Racing Wheelbarrow?

**Bushmiller** · 1st February 2021, 07:58 PM

Accepted. It is very difficult to get over enthused about a wheelbarrow, but this one has a bit of a story so pin back that hair from your eyes, pick up a brew and sit back for something that will make you say WT*

Now first off we need a little preamble, a teaser if you like, otherwise you will be a little bemused. Don't fret we will get to the barrow, which I was thinking of calling the HPB (High Performance Barrow

).

The other day SWMBO said there was an event in Brisbane which she thought would interest me. It turned out to be an exhibition of vintage motorcycles at the GOMA (Gallery Of Modern Art). As we walked in I was impressed with an array of motorcycles many of which I had never heard of and indeed some Australian made bikes too ( A visit is recommended). As we sauntered through the exhibits I commented that this was the sort of exhibition that might include a Britten. However, we marvelled at about sixty or so bikes, but the Britten was not amongst them and I was beginning to think the exhibits were a bit light on when I realised there were another three rooms. Sure enough, in the third room was the Britten. Now those of you familiar with the Kiwi engineer, John Britten and his bikes, will probably already be drooling over your keyboard and I do apologise for not suggesting you protect it with plastic earlier than this.

John Britten built eleven racing bikes, primarily in his spare time, and back in the day right at the end of the last century they were competitive with the factory works teams. The Britten fan club will probably tell you they were unbeatable, but in truth it could have used more development: Not that this prevented the bikes winning races, being highly placed (2nd and 3rd) against full blown factory teams and capturing outright speed records. So what you say? Well, John Britten built a large portion of the bike components himself, including the engine, and was extremely innovative. So here is a pic:

Britten.jpg

Rather than swamp this gardening thread with motorcycles you can look all this up by clicking above or for those interested you can HEAR a Britten! Tragically he died at the young age of 45 years from an inoperable cancer.

So what does all this have to do with gardening and wheelbarrows? A while back I salvaged some broken wheelbarrows from a skip at work. They comprised mainly frames only without wheels and trays. I built a tray from old cypress pine lining boards changed the handles and bought two wheels. I made up a 1" axle. Initially I kept the tray the same depth front to back, but later changed it to slope towards the rear as there was a better balance.

P1060918 (Medium).JPG P1060916 (Medium).JPG

Now here we get to the essence of the barrow in that it is a double wheeler.

P1060917 (Medium).JPG

We had a young friend staying with us for a while and she thought I should paint the barrow pink: Ummm. Not too keen on that idea. SWMBO said the timber should be oiled and not painted. So it got oiled and then I went to the motorcycle exhibition in Brisbane, re-acquainted myself with the Britten and it became obvious what I had to do paint wise. The bike at the exhibition had less vibrant colouring than the pic above, and this was as close as I could get without spending much more money than I wished.

P1070030 (Medium).JPG P1070029 (Medium).JPG

It also appeased the child or may do when she sees it.

The spotted Gum handles were hammered into the RHS and made longer than the original handles for more leverage.

P1070032 (Medium).JPG P1070031 (Medium).JPG

The all important running gear

P1070033 (Medium).JPG

Of course the barrow had to be signed a la Britten!

P1070035 (Medium).JPG P1070036 (Medium).JPG

I thought I had bought two wheels the same ( they were the only thing I bought except for a 250ml pot of blue paint), but there is a distinct anomaly here in the load rating for the same ply tyre!

P1070027 (Medium).JPG P1070026 (Medium).JPG

Regards
Paul

Ps Either the Forum or my computer is freezing when I try to alter pic sizes so I will revisit later. Click on the pix for larger images.

**tony_A** · 1st February 2021, 08:09 PM

Love it Paul, may we kids never grow old

**Bushmiller** · 2nd February 2021, 10:54 AM

The original concept for this build came when I saw a similar style of barrow at work. We have a couple of them, with conventional steel trays of course. I tried to find some pix on the net, but failed. The only dual wheelers were the garden dump carts.

How does the barrow work in practice? The thing is that it can't tip over on you or at least not easily. However, on bumpy grass the barrow does rock a little: More than a single wheel would do. On a smooth solid surface it is as stable as you might imagine. We use a lot of wheelbarrows. We started off with two plastic tubbed barrows that were budget buys. Then we inherited a metal trayed barrow from our son when he went overseas. The next stage was the tyres were getting punctures, which I would repair or eventually fill up with tyre sealant. We got to the stage where only one barrow had a useable tyre (some had perished too by this stage) and in a bit of a tizzy went and bought another metal tray barrow similar to the son's barrow. Subsequently I realised the local hardware store had wheels for just under $40 so I replaced some wheels.

The I saw the double wheeler at work and you can see the result in this thread. SWMBO says I use the barrows as filing cabinets (for tools and materials). I do know that when I want a barrow I can never find one.

Regards
Paul

**Bushmiller** · 3rd February 2021, 10:11 AM

The "inspiration" for the colour scheme came from the Britten motorcycle, the double wheels from the barrows I saw at work, but I forgot to mention the timber style barrow was prompted by the type of offerings that used to appear in the hardware catalogues a hundred years ago:

Wheelbarrows.jpg

Regards
Paul

**Bushmiller** · 3rd February 2021, 10:38 AM

It occurred to me that the scrutineers and other critical persons may have felt this thread was too far removed from gardening. Consequently, in confessing my sins I would like a few other gardening wheelbarrows to be taken into consideration before sentencing.

This barrow previously held the herb basil but is currently fallow

P1070037 (Medium).JPG

This cactus flowers once a year

P1070039 (Medium).JPG

I don't know what this is, but an ancient steel wheeled barrow lurks beneath somewhere. You can just see a handle and the steel wheel

P1070040 (Medium).JPG

I think this has crocus bulbs in it: A bit difficult to see for the moment

P1070041 (Medium).JPG

I think SWMBO told me this is a self seeded Lilly

P1070055 (Medium).JPG

And the user lineup or perhaps I should say the mobile lineup:

P1070042 (Medium).JPG

With the first two being used as "filing cabinets."

P1070043 (Medium).JPG

The stationary barrows do save on plant pots

Regards
Paul

**Aussiephil** · 3rd February 2021, 04:58 PM

Nice

turning the topic back to motorcycles briefly it seems NZ boxes above its weight class, John Britten was proceeded by Burt Munro who may well be far better known across the world due the movie they made about the Indian.

Burt's 1919 Indian was based on it's unofficial top speed of 190mph as fast as Johns race bike, though very much two different rates of acceleration

Back on wheelbarrows ... I'm going to borrow your double wheel design for the old one i have for the mrs to use, probably as a mobile garden bed

Cheers
Phil

**Bushmiller** · 3rd February 2021, 05:33 PM

Originally Posted by Aussiephil

Nice

turning the topic back to motorcycles briefly it seems NZ boxes above its weight class, John Britten was proceeded by Burt Munro who may well be far better known across the world due the movie they made about the Indian.

Burt's 1919 Indian was based on it's unofficial top speed of 190mph as fast as Johns race bike, though very much two different rates of acceleration

Back on wheelbarrows ... I'm going to borrow your double wheel design for the old one i have for the mrs to use, probably as a mobile garden bed

Cheers
Phil

Phil

Now this is not going to be very convenient for you in Canberra, but as it happens Burt's bike (I like the alliteration there) is also on display at GOMA. The Indian may have had a similar top speed but didn't turn corners very well!

I found wheels at our local Mitre 10 for under $40 each, which was considerably cheaper than Bunnings could offer. Just for reference a spacing of 400mm to 420mm between the wheels seems to clear the chassis
comfortably plus extra for the wheels, washers and a securing technique. I used circlips. The grooves were cut crudely with a thin cutting disc in the angle grinder.

Regards
Paul

**Bushmiller** · 8th February 2021, 11:08 AM

I have been a little slow in posting pix of the original metal tray barrows I spotted at work. I thought I would go to the manufacturer's web site and post a link. Not to be. I searched the Richmond site and despite there being a large range of wheelbarrows I could not see the dual wheelers anywhere. So hereare some pix anyway:

P1070057 (Medium).JPG P1070058 (Medium).JPG P1070059 (Medium).JPG

It would be very easy to convert an existing barrow if you wished. One advantage of these barrows is that you can lift them by one handle only if needs be. Why would you want to do that I hear? If you are holding something in the other hand perhaps?

Regards
Paul

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