OzSTOC
Farkles, Gear & Accessories => Trailers & Towing => Topic started by: BigTed on June 21, 2015, 11:25:23 AM
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Hiyas, I'm starting to think seriously now about my trailer for a circuit of Oz in 2017. I'm looking at either buying ready-made or a custom build and placing a cheap cargo pod on type. There are various options for bike trailers for carrying bikes (just a frame and runners), and I'm wondering about modifying one of those. However, they typically don't have suspension.
As a result, I'm wondering about the effectiveness of suspension on a lightweight trailer. It seems that the smallest suspension load that can be bought is around the 250kg mark - probably more than double what I'd expect to be towing. I'm thinking that the suspension wouldn't actually be loaded much and would just bounce around behind the bike anyway. So, for those of you that have trailers, do you find you get much movement/travel in the suspension or does it actually bounce?
Cheers, Rob.
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I can only speak for the two trailers that I've towed.
Both had rubber torsion bar suspension and were quite stable. The torsion bar does the same as the leaf/coil springs but uses low air pressure in the tyres to act as a shock absorber rather than a separate shock unit. I would think that a torsion bar suspension would mean the trailer body would sit lower compared to the leaf spring type giving a lower centre of gravity which might mean more stability.
My current mid sized Classic trailer weighs 90 kg and is rated to carry 200 kg and I do notice that if one of the wheels tracks into a pot hole that side wheel cause the trailer to tilt but I haven't noticed any trailer bounce.
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short answer Rob = yes
anything that will absorb the loads placed onto the chassis by Australias great roads will benefit the ride, safety and longevity of your gear
you put 200kg over the tyres inflated to carry the load then hit a reasonable pot hole
the shock effect is magnified which has got to be a good thing for stability of the towing rig and everything inside the trailer.
simple test find a platform to jump off thats about 12" high
jump off it and keep your knees straight, the shock effect will be distributed through your entire chassis (skeleton)
now do it and absorb the load through bent knees and see the difference
if your looking at shocks for a low load application that are also cheap and easy to get
check the range of kiddies quad bike shocks available on evil bay
thats what i used to re vamp the suspension for Pezz's trailer and it works a treat
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Hi Big Ted,
Have tried to pm you but the system can not find you.
If you are interested in obtaining a trailer please give me a call , 99341571 or PM me with your email.
I have a trailer that I built a couple of years ago for the exact same purpose , but I had to cancel my trip because of bad health etc.
This trailer might suit your purpose . I can send details and photos if you require.
Regards ,
Winston66, Northampton
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Winston,
To contact BigTed, just click on the envelope or speech bubble under his name. The envelop is email, and the bubble is a PM.
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Ta Brock , I will try that,
Incidentally there is no envelope under BigTed name and one of the other links takes me to something called the nook, however the green dot says (PM)
Cheers Winston66