The Chopper Compendium

I've been wondering what happened to this.That's gonna be cool man.

making some progress most of the welding is done and we were able to do a short road test. All that's left to weld up is a bar to hold the tail light up - hopefully that will be done next week then I can finally get my hands on it so as to get it painted up and wired up.

Going with LED's. Have the main wire harness for the bike but am waiting on a 5 way to 4 way (wire) converter plus the tail light I was shipped turned out to be the wrong tail light and am waiting for the correct one to arrive early next week. I'll be using a single 15" long LED strip with 11 lights or bulbs that work as both turn signals, brake and running lights. If I understand DOT rules correctly, since the trailer is less than 80" wide, side marker lights are not required, however I will be using 3/4" diameter red (rear) and amber (forward) side marker LED lights with 3 lights or bulbs each that will attached directly to the trailer frame.

The tongue came out longer than expected but for now I'm just going to go with it.

I did a couple of runs up and down the block and I honestly couldn't tell it was back there. I even swerved back and forth and still couldn't tell it was back there. To tell the truth, I think we were all surprised at how well it handled.

Hopefully all the links work! Oh yeah, it took me a few seconds to realize there's nothing to really see after the bike and trailer get so far away from the camera so the "pulling away" video is longer than it should be...D'oh!

Jobs a good'n

custom fit homebrew utility. Ya gotta love it.

tks all

I can see how some might consider it over kill just to be able to carry a couple of bags and think that I should have just mounted a rack on the tour pak. I'd rather have the weight down below rather than up high though.

I'm still sort of shock how it came together and worked...had suspected something might be out of alignment so bad that the trailer would be a couple of inches further to one side than the other.

Still have to come up with a fender of some sort. If I can't find anything decent within the next week or two, might just go with a flat board or something mounted between the two baskets. Time frame is getting short - I need to look at getting it licensed/registered with the state during the month of June so we can be ready to hit the road to California July 6th...getting anxious!

real nice work there i like the dog got that look like where the hell he goin have you tryed it with weight on it yet

Came out nice dude.Will the lenght affect how the bike handles?

haven't tried it while loaded yet. Using the 3D model of this design I crunched some numbers and the tongue weight came in at around 26lbs with a 30" tongue, note that length is only the 1 1/2" sq tube forward of the vertical 1 1/2" sq tube, it doesn't count the length of the u-joint assy. That was with approx 20lbs in each basket.

I added 6" to the tongue length of the 1 1/2" sq tube so it's 36" now. Also the u-joint assy came out longer than I had hoped for.

We discovered the u-joint contacts itself if it's rotated too much, so I suspect I wouldn't be able to turn around on a regular width street. But it handled fine making the u-turns.

I see sort of a "whip lash" effect the trailer does in one of those videos in one of the turns/leans my friend did while test driving it, so I don't think I'll be racing this setup on a dirt track that's for sure!

I did the 1st couple of runs up and down the street while someone rode behind me checking alignment. The big guy who did the test rides in the videos is one of the friends who rides with us on the weekends and trips we take every year so I trust em!

finally towed the trailer home last night. Had it out on the highway with the cruise set to 65 or so. Handled just fine. I did feel a little bit of the wind rocking the trailer back and forth but it wasn't enough to actually affect the bike.

This evening I put two logs weighing approx 26 lbs each, one in each side basket. Every now and then while I was going down the road, it felt like I had a passenger riding along that wasn't aware they should just follow the bike and not try to counter-act a lean going into a corner - wasn't as bad as a real passenger (or two) has done in the past - you know, when they lean too far and throw you out of the curve! In a couple of turns, it felt like the re-balancing effect the trailer did actually pushed on the bike some - note to self, just take it easy and try not to make any sudden moves in turn!

Tore it down this evening with the intentions of taking a wire wheel to it to remove any rust, etc then decided I may as well drill all the holes for the lights and kickstand before I take the wire wheel to it.

A couple of rum and cokes later I decided to tackle the drilling tomorrow evening. That was because I had already gone up to the hardware store to pick up a 1 1/8" wrench to remove the hitch receiver from the bike plus some paint but forgotten I need a 3/4" drill bit for the side marker lights...

It never fails, for any project I do, I seem to always make not one but two or three trips to the (hardware, auto parts, etc) store picking up the odd tool or device to complete something!

Will post pics of any forward progress I make - when I get there!

Regarding the length of the tongue...
IMHO, it is too long and should be shortened. The extra length (not needed) adds to the turning radius.
It also increases the effect of wind against the trailer. Similar to a longer lever on a fulcrum.
The longer tongue increases the force.
FWIW

now why did ya have to bring that up Bob? LOL Here I was hoping to skate by and not have to figure actual tongue weight...

Yes, I know that should be done anyway.

I'll make a simple jig made out of 2x4 or 2x6 to take the place of the wheel - this is so I can use the bathroom scale method of figuring free-standing tongue weight, where the scale gets elevated to approx the tongue height, and the jig will balance the trailer at the approx height the wheel axle height is at.

we'll load the side baskets with approx 20lbs each, and I'll fill the cooler with ice and bottled water and place it in the forward basket, then check the tongue weight. If the tongue weight is close to 30lbs it will have to stay as is, but I suspect it might be under 20lbs, will just have to wait and see before I can commit to shortening the tongue.

Visually I agree with you Bob. It does look too long.

You might try checking the weight at the end of the tongue, and also at a point closer to the trailer axle.
I don't think there will be an appreciable difference, but could be wrong.

I've seen touring bikes pulling much larger trailers, but they were two wheelers. Point is, they had much more weight than you plan to haul.
As long as your load is equalized on each side, you should have no problems towing that weight.

Your manual will probably have some specification for recommended maximum payload weight over and above the weight of the bike with fluids.
Possibly for towing a trailer also. You might have mentioned this earlier in the thread tho.

Looks like a fun time tho, I love long distance trips, sharing them is even better.

Something to try... Angle the vertical pin of the joint, slightly forward. Check the pic. That will cause to trailer to lean just a bit more into the corner, improving the "feel" considerably. My design uses a similar arrangement, except the horizontal pivot is the rear axle and the vertical pivot is between the "tow-bar" and the body of the trailer. I played with it quite a bit and settled on 17 degrees forward.

bob, I sort of chuckled when you said the manual would have something in it about trailers - BUT I haven't confirmed it but I sort of doubt it with all the nay sayers I see on the web stating their issues concerning that their bikes were setup to pull trailers and the moco gave them flack about it.

***I will** be measuring the tongue weight and plan to do that within the week.

Groenie, kinda late for that now, but I do have another idea for a single wheel and I'm seriously considering building the pivot points rather than using another u-joint and that angle idea you mentioned, I've seen that before and it's on the list to do for the next one!

In my worldly searches looking for a fender that comes close to how I modeled it, it pays to think outside the box...

figured one day that the 2.5 x 14" wheel was about the same size as a 20" kids bike - soooo, began searching for 20" fenders

I found these 20" fenders for balloon tires and get this, they're made for a 1950 to 1960 bike;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330733804016?ss ... 1497.l2649





Sweet!

Got all the holes drilled this evening for the lights (grrrrr, metal shavings stuck between my fingers now ) now just have to drill a small hole to screw in the top tab of the fender - the screwdriver in the pics is holding the fender down at that location - that's where I'll mount the upper portion of the fender. The fenders came with the mounts as well, note these were new old stock so they are in perfect condition and even though the ebay ad states a light amount of rust, I got lucky on my pair and there's none

we'll figure out the location of the rear mounts later but did lay one of them on there to get some ideas.

We're also going to trim up the fender some, rough estimate is we'll cut off maybe 4 to 7 inches off the back side, and make the cut straight across to sort of accent or provide a similar look to the front fender on the electra glides (OK, that's the plan but will it turn out that way!). Then I'll put some primer on the cut and use maybe some 1/8" to 1/4" black rubber tubing split the long way and wrap it on the edge of the fender to cover the cut up.

Hoping to have the painting done within a week.

Damn good idea, thats a sharp looking fender. Looks like a perfect fit.