The Automobile has been Replaced

For a long time, I kept my car around because I figured that I needed it to transport bulky items.  Since we purchased a house, I have transported probably a dozen sheets of plywood on the roof of my car--sometimes singly, sometimes six sheets at a time.  How could I transport six sheets of plywood on my bike?



Enter the Bikes-at-Work 96A trailer into my life.  Ah, the fresh air!  When I sold the car, I specifically decided that proceeds from the sale would go toward the purchase of this trailer.  Well, here it is hauling a bicycle.  The first week after I assembled it, I went to the hardware store and bought two 4'x8' sheets of 1/4" exterior sheathing, four six-foot 2x4's, and a bunch of hardware.  It went onto the trailer so easily that I forgot to photograph it. 

As you can see, cargo can easily be loaded over the fenders--or maybe I should call those WHEEL WELLS. 

The manufactuer, Bikes-at-Work, claims that these wheel wells have the same 300# capacity as the trailer.  Just toss your bulky items on, tie them down, and off you go. 

A good set of brakes on the bike is, of course, recommended if operating with a heavy load.  I wouldn't suggest going randonee in hill-country while pulling this, either.  It's a great trailer though and has already come in handy repeatedly in the three weeks that I've owned it.  I made two Oakland-to-Alameda trips with it just this weekend. 

The trailer comes in a package about half the size of a bike box, delivered to your door and ready for assembly.  Assembly took me about an hour and required two wrenches and a screwdriver.  The kit comes with wrenches, but I don't recommend trying to use them.  Get real wrenches. 

The photos above show the trailer with a plywood floor that I installed as a retrofit in week two.  Not counting the time spent waiting for the varnish to dry, installing the floor on the already-assembled trailer took less than an hour.  The manufacturer provided excellent instructions for this retrofit as a part of the original purchase. 

Its a pedal-powered pickup truck!