual pull to activate both V brakes. The single cable coming from the bike needs to be able to easily disconnect at the Y. I think there is such a critter out there in the bike world. If not, then one needs to be fabricated.
I have a drum brake on my sidecar and it is simple and quick to remove the cable from the brake when I detach the sidecar. I just coil up the cable and hook it into my rear rack.
Something to think about in the middle of the night... what does that Y union/disconnect look like? How to make it from junk?
And why couldn't you use a shopping cart body for a sidecar?
SB
CTripps
Active Member
I like the idea, very intriguing. I've been 'blue-skying' some sort of a trailer for a while, too.
I'd go with the wheels toward the center of the cart, rather than at the end to balance the cargo. Make the trailer carry the load, instead of transferring it to the bike. A seat-post hitch would work well, if you don't have a rear carrier. Our little trailer hitches onto a chainstay, pretty close to the drive sprocket and tensioner. As Harley59's discovered, being hitched down there can really mess you up on tight turns (rights, mostly).
For braking power, I was thinking of running the trailer's cables to a triangle or T-connector, which would probably be where I'd make the disconnect from the bike. A dual brake lever with one cable for the bike and the other leading to the trailer connection was the way I was thinking to go. Something else I considered for a few minutes would be a weight that could slide back and forth in the direction of travel, with a cable attached that would pull on the brake cable when the weight slid forward (on a downhill run) and would be pushed back with a spring to neutral on flat ground. I don't know how it would work out, so far it's only in my head.
Here's another approach, make the shopping cart the front end of the bike:
I'd go with the wheels toward the center of the cart, rather than at the end to balance the cargo. Make the trailer carry the load, instead of transferring it to the bike. A seat-post hitch would work well, if you don't have a rear carrier. Our little trailer hitches onto a chainstay, pretty close to the drive sprocket and tensioner. As Harley59's discovered, being hitched down there can really mess you up on tight turns (rights, mostly).
For braking power, I was thinking of running the trailer's cables to a triangle or T-connector, which would probably be where I'd make the disconnect from the bike. A dual brake lever with one cable for the bike and the other leading to the trailer connection was the way I was thinking to go. Something else I considered for a few minutes would be a weight that could slide back and forth in the direction of travel, with a cable attached that would pull on the brake cable when the weight slid forward (on a downhill run) and would be pushed back with a spring to neutral on flat ground. I don't know how it would work out, so far it's only in my head.
Here's another approach, make the shopping cart the front end of the bike:
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