bike teardop

Teardrop shaped bicycle travel trailers & related information

bike teardop

Postby buddylee » Mon May 30, 2005 1:18 pm

whew! i'm so happy i found this site!

i am a screenprinter in toronto canada, printing tour shirts/posters/stickers/buttons for rock n roll bands. my main t-shirt supplier is 10 blocks away. when i have to pick up one box of tshirts, i use 2 different streetcars to get it to the shop. if i have more than one, i have to take a cab.

to go 10 blocks.

my wife takes the car to work, so don't even bother.

i'm fed up spending all this money on cabs (about $125 a month), so i bought a second-hand trike, 5-speed, big ol motorcycle seat, high monkey bars, and it has a 1" tubular steel bar sticking out of the back axle for...a trailer.

commercial bike trailers do not suit my specific needs. i am getting someone to build me a trailer. he asked me what i want it to look like, and i said i dunno, i just need the darn thing. he said to think about it. you see, the trailer, in addition to being utilitarian, well, i want it to look cool so it functions as advertising for my print shop. i've thought about it, and..it's gonna be a teardrop trailer. i bought a book on the history of trailers last year, and the teardops are beautiful. plus, design-wise, it'll look great behind my trike. paint my company logo on the back (the part that flips up), and i just know people will be stopping me to take pictures.

i'll let you all know how it turns out, and i'm also looking for any and all advice. i read the other posts, but everyone wants to use the teardop to sleep in - i just want it to cart around boxes of tshirts.

thanks, and happy to meet you all!

stacey case.
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Postby JunkMan » Mon May 30, 2005 1:33 pm

Stacey,

Sounds like a great idea! People will notice the teardrop, and it should give your shop some great advertising. Be sure to post some pics when you get started on it.
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Postby mikeschn » Mon May 30, 2005 1:36 pm

Hey Stacey,

Welcome to the forum...

That's a really unique reason to have a teardrop... I'd be interested in seeing how your plan comes together. do you have a digital camera? If so, take pictures, lots of pictures. We all would like to see your progress. Just upload your pictures to your album here... ;)

Mike...
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Postby angib » Mon May 30, 2005 3:51 pm

Stacey,

I did a design for a tiny baggage trailer in the shape of the Cub/Modernaire (the full size Cub is the dotted line), but took it off my site due to running out of space:

Image

The trailer is built on the small (48" x 40") Harbor Freight utility trailer:

Image

If you want me to email it to you as a pdf or dxf file, let me know.

Andrew
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Postby buddylee » Mon May 30, 2005 3:53 pm

thanks guys!

my trailer guy Kurt is a friend of a friend; he's apparently built lots of bike trailers, but never a teardrop bike trailer. i just went by his place to give him the trailer wheels, and a bunch of pictures of teardrops, and some plans i found online from an old copy of popular mechanix. he is very intrigued.

he had a feeling i was gonna go old-school cuz i kinda am old-school anyway, plus it'll fit nicely with the lines of the trike. i said i know they're pointless on my trailer, but i think i want round plexiglass portholes on the sides, and Kurt goes oh yeah, we should definitely do that.

i'm already thinking about the paint job. or not. i don't know yet, i'm just excited.

my wife doesn't know about this yet. she is gonna kill me ha ha! but i don't care, it'll be good for the print shop.

adios,

stacey.

ps yup i gots a digital camera, i'll take pix as it's being built!
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Postby buddylee » Mon May 30, 2005 3:58 pm

andrew, i just emailed you. didn't see your post until after i had posted mine. thanks pal!

stacey.
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Postby angib » Mon May 30, 2005 4:11 pm

I should also have added that we have one (British) member that has built a (sleeping) teardrop to go behind his Yam 1100 trike - trikerneil

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Neil's, web site is http://www.trikenest.freeserve.co.uk/

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Postby buddylee » Mon May 30, 2005 4:27 pm

just to clarify - my trike is a big pedal bicycle. that's what makes getting a small teardop trailer for it so great. it makes no sense...yet it makes all the sense in the world.

stacey.
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Postby buddylee » Wed Jun 01, 2005 12:10 pm

okay, so there's been a change in plan for my bicycle teardop cargo trailer. i'm not getting someone else to build my mini teardrop trailer. out back of the commercial space building that my print shop is in, is a carpentry shop called Gargoyle. i went in with my notes/plans/books and showed it all to the owner sean. loves the style, never seen a teardrop before, he doesn't have time to work on it for three weeks, yet i need it now, so....he will supervise and oversee my plans, help me cut out the parts, make recommendations etc, and when it's all ready to be put together, i can rent his shop for $100 for one day to build it.

Myself.

i'm ordering two 5' x 5' sheets of 1/4" Baltic birch for the sides

one sheet of 5' x 5' 1/2" Baltic birch for the base

one 4' x 8' sheet of 3/8" Wiggle Board for the top curved parts (has anyone seen this stuff? it is incredible!)

three 8' lengths of 1" x 3" clear pine, that we will cut down to 3/4" x 3/4" for all the struts

there will be two circular plexiglass portholes on the sides, they're useless but i want em there anyway.

so i'll get the lumber in the next two days while i draw up my plans, then early next week we'll cut out the sides. i'll take pix of all of it and post em here.

i'm stoked!

stacey case.
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Postby darockrider » Sun Jul 10, 2005 9:10 pm

Stacey,

Sounds like you will have a very strong trailer but how will the weight of all that wood affect your ability to ride the trike any distance espcially after you load your cargo?

You might have been better to have had a light weight aluminium tube frame formed and attached the aluminium skin directly to the frame with pop rivets. All you need to be strong is the floor and the axle set-up to hold the weight of your cargo the rest is just window dressing. 3/8" wiggle board is great but even my motorcycle teardrop only has 1/8" ply around the curved edge, much lighter than 3/8. My full size teardrop has aluminium directly over the wood frame- no sub surface ply on the curved edge. a sheet of 1/8" ply is very light but 3/8" is 3 times as heavy!

Add up the weights of all that wood and figure the weight of your cargo and decide if you can actually deal with it behind the trike.

Just my 2 cents.

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Trailer..

Postby BerkelUSA » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:12 pm

buddylee wrote:just to clarify - my trike is a big pedal bicycle. that's what makes getting a small teardop trailer for it so great. it makes no sense...yet it makes all the sense in the world.

stacey.


I think what you want is just a smaller tow-behind trailer to go up the road and grab some boxes right??

I would use .065 wall square tubing and some bicycle tires if thats what you mean??

:thinking:

My son's been beating on this thing a year now (all .065 tube) and its still going strong..

Image

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materials

Postby jay » Fri Sep 30, 2005 2:18 pm

yeah; all that weight? you're in for a tough into the wind haul.

just how big does this thing have to be? you have to figure the shirts are going to weigh something too.....

lemme see....5 ounces each = 3.1 shirts per pound x.....
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Postby the pvc bike guy » Thu Jun 25, 2009 10:32 pm

angib wrote:Stacey,

I did a design for a tiny baggage trailer in the shape of the Cub/Modernaire (the full size Cub is the dotted line), but took it off my site due to running out of space:

Image

The trailer is built on the small (48" x 40") Harbor Freight utility trailer:

Image

If you want me to email it to you as a pdf or dxf file, let me know.

Andrew
angib (at) blueyonder.co.uk


How about a design that is about 8ft X 3 for towing behind a bicycle that looks just like a teardrop with kitchen and drawers :QM
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Postby the pvc bike guy » Thu Jun 25, 2009 10:36 pm

buddylee wrote:thanks guys!

my trailer guy Kurt is a friend of a friend; he's apparently built lots of bike trailers, but never a teardrop bike trailer. i just went by his place to give him the trailer wheels, and a bunch of pictures of teardrops, and some plans i found online from an old copy of popular mechanix. he is very intrigued.

he had a feeling i was gonna go old-school cuz i kinda am old-school anyway, plus it'll fit nicely with the lines of the trike. i said i know they're pointless on my trailer, but i think i want round plexiglass portholes on the sides, and Kurt goes oh yeah, we should definitely do that.

i'm already thinking about the paint job. or not. i don't know yet, i'm just excited.

my wife doesn't know about this yet. she is gonna kill me ha ha! but i don't care, it'll be good for the print shop.

adios,

stacey.

ps yup i gots a digital camera, i'll take pix as it's being built!


:worship: Please Please let me see what it looks like.
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Postby Prem » Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:13 am

buddylee,

Love your idea. Keep us in photos as the build progresses, please.

Oh...make sure it has enough space to fit two boxes, eh?

Prem :thumbsup:
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