Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Summer's Comin'

Warm temperatures, no wind, light clouds, of course I went out for a ride. Nothing insane, just a sort of cruise.

Everything's blooming.

Mileage: 21.7

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Because a Seven Foot Bike is Not Enough...

I built an eight foot trailer out of some scraps and parts. One reason was to avoid renting a U-Haul just to move 3 inches to the right. Another reason? To see if I can. That's a valid reason, yeah?

Anyways, one weekend in the garage, and this is what rolled out:
And Exe named it Scrappy.

Cargo area is 3 feet by 6 feet. Overall, it's almost 8 feet long and 4 feet wide.

The central pivot: The tongue runs the length of the trailer, putting all the pulling force to the beam between the wheels. It also allows the trailer to rotate a full 360 degrees independent of the bike.

Henry's drop hitch. Some u-bolts, a beam hanger, and some aluminum angle. On the trailer side, some u-bolts, and a steering knuckle from a car.

Fast forward past the test ride. I screwed down some boards for a cargo platform...

...and then jumped on it. No creaks!

It handles fairly well. I definitely feel it back there when I'm accelerating, but that's to be expected, the thing weights around 60 pounds. But once I'm moving, I can't feel it behind the bike when I slow down, or turn.

We'll see how it does in a month when we start moving.


Mileage: None today. Lazy day.