Giving an Old Bike Trailer a New Life

Back when my kids were young, I had one of those bike trailers that you could toss the brats into, hook up to the bike, and drag them away from the TV for a few hours at the park.

It was a really nice trailer. I could dump a hundred pounds in it, hook it up to the trike, and barely even feel it back there.

A couple of decades have gone by since then. The aluminum frame, bearings, wheels, hitch, and all of the other mechanical parts are still in great shape. Unfortunately, the nylon covers didn't fare quite as well. They are now dry-rotted and pretty much useless.

So I figured, why not tear it down and rebuild it?

I would love to buy a new, purpose-built cargo trailer. As a matter of fact, here is the one I really want:

VEVOR Bike Cargo Trailer

VEVOR Bike Cargo Trailer,

Unfortunately, there is one small problem with that plan.

I can't afford it.

So, instead of buying a new trailer, I'm going to rebuild the one I already have and give it another life. 

At this point, it's basically just a wooden box on wheels.

The floor is made from 1/2-inch plywood. The sides are 1/4-inch hardboard—the same kind of stuff you find on the back of inexpensive furniture and pegboards.

The blue is nothing fancy. It's just some cheap vinyl wrap I put on it because, well, if you're going to build something out of plywood and hardboard, you might as well dress it up a little.

It may not be the prettiest cargo trailer in the world, but I'm hoping that with a little work, I can turn this old trailer into something that will actually be useful.

And I have a few very good reasons for wanting a trailer for my trike.

Fluids

I'm a Type 2 diabetic, and one of my problems is that I stay thirsty pretty much all the time—especially when I'm out riding my trike.

I've been carrying two water bottles and a thermos, which gives me about a gallon of water.

That sounds like plenty, and it is...until you're riding around outside on a hot day.

The problem is that the water bottles get hot, and after they've been sitting around for a while, everything inside them gets pretty nasty.

What I really want is a small cooler that I can put in the trailer. That way I can keep my drinks cool for a lot longer and make those longer rides a whole lot more enjoyable.

Radio

The next reason is radio.

I want to be able to take some of my radio equipment with me when I go riding. The idea is to be able to stop at a park, set up somewhere comfortable, and operate portable for a couple of hours.

The trailer gives me enough room to carry the radio equipment, batteries, antennas, and whatever else I need without trying to figure out how to strap all of it onto the trike.

It also means I don't have to choose between taking my radio gear or taking everything else I need for the ride.

Food

Food is another big one.

For the same reason I need to carry plenty of fluids, I need to have something to eat with me. I also need to have my diabetic medication along for the ride.

Having a trailer means I don't have to cram everything into a backpack or find creative ways to attach it to the trike.

I can have the things I need with me and still have room left over.

Video

And then there is the video equipment.

I'd like to take along a few pieces of video gear so I can record some of my adventures and share them with you.

I'm hoping to document some of these rides, the places I visit, the radio operations, and probably a whole bunch of other things that seem like a good idea at the time.

That's one of the reasons I'm excited about rebuilding this trailer.

It's not going to be just a trailer for hauling stuff.

It's going to become part of the whole adventure.

So that's where the project stands right now.

I started with an old trailer that has been sitting around for a couple of decades. The mechanical parts are still good, but the original fabric has given up the ghost.

Rather than throw the whole thing away, I'm going to see if I can turn that old frame into a useful cargo trailer.

I'm not a professional builder, and I'm certainly not the best craftsman in the world.

But I figure I can probably hobble something together.

Let's see what I can build.

350 Miles on UHF

I just talked to Timothy Harper W5TAH on 446 MHz. He was in an airplane at 35,000 feet between Broken Bow and Texarkana. Typically this frequency its good for up to 10 miles depending upon terrain.  On VHF and UHF the height of your antenna.  He was using an HT but because he was in an airplane it was as if his antenna was 35,000 feet tall. Between his location and my house was 350 miles. My personal best record distance for UHF

The time that I was a member of the Russian Ballot on Ice

 In 1990 the Russian Ballot On Ice were on a world tour and they were in Oklahoma City and suddenly their country no longer existed. The Soviet Union had collapsed. So the ice skaters were in a foreign country with no place to go, no way to get back home, no money for food or lodging.  They were in a bad place. At some point they connected with the Nazarene Church and the church took care of them. Fast forward to March 1995, the Nazarene Church had raised enough money for them to do some shows at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds, and these shows would raise enough money for all of the ice skaters could go back home to their families.   

Of course they were ecstatic. As a way to say thanks to the Nazarene Church they had members of the churches from all across the OKC Metro and the members of  the Nazarene Church would sit in the audience and at certain times during the show we would get up and sing different songs. It was such a wonderful event to be a part of. 

On the last night of the show we were allowed to go back stage and meet all of the ice skaters. They were so happy that they were walking on air. All of the shows was a success and soon they would be in a plane heading home. We all went to back stage area and started meeting these wonderful people. After a while me and my brother in law at the time decided to go outside for a smoke break. Before we made it outside a group of three people saw us and guessed that I was a skater and my brother in law was my bodyguard. So they came up and asked for my autograph! My brother in law was going to say now but I whispered, lets roll with this. So I signed autographs for these people and before I could finish more people wanted autographs. Pretty soon we had a group of 10-15 people all standing around us. They gave me flower and balloons, the ladies with their lipstick on were kissing me on the cheek. They took a bunch of pictures. It was so funny and I was doing everything I could not to bust up laughing. My brother in law just rolled his eyes cause he had known me long enough to know of the stuff I would do. 

After about 30 minutes we finally made it outside to have our smoke. By this time the people that I was with (my sister, my future wife [we weren't dating at this time], and future mother in law, came outside to check on us and saw that we had a bunch of flowers and balloons and my face covered in lipstick kisses. I also had a pocket full of phone numbers. Me and my brother in law were laughing so hard that we had trouble telling everyone what happend, they didn't want to believe us cause it was so ridiculous, yet we had the flowers, balloons, phone numbers. 

Please follow this blog to read more stories as I share them. Feel free to leave comments in the comments section below. As always you can contact me at Aaron@K5ATG.com