I have a Honda Trail CT125(Little Red Donkey) arriving soon. I'd like to build a tow behind trailer for the LRD. This trailer will be used specifically for longer distance ADV riding. My requirement are very basic: 1. Extremely light weight. The LRD has about 8hp and basic brakes and a cruising speed at about 40mph 2. Able to haul about 50 pounds. Probably all in a 27 liter plastic box. 3. Some lite duty dirt roads at slow speeds. I've used Aluminum extrusion (1020) before and am very impressed with the ease of use and strength. So, I'm leaning towards building the basic frame/rails from 1520 or 1530. I'm going to make the 'tongue' from 1.5" electrical conduit as I can hand bend this at home. I'd like to have suspension on this to help with the stability and ride. I'm looking for suggestion on extremely lite weight Leaf Spring or torsion. So far the lightest Leaf I can find is in the 250 pound range. Suggestions? The wheels: I'm looking at 14" ball bearing hub (like a wheel barrel), Bicycle wheel, and a 4 bolt standard trailer wheel-The trailer wheel will obviously then need a hub, etc. Suggestions? I know some of you have build hacks and the genious Ive seen over the years in the design and construction leads me to ask my question here. Mig
Since you are looking for lightweight solutions, consider a single center mount bicycle wheel on the trailer. With a 50# limit, canvas saddle bags will work for carrying gear and keep weight down. Post up photos of your progress, sound interesting.
This sub-forum is for anything with 3 wheels, so as long as your trailer ends up with a single wheel then this sub-forum is perfect!
The Kipmoto Sherpax uses a lightweight shock and spring -- https://kipmoto.com/pages/sherpax You could probably cobble up something similar.
There is a 44 page thread in vendors about the SherpaX Dual Sport Trailer like Drone posted: https://advrider.com/f/threads/sherpax-dual-sport-tow-behind-trailer.1188003/
I looked at the Sherpax, the TrailTail, etc. single wheel designs. I have two issues (questions) about the design. 1. I'm not sure either has a turning radius that is workable in street use. I get that the lean is how the single wheel turns but a sharp turn at a stand still or a slow speed upright turn will be defeated (im thinkin) by the dynamics of the single wheel hitch design. 2. I don't believe any of the hitch designs offered by either company will work, or be workable, on the CT125. Who owns a single wheel? Can you talk about sharp turns at an upright no lean slow speed?
The length of the mount from the bike's axle to the trailer's pivot will affect the turning radius. Shortening that alone should go a long way to being able to make sharper turns. If building your own, modify the pivot to yield a smaller radius. For your little CT, you could easily bring the mount from each side of the swing arm together closer to the rear wheel such that the trailer wouldn't hit the mount before the pivot. I would build a pivot on that set up that allows movement in both the vertical and horizontal directions, rather than what looks like just the horizontal with the SherpaX. No actual one wheel bike trailer experience here, just brain storming with the available information.
There was a company around a few years ago making single wheel trailers. I forget the name. They may still be around. I was impressed with their use of an automotive U-joint as the pivot on the hitch. Too big and heavy for the light weight unit you want to build, but there's no reason you couldn't use a smaller U-joint such as one from a car's steering shaft.
No problem with turning radius if you adapt the fifth wheel principle of hooking up the trailer. Make the pivot point on the bike's luggage rack directly above the rear axle. A vertical post pivot point will also assist in holding the trailer upright.
Been towing this trailer behind many different motorcycles for about 10 years in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Wore out the bicycle wheels that came with it and replaced them with pit bike wheels. https://www.aosom.com/item/aosom-elite-ii-bike-cargo-luggage-trailer-red-black~5664-0005R.html Towed it a lot on rough gravel roads and on paved roads like the Dragon and the Cherohala with no issues.
Another approach to the "too long wheelbase" issue by a bicycle trailer outfit called ExtraWheel. They move the trailer wheel up right behind the rear wheel, then hang panniers on each side of the wheel---> Nice beefy wheel on that one. 100 liters capacity. $770 for the non-DIY crowd. Tons of details in this vid-- https://extrawheelshop.com/bicycle-trailer-extrawheel-mate-bags-drifter-100l.html
SherpaX is just one way of skinning the single wheel trailer cat, BarNone's is another. Also look at what the Mountain Bike guys use for ideas: Remember if you are a weldor/fabricator you are only limited by your imagination:
this fella made his a bit heavy but the way he got the hitch part figured out plus your desire for aluminum construction and lighter weight wheel could work out fine for you..
Would a simple 3 bar linkage on a solid axle with a pair of mountain bike shocks provide light enough suspension for your use? It could probably be built lighter than a torsion bar suspension if it was made of aluminum.
The canvas on my trailer finally gave out so I now have a large plastic container with lid secured with a bungee. Tires are worn out so I bought some new ones and tubes. Jim Tom of the Moonshiners TV show here sitting on my Chinese bike liked the trailer so he bought one for his liquor scooter in the background. He really used it a lot since he didn't have a DL license. He just keeps using the bicycle tires. Also have one of the trailers that I use in Florida.
I used some long bolts out of my junk box that were the right diameter to fit inside the bearings in the pit bike wheels for new axles, I used some PVC pipe for spacers and u bolts on the pipe to support the axles. Drilled a hole in the bolt and used the existing to secure the axle (bolt) on the inboard side. Guess I could have used a long axle to go all the way across if I didn't already have those long bolts. All this will make more sense if you get the trailer. Also you can use the bicycle wheels that come with the trailer as I did for a year or two until you wear the tires out or replace the tires like Jim Tom did for many years. Unaltered axle set up.