Trailer for 2 or 3 Bikes...Questions.

[upstateny]

Its time to find/build a trailer for moving bikes.

What do you use for moving 2 or 3 bikes at a time.

I'm for-seeing 2 sets of D rings for tie-downs, Chocks (so I can remove them easily to put our ATV on.

I've looked at the Trailers such as the 5x8 and 4x8 at TSC. And happen to have a frame similar in size sitting here.

So....for a flat trailer for 2-3 bikes...what should I incorporate into my Trailer "build."

thanks.

[CrazyTed]

I have helped folks put together trailers before and here are some ideas. The last guy wanted expanded metal as the deck material so the mud/dirt would drop through the trailer. He had removable wheel chocks on the front so he could use the trailer for other stuff besides bikes. He mounted six eye bolts to use as tie-down points on the front and several on the back to tether the rear wheels so they don't bounce around the back of the trailer too much. He then had an old plastic truck bed tool box laying around that we mounted on the tongue of the trailer for putting stuff in. Worked great. Some old milk crates worked great for putting his gas cans in. Added some water proof, LED tail lights and he was good to go.
Check out www.pitposse.com for some trailer part ideas.

[upstateny]

Thats pretty much exactly what I want to do, except with a Treated Plywood Deck.

Any suggestions on chocks?

Thanks

[Timlh]

Hi, Don't know if there is a down side to them other than cost but I've been using bike shoes for 10 plus years now they work great even used them with a flat front tire. The advantages are that forks aren't compressed. Easy quick clamp action. Up until recently I rarely tied down the back wheel and never had a problem. If you get lucky like I did and bought the second two for $50 used. The first one I bought new for $90 from Dennis Kirk. You can set them up so that you can bolt them right on if you rig up braces under your trailer with treaded holes. The only thing I would do regardless of what type deck material you use is I back mine up with a solid side to side metal brace in my case I welded nuts in place to the metal braces and bolted and welded the braces to the side frames of the trailer. For Gas cans I bought that white metal shelving used for closet organizers. I just cut it and held it together with small u clamps in the corners and tie wrapped in a few additional places. I use one of the black boxs sold at Home Depot and Lowes for tools etc. I also strongly suggest you carry a spare tire/ jack and lug wrench. In my case my truck lug iron and jack worked. I still carry a lug wrench and bottle jack in the Black box so they are quickly accessable and if I don't use my truck they are there. Good luck with what ever you decide.

[crickert24]

check out ezchock.com. I bought one but made another one that bolts down. I use them on my 5x10 utility trailer and in my van. They work great.

[Timlh]

Here is a link to the Bike shoes. http://pitposse.com/bikeshoe.html I failed to mention earlier that the bike shoes use no tie down straps so no fork compression at all. You simply roll the front wheel into the bike shoe and place the metal brace over the tire and pull the lever up and you are done. It actually clamps so tightly that the front tire is very compressed were the brace goes around the tire and were the front tire rests against the front of the bike shoe. Optionally you can use a strap or a bungee cord to keep the back tire in place. But I never even use to bother with strapping the back wheel down. It would move around some without the rear wheel tied down but the bike stays firmly attached to the trailer.

[CrazyTed]

I have used those types of chocks before with great success. They used to be called ATK bike shoes. I know use the system from SRT USA. www.srtusa.com . You can pack a bunch of bikes right next to each other as they don't move an inch.