Rear rack mounted trailer.

[silva]

I'm riding since > 5 year with a travel bike customized to move a wide variety of loads.
See my avatar pic. I mounted an extender on the rear rack, to make it longer, and then a large metal cage basket on it.
The problem is that the bikes weight center sits far to the back, so that I had to hang a backpack under the handlebars, containing the heavier stuff I have with me all the time (bicycle chain lock, tools, spare parts). But when I put for ex a 20 pr 30 kg loudspeakler in the basket, I have to sit on the saddle in order to not see the bike tumbling over backwards.
Over the years I purchased some trailers, and rode with one now and then.
But it's crap to have 10-15 kilo hanging behind the bike, just in case (second hand stores shopping).
Couple years ago I had an idea, a trailer that is mounted on the rear rack, instead of that metal cage basket.
Then nothing hangs behind the bike, I can put stuff in the mounted trailer, just like in the metal cage basket, but in case I buy something heavy or hard to mount, I could take off the trailer, put on its wheels that were inside it, hang it behind the bike like its ment to be used, and offload the bikes rear wheel.
But so far I didn't find a trailer with dimensions and shape that suits this idea.
So I thought, maybe lets ask around, if anybody saw/knows, a trailer that is transformable between rear rack basket and trailer.
Doesn't have to be designed especially for that, just that its design/dimensions allows such an "abuse".
Again, see my avatar pic, makes quite clear what I mean here.

 

[berlinonaut]

So I thought, maybe lets ask around, if anybody saw/knows, a trailer that is transformable between rear rack basket and trailer.

There was a Kickstarter project for such a thing that has been funded successfully and has delivered the item. It is called "Trenux". However, the company behind it seems to have folded since then:

View: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/trenux/trenux-a-foldable-trailer-for-your-bicycle/description


It is not exactly what you asked for but may give you and idea on how complicated your request is.

For your purposes I'd rather recommend a longtail cargo bike - these are releatively common and offer a longer rear rack, which is basically what you have been asking for:

This example is a Yuba Mondo but there are various options around.

You can also convert your existing bike into a longtail using the xtracycle conversion kit that has been around in various versions for many years and seems to work fine:

https://www.xtracycle-deutschland.de/en/product/leap-conversion-kit/

 

[berlinonaut]

Alternatively, you could build a trailer yourself. I.e. this plan for building one could be a good start: You'd probably need smaller wheels, a possibility to fit it onto the rack and maybe adjust dimensions a bit: https://www.werkstatt-lastenrad.de/index.php?title=Marder,_der_flexible_Anhänger

 

[T4tomo]

However, the company behind it seems to have folded since then:

oh the irony

 

[berlinonaut]

oh the irony

When I saw the project on kickstarter back then my thought was: "interesting solution for an existing problem, but ugly, expensive, impractical and not very useful - not really fit for purpose". Seems I was not the only one...

But, to be fair: A while earlier I supported this project on Kickstarter which basically solves the same problem:


View: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1919966976/trego


It was founded successfully, product got delivered but it turned out to be utterly useless for my taste and needs and the handling of the bike changed from "brillant" to "surprisingly catastrophic" when the thing was attached.

 

[silva]

There was a Kickstarter project for such a thing that has been funded successfully and has delivered the item. It is called "Trenux". However, the company behind it seems to have folded since then:

View: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/trenux/trenux-a-foldable-trailer-for-your-bicycle/description


It is not exactly what you asked for but may give you and idea on how complicated your request is.

I don't want a longer frame, too heavy, too impractical, and a longtail fixed gear, such a long chain, no.
That is indeed a complex setup, up to ridiculous. But that compacting in the automation, that's a feature that serves my purpose.
Early this week I bought another trailer, a Croozer ment for 2 kids and some luggage behind them, at a secondhand shop, at a 40 euro bargain price they put because the connecting part to the bike was missing. For the rest, the thing showed nearly no usage indications, at one side a curved alu bar that goes from one side to another, had jumped out of its sleeve, and it took alot force to get it back, did it by placing a flat key on a wheel to then use that as support for leverage to push it back in the sleeve with a pliers. I connected it with belts to the rear rack extender, and that worked / rode well back home. The idea of the question comes down to being able to use a trailer as a replacement for that refrigerator drawer, the upper side/canvas, the enclosure being foldable down.
That would deliver the option to offload weight from the bike, for certain kinds of luggage, notably heavier bigger things. Also, for things like artwork, easily damaged, bigger 2D dimensions, a nice solution.
But even with an selfinvented mockup way, I need a trailer to start with, a trailer that is / can be made big enough to put bigger things in it.

 

[Andy in Germany]

You can also convert your existing bike into a longtail using the xtracycle conversion kit that has been around in various versions for many years and seems to work fine:

https://www.xtracycle-deutschland.de/en/product/leap-conversion-kit/

View attachment 687097

I didn't realise these were available again. I've been using my version fopr nearly two decades and they're excellent; all the convenience of a trailer without the hassle of schlepping it behind you.

 

[dicko]

I sometimes meet an old man with a trailer attached to his bicycle. He made it himself out of bits and pieces and the local garage did a bit of welding for him. He goes shopping in Market Deeping Tesco and puts his weekly shop in the trailer then cycles home to West Deeping. He’s had this for several years.

 

[freiston]

I don't know how light a trailer can be but what realistic difference will it make whether your extra 10-15kg of "just in case" is being towed or is on top of the rack? If you can build a much lighter one to go on the rack, why not build a much lighter one to get towed? Maybe a folding trailer could be made that you could strap/attach to the rack without it being integral like the linked one? A one-wheeled trailer might be significantly lighter.

 

[freiston]

I sometimes meet an old man with a trailer attached to his bicycle. He made it himself out of bits and pieces and the local garage did a bit of welding for him. He goes shopping in Market Deeping Tesco and puts his weekly shop in the trailer then cycles home to West Deeping. He’s had this for several years.

Bit of a thread drift but . . .

Back in the late 70s/early 80s, I used to sometimes cycle from Boston up to Gibbons bike shop in Spalding if I couldn't find what I wanted in Boston. Sometimes I would then go on to another bike shop further in the same direction. In my memory, it was somewhere in the Deepings, on a bend or corner and used to be a Co-op. I've just tried (quickly and scantly) researching it but I can't find any location on Google Earth/National Library of Scotland OS maps that looks likely and I can't find any reference to such a bike shop in my 1980 CTC Handbook except for Wrights of 24 Church Street Market Deeping - which is no longer a shop and looks nothing like what's in my memory.

On a more positive note - it's good to see that Gibbons is still going - I really didn't expect them to be still in business - not because of anything about them but because it's been such a long time and so many LBSs have disappeared.

 

[dicko]

Bit of a thread drift but . . .

Back in the late 70s/early 80s, I used to sometimes cycle from Boston up to Gibbons bike shop in Spalding if I couldn't find what I wanted in Boston. Sometimes I would then go on to another bike shop further in the same direction. In my memory, it was somewhere in the Deepings, on a bend or corner and used to be a Co-op. I've just tried (quickly and scantly) researching it but I can't find any location on Google Earth/National Library of Scotland OS maps that looks likely and I can't find any reference to such a bike shop in my 1980 CTC Handbook except for Wrights of 24 Church Street Market Deeping - which is no longer a shop and looks nothing like what's in my memory.

On a more positive note - it's good to see that Gibbons is still going - I really didn't expect them to be still in business - not because of anything about them but because it's been such a long time and so many LBSs have disappeared.

Bit of a thread drift but . . .

Back in the late 70s/early 80s, I used to sometimes cycle from Boston up to Gibbons bike shop in Spalding if I couldn't find what I wanted in Boston. Sometimes I would then go on to another bike shop further in the same direction. In my memory, it was somewhere in the Deepings, on a bend or corner and used to be a Co-op. I've just tried (quickly and scantly) researching it but I can't find any location on Google Earth/National Library of Scotland OS maps that looks likely and I can't find any reference to such a bike shop in my 1980 CTC Handbook except for Wrights of 24 Church Street Market Deeping - which is no longer a shop and looks nothing like what's in my memory.

On a more positive note - it's good to see that Gibbons is still going - I really didn't expect them to be still in business - not because of anything about them but because it's been such a long time and so many LBSs have disappeared.

Terry Wright Cycles, Market Deeping. Based in Werrington Peterborough now.
My Claude Butler came from my local cycle shop then Terry Wright Cycles.

 

[MichaelW2]

Before I had a trailer, I had a rack extender. Mine was a piece of plywood drilled to take some wire fixing loops. The rack extended sideways to stabilise big (but not overly heavy) boxes

 

[biketrailerguy]

Hi, I've no idea whether my approach to a similar need / situation is of interest, but it's been working for me - for several years now.
I'm a regular skip diver as well as being a cyclist and wanted a solution to carrying bigger than normal (for me) items that would occasionally cross my path - ie 'targets of opportunity'
I have no qualms about towing a trailer (have made several over a 4decade period), but I'd prefer not to tow an empty one - if I can avoid doing so.
I made a custom pannier rack based on aluminium dexion and other alu extrusions. To this I added the rear triangle from a 2nd alu framed bike, using custom made adaptor plates fixed to the mudguard stay holes on the main bike.
M10 stainless fasteners were then used to attach the triangle to this plate via the triangle's dropouts.
The top of the triangle's saddle tube was bolted to the underside of the pannier rack.
This arrangement produces a 3 triangle arrangement, where the rearmost point of the whole structure is the triangle's bottom bracket.
All of the above has been done to provide a rigid / stiff tow hitch assembly for a central tow hitch - rather than one attached to the rear axle or seat post.
The trailer - which is based on a kid's folding buggy - is folded and sits on top of the pannier rack when not required.
I've modified this buggy to use 260mm dia wheels with QR stub axles. Wheels are removed from the trailer when the latter is stowed on the rack, and the wheels are carried in one of the panniers.
The hitch is a combination of home made bits combined with a spherical / rose joint that provides all the necessary degrees of freedom - including coping with an axial 180 degree flip
Initial material cost was essentially zero - abandoned buggy for main frame, ditto for QR wheels off another - somewhat more upmarket - buggy.
In current state it's cost me about a fiver - after an argument with a bit of construction site mesh - for a spare wheel off Ebay.
Weight of the basic trailer frame is approx 4kg and the heaviest load I've carried is 50kg (2 or 3times) , whilst a typical load is 20 to 30 kg.
I don't have access to a welder, so all mods have been done with basic tools.
I realise pics would probably help, but as a new member, I wouldn't be allowed to upload.
This trailer is neither a 'hanger queen' nor a project to keep a Youtuber's channel ticking over - then abandoned - it's been in regular use since being made and has carried many tons in this period and has proven to be a game changer for me and my requirement - other's mmv.

I also don't know whether this would be allowed - so mod / admin feel free to delete / edit this bit - but I use the same username on IGram - where there's 250+ pics of typical loads, together with construction details in earlier pics.

 

[biketrailerguy]

I don't know how light a trailer can be but what realistic difference will it make whether your extra 10-15kg of "just in case" is being towed or is on top of the rack? If you can build a much lighter one to go on the rack, why not build a much lighter one to get towed? Maybe a folding trailer could be made that you could strap/attach to the rack without it being integral like the linked one? A one-wheeled trailer might be significantly lighter.

My folding trailer (as mentioned elsewhere in this thread) sits on the pannier rack when not needed.
It weighs approx. 4Kg, and its folded / stowed shape also allows a plastic storage box to fit within its frame.
Having it on the rack, rather than towing it - when empty - presents me as a ' normal' cyclist from a car driver's point of view - it's not providing them with something else to consider or run over, when they're in a hurry on a Friday night homeward trip.
Not towing it also makes my life easier in urban traffic - especially on roads without cycle lanes or narrow ones.
Parking the bike is 'normal' - ie no extra length to worry about - especially where the trailer might impede the progress of pedestrians - especially wheelchair users or parents with kids in buggies.
Whilst its presence on the bike adds a little extra 'bulk' - it's nowhere near as prominent as having several feet of trailer sticking out from the bike's rear - and thus is far less likely (imo) to attract unwelcome attention from individuals looking for a way to physically express their status in society.

Since it only takes a couple of mins or so to take off the bike, unfold and set up - this - as a retired 'ol codger with plenty of time - is something I'm more than happy to accept as a minor downside.

In situations where I know it's going to be needed (having previously spotted something), I'll do the return journey towing the trailer, in order to reduce time at the pickup point to the absolute minimum.

Having the choice - which isn't present with a non-folding trailer is extremely useful (for me, anyway)

 

[biketrailerguy]

For the OP (mainly) - I've recently added a thread with further details - and pics - of my folding trailer, as described earlier in this thread, if of use / interest.

What solution did you end up with - if any - as I note this thread is a year old?

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/diy-folding-trailer-rear-rack-mounted.295974/