Mono Wheel Trailer project - ideas and parts

Bigmak96 said:

Looks good. Are there plans to shorten the tubes the bolts run through on your mount? It looks like a pinch point should you hit a substantial dip in the road.

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I don't think you're seeing the articulation of it right...the up/down movement is controlled by the tube under the towbar, this tube is pinched between 2 rose joints, it can go up about 45deg, and down 90deg !!
The turning movement is done by the 2 rose ball joints (one above the other).

Ah, cool, I obviously thought it was all in the Heime joint.

Looks good! My only suggestion would be a sleeve in the two boxes you are bolting your universal joints through. Just a round piece of tubing to run the bolt through. Basically hold the tubing in place when you run the bolt through the bottom of the box, through the piece of tubing, through the top of the box. This would prevent the crushing of the box when tightening the nut.

schlep1967 said:

Looks good! My only suggestion would be a sleeve in the two boxes you are bolting your universal joints through. Just a round piece of tubing to run the bolt through. Basically hold the tubing in place when you run the bolt through the bottom of the box, through the piece of tubing, through the top of the box. This would prevent the crushing of the box when tightening the nut.

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Yep, done that... I've inserted a tube in the box sections. Thanks for all suggestions because I could miss something - and this is one project where it has to be right - failure not an option (famous last words!!).
I have plastic end caps for the box sections too, but not fitting them until all welding done and chassis painted. I'm considering spraying the sides of the box to match the bike and probably the mudguard/fender.

Just a quick update. Couldn't find a suitable aftermarket mudguard so took it upon myself to make/mould one out of fibreglass. No prizes for what I used as the mould... it's left an interesting pattern on the guard which I might just keep rather than 'fillering'.
Now waiting on some LED lights coming to start designing the back end, also going to fit LED side marker lights - my thoughts are that other road users don't expect a trailer behind a motorcycle so I want it conspicuous.

jamesappleton said:

Just a quick update. Couldn't find a suitable aftermarket mudguard so took it upon myself to make/mould one out of fibreglass. No prizes for what I used as the mould... it's left an interesting pattern on the guard which I might just keep rather than 'fillering'.
Now waiting on some LED lights coming to start designing the back end, also going to fit LED side marker lights - my thoughts are that other road users don't expect a trailer behind a motorcycle so I want it conspicuous.

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Wow, that's thinking outside the box or inside the tire. Anyway I like it. Of course I couldn't do that as it would have patch marks all over it.

Where I've got to now....


I've re-designed the hitch yet again, this is the third attempt, the rose jointed hitch just didn't look strong enough (over engineer it, rather than have a failure). So, to scale up the design I used 'bearing blocks' and bottom ball joints.
Frame made and LEDs fitted, just the number/licence plate to fit between the lights. The small rack at the front will hopefully hold my portable BBQ and the rack at the back for a waterproof bag.
I'm waiting on slightly warmer weather before having a go at spraying the sides of the box and mudguard to match the bike - I got aerosols mixed to the right colour.

That looks very nice, can't wait (I'm sure you in same boat) to hear how you like towing it!

Almost finished now, just couple of wee jobs to do. I didn't paint the top of the box as I'll probably be strapping on a kit bag which would only scratch any paint. The picture with the hitch shows the towbar off the bike.
I've done a test ride with about 25kg / 60lbs of load in the box - I'm really pleased with the way it handles, it's most noticable at slower speeds when 'falling' into corners but as the speed increases it is less noticable behind.

Looking good!! Almost ready to get that out on the road.

I saw a bike in Daytona yesterday that had a cut up tire for a front fender. I immediately thought of this build. FWIW yours is a much nicer fender.