Cycle Touring with a trailer like this...

[JBTinEU17]

Does anyone ever do a cycle touring with a trailer like below picture ?

I'd like to know cycle touring with this kind of trailer would be safe(easy control)
while going up uphill and downhill(especially with a heavy load) ? Welcome to
post/share your experience or story, thank you.

 

[oldwheels]

Yes I used a slightly bigger Columbus trailer for local parcel transport and also did a couple of short tours with it. The Columbus had an attachment point at the seat post bolt. I made a solid lid for it to keep the rain out. Was ok but the general rule applied that the more space you have the more you carry so I had too much clutter with me. Gave up touring on it as I was often on single track roads where it was a bit of a pain with the width of the wheelbase. Sold it in the end to a couple who were touring with a large rucksack each. Not a good idea and they noticed this for sale and snapped it up on the spot.

 

[MichaelW2]

Single wheel trailers track better than two wheeled tralers so are preferred for touring esp on rough ground. You can carry much more than panniers so you do. Trailers are really a solution for family touring. You need low gears to haul the trailer uphill.

 

[raleighnut]

I used to use one sometimes (bought mainly for shopping) not fun uphill as @oldwheels says the temptation to fill it with clobber gets a bit much. Downhill mine was ultra stable, the fastest I got mine up to was about 45MPH (around 75KPH) but that was on a long downhill section of dual carriageway with no side turnings (as stopping from that kind of speed takes a while) but roads with that kind of profile are rare (and a real struggle going the other way)

 

[oldwheels]

Beware of single wheel trailers. I had a BoB for a while. With my normal road bike it felt unstable but with an adapted old mountain bike was mostly fine.The load carrying capacity tho’ was not great and it could be a bit of a handful when fully loaded. Best I found was about 12 kilos, anything more tended to shimmy. Not a good feeling.

 

[JBTinEU17]

Thanks a lot for all of your experience and message. And also sorry for
that I didn't make my point very clear. Well, my point is "ONLY using a
trailer looks like in that picture", but not cycle touring with a single speed
bicycle.

And one more question, how is the handle feeling with a trailer in that picture
while going downhill with some sharp curves ? Would it be a kind of dangerous
if riding too fast ?

 

[fixedfixer]

Two wheel trailers easily flip over on corners if you don’t take care. Single wheel trailers can’t because of the way they are attached to the bike. Any weight on a bike potential can cause shimmying. You just need to load things correctly. Trailers are a learning curve to get used to towing them.

 

[Tigerbiten]

I've done over 30,000 mike on tour with a large Carry Freedom trailer behind my recumbent trike.
Due to my disability I find packing thing down into small volumes hard, so the trailer gives me more room.
I'm around 2 mph slower when pulling the empty trailer due to the add weight and extra aero drag and another 2 mph slower when I add all my camping kit.
As for handling, makes no difference if the trailer is off/on empty/on full apart from the speed reduction.
I've hit 55 mph downhill twice with the full camping load in the trailer and I was rock solid stable at that speed .......
It does take a bit more brakes to stop. But I've twin hydraulic disks up front, so not that much extra.

Two wheel trailers easily flip over on corners if you don’t take care.

Just like my trike, I've never flipped my trailer on a corner. The only times I've flipped the trike/trailer was because of lumps in the road. I'm counting curbs as lumps when you hit them .... . Hitting a lump hard enough with just one wheel and you can flip the trike/trailer. Running either the trailer empty and/or the tyres at maximum pressure makes it easier to flip a trailer.

I've never used a single wheel trailer due to being on the trike. But I have heard the very odd story from other travelers on tour about a speed shimmy with one. But I don't think thats a common occurance.

 

[MichaelW2]

I flipped my Carry Freedom Y frame 2 wheeler when one of the wheels caught a curb when crossing a central "island". I had a large but lightweight and top heavy load.
It isnt normally an issue esp with more weight low down.
Braking downhill has only been an issue with heavy loads, eg a container of topsoil or bricks so I keep my speed down in those situations.

 

[fixedfixer]

I had an Adventure C1 cargo trailer - looks like a Bob Yak but cheaper. It was fine.

 

[Bodhbh]

Best I found was about 12 kilos, anything more tended to shimmy. Not a good feeling.

Seriously?! That is really not a lot of stuff.

 

[oldwheels]

Indeed 12 kilo is not a lot but you can cut down a lot of clutter if you have to. I had a saddlebag in addition tho’ and s bar bag for stulff I did not want to leave on the bike when shopping.

 

[RobinS]

In response to the original question - I have a trailer exactly the same as the one pictured, and I go long distance touring (3 months at a time). However, there is absolutely no way I would use that trailer for touring, it is great for supermarket shopping, towing heavy loads short distances etc but would be very poor for a tour. It is too heavy, cumbersome, does not roll or handle well enough. For touring a standard 4 pannier is much better - interestingly a fair proportion of long distance tourers I have met along the way with trailers have expressed the wish that they hadn't bothered with the trailer, to the extent of one offering it for sale on the Bike Express Bus!

 

[steveindenmark]

We used to your with a similar trailer. Then we slimmed our gear down and went to panniers racks. We prefer panniers. It is so much easier for us than dragging a trailer around.

 

[JBTinEU17]

In response to the original question - I have a trailer exactly the same as the one pictured, and I go long distance touring (3 months at a time). However, there is absolutely no way I would use that trailer for touring, it is great for supermarket shopping, towing heavy loads short distances etc but would be very poor for a tour. It is too heavy, cumbersome, does not roll or handle well enough. For touring a standard 4 pannier is much better - interestingly a fair proportion of long distance tourers I have met along the way with trailers have expressed the wish that they hadn't bothered with the trailer, to the extent of one offering it for sale on the Bike Express Bus!

Hello~ RobinS,

Thanks a lot for your message/experience, and may I ask how much did you pay to
have an exactly the same trailer as the one pictured ?