Trailer hitch?

[numbnuts]

At the risk of being totally off topic, of no use whatsoever, won't this bike of yours take panniers nora?

Get more in a trailer, panniers are for wimps

 

[Blue Hills]

Get more in a trailer, panniers are for wimps

I do all my shopping by bike with panniers - for one or two.
Sometimes with a dry bag strapped on top.
You might go easy with the "wimp" jibe if you saw some of the stuff I sometimes carry
but as I say I don't know nora's bike.

 

[numbnuts]

I do all my shopping by bike with panniers - for one or two.
Sometimes with a dry bag strapped on top.
You might go easy with the "wimp" jibe if you saw some of the stuff I sometimes carry
but as I say I don't know nora's bike.

It all depends what your shopping for, a pack of 9 kitchen rolls or 16 bog rolls and the trailer is so much better

 

[KnittyNorah]

I do all my shopping by bike with panniers - for one or two.
Sometimes with a dry bag strapped on top.
You might go easy with the "wimp" jibe if you saw some of the stuff I sometimes carry
but as I say I don't know nora's bike.

Yes - I have panniers, and a front basket, and I bungee stuff to the rear rack BUT as @numbnuts says, large pack of loo rolls ... and other bulky stuff be it heavy or light. 10kg sack of wild bird food, couple of plants ... safer in a trailer than falling over on the bike with me on board. And anyway I want something to carry stuff when (if!) I get away this year for a few days. I cycle slowly anyway, the extra drag of a trailer can't make me much slower and the entire thing will be easier to handle than when it's all on the bike itself.
There's no bus service from where I live to the nearby Lidl, and a taxi there and back works out at a tenner, so there'll be a very fast return on any investment in a sub-£100 trailer.

 

[Dale 1956]

On the principle that the only thing stupid about a question is not asking it so I remain stupid ... are there likely to be any issues with fitting a trailer hitch attachment thingie to the axle of a 20" wheel with hub gears? I need to be able to do a 'proper shop' by bike and the only way is going to be a trailer.

I use a BoB Trailer all the time. It comes with a big bag and bungee cords. You can haul a lot of food or whatever you need.

 

[Amanda P]

A good trailer is a really useful thing.

Yes, you can put an axle hitch on the left-hand end of a hub-gear axle, no problem, although you might find that the hole in the hitch isn’t big enough and has to be drilled or filed out a little to make it fit over the axle.

Do make sure the nut is snugged up really well after fitting the hitch. There’s a fair bit of pulling and jerking on the axle’s end from the weight of a trailer, and its possible for this to pull the axle squiff in the frame if it’s not tightened up very firmly.

I’ve pulled my trailers with my 16”-wheeled, hub-geared Brompton - it’s a handy way to get to gigs in places with no parking with my trombone and gear; with my 17”-wheeled Moulton (not an ideal tug, but I like it) and with a 20“-wheeled, hub-geared Pashley PDQ, as well as various big-wheeled bikes.

If you’re going to tow with heavy stuff, you’ll want good brakes on the towing bike, and take it steady. I’ve hauled rolls of carpet, dead washing machines and fridge-freezers on my trailer* - no problem, but you can feel the load pushing you along on any kind of slope. Also, consider the hitch. Some use a strip of rubber. If there’s slop or flexibility in it, a heavy load can make the trailer wag, which starts to push the back of the bike about, which gets difficult quite fast (a bit like “snaking” for a car and caravan).

Having some of your load on the bike can help with these issues, so if you’re looking to move heavy stuff and bulky stuff, consider putting some of the heavy stuff in the panniers, and keeping heavy stuff on the trailer as low and close to the axle as you can. Make sure, too, that the trailer is loaded to be nose-heavy - you don’t want to get off the bike only to find the trailer see-saws the back of your bike off the ground. That’ll be awkward…

*Peter Eland, of Velovision fame, once moved a full-size lathe on his super-heavy-duty bike trailer, from Strensall to York. He did it very early on a Sunday morning, and took the flat journey of six miles or so very steady!

 

[KnittyNorah]

A good trailer is a really useful thing.

Yes, you can put an axle hitch on the left-hand end of a hub-gear axle, no problem, although you might find that the hole in the hitch isn’t big enough and has to be drilled or filed out a little to make it fit over the axle.

Do make sure the nut is snugged up really well after fitting the hitch. There’s a fair bit of pulling and jerking on the axle’s end from the weight of a trailer, and its possible for this to pull the axle squiff in the frame if it’s not tightened up very firmly.

I’ve pulled my trailers with my 16”-wheeled, hub-geared Brompton - it’s a handy way to get to gigs in places with no parking with my trombone and gear; with my 17”-wheeled Moulton (not an ideal tug, but I like it) and with a 20“-wheeled, hub-geared Pashley PDQ, as well as various big-wheeled bikes.

If you’re going to tow with heavy stuff, you’ll want good brakes on the towing bike, and take it steady. I’ve hauled rolls of carpet, dead washing machines and fridge-freezers on my trailer* - no problem, but you can feel the load pushing you along on any kind of slope. Also, consider the hitch. Some use a strip of rubber. If there’s slop or flexibility in it, a heavy load can make the trailer wag, which starts to push the back of the bike about, which gets difficult quite fast (a bit like “snaking” for a car and caravan).

Having some of your load on the bike can help with these issues, so if you’re looking to move heavy stuff and bulky stuff, consider putting some of the heavy stuff in the panniers, and keeping heavy stuff on the trailer as low and close to the axle as you can. Make sure, too, that the trailer is loaded to be nose-heavy - you don’t want to get off the bike only to find the trailer see-saws the back of your bike off the ground. That’ll be awkward…

*Peter Eland, of Velovision fame, once moved a full-size lathe on his super-heavy-duty bike trailer, from Strensall to York. He did it very early on a Sunday morning, and took the flat journey of six miles or so very steady!

I've always been very used to getting the balance on things to be towed, or otherwise pulled along, from livestock trailers to two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicles - so no worries on that score. Heavy shopping is much easier to load than people who will insist on shifting about, or livestock who decide to move themselves around mid-journey - usually when you have to stop at a junction or lights on a steep hill ...

Thanks for the warning about the possibility of pulling the axle squiff; I'll be getting a local bike shop to fit the thing for me though, as I no longer have much in the way of tools and neither do I have any workshop space. So I hope they'll be able to tighten it up sufficiently. I don't really envision myself towing much more than a weekly shop or some camping gear; I live in a very flat area and have no intention - and nowadays entirely lack the ability! - to ride on hills, even without the added pressure of a trailer. I felt very pleased with myself when I no longer had to get off and push over the hump on a canal bridge ...

 

[KnittyNorah]

I use a BoB Trailer all the time. It comes with a big bag and bungee cords. You can haul a lot of food or whatever you need.

MUCH too expensive for me - and I need 2 wheels for stability when it's unhitched and I have to move it around.

 

[Blue Hills]

I have seen upright bike trailers, like this:

Amazon product ASIN B0081EAE0SView: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bellelli-B-tourist-Wheelie-shopping-trailer/dp/B0081EAE0S/ref=asc_df_B0081EAE0S/?linkCode=df0&hvadid=341222802894&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10249949645844440012&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006532&hvtargid=pla-727048403484&th=1


May be handy for a small wheel bike?

though I have no idea about how they handle.

With any trailer I'd check availability of spares, preferable generic - am thinking tyres, tubes, bearings.

That particular one has a variety of reviews.

 

[KnittyNorah]

I have seen upright bike trailers, like this:

Amazon product ASIN B0081EAE0SView: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bellelli-B-tourist-Wheelie-shopping-trailer/dp/B0081EAE0S/ref=asc_df_B0081EAE0S/?linkCode=df0&hvadid=341222802894&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10249949645844440012&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006532&hvtargid=pla-727048403484&th=1


May be handy for a small wheel bike?

though I have no idea about how they handle.

With any trailer I'd check availability of spares, preferable generic - am thinking tyres, tubes, bearings.

That particular one has a variety of reviews.

Yes I've seen a few of those - the 'shopping trolley' type.

From my experience with an actual shopping trolley, though, they are very easy to unbalance unless extremely carefully packed - and even the expensive one I had, the wheel fell off when I knocked it against the curb. I fixed it - but only after having to take a taxi home. The cheaper one I had was actually better as when its wheel fell off in similar circumstances, I could just push it back on and it got my shopping home - albeit rather bumpily!
I will be using an untarmaced section of the Guild Wheel regularly, and a very dodgy poorly-surfaced lane - neither of which I would feel confident taking a shopping trolley along even by hand - and am thus looking to get something with 'proper' 16" or 20" wheels, which the ones I'm looking at, do have.

 

[Amanda P]

Here's my home-built big trailer. It has two 20" wheels, supported on both sides - they're regular cheapo BMX wheels from Ebay. The frame is scrap steel tube (there's a company that makes steel-tube furniture a few miles away), fillet-brazed together, and powder coated. The floor is 6mm plywood. Originally, the bit that projects forward of the load bed to connect to the bike was detachable for storage (sleeve joints and pins) but it's been seized for years now.

At one point, local youths stole it from outside my front door and joy-rode it around the village before abandoning it. Apparently, two or three of them at a time were 'surfing' on it. Amazingly, they didn't manage to do any real damage.

It's sized to carry three folding crates, or six if they're stacked; or one or two bikes on their saddles and handlebars, or two folded Bromptons, or a large labrador in his den. It can also carry garden waste, white goods, small to medium items of furniture...

When taking it into town, I can unhitch it and stand it on its side beside the bike, locking it with a cable along with the bike to a Sheffield stand, so it's not sticking out or taking up more space than it needs to.

Here it is hauling home groceries, including a 15kg bag of dog food:

Here it is delivering the PDQ to its next owner:

Before that, I had a folding, fabric-sided trailer with single-sided wheels, that came from the old Freewheel folk, when they were in Sheffield. I still have it in a shed, unused. It can carry a LOT of shopping and can be a flatbed when it's folded. The wheels come off and then it folds flat. But it's hard to attach lights to, and its rubber-strap hitch tends to make it waggle, so I prefer my own these days. (I always intended to replace the rubber strap hitch with another box-section-swivel hitch like the one on the yellow trailer, but I've never got around to it.

It'll need new tyres and some work, but it could be for sale if anyone wanted it...

I'd avoid the upright type. They have rather small wheels, and the high-up hitch and potentially high-up load don't seem optimal.

 

[Oldhippy]

Amanda P that is awesome and a brilliant advert for why a car is not always the answer.

 

[oldwheels]

I have had a few trailers. For your purposes I would certainly not recommend a BoB. It was a total PITA and not suitable for a light bike. It tended to shimmy a bit at anything over about 15mph.
I had a Columbus 2 wheeler which was good for its purpose of taking large parcels to the Post Office and I also toured with it. It was pretty big but not too heavy.It attached to the seat post clamp with a quick release which was good.
Currently I have a smaller one with detachable wheels but not used it seriously yet with my trike.
Cannot remember the model and I am not at home to check.

 

[KnittyNorah]

Here's my home-built big trailer. It has two 20" wheels, supported on both sides - they're regular cheapo BMX wheels from Ebay. The frame is scrap steel tube (there's a company that makes steel-tube furniture a few miles away), fillet-brazed together, and powder coated. The floor is 6mm plywood. Originally, the bit that projects forward of the load bed to connect to the bike was detachable for storage (sleeve joints and pins) but it's been seized for years now.

At one point, local youths stole it from outside my front door and joy-rode it around the village before abandoning it. Apparently, two or three of them at a time were 'surfing' on it. Amazingly, they didn't manage to do any real damage.

It's sized to carry three folding crates, or six if they're stacked; or one or two bikes on their saddles and handlebars, or two folded Bromptons, or a large labrador in his den. It can also carry garden waste, white goods, small to medium items of furniture...

When taking it into town, I can unhitch it and stand it on its side beside the bike, locking it with a cable along with the bike to a Sheffield stand, so it's not sticking out or taking up more space than it needs to.

Here it is hauling home groceries, including a 15kg bag of dog food: View attachment 624816

Here it is delivering the PDQ to its next owner: View attachment 624819

Before that, I had a folding, fabric-sided trailer with single-sided wheels, that came from the old Freewheel folk, when they were in Sheffield. I still have it in a shed, unused. It can carry a LOT of shopping and can be a flatbed when it's folded. The wheels come off and then it folds flat. But it's hard to attach lights to, and its rubber-strap hitch tends to make it waggle, so I prefer my own these days. (I always intended to replace the rubber strap hitch with another box-section-swivel hitch like the one on the yellow trailer, but I've never got around to it.

It'll need new tyres and some work, but it could be for sale if anyone wanted it...

I'd avoid the upright type. They have rather small wheels, and the high-up hitch and potentially high-up load don't seem optimal.

Defo not getting the upright shopping trolley type - I've had enough problems with standard hand-pulled shopping trolleys to put me off even thinking of one to attach to the bike!
There's a possibility of an excellent bargain if I can catch the bloke who's selling an almost-new Halfords child trailer when he gets back from his long weekend away ... fingers crossed!

 

[KnittyNorah]

I have had a few trailers. For your purposes I would certainly not recommend a BoB. It was a total PITA and not suitable for a light bike. It tended to shimmy a bit at anything over about 15mph.
I had a Columbus 2 wheeler which was good for its purpose of taking large parcels to the Post Office and I also toured with it. It was pretty big but not too heavy.It attached to the seat post clamp with a quick release which was good.
Currently I have a smaller one with detachable wheels but not used it seriously yet with my trike.
Cannot remember the model and I am not at home to check.

No way do I want a single wheel trailer! I want a nice stable two-wheeler, doesn't even have to be very big, tbh.