Three wheels on my wagon

[simon_brooke]

I've been boring on for years about how I used to use a
trailer - a Bike Hod - to carry all my gear on two week research
fieldwork trips, and how in my opinion a trailer is the right solution
for load carrying by bike.

And for years I've been dithering about buying a new trailer. Thing
is, I really wanted a Weber Monoporter but I couldn't cost-justify
it. So I dithered. Last weekend I visited the co-op in Edinburgh,
really only intending to buy a pair of wheelbags, and they had one of
their own-brand trailers on display. OK, it's cheap. But it's robustly
made and not naff, and it's not desperately heavy. The co-op
apparently like to do a pre-delivery inspection on a trailer just as
if it were a bike, and I wasn't in Edinburgh for long (and really
didn't want to pull the thing a hundred miles home); so I ordered it,
and this afternoon it arrived.

This evening I loaded it up with a representative camping load (tent,
sleeping mat, sleeping bag, stove, eating gear, a bag of clothes) and
took it out for a twelve mile run over the 200 metre contour.

So: initial thoughts

You do notice it on the bike - there's no question that it's there.
But it followed docilely at up to 50km/h on well surfaced descents,
including bends, and pulled very easily on the flat - I don't think it
affected my speed on the flat at all. the first time I got out of the
saddle on a climb I didn't like the feeling at all and sat down
immediately. It felt decidedly odd. But as I went on I quickly got
comfortable getting out of the saddle. It definitely doesn't like you
swinging the bike around much - there's a definite pendulum effect,
and it's a bit disconcerting - but if you keep the bike steady you can
get out of the saddle without problems. You do feel the weight on
climbs, but I managed some very sharp climbs without difficulty, so I
don't think I'd ever need to walk up hills. Long steep climbs are
going to be slow, but the extra weight seems to make the bike steadier
at low speed.

It does not like uneven surfaces at speed, and I think at least at
first I'd be very cautious on off-road descents.

The latch mechanism which holds the trailer to its custom skewer is
simple and positive and I didn't feel any anxiety about it becoming
unhooked accidentally. The connection felt remarkably secure.

Reviews of the trailer comment that the bag has only sewn, not welded,
seams and thus won't be waterproof. The co-op appear to have taken
that criticism on board and fixed it. I haven't had the bag out in the
rain yet, but the seams all appear to be welded and it looks
watertight. It's obviously not Ortleib quality, but it's well enough
made in a cheap'n'cheerful way.

The wheel is clearly not great quality, and having a knobbly tyre on
it seems to me to make no sense at all (I've ordered a Marathon to
replace it); but nevertheless it rolled well and as I've said I didn't
feel it slowed me any on the flat - it was easy to hit 32km/h on the
flat, and to cruise at 27km/h.

Although the trailer packs flat for delivery, it isn't really a
folding trailer. It takes a fair bit of disassembly to collapse it,
and you wouldn't want to do it often. I'm not sure i believe the claim
that you can pack it into its own bag, and even if you can you would
not want to. This being so, the quick release bolts used to hold the
top frame and the mudguard seem unnecessary.

Without the bag, there's nothing to hold stuff in the trailer - it
would be better with lightweight netting all round between the top
frame an the floor.

The magic skewer to which the trailer attaches replaces the existing
skewer in your rear hub (a bit bizarre replacing my titanium Campag
skewer with this rather large and clunky thing. However, with the
vertical drop-outs on my cross bike, the knob on the end of the skewer
fouls on the derailleur when trying to get the rear wheel out, and I
think it's going to need to be completely removed each time the wheel
is removed - not exactly quick release!

The only thing about it which I would fault on quality is the vertical
spindle on which the linkage pivots. This is secured by a single wing-
nut with no locknut. If it came undone, the nut would inevitably get
lost and then the spindle would work its way out, causing the linkage
to fail. At least a locknut is required there, and actually I'd prefer
to replace it with a crown nut and split pin.

 

[Robert]

The only thing about it which I would fault on quality is the vertical
spindle on which the linkage pivots. This is secured by a single wing-
nut with no locknut. If it came undone, the nut would inevitably get
lost and then the spindle would work its way out, causing the linkage
to fail. At least a locknut is required there, and actually I'd prefer
to replace it with a crown nut and split pin.

As I found out to my cost! On our tour to South West France a month ago, I tightened up the wing nut most days. But starting from La Rochelle in the pouring rain I forgot. As you say the nut got lost and the pin dropped out. I got a metal rod from some builders making re-inforced concrete, put it in and bent the ends over. More solid than the original. To be fair EBC were as good as gold and sent a new pin of a different design. The problem with the original pin is that wasn't long enough.

The wheel is clearly not great quality, and having a knobbly tyre on
it seems to me to make no sense at all (I've ordered a Marathon to
replace it); but nevertheless it rolled well and as I've said I didn't
feel it slowed me any on the flat - it was easy to hit 32km/h on the
flat, and to cruise at 27km/h.

That's a good idea, it took the smallest thorn in the world to puncture it.


I've got mixed feelings about the trailer. I used it behind the tandem, and the bag doesn't take a camping load for two, so we used rear panniers as well. Generally I didn't notice it, apart from the weight. It was fine on gravel voies-verts and negotiated the barriers well, but it was a bit snakey on rough roads and when being overtaken by lorries.

 

[HJ]

Is this the trailer you are talking about Simon? Just in case anyone doesn't ken the co-op site...

 

[Robert]

That's the one I'm talking about. I've read that the bag leaks, EBC assured me that it had been re-designed and that seems to be correct. We had some torrential rain and the inside of the bag stayed dry.

 

[simon_brooke]

Is this the trailer you are talking about Simon? Just in case anyone doesn't ken the co-op site...

That's the beast. Anyone who doesn't know the co-op should do - in terms of value for money their own-brand Revolution stuff is just about the best in Britain. For other people's bikes they sell a good range at ordinary prices, and for small parts and accessories they can be expensive - but their own brand stuff is simply excellent and very well priced.