A Few Questions About Riding With a Trailer

[compo]

My trailer (the one photographed with my little dog, above a few posts) had a disaster yesterday. It has the mount with a clamp type mount tightened by a big hand wheel. Yesterday, riding along minding my own business, towing my trailer, there was a sudden almighty bang and the bike stopped dead. When I looked the trailer mount had come adrift and ended up inside the spokes and the spring stretched almost to twice it's length and twisted round the hub. I had a hell of a job to untangle it all. To get the empty trailer home I unbolted the spring from the draw bar and just attached the safety strap through the bike frame and rode very carefully the mile or so home.

New hitch assemblies are available for £18 odd, and with the better and more secure axle mount rather than the chainstay clamp that I had. However I have seen these on Ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bike-Carg...ing_Bags_Panniers_SR&var=&hash=item4d0186ed1f and have to say I am tempted. Mostly used for fishing they don't look too bad and may even be better than my Mule trailer. They would probably be more stable than the Mule which I have upended more than once.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I was out again food shopping with my trailer, loving it
No problems at all with traffic riding at a quiet time of day. I check the back wheel nut is tight before I set out, the hitch (not sure if this is the proper name for it) seems to be well designed, unless one overloads the trailer.

 

[Lanzecki]

Kinda makes me wonder about these plastic and spring/strap build things. Mine trailer is a M&P 03 buggy, it's called an off road/running buggy. It's a 3 wheeler with pneumatic tyres and basic springs with a home made (such negative connotations) mount to the bike.

Many miles with shopping/children and at one point 12 stones of test weight, and nothing's broken yet. Cost me about €10 in welding wire and gas.

Meh, I guess anything can break. I guess I should do a safety check.

 

[ianrauk]

I was out again food shopping with my trailer, loving it
No problems at all with traffic riding at a quiet time of day. I check the back wheel nut is tight before I set out, the hitch (not sure if this is the proper name for it) seems to be well designed, unless one overloads the trailer.

View attachment 14661

The same hitch as I have.
They are not going to break or fail anytime soon are they?

 

[Pat "5mph"]

You should, Lanzecki: shopping going under the wheels of a bus is not a tragedy, kids or cats (in my case) rolling away from the bike would be awful!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

The same hitch as I have.
They are not going to break or fail anytime soon are they?

Don't think so, Ian: the thing is solid thick metal.

 

[ianrauk]

Kinda makes me wonder about these plastic and spring/strap build things. Mine trailer is a M&P 03 buggy, it's called an off road/running buggy. It's a 3 wheeler with pneumatic tyres and basic springs with a home made (such negative connotations) mount to the bike.

Many miles with shopping/children and at one point 12 stones of test weight, and nothing's broken yet. Cost me about €10 in welding wire and gas.

Meh, I guess anything can break. I guess I should do a safety check.

A pic of your handiwork would be nice.

 

[Lanzecki]

You wish is granted. Sorry thought I'd posted already. This was during the first test.



The mount to the bike is a pin and loop affair. Since this picture there is rubber to act as a shock absorber and noise damper. The vertical pin not has a spring loaded pivoting t-bar to stop it coming out. That said, the positions of the wheels put's positive weight on the hitch so it never came out. It would need someone hanging on the back to do that.

Connection to the buggy is by removing the front wheel. The red bar has the axle from a scrapped bike welded in that fits where the front wheel axle fits. The red bar continues under the buggy for stress control (spreading the load) and to stop everything bending around the front axle.

Since then the basic shape has change little, just been tidy'd and painted.

 

[Leccy]

I use a bumper duo - although very nearly grown out - and love it, I'll really miss it!

Mine came with a long orange flag attachment but my son decided he wanted us to fly the jolly roger as we went along, so people knew we were pirates - obviously. Anyhoo it's helped us be spotted and gained quite a few admiring glances, I should be on commission really, after buying one and raving about it I must have nearly 10 other friends and family, other mums at school who've bought a trailer since having a go on mine!

 

[Tigerbiten]

I have a large Y frame Carry Freedom trailer with an aluminium box bolted to it behind my recumbent trike.
The box gives me about 100 liters storage which is ideal when touring/shopping.
I tend to leave the trailer hitched to the trike as it keeps cars more off my back wheel.
I've hit 55.1 mph twice with the trailer fully loaded with camping gear.

The trailer is the same width as the trike, so as long as there's a straight run, fitting through gaps is easy.
A narrow gap with a corner can be a bit of a PITA, you need to get off and realine the trailer before moving off again.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

A narrow gap with a corner can be a bit of a PITA, you need to get off and realine the trailer before moving off again.

He he: I parked bike and trailer the other day, went shopping, when I got back a car had boxed me in.
I should really have thought about reversing from the cycle rack with the trailer

 

[Jdratcliffe]

I'm toying with the idea of a trailer for the dog (kids are all of an age to ride on their own now)
There are some nice places to walk him nearby, that are just too far away from home to walk to, and it seems a waste to use the car.
The Bob Yak style single wheelers are said to be very stable, and although they cost £££ there are some much cheaper clones on amazon.
Anyone any experience?

pete see a guy reqularly on my commute with his dog in one of these

http://www.tailsbythelake.com/dogdevdogbac.html

 

[compo]

My trailer (the one photographed with my little dog, above a few posts) had a disaster yesterday. It has the mount with a clamp type mount tightened by a big hand wheel. Yesterday, riding along minding my own business, towing my trailer, there was a sudden almighty bang and the bike stopped dead. When I looked the trailer mount had come adrift and ended up inside the spokes and the spring stretched almost to twice it's length and twisted round the hub. I had a hell of a job to untangle it all. To get the empty trailer home I unbolted the spring from the draw bar and just attached the safety strap through the bike frame and rode very carefully the mile or so home. New hitch assemblies are available for £18 odd, and with the better and more secure axle mount rather than the chainstay clamp that I had..

Today I fitted a new hitch to my trailer.

I wrecked the hitch on my mule trailer last week. It was the type with the big clamp and handwheel to fasten it to the chainstay, only it came adrift and wrapped itself round the wheel hub. This was the result:
http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad346/briarman/DSCN0313.jpg

I ordered a new hitch of different design and have to say it is a hell of an improvement over the old one, (and I am aware I haven't fastened the safety strap). My heel doesn't keep hitting the securing wheel like it did on the old hitch.
http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad346/briarman/DSCN0311.jpg

And, could someone please confirm I have attached the frame part of the hitch correctly. I am pretty certain I have as there isn't really any other way it could go!
http://i950.photobucket.com/albums/ad346/briarman/DSCN0312.jpg

 

[ianrauk]

@compo

Yup, that's the hitch that I have for the kiddies trailer.
Works perfect. Though make sure you wrap the lead around the chain stay

 

[compo]

@compo

Yup, that's the hitch that I have for the kiddies trailer.
Works perfect. Though make sure you wrap the lead around the chain stay

Thanks Ian. I am aware of the safety lead, I just left it undone whilst taking the photo.
The only slight problem is that the trailer is no longer perfectly centred behind the bike, it is an inch or so off centre. It doesn't seem to affect the ride at all and someone watching said the trailer wasn't crabbing so I will live with it.