#5

[ghcoe]

Well #4 is done and gone so now onto #5. This build it not a build for a vehicle, but rather a bicycle, to be more exact a E-Bike.

While in the process of selling #3 I was approached by a person who was interested in if I could build a travel trailer for a bicycle under 100lbs. Well good question so challenge accepted. I am currently into this build quite a ways and it does seem that I should easily come in under 100lbs. At this point I am hoping for 75lbs.

Floor with inner frame rails attached.

Walls mocked up for window placements.

 

[ghcoe]

Once I figured out where I wanted the windows I cut them out.

Then the spackle to smooth things out on the printed side.

Then a sanding to smooth the walls out.

 

[ghcoe]

Then it was time to cut the canvas to length.

Then roll up the canvas and get it ready to be glued down.

A hour later we have a canvased wall.

 

[ghcoe]

Once the canvas is dry I cut back the canvas where glue will be applied for assembly and cut out the windows.

Then a quick test fit to make sure the windows fit properly with the canvas installed.

I weighted the wall with the windows fitted at this point, it came in at 11lbs.

 

[GPW]

 

[skyl4rk]

this is gonna be good...

 

[ghcoe]

this is gonna be good...

I was wondering how long it was going to take till you found out...

 

[ghcoe]

Not to much got done this weekend as far as working on the trailer.

I basically only got to cutting the excess canvas off the other wall and prepped up some templates and a hot wire cutter for the shelves.

I am adding two shelves to the front of the trailer.

 

[Terra6]

Another fun project.

Have pondered this exact same thing a couple times with an electric bike for touring. If only solar recharge feasable would be the greatest thing ever. Not an expert but my basic understanding is demand use exceeds slow solar recharge capacity. Damn. But going to campgrounds or other 110v source, can charge overnight. Ideal 2 batteries.

Having built many years ago a basic bike trailer from cedar and metal studs to do touring, didn't work out well for me and had to scrap the bike touring thing quickly.
Trailer was maybe 18x30 and light. Great.
Problem was my camping equipment and stuff was too heavy. Didn't have the luxury of ultralightweight gear back in the day.
Hard to pedal, never mind uphill and wind, plus braking hazard from momentum. Especially downhill. Just my experience fyi.
There is a traveler setup like this on YouTube who does this. Think it's corroplast if I remember correctly.

But back to the build.
What will you be doing for axle and wheels? Dimensions? Or did I miss that?
Bike racers measure everything in grams so whatever you can do to the extreme to reduce weight is huge.
Less paint and glue to minimize weight.
So why not a lighter floor than OSB? Would think this is the ideal place for a luaun foam sandwich torsion box that everyone talks about.
And in theory, just the torso or major weight bearing section. The ends could be even lighter, just luaun.
Couple thoughts to ponder.

 

[ghcoe]

Another fun project.

Have pondered this exact same thing a couple times with an electric bike for touring. If only solar recharge feasable would be the greatest thing ever. Not an expert but my basic understanding is demand use exceeds slow solar recharge capacity. Damn. But going to campgrounds or other 110v source, can charge overnight. Ideal 2 batteries.

Having built many years ago a basic bike trailer from cedar and metal studs to do touring, didn't work out well for me and had to scrap the bike touring thing quickly.
Trailer was maybe 18x30 and light. Great.
Problem was my camping equipment and stuff was too heavy. Didn't have the luxury of ultralightweight gear back in the day.
Hard to pedal, never mind uphill and wind, plus braking hazard from momentum. Especially downhill. Just my experience fyi.
There is a traveler setup like this on YouTube who does this. Think it's corroplast if I remember correctly.

But back to the build.
What will you be doing for axle and wheels? Dimensions? Or did I miss that?
Bike racers measure everything in grams so whatever you can do to the extreme to reduce weight is huge.
Less paint and glue to minimize weight.
So why not a lighter floor than OSB? Would think this is the ideal place for a luaun foam sandwich torsion box that everyone talks about.
And in theory, just the torso or major weight bearing section. The ends could be even lighter, just luaun.
Couple thoughts to ponder.

Thanks!
I purchased a cargo bicycle trailer to scavenge the axle, wheels and hitch from. It was more economical to do it that way than to purchase them separately.
The dimensions are 7'6"x3'6". I did some research on some trailers that are made/manufactured in Europe and found that the dimensions I came up with were pretty close. There is however no real set way to build a bicycle trailer I found out.
My clients wanted a trailer that was no more than 100lbs. Doing the calculations in my head I figured I could easily come in under 100lbs even using OSB for the floor. I decided that since this was the first build it was probably better to stick with something I knew. Of course that was at the start of the build, but now I may try to lighten the floor since yes there is a lot of weight there. The trailer is planned to be towed behind a cargo e-bike, so I guess they have bigger capacities than a standard commuter e-bike. Most of the standard e-bikes I have looked at have a weight capacity of 275lbs-300lbs.

 

[printer-TNT]

Another fun project.

Have pondered this exact same thing a couple times with an electric bike for touring. If only solar recharge feasable would be the greatest thing ever. Not an expert but my basic understanding is demand use exceeds slow solar recharge capacity. Damn. But going to campgrounds or other 110v source, can charge overnight. Ideal 2 batteries.

I was part of a team building a solar car racer. The cars were all built low and flat with the maximum area for solar cells. The cars were also allowed to sit and charge the batteries at the end of the day with the cars tilted to face the sun. Just looked up solar bikes.

https://electrek.co/2018/09/27/solar-po ... e-journey/

 

[printer-TNT]

Another fun project.

Have pondered this exact same thing a couple times with an electric bike for touring. If only solar recharge feasable would be the greatest thing ever. Not an expert but my basic understanding is demand use exceeds slow solar recharge capacity. Damn. But going to campgrounds or other 110v source, can charge overnight. Ideal 2 batteries.

Having built many years ago a basic bike trailer from cedar and metal studs to do touring, didn't work out well for me and had to scrap the bike touring thing quickly.
Trailer was maybe 18x30 and light. Great.
Problem was my camping equipment and stuff was too heavy. Didn't have the luxury of ultralightweight gear back in the day.
Hard to pedal, never mind uphill and wind, plus braking hazard from momentum. Especially downhill. Just my experience fyi.
There is a traveler setup like this on YouTube who does this. Think it's corroplast if I remember correctly.

But back to the build.
What will you be doing for axle and wheels? Dimensions? Or did I miss that?
Bike racers measure everything in grams so whatever you can do to the extreme to reduce weight is huge.
Less paint and glue to minimize weight.
So why not a lighter floor than OSB? Would think this is the ideal place for a luaun foam sandwich torsion box that everyone talks about.
And in theory, just the torso or major weight bearing section. The ends could be even lighter, just luaun.
Couple thoughts to ponder.

Thanks!
I purchased a cargo bicycle trailer to scavenge the axle, wheels and hitch from. It was more economical to do it that way than to purchase them separately.
The dimensions are 7'6"x3'6". I did some research on some trailers that are made/manufactured in Europe and found that the dimensions I came up with were pretty close. There is however no real set way to build a bicycle trailer I found out.
My clients wanted a trailer that was no more than 100lbs. Doing the calculations in my head I figured I could easily come in under 100lbs even using OSB for the floor. I decided that since this was the first build it was probably better to stick with something I knew. Of course that was at the start of the build, but now I may try to lighten the floor since yes there is a lot of weight there. The trailer is planned to be towed behind a cargo e-bike, so I guess they have bigger capacities than a standard commuter e-bike. Most of the standard e-bikes I have looked at have a weight capacity of 275lbs-300lbs.

I was considering use a Baltic Birch sandwich with foam in between for my trailer but went with plywood. One inch foam and 1/8" plywood might be lighter. I measured the Mahogany plywood I have and it is lighter than Birch. Maybe a ply top and wrapped bottom?

 

[JazzVinyl]

https://electrek.co/2018/09/27/solar-powered-electric-bicycle-journey/[/quote

WOW!! I would never have imagined that an 8,000 mile electric bicycle trip, was possible!

Paint me, amazed

All they sell here, in bike shops these days, are (about $2000.00) electric bikes. 20 miles or so, is the max you can expect to get from their rigs, Out on the local bike paths, the electric bikes are going so fast, that it is absolutely frightening to us pedal power riders.



.

 

[ghcoe]

Progress this week.

Applied canvas to the ceiling side of the roof panel.

Once dried I trimmed the excess canvas off.

 

[ghcoe]

I had forgot to cut out the left wall shelf dados the week before so I had to cut those out.

 

[ghcoe]

Now for the fun part.
With some discussions here and other forums I decided to try a different approach for the floor. I am going to try to make a floor with 2" foam sandwiched of course with canvas on both sides. There will be a spine down the middle that will connect the hitch to the axle so I think it should be plenty strong enough.

Here is the floor getting cut out.

I cut dado's along the sides. This is where the walls will bed into the floor since I am doing away with the inner frame rails. Inner frame rails would be hard to install in foam anyway.

I am painting both sides of the floor with bonding primer before applying the canvas.

so I weighed the foam floor and it weighs 4lbs at this point. That is 29lbs. lighter than the OSB floor I made already. I hope this works well because that might get me in under 50lbs. for the complete build.

Well I am waiting for canvas to dry as I type. Hope to get the other side of the floor done tomorrow morning so I can start piecing this thing together.

 

[JazzVinyl]

Well I am waiting for canvas to dry as I type. Hope to get the other side of the floor done tomorrow morning so I can start piecing this thing together.

Looks good. How tall will it be? Thinking about cross winds...

 

[ghcoe]

probably about 58" total. It does seem like quite a bit of exposed sidewall, but it is in line with European commercial and home builds that I could find. There are some units that have pop ups, but I am not a big fan of pop ups. To me they seem flimsy, with too many places for water, wind, bugs to get in.

 

[GeorgeDS]

Ooh, this is interesting. AM i correct in assuming you used 1 inch thick foam for the walls ?

Covering the floor with 1/8 inch to give it a bit of protection will still save you over 20 pounds on the osb floor, no ?

 

[ghcoe]

Ooh, this is interesting. AM i correct in assuming you used 1 inch thick foam for the walls ?

Covering the floor with 1/8 inch to give it a bit of protection will still save you over 20 pounds on the osb floor, no ?

Yes easy.

I just weighed the floor with both sides canvas and it was 8.5lbs. I tested the strength by placing some supports under the wall areas and it held my weight no problem. There will be a small frame that will run down the middle to attach the hitch and axle together. This will also help with supporting weight in the center.

I will be adding 1/2" high density foam to the floor. I think at this time that it should protect the floor enough to keep it from denting with pressure points. I like the 1/2" foam because it holds cargo in place well and is comfortable to move around on.

I weighed everything individually and at this point it looks to be about 45lbs. That gives me 5lbs for exterior glue and paint. If I calculated it correctly it should be right at 50lbs. If not is should be well under 60lbs. Not bad since I was starting at 100lbs.