My friday evening progect.

I live in Ludington, work in Manistee. Last year it was my first experience "commuting" to work and back. Up until starting at Benchley's I was always working close to home. I'm not complaining, its nice to listen to the radio and relax on the 30 mile trip to work and back. We all are buying fuel, and its not fun at all. So with that in mind, I took a discussion that Kevin and I had while pedal-powering to the beach. We had a collapsable cooler, extra clothing, food and beverage, folding chair, a bunch of beach stuff crammed into backpacks. I figured it would be nice to have a trailer to put that stuff into.

So with help & company of Mr. Burgess I put that plan into action last night. It's healthy for my chubby self, it saves gas which saves money, and its good for the environment. It's a cargo trailer for my bike. For 20 dollars worth of hardware, some recycled bicycle wheels, and a few hours of tinkering, its almost done. I have photos of course. Its not finished but will be today after I install the deck. It pulls with ease, I took it for a 3 mile ride last night after I got done with it. If you need or want plans let me know and I'll hook ya up.







The piping is electrical conduit, which is 3 bucks for ten feet. I used about 25 feet, just buy 30 and use the rest to make a wind chime. Also, drill the holes and bolt together one at a time, or you will never line them up. I learned this from Google, where I read and learned from others mistakes.



















This is an angled peice of aluminum I cut to use as "forks" for the wheels. The wheel axel fits nicely into the notch, then just tighten it up.



























Assembly of the trailer. Frame works done now putting on the wheels.







Had to flex my wheel mounts a little in order to make it fit. "engineering"







This was Kev's idea, fashioned a pipe bender out of bike parts. Worked perfectly! Had to put an arc in the tongue of the trailer to fit over the rear wheel of the bike.















Drilling to mount the tounge to the frame.











The hitch, simply a carribeaner and a couple hose clamps.







For the trailer I just bashed a dowel into the pipe and drilled a small pilot then screwed in the eyelet hook. Snap onto the carribeaner, and you in buisness!



















So there was my friday night project. With some help from Kevin and the use of some of his tools we have a trailer to take tot he beach next time. Good thing the water is 47 degrees. Oh well, at least now we have one for next time.