Some of you might remember about a year ago, i was getting ideas for a Kiteboarding trailer to go behind a push bike, for a HSC Design and tech Metal majior project
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Kitesurfing/General/Bike-Trailers-for-Kiting-Gear/?whichpage=-1&REPLY_ID=359467
well a year later it's done! making it wasnt the hard part, the 20,000 word folio, vidios and pictures about the disign process and production was.
i was looking at a lighter stronger material like chrome molly, but it was really expensive and i didnt have the resources to use aliminum, so mild steal was the best option, it does weigh a bit but still fine for an average kiter to pull.
it takes 2 kites, harness, wetsuit, pump, bar and lines, 2 board's (eathier 2 surfboards, 2 TT or one of each
if everybody could comment on what they reckon, im going to use it as part of the evaluation
thanks in advance
I like it. It's always a trade-off between volume and sleek elegance, but your design shows the simple structure (red tubing) over the necessary boxiness of where you chuck the kites/harness/lines/towel/wetsuit/dog.
The contrast between the hard steel frame and soft fabric brings a postmodern aesthetic to the project, matching the interplay between masculine and feminine in the board slots.
The duct taping around the board carrier adds to the realism of the 4 phallus-like protrusions, erect, and proudly pointed skyward. The gently fraying board bag meanwhile is like the open petals of female genitalia.
Oh all right- you can cut out the 3rd paragraph if you don't want to talk about how sexual your project really is...
"gently fraying board bag"
With this phrase a new seabreeze standard of nuanced naughtiness has been set. Basho meets Walt Whitman. I'm inspired.
(Nice trailer too.)
i like it. Nice job man.
Just re read the old thread and I rate yours better than the bob yak and the quiver caddy for kiting purposes for sure. Looks like you could ride more normally with the way yours is connected and fit a ****load more stuff. This is the thread the people who buy those electric pumps should be reading. haha. ps hope you spell check your work better than your forum posts.
/ / / me too. How about some design specs and dwgs.
Ive got an old mate here thats gonna need a trailer just like that soon to get his poor old rear end down to the beach.
nice, I've been toyin with something similar out of old junk in the shed, looking at usin the same ideas you have...
then the other day saw this bloke riding a pushy with two front wheels and one rear, kinda like those indo/thai rickshaw thingamijigs.
the box section suspended between the two front wheels was huge, the rest of the frame hinged on the rear of the box section, so it pivoted off the front wheels to turn... kinda like a franna crane truck...
next step is to add a small motor
thanks everyone
yer it goes on pretty much any bike, the brace can flex a bit eathier way, the esky'd going to have to wait till after it gets marked though
nice rohjar.. to bad ive already printed my folio, would have sounded good haha
If I was to look critically at the design, the only concerns/ideas I'd have would be:
Board size - how far apart are the board rack? Would there be issues with a smaller board given your board seems to be in the limits? Only reason I ask is oart of your target market for buying this could be kids who may use smaller boards.
Could you not use a double board rack on one side to make it easier to add/remove items. You could probably also get more gear in then, because you could pile it a little higher?
Did you consider drain holes and/or potentially a wetbox in the design for a wetsuit and harness to drain. Could be used as a combo esky with ice on the way their, wet gear on the way back.
It would be great if you had a small lockable compartment for things like key, wallets etc. Obviously there is a risk that someone could steal the entire trailer but that require locking the trailer to something as well. The trick to a lockable compartment may be to find somewhere inconspicuous on the trailer to add it so that potential thieves wouldn't see it at first glance.
Lightweight would obviously be key, but as you mentioned, the cost of lightweight is pretty expensive. If you went commercial, it would probably be easy to mound some of the components from plastic which would save on weight.
It looks great. Well done!
Did you take width into account? Don't think you'll quite fit on a sidewalk in that, and the road is going to be tricky to ride on too, but hey take the boards off and I'll gladly hitch a ride in it.
I really like the design for the hitch - but is it easy to attach and remove?
The other bit I like is the board rack on the top of the trailer. At the moment I just occy my board to the top of my trailer.
The only thing I might be concerned about is the height of your trailer - I have found, even though my trailer is a lot lower than yours, that it is prone to rolling - especially if you hit the inside wheel on a bump whilst turning - but it is kind of a case of once you do it a couple of times, you become aware of the problem and back off on the speed. I say this could be an issue with your trailer because you have the boards sitting outside the width of your wheels - if you rolled the trailer to the left you would munt the edge of your twin tip.
The other thing is the width of your trailer shouldn't be wider than standard handlebars - that way you have a feel for the width of the trailer behind you.
I might be sounding critical but, that's an awesome effort for an HSC project, I hope you do really well!
Dunno if the effort to thrill ratio is high enough to not just go out and drop $250 on a trailer at the bike shop though... Barring the fact this is part of an HSC assessment!
I bought a 2 wheel trailer for my bike last season and it has been great - saves so much hassle on finding a car park and is probably faster to get to the beach in Summer (St Kilda or Brighton) than mucking around with a car!
sweet rig mate well done, my only concern as highlighted above is where to store your post session stubbie stash. I'm sure youve put great thought into this tho and it'll be full of beers once youve got your marks.
Parhaps some K Mart clip on hubcaps or some spokey dokes to pimp your wheels or will it end up on blocks after its first hour in the car park?
i was actually really surprised when i built that hitch, it was only going to be a prototype but it worked so well i just neatened it up and put it on.
it's just a telascopic small diamiter tube that slides out of the bigger size on the trailer draw bar, and then held with a bolt, really easy to disconect
i was thinking about the width issue, but nearly everybody rides on the road these days, it was a weigh up between boards or narrowness, i didnt want to have the boards fully verticial like alot of other trailers because of the wind would push the trailer around so i did a compromise.
for smaller boards, if they are to small to fit in the racks they can just sit ontop of the kites.
im still thinking up ideas for a lockable compartment, im just gona use the old bike chain for the moment though
thanks for all the feedback!!