A trailer for ebike or non ebike towing.

[guerney]

If you're lucky, you'll find some sticking out of a skip and be able to experiment for free.

Self-adhesive vinyl tiles are only (perplexingly) £2 (instead of £1) for 9 at Poundland. Their price increase beyond £1 is totally unacceptable, I should complain to trading standards, as it's contrary to all reasonable expectation given the name of the shop. I could wipe the floor-tile glue off and use a better glue. And/or simply use zipties, after drilling holes in the corners of the tiles, stiching the tiles in between large white rubble sacks.

Cable ties for impermanent permanent fixings.

Useful little things - I keep several handy all over my bike. My original plan was to use thin aluminium sheets daisy chained together with zipties, and secured to the sides with reusable zipties for easy removal. Would have been easy to fold away for storage. If I use double-walled polycarbonate sheet, I could glue 6mm rubber strips to the bars to secure them tightly against, reducing side rattle, and they'd be bouncing on 6 or 12mm rubber on the platform, which would reduce rattle on the platform, so it's deffo a viable plan.

 

[guerney]

Cable ties for impermanent permanent fixings.

I've done many a late night "Arrgggh! I've run out of milk for my tea!" 24 hour garage run, using ever present zipties to dangle plastic milk bottles to the handlebar.

 

[guerney]

If you're lucky, you'll find some sticking out of a skip and be able to experiment for free.

A small vinyl roll offcut from my local carpet shop, might work out even cheaper than Poundland.

 

[guerney]

For next year's transport of pumpkin harvest by bike trailer, I'm going to cut this shape from the large roll of 6mm rubber sheet I have in the loft, with the central square for the base of the big white rubble sack, the sides will drawn together when inserted. The bouncing about did cause damage and usher in a rapid decomposition of two of them this time - and there was a lot of bouncing due to my unknowingly dragging a bike trailer with a flat tyre for 12 miles. Pumpkins are denser than most shopping, so I expect the combination will keep that inside the trailer too.

 

[guerney]

I've just found this video detailing how to make cheap flat sheets from PVC pipe, which could form cheap trailer sides, or boxes for electronics:

 

[guerney]

@Nealh - are there anti-vaxers in your hives?

US government approves use of world’s first vaccine for honeybees
Hopes of a new weapon against diseases that routinely ravage colonies that are relied upon for food pollination

US government approves use of world’s first vaccine for honeybees

Hopes of a new weapon against diseases that routinely ravage colonies that are relied upon for food pollination

www.theguardian.com

 

[guerney]

Spotted a Giant Halfway in the flesh last night while waiting for a train, the owner was a MB fan and we had a enjoyable conversation between stops... but his face dropped when I told him I'd read forum reports of the the Halfway sometimes snapping halfway. Black frame, 1.5" narrow Marathon Pluses... told me of his escape by canal path from London - it didn't snap halfway the entire time or since.

 

[guerney]

‘Bees are sentient’: inside the stunning brains of nature’s hardest workers
‘Fringe’ research suggests the insects that are essential to agriculture have emotions, dreams and even PTSD, raising complex ethical questions

‘Bees are sentient’: inside the stunning brains of nature’s hardest workers

‘Fringe’ research suggests the insects that are essential to agriculture have emotions, dreams and even PTSD, raising complex ethical questions

www.theguardian.com

 

[jimriley]

‘Bees are sentient’: inside the stunning brains of nature’s hardest workers
‘Fringe’ research suggests the insects that are essential to agriculture have emotions, dreams and even PTSD, raising complex ethical questions

‘Bees are sentient’: inside the stunning brains of nature’s hardest workers

‘Fringe’ research suggests the insects that are essential to agriculture have emotions, dreams and even PTSD, raising complex ethical questions

www.theguardian.com

A comfy trailer = happy bees. They will thank you.

 

[Nealh]

First tow last Sunday with the modified sub chassis on the CF and all went well along with the better hitch arrangement , the combo is all set for another season of beekeeping and getting my stuff from A2B and back again.
With the stiffer base board /chassis attachment there is now no flexing of the base so the straps can't slacken to allow slight cargo shift.

As the original pics of the sub chassis have disappeared here they are again.

 

[guerney]

Skidbrooke beekeeper quits after 'professional' thieves strike again
He said while many amateurs kept more docile types of bee, he bred a strain of English bees "with attitude", adding that they "worked a lot harder and produced a lot more honey".

UK News - BBC News

Get the latest BBC News: breaking news, features, analysis and debate plus audio and video content from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[saneagle]

A long time ago, I was walking along a street near my house and found a sad looking bumblebee struggling to walk along the pavement. I picked it up with a bit of card and took it home. I placed it on my blossoming strawberry plant, and I could see it's little proboscis come out and start sucking the pollen or nectar. After a couple of minutes, it had the strength to hop to the next blossom and start sucking that. It waited there for a bit before finally gaining the strength to fly away. I felt very happy and was proud of my rescue.

Not long after that, I was riding my motorbike and I had forgotton that the tank was on reserve, so I ran out of fuel and was stranded. I was wondering what to do, when a bumblebee landed on the yellow tank and did its dance thing. I was worried that it might get poisoned by the fumes coming out of the open cap, but it soon flew off. About ten minutes later, a massive swarm of bees came and they completely engulfed my motorbike. Most of them seemed to have been attracted to the yellow petrol tank, which you couldn't even see. After about 15 minutes, they all lost interest and flew away, leaving me confused.

I started pushing my motorbike towards the nearest petrol station, when I could hear sloshing in the petrol tank, so I stopped and opened the petrol cap and was surprised to see that the tank was half full, then I figured out what was going on: Bee Pee.

 

[Nealh]

My new 65kg payload trailer should be here soon, I need a slightly smaller one then my super dooper modified CF one fo my local use where I have to go down a small narrow alley way with a tight 90 deg corner to get to the bees. The modded CF is too large for the bend.

 

[guerney]

I saw a stand for some older version of CF trailer - unhitch, pull, rehitch your larger trailer around the bend? Or add a locking/unlocking hinge to the lengthened towing arm? Make a disassembling long towing arm?

 

[Nealh]

It's the bed length and width that make it tricky.

 

[guerney]

My new 65kg payload trailer should be here soon, I need a slightly smaller one then my super dooper modified CF one fo my local use where I have to go down a small narrow alley way with a tight 90 deg corner to get to the bees. The modded CF is too large for the bend.

Not always possible but, alternate route? I eventually managed to find a detour through a golf course to avoid a steep gravelly hill descent, which bends very close to a ravine, and there's no fence - deffo worth avoiding that when hauling a heavy trailer full of water! Going the other way adds about 1.5 miles.

If it's a problem which must be solved, maybe use two shorter platforms on two shorter trailers hitched together, to get through it, perhaps by separating to get past that 90 degree corner? Would such two shorter platforms offer more surface area than your one large? Carry Freeddom platforms can be made pretty short. If I recall correctly, you have more than one CF. A bicycle trailer train would look unusual. Accidents would be messier.

 

[Nealh]

The TSDZ in the ute is a different beast with a lighter trailer and load , it motors along quite nicely .
I bought a vaude XL tin trailer similar to the homcom's, it is a bit crappy but manages the job for what I need . The CF is still king for the heavy loads and build quality is certainly far better.

Made some more programming chnages today and have changed the ride to TS mode to see how it compares to the Hybrid mode I have been using. Will have to wait for next ride out to test it maybe next week.

 

[guerney]

Which trailer is the?

vaude XL

I haven't used the Homcom since before coldest winter, after fitting new Schwalbe Jumping Jack tyres... but its (now slightly rusty) strong steel construction and form factor is more immediately useful than my CF Small Y, because steel tubing keeps items inside the trailer without the need for careful strapping. I've yet to use the CF small Y, now that it works perfectly, but I expect I shall eventually to carry some object which won't fit inside the Homcom.

Made some more programming chnages today and have changed the ride to TS mode to see how it compares to the Hybrid mode I have been using. Will have to wait for next ride out to test it maybe next week.

Will you burn more calories, use less battery power?

 

[Nealh]

Will you burn more calories, use less battery power?

I don't know will have to wait and see .

I made some changes also to the battery settings and lvc settings as the system was cutting out at approx. 3 .5v per cell .

 

[guerney]

The TSDZ in the ute is a different beast with a lighter trailer and load , it motors along quite nicely .

Would the Ute's TSDZ2 struggle or be destroyed towing a heavy trailer and load?