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Our family ride bikes regularly. We have an old 70's era Burley tandem that we added a tag-a-long bike to for outings. My two boys enjoy riding about anywhere. Their longest ride to date is about 27 miles. During the summer as gas prices spiked, we decided as a family to do some of our errands on our bikes. We added racks and baskets to all the bikes. However, for a grocery store run you need more holding power. So one day while puttering in the garage, I thought up a way to use the existing tag-a-long hardware to rig up a trailer. I looked at the assorted store bought trailers and the Instructables offerings and used the best of all the worlds. As with most builds like this, hind sight is 20/20 and I would do things a bit differently if I did it again. I am currently collecting parts for the next trailer that will allow me to carry even more.
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Signing UpStep 1Material List
Material list:
1 qty old bike fork
1 qty storage container of your choice. I used a 27 gal. Rubbermaid one from Costco
1 qty old bike wheel. The smaller the diameter the more it will tend to bounce over bumps
6-10 tech screws or any screw suitable for attaching your bin/container
1 qty child tag-a-long bike hitch. These are easy to make but so easily available why bother
? qty of wood for deck. What do you have laying around. I had a scrap of 3/8" plywood from another project
? qty of conduit, pipe, tubing or misc. metal. I used about 3 and 1/2 feet of 1/2" EMT electrical conduit and 3 and 1/2 feet of 3/4" EMT electrical conduit. I also used a small length of 1" square tubing because I had it and ran out of EMT. Use what you have.
4 qty pre-bent 90 degree elbows. You could weld straight 90's or use a tubing bender. I was going for maximum convenience in this step. They are pretty cheap from the hardware store.
4-6 qty bolts variety of lengths. I used some bolts to strengthen all the joints. I found misc ones that fit snug in the pipe, cut them to extend a couple inches into the joints and welded them all the way around. (probably over kill).
2-4 qty of plate steel. I used some scraps from my junk bin. They were brackets off some old equipment. The pieces I used were about 1/8" but you will need to use metal thickness based on the loads you intend to carry. There will be flexing at the joint if you go too thin.
Tools Needed:
Welder
Hack saw
File
Tape Measure
1 qty old bike fork
1 qty storage container of your choice. I used a 27 gal. Rubbermaid one from Costco
1 qty old bike wheel. The smaller the diameter the more it will tend to bounce over bumps
6-10 tech screws or any screw suitable for attaching your bin/container
1 qty child tag-a-long bike hitch. These are easy to make but so easily available why bother
? qty of wood for deck. What do you have laying around. I had a scrap of 3/8" plywood from another project
? qty of conduit, pipe, tubing or misc. metal. I used about 3 and 1/2 feet of 1/2" EMT electrical conduit and 3 and 1/2 feet of 3/4" EMT electrical conduit. I also used a small length of 1" square tubing because I had it and ran out of EMT. Use what you have.
4 qty pre-bent 90 degree elbows. You could weld straight 90's or use a tubing bender. I was going for maximum convenience in this step. They are pretty cheap from the hardware store.
4-6 qty bolts variety of lengths. I used some bolts to strengthen all the joints. I found misc ones that fit snug in the pipe, cut them to extend a couple inches into the joints and welded them all the way around. (probably over kill).
2-4 qty of plate steel. I used some scraps from my junk bin. They were brackets off some old equipment. The pieces I used were about 1/8" but you will need to use metal thickness based on the loads you intend to carry. There will be flexing at the joint if you go too thin.
Tools Needed:
Welder
Hack saw
File
Tape Measure
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