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Single Wheel Motorbike Trailer Experiment

Having seen one of these many years ago when on holiday in France, I thought it would be interesting to see how practical it actually is. Using a scooter wheel from the dismantled 3 wheels STV experiment and an old mountain bike rear spring, I built this. Hitched to the VFFF feet forward bike, I loaded it with a 40 kg bag of coal and rode it down a bumpy road.

It towed fine, but the swing arm on the VFFF is too torsionally flexible so I could feel the trailer steering the bike as it rocked laterally on bumps.

Conclusions

  • The hitching point on the bike should be torsionally stiff.
  • The total mass carried is limited, especially if carried high up. Same effect as a pillion on the handling of a bike.
  • On an off-road bike with a light pay load it could work very well, following the bike’s wheel track.
  • I have an idea for a torsionally stiff mount sharing the load between the rear seat subframe and the swing arm, but no actual use for such a trailer.
  • For heavy loads, a non-tilting trailer is probably better in most cases. I have an idea about that too which seems worth an experiment. Some time.
  • Overall length of a single wheel tilter is greater than that for a non tilter.