Pulling a trailer with your unicycle?

Just throw everything in a shopping cart, and push it in front of you!

A shopping cart will make a much better handle than a T7!

if you were to make a trailor i think that it should be mounted at the axel. This way the trailor doestn’t affect the seats forward backward movement in comparison the the axel. and the connector rod should pivot side to side and swivel so you can lean and twist the uni to turn. School just got out today so i think i will design one in cadd tommorrow.

That could work. Basically you’d have to add a second frame with it’s own bearing holders to your axel between the current frame and the cranks. Once the two sides have joined together have a ball and socket joint that connects to the trailers tongue.

This would add sorts of weird stresses, and completely change the maneuverability of the unicycle, but it would function.

I think it’s a bad idea

And I feel almost bad trying to help.:o Surely there must be a better way.
That aside, I think you will want to do this on a 24. Attaching the hitch to the crown of a 24 will reduce the strong reverse tug every time the trailer wheel hits a bump. As the world UPD record is clearly within your grasp possessing such a device, the lower stature and speed will be welcome. The higher gearing of the 36 is unlikely to be missed, you will need the pulling power.
Perhaps a better idea would be a rear fender, on a 36, no trailer, that large bulky saddle bags could be fitted. Stuff these with light stuff, and try to balance by hanging heavy stuff under the handle bars.:slight_smile:

I think a trailer would work fine on a unicycle, insofar as carrying a lot of weight works on a unicycle in any way. I’ve pulled a kayak into and out of the water via a shoulder strap; the balance isn’t really a problem, you automatically compensate for it. It will definitely affect handling, acceleration/deceleration, and idling (possibly making the last completely infeasible).

I’ve ridden moderate distance (20 miles) with an awkwardly-loaded 40-pound backpack. It’s really not fun.

here is a basic idea for a trailor that i drew up real qucik. i decided that ataching to the seatpost would be better than to the axel if i used a ball joint (and be easier to make)

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hmm…there seems to be a problem with that design, though. when unicycles turn, the frame twists, which means the frame must be able to twist inside that mount to the frame, like a head tube on a bicycle.

well i think with my design you could still twist the unicycle you just move the whole arm with you when you twist but what you could do is either put the balljoint up top near the unicycles frame which could make twisting easier or put a bearing or something like that where the trailor connects. But i think haveing some sort of bearing system would be hard to make to where the clamp doesn;t slid up and down but can rotate. also another thought i had was to make the ball joint so that it can’t pivot upward or downwards and put the pivot point up by the uni (if the balljoint was moved this would not aply) this would lessen the posibility of the trailor bottoming out when you lean back too far.

ok so i changed it a bit. now the ball joint can’t go up or down just side to side and swivil. and there is now a pivot point up by the frame

edit: opps forgot pic

untitled2.bmp (682 KB)

How do you mount if you can’t lean the seat back?

Jump mount?

Surely once you lock everything out like that, what you’ve designed there is not a unicycle with a trailer attached, it’s a tricycle that happens to be made out of a unicycle?

Joe

you can lean the seat back. there is a pivot point where the trailor attaches to the uni (it is kind of hard to see in the pic)

nothing is really locked in the uni can pivot forward and backward. it can lean and it can twist

Just becasue there is a pivot point doesn’t mean it can lean back. The unicycle frame pivots around the axle, so just because there is a pivot on the tongue doesn’t mean the seat will be able to tilt back for mounting.

Your design limits the forward and back tilting of the unicycle in a way that would make balancing much more difficult.

The attached to the unicycle axle design made much more sense.

What if the unicycle trailer was something like this. :smiley: :smiley:

Trailer.jpg

I think I have figured this out

Which is not to say a trailer on a uni makes more sense then on an airplane. :thinking:
The sort of 2 wheeled trailers considered so far are wrong for a uni. This design is copied from the bike, wrongly assuming the bike’s mechanical fore- aft stability we lack.
For a uni trailer, I think the trailer must balance itself always, to be practical.
Perhaps a light weight, larger, 4 wheeled redesign of a child’s wagon. Fitted with brakes on the wagon. A ring where the wagon handle is could fit around the crown of the uni, allowing instant frictionless turning of the uni. Remember how the front wheels of the wagon are steered by the handle ?
I believe this design is ridable. Maybe for “Burning man”, or touring Bonneville.:slight_smile:

radio.jpg

WOW, that is such a good design. :smiley: All you will probably need to do is get re-enforced tyres. :smiley: