this is the sad story about the glorious rise & terminal fall of my trailer project.
those of you who would like to know the full story just read on.
those who find it a bit hard to chew through lines & lines of english text just check out the pictures at the end of the article.
the week before the easter weekend was just perfect. with the friday before and the monday after the weekend off it was all in all a lot of holiday with minimum impact on the holiday account. perfect for a bigger project.
like the construction of a closed trailer on the basis of an open trailer.
it is all very simple. in the beginning you got a bike and since these enduros (have to) have a numberplate you can actually ride them to the training course / the race. wrong guess. technically & theoretically it is of course possible, but after the incident at varpalota a couple of years ago (badly bent handlebar, broken rib) i learnt that this was definitely not the smart way. and this is just the first step: the next lesson you learn is how fast a simple spare part worth basically nothing can stop you & your bike and send you packing. not a very nice experience, especially when you travel already a couple of hours to get to the race track. as a result you start collecting spares & tools, and after a number of years the stuff some guys carry around would be enough to furnish a medium-size workshop. add to that all the clothes and protection you need (mine fills one big box, plus the helmet & the body armour) and all the fluids you need and you easily fill the back of a rather roomy estate car. mind you, most of the more professional guys come with small trucks.
i am a modest guy: i just wanted a closed trailer. to store the bike & all the stuff, to be able to change, especially after riding (without totally messing up the car). and i did have a small trailer, which could serve as a perfect basis for the construction of a closed box. the basis was 170 cm long times 100 cm wide. too small, the bikes are typically 220 cm long, give & take a few centimeters, 230 cm would be fine. equal extension in both directions would also sort out the balance problem. the ktm with its broad handlebar is 85 cm wide, therefore some sideways extension would be necessary as well, otherwise it would be impossible to secure the bike inside the closed trailer. 25 cm on each side would be sufficient, and – since this would in fact only move the wheelarcs inside the box – the size of the trailer would basically not be changed.
both the yamaha & the ktm are about 120 cm high, i.e. 150 cm internal height would be perfect and also allow a person to move around inside rather comfortably. the internal structure would be steel, 4 x 2 cm, the outside aluminium. 2 mm steel plates would provide a solid basis to carry the bike. the room on both sides would provide a perfect place to store spares, fuel, water, tools and all the other necessities.
after some serious planning and a some consultation with my friend peter in hungary i ordered the materials and set to work. no, sorry, no pictures about this phase. i am afraid if i would have taken the camera with me it would have suffered severe damage.
as it is after a week of scrubbing my hands are still not totally clean, even though i must have rubbed off a good part of my skin, too. i managed to set fire to some paper i put under the trailer when i painted the steel frame with sparks from the welding electrode and – at another occasion – to a rug with sparks from the angle grinder.
i also burnt, cut, painted and beat my hands and various other body parts. since it did not kill me i guess i must be getting pretty tough now. 😉
anyway, here is a short description of the work phases.
day 1.
got most of the steel profiles and some smaller materials. borrowed a welding trafo from pisti. cut off the side walls of the old trailer. did not take very long, corrosion had already finished part of the job. tried a little welding. still know how to do it, make less holes than expected.
day 2.
built extensions to front. tried to build side extensions but found out the profiles i got cut to size were short. ordered replacements & started building the vertical parts.
day 3.
finished cage. impressive size. measured size of side panes and floor. panic: material is not in stock. need to find another vendor. luckily peter could help.
day 4.
mainly cleaning up & reinforcing weld seams, using angle grinder to remove old paint. repaint cage with hammerrite.
day 5.
get up early and convince aluminium-and-steel supplier to cut & bend the required material same day. i guess krisz presence helped a lot: nobody likes to disappoint a pretty girl. welding steel plates in place and start putting the alu side panel in place (sziloplaszt & rivets). terrible headache, two broken 4 mm drills & missing profiles prevent further progress.
day 6.
weld the last profiles in place. continue application of alu panels with peti’s help. construct holders for rear lights & number plate. construct holder for bike front wheel (one of the most important & successful parts as it would later turn out). construct rear door. finish at 23.00h.
day 7.
assemble holders for straps. (life-savers!!)
same day we started our journey back to holland, with a beautiful, gleaming trailer. i must say i never ever had such an easy job loading a bike. size & height are just right, it is easy to move around in the trailer. the bike sits perfectly in place. first day’s journey until linz.
astonishment. admiration. alarming fuel consumption.
the next day was to be the last in the short life of my trailer.
krisz & myself left at 10.00h from linz, before us 1000 km to amsterdam. we take it easy: 80-90 kmh and no risk. i drive almost until frankfurt (600 km), then krisz takes over.
about half way between frankfurt and koln desaster stikes. i was just relaxing on the passenger seat when there is a sudden crash from behind the car. krisz reacts perfectly, steers the car on the breakdown lane and brakes carefully. another crash, then we stop.
behind the car the trailer lies on the breakdown lane on its side. the front aluminium panel has half come off, inside – oh wonder – the bike still stands (or should i say floats) in its original position. well, not original as such, it is now tilted by 90 degrees and about 1m above the ground, but otherwise unharmed.
the rod that connects the trailer to the car had broken. obviousely it had first started to break on the top part, and – since we were just going uphill – the trailer had tilted backwards. a little piece of the steel rod fortunately still held the trailer to the car until we were on the breakdown lane, and only snapped when krisz braked.
a closer inspection showed that the fault occured at one of the original weld seams, and it seams to have already been latent for quite some time: parts of the break were already a bit rusty.
the rest was rather unspectacular: the police stopped by, asked whether anyone got hurt (no). they called a tow-truck and left. after some two hours we were on the road again: the trailer on the back of the truck on its way to some german scrapyard, krisz a bit shaken in the car & me on the yamaha.
the balance.
one dead trailer, one slightly dented back door on the mondeo, one week work for nothing, 2 hours standing on a german highway, one slightly shocked wife, one 4-hour ride home through the night. the feeling that we have been
extremely lucky and got away very cheap indeed.
the certaintly (got proof now!) that i can build a perfect rollcage for a bike out of an old trailer.
the relief that my work had nothing to do with the terminal breakdown.
the knowledge that i will never ever build a stupid trailer again.
the certainty that i have to buy a new trailer.
all in all an experience i now think i could do withoput, but that will probably later turn out to be one of the major points in my life. who knows.
getting rid of the front panel.
the mess.
with this talent i think i should take my bike to the climbing hall.
help arrives.
getting on its feet again.
tough one.
still standing?
huh!
stabilizing.
unloading.
done. she’s alive & unscathed.
the dead trailer rides into the sunset. 😉
and here is the reason.