Make your own bike trailer for about $20
By Steven Muir
Introduction
Check out my website [Link]. You might like to consider buying a copy of my very funny
book called “PROSACC – Profound Revelations Of Sunday Afternoon Cycling Church.” Also check out the
supermarket challenge results which demonstrate how bikes and trailers are better than cars even with a couple of
kids along for the ride, and in the rain.
I have now constructed several bike trailers for around $10 with basic home tools such as drills, hacksaws,
spanners and vices. I’m also in the process of producing aluminium kitset trailers that are lighter and look better
than the typical trailer made from recycled materials, but they cost about $100. The trailer described here weighs
19kg compared to the kitset aluminium one which weighs 6kg.
I find they are very useful for doing shopping, taking supplies for biking with kids, carrying my bass amp and
guitar, going around garage sales, picking fruit for bottling (complete with 3m ladder), carrying long lengths of
pipe for making more trailers, taking my kayak out to the beach or down to the river. The longer I have them the
more uses I find for them. Kids love to ride in them and can bike each other around in them if the environment is
safe enough. My five year old bikes 2km to and from the local garage carrying our 15kg gas cylinder for refilling
and is very pleased with the effort given he can’t lift the filled cylinder for more than a meter. The social,
spiritual, environmental and health benefits from using trailers are all very good.
Please send any feedback on these designs to thepope@[Link]. I’d like to improve them as much
as possible so anything that’s not clear - let me know.
Recommended Materials
One old bed made from angle iron (typically $5 at an op shop)
One or two old bikes for wheels, brake cables, and tow bars. A women’s 10-speed is useful and 20” (inch)
wheels off a kids bike are ideal size. 26” wheels are ok but 27” tend to develop speed wobbles very easily. $5
for an old bike is quite achievable. Preferrable the wheels should have good tyres or you’ll soon blow the $20
budget. Bolted axles are preferrable to quick release, but quick release can be used if that’s all you have.
Wheelchair wheels are also very good – check out the local wheelchair repair shop in the yellow pages. You
will need a bike axle with cones to mount the wheelchair wheel. Bike shops often have old ones lying around.
One old trampoline spring for the hitch (free).
About ten 6mm x 20mm bolts, and six 6mm x 50mm bolts all with washers and nylock nuts so they don’t
vibrate loose ($3).
Two bins eg. recycle bins, apple crates, or visit plastic box (might blow the $20 budget though).
1. Get your old bed and remove the springs
using pliers. Mine worked best removing
the spring from the wire rather than the
frame end of the spring.
2. Remove the right hand end of bed frame
with a spanner, or if its welded, use a
hacksaw or angle grinder with metal cutting
blade.
3. Mark and cut two lengths of angle iron off
the two long edges of the bed that are the
same length as the width of the bed
(typically 900mm). These are the inside
wheel supports.
4. Cut a further two 100mm lengths off the
two long edges of the bed. These are the
outside wheel supports.
5. Get an old bike and strip it down, removing
brake cables, front forks, wheels and main
sprocket.
6. Prepare your two wheels for putting on the
trailer. Re-greasing the bearings is a good
idea with old wheels depending on their
condition. For rear wheels a 10 speed type
gear cluster can be removed by a bike shop,
but with kids wheels just leave the rear gear
sprocket on.
7. Drill holes in the centre of the four wheel
supports large enough to put the wheel
axles through (typically 10 mm). Holes
should be centred about 15-20mm from the
top angle edge of the metal to allow room
for the spanner and bolt to turn.
8. Attach the wheels to both the inside and
outside wheel supports and tighten up the
bolts or quick releases.
9. Support the main frame of the trailer on
blocks. Drill holes and bolt one of the
100mm outside wheel supports to underside
of the right hand edge of the bed frame in
the centre of the frame, ensuring the wheel
is as straight as possible. Use two 6mm x
20mm bolts.
10. Bolt the ends of the long inside wheel
support to the underside of the bed frame.
Again ensure the wheel and wheel support
is as straight as possible. Use two 6mm x
20mm bolts.
11. Get your bins and place them against the
long wheel support. Place the other long
inside wheel support (with wheel fitted)
against the other edge of the bin and mark
it’s position such that the bin is a snug fit
between the two wheel supports.
12. Drill and bolt the second long wheel
support into place. Again ensure the wheel
and wheel support is as straight as possible.
Use two 6mm x 20mm bolts.
13. Place the right edge of the bed frame (cut
off at the start) into position, then drill and
bolt it to the bed frame and the right hand
100mm wheel support. Again ensure the
wheel and wheel support is as straight as
possible and the trailer is square. Use four
6mm x 20mm bolts.
14. Construct your tow bar. Ideally it should
attach onto your bike at a 25-30 degree
angle to allow for right hand turning and
have no sharp edges where your spokes
might connect with it. The main bar(s) of a
bike and handle bars are ideal. Often there
are different size tubes on a single bike that
can be bolted to make a longer tow bar. Cut
the tubes off the bike. I used two of the
main bars which were a nice snug fit, then
the handle bars which were a looser fit, so
three bolts were used to keep it steady.
15. Find a section of pipe that either fits inside
or outside your trampoline spring. 22mm
external diameter pipe which are common
on handle bars will fit inside a trampoline
spring or 30mm on the outside. Cut a
100mm section of the pipe.
16. Place a length of brake cable (>300mm)
inside the pipe and squash 20mm of the end
of the pipe in a vice.
17. Bend the squashed pipe with a hammer to
about 20 degrees. Don’t over-bend it or it
may crack after a bit of use. This is where
the trailer will bolt on to the rear wheel of
the bike. You could avoid this step by
buying one of my pre-made hitch bases for
$15, which is stronger and gives a better
angle.
18. Drill a hole through the squashed section of
the pipe about 12mm from the top left edge.
Use a 10mm hole for bolted bike axles or
6mm hole for quick release bike axles.
19. Put the hitch together with the brake cable
through the centre of the trampoline spring
and through a hole drilled in the end of the
tow bar a few cm beyond where the spring
will end up.
20. The trampoline spring needs to be held
firmly in place between the bent end of the
hitch and the wider section of the handle
bars. There should be about 1cm of space
between the two ends of pipe surrounded
by spring. If you are not using handle bars
with a natural widening a bolt can be used
as a stop for the spring.
21. Cut the head off the handle bar stem to be
used to clamp the cable
22. Pull everything as tight as possible and
wind the end of the cable twice around the
handle bar stem head, then tighten the bolt
to clamp the cable to the tow bar.
Alternatively a bolt and washer right
through the pipe can be used to clamp the
end of the cable.
23. Diagram of a hitch Bolt to clamp
brake cable
Note that this is not the same as the one in
the photos, but shows the spring being held
in place by a bolt, and the cable being Bolt to hold
spring in place
clamped with a bolt rather than the handle
bar stem.
Brake cable end
24. Bolt the tow bar onto the trailer frame at
approximately 25-30 degree angle. Use two
6mm x 50mm bolts, one on the front of the
trailer and one on the edge.
25. Cut a piece of pipe off the bike to use for a
brace. One of the rear wheel supports has a
nice bend that helps line it up with the
bottom of the tow bar which is lower than
the frame of the trailer.
26. Bolt the brace between the frame and the
tow bar (underside of the trailer).
27. If there are not already holes where the
springs were removed, drill some holes for
hooking bungy chords into.
28. Fit a safety rope from your bike to the
trailer frame in case the hitch should fail for
any reason.
29. Fit the trailer to your bike using the rear
wheel bolt or quick release.
30. Check what happens on a hard right turn.
Make sure the tow bar hits the rubber of the
wheel and nothing touches the spokes
(unless you want expensive wheels repairs).
31. An optional flag can be constructed from an
old ski pole or fishing rod. Some sort of
fitting for rear lights is also good for night
riding. Making your own lights with high
intensity flashing LED’s is good, using an
old 9V smoke alarm battery and a 400 ohm
variable resistor to limit the current.
32. Optional 10mm galvanized threaded rod
can be welded or bolted onto the front of
the trailer with nuts and washers, so that
front forks of a bike can be bolted on – very
useful for carrying the kids bikes when they
tire out, or collecting bikes from garage
sales.
33. Optional wheel guards are useful to prevent
loads getting caught in the spokes (eg dogs
tail).
34. Ride the trailer everywhere and have a
great time.
Safety hints
• Take it easy going up onto footpaths – it’s easy to clip the square edge of the curb and flip an unloaded
trailer.
• Don’t overload the trailer. They typically cope easily with 70kg. You can carry more than that but you
need a third pivoting wheel at the front to support the extra weight. The third wheel is also good for loads
that move or are unbalanced eg pets.
• Go easy on right hand turns. The tow bar can rub against the wheel. U-turn to the left.
