Bicycle trailers:

I am a 58 year old amputee (Front of left foot) and have spent the last four years building up my endurance to ride more than 100 Km per day on a trip. I hope to be able to spend at least four days in a row doing this mileage. To do this I will need to take some gear with me. The idea of a trailer has been going through my mind and am wondering what sort, as in single rear wheel, or twin wheeled type.
Any suggestions welcomed.
Ro
P.S My son-in-law owns an engineering business so he will be building it, just want him to build only one if possible.Rather than a back yard full of mistakes!

 

[Tom Keats]

In article <[email protected]>,
<[email protected]> writes:

> P.S My son-in-law owns an engineering business so he will be building it, just want him to build only one if possible.Rather than a back yard full of mistakes!

Maybe this site would be of interest to you?
http://www.biketrailers.20m.com/MAIN.htm

Detailed plans, descriptions & explanations, and
lots of pictures, for a DIY trailer.


cheers,
Tom


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Above address is just a spam midden.
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[Ron Hardin]

Trailers slow you down a lot. Factor that in to your desires.

An empty trailer isn't bad, and carrying lots of weight on the bike
isn't bad, but the combination of wind resistance from the trailer
and from the weight it carries tips the impression over the top that
you're really being slowed down.

So if you need gear, put a milk crate on a sturdy rear luggage rack
and do it that way. (I recommend a conventional rack with legs
PLUS the core innards of a seat-post rack under it, so it's stabilized
as firmly to the frame as possible; the latter prevents sway and the
former bears the weight.)

I have a no-longer-made Tanjor trailer, which is streamlined as much
as possible, and it lets me ride with one higher gear than my boxy
Burley, from reduced wind drag; but it's still slower than no trailer
when empty.

Keeping all the tires pumped up hard helps a lot, reducing some drag
that you normally put up with in compensation.
--
Ron Hardin
[email protected]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

 

[Neil Cherry]

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 08:15:47 GMT, Ron Hardin wrote:
> Trailers slow you down a lot. Factor that in to your desires.
>
> An empty trailer isn't bad, and carrying lots of weight on the bike
> isn't bad, but the combination of wind resistance from the trailer
> and from the weight it carries tips the impression over the top that
> you're really being slowed down.
>
> So if you need gear, put a milk crate on a sturdy rear luggage rack
> and do it that way. (I recommend a conventional rack with legs
> PLUS the core innards of a seat-post rack under it, so it's stabilized
> as firmly to the frame as possible; the latter prevents sway and the
> former bears the weight.)
>
> I have a no-longer-made Tanjor trailer, which is streamlined as much
> as possible, and it lets me ride with one higher gear than my boxy
> Burley, from reduced wind drag; but it's still slower than no trailer
> when empty.
>
> Keeping all the tires pumped up hard helps a lot, reducing some drag
> that you normally put up with in compensation.

I ride with the BOB trailer and I can bear out that it will slow you
down (typically I'll lose 1 to 2 mph over a non-flat route). Not only
that but it feels weird. It's like driving an 18 wheeler. It will be
difficult to stand with the trailer. You will need to take turns a
little wider. Your speed up hills will decrease. You won't be able to
fly down hills as too much speed is a bad thing (jack knife and high
speed instability). Having said all that I find it to be no worse than
carrying a fully load back pack. The trailer does have 2 advantages.
First I tend to throw everything into it so nothing is forgotten.
Second it's much better in my trailer than on my back. I already ride
with a fully loaded Camelback and I've found it difficult to combine
that with the back pack. One thing to note: make sure you have a good
sturdy 36 spoke back wheel. The typical racing wheel doesn't hold up
wheel to road abuse and the extra weight of ether a pack or trailer.
Given a choice between the trailer and the back back for loads better
than 20 lbs I'd stay with the trailer. On my commute I tend to ride
with about 30 - 40 lbs in the trailer but I've gone with more.

BTW, the BOB is a single wheel design. I haven't had any experience
with a 2 wheel design.

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry [email protected]
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://linuxha.sourceforge.net/ (SourceForge)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)

 

[The Queen of Cans and Jars]

Ron Hardin <[email protected]> wrote:

> Trailers slow you down a lot. Factor that in to your desires.
>
> An empty trailer isn't bad, and carrying lots of weight on the bike
> isn't bad, but the combination of wind resistance from the trailer
> and from the weight it carries tips the impression over the top that
> you're really being slowed down.
>
> So if you need gear, put a milk crate on a sturdy rear luggage rack
> and do it that way. (I recommend a conventional rack with legs
> PLUS the core innards of a seat-post rack under it, so it's stabilized
> as firmly to the frame as possible; the latter prevents sway and the
> former bears the weight.)

why on earth would you put a milk crate on your rack instead of pannier
bags?

 

[Jym Dyer]

=v= I very recently threw together a trailers web page:

http://www.things.org/~jym/bicycles/trailers.html

Here's another page discussing a completely different
set of trailers:

http://www.ucolick.org/~de/AltTrans/trailers.html

<_Jym_>

 

[Ron Hardin]

The Queen of Cans and Jars wrote:
>
> Ron Hardin <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Trailers slow you down a lot. Factor that in to your desires.
> >
> > An empty trailer isn't bad, and carrying lots of weight on the bike
> > isn't bad, but the combination of wind resistance from the trailer
> > and from the weight it carries tips the impression over the top that
> > you're really being slowed down.
> >
> > So if you need gear, put a milk crate on a sturdy rear luggage rack
> > and do it that way. (I recommend a conventional rack with legs
> > PLUS the core innards of a seat-post rack under it, so it's stabilized
> > as firmly to the frame as possible; the latter prevents sway and the
> > former bears the weight.)
>
> why on earth would you put a milk crate on your rack instead of pannier
> bags?

It holds more, you can hang excess on the side, or drape over the thing; when
not in use it's out of the wind and rigid on the frame.

I've never bought more than I could carry, ever, using one. The extreme is
using my 6' cable lock as a 3' loop looped through shopping bags, and sling the
whole thing over the top of what's in the milk crate.

It's completely waterproof if you simply put everything in a garbage bag
and twisty tie it shut, on days when you want it waterproof.

It beats panniers by so far that it's not even on the same planet.
--
Ron Hardin
[email protected]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

 

[Rick Onanian]

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 14:10:38 GMT, [email protected] (The Queen
of Cans and Jars) wrote:
>why on earth would you put a milk crate on your rack instead of pannier
>bags?

So Fabrizio will have a heart attack if you ride faster than him.
--
Rick Onanian

 

[David Kerber]

In article <1gfvijo.1x9p0sn1452klvN%[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
> Ron Hardin <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > Trailers slow you down a lot. Factor that in to your desires.
> >
> > An empty trailer isn't bad, and carrying lots of weight on the bike
> > isn't bad, but the combination of wind resistance from the trailer
> > and from the weight it carries tips the impression over the top that
> > you're really being slowed down.
> >
> > So if you need gear, put a milk crate on a sturdy rear luggage rack
> > and do it that way. (I recommend a conventional rack with legs
> > PLUS the core innards of a seat-post rack under it, so it's stabilized
> > as firmly to the frame as possible; the latter prevents sway and the
> > former bears the weight.)
>
> why on earth would you put a milk crate on your rack instead of pannier
> bags?

To make it more theft resistant.


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Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

 

[Curtis L. Russell]

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 12:37:07 -0400, Rick Onanian <[email protected]>
wrote:

>So Fabrizio will have a heart attack if you ride faster than him.

Not if: when.

Curtis L. Russell
Odenton, MD (USA)
Just someone on two wheels...

 

[Mark Mitchell]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On 2004-06-24, David Kerber <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote:
> In article <1gfvijo.1x9p0sn1452klvN%[email protected]>,
> [email protected] says...
>> Ron Hardin <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> > Trailers slow you down a lot. Factor that in to your desires.
>> >
>> > An empty trailer isn't bad, and carrying lots of weight on the bike
>> > isn't bad, but the combination of wind resistance from the trailer
>> > and from the weight it carries tips the impression over the top that
>> > you're really being slowed down.
>> >
>> > So if you need gear, put a milk crate on a sturdy rear luggage rack
>> > and do it that way. (I recommend a conventional rack with legs
>> > PLUS the core innards of a seat-post rack under it, so it's stabilized
>> > as firmly to the frame as possible; the latter prevents sway and the
>> > former bears the weight.)
>>
>> why on earth would you put a milk crate on your rack instead of pannier
>> bags?
>
> To make it more theft resistant.
>
Plus a milk crate and some zip ties are *so* much cheaper.

Mark

- --
Remove both wrongs to make the email address right.

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[Lorenzo L. Love]

Mark Mitchell wrote:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> On 2004-06-24, David Kerber <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote:
>
>>In article <1gfvijo.1x9p0sn1452klvN%[email protected]>,
>>[email protected] says...
>>
>>>Ron Hardin <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Trailers slow you down a lot. Factor that in to your desires.
>>>>
>>>>An empty trailer isn't bad, and carrying lots of weight on the bike
>>>>isn't bad, but the combination of wind resistance from the trailer
>>>>and from the weight it carries tips the impression over the top that
>>>>you're really being slowed down.
>>>>
>>>>So if you need gear, put a milk crate on a sturdy rear luggage rack
>>>>and do it that way. (I recommend a conventional rack with legs
>>>>PLUS the core innards of a seat-post rack under it, so it's stabilized
>>>>as firmly to the frame as possible; the latter prevents sway and the
>>>>former bears the weight.)
>>>
>>>why on earth would you put a milk crate on your rack instead of pannier
>>>bags?
>>
>>To make it more theft resistant.
>>
>
> Plus a milk crate and some zip ties are *so* much cheaper.
>
> Mark
>

The problem is that a milk crate on top of your rack puts your center of
gravity kind of high. Hang a milk crate off of each side of the rack
doubles the cargo space and keep the center of gravity low. Makes the
bike kind of wide though. Or you can use plastic buckets to make
panniers. See http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove/9Nov2002-04.JPG for some
rainproof panniers I made from cat litter buckets and a few dollars of
hardware.

Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

"Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact that a
person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a
newspaperman, but if a man doesn't drive there's something wrong with him."
Art Buchwald

 

[Ron Hardin]

Lorenzo L. Love wrote:
> The problem is that a milk crate on top of your rack puts your center of
> gravity kind of high. Hang a milk crate off of each side of the rack
> doubles the cargo space and keep the center of gravity low. Makes the
> bike kind of wide though. Or you can use plastic buckets to make
> panniers. See http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove/9Nov2002-04.JPG for some
> rainproof panniers I made from cat litter buckets and a few dollars of
> hardware.

There's no harm in a high cg; it makes you more stable, if anything. The
problem with it is rigidity and how to achieve it. If the load flops around
relative to the bike, the bike is very difficult to handle.

The double rack I described solves most of that, both legged and seat-post
versions in use at once.

Incidentally you have to put a piece of scrap wood sideways across the bottom of the
milk crate to distribute the load at the end of the rack; the crate will
have only about its front half on the rack, and you'll crack the plastic otherwise.
--
Ron Hardin
[email protected]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

 

[The Queen of Cans and Jars]

Ron Hardin <[email protected]> wrote:

> The Queen of Cans and Jars wrote:
> >
> > Ron Hardin <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > > Trailers slow you down a lot. Factor that in to your desires.
> > >
> > > An empty trailer isn't bad, and carrying lots of weight on the bike
> > > isn't bad, but the combination of wind resistance from the trailer
> > > and from the weight it carries tips the impression over the top that
> > > you're really being slowed down.
> > >
> > > So if you need gear, put a milk crate on a sturdy rear luggage rack
> > > and do it that way. (I recommend a conventional rack with legs
> > > PLUS the core innards of a seat-post rack under it, so it's stabilized
> > > as firmly to the frame as possible; the latter prevents sway and the
> > > former bears the weight.)
> >
> > why on earth would you put a milk crate on your rack instead of pannier
> > bags?
>
> It holds more, you can hang excess on the side, or drape over the thing;
> when not in use it's out of the wind and rigid on the frame.
>
> I've never bought more than I could carry, ever, using one. The extreme
> is using my 6' cable lock as a 3' loop looped through shopping bags, and
> sling the whole thing over the top of what's in the milk crate.
>
> It's completely waterproof if you simply put everything in a garbage bag
> and twisty tie it shut, on days when you want it waterproof.
>
> It beats panniers by so far that it's not even on the same planet.

i've never had any problem fitting everything i needed to fit into my
pannier bags. and, as an added bonus, i don't have to ride around with
a friggin' milk crate on my rack.

don't get me wrong - if it works for you, okey doke. i'm not interested
in arguing with you about it. but i think that it's aesthetically and
functionally inferior, and that even if you don't want to use panniers
there are far better solutions.

you go on with your bad milk crate, though. have fun with it.

 

[The Queen of Cans and Jars]

Rick Onanian <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 14:10:38 GMT, [email protected] (The Queen
> of Cans and Jars) wrote:
>
> >why on earth would you put a milk crate on your rack instead of pannier
> >bags?
>
> So Fabrizio will have a heart attack if you ride faster than him.

fabrizio? that's the guy from the "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!"
commercials, right?

 

[The Queen of Cans and Jars]

David Kerber <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote:

> In article <1gfvijo.1x9p0sn1452klvN%[email protected]>,
> [email protected] says...
> > Ron Hardin <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > > Trailers slow you down a lot. Factor that in to your desires.
> > >
> > > An empty trailer isn't bad, and carrying lots of weight on the bike
> > > isn't bad, but the combination of wind resistance from the trailer
> > > and from the weight it carries tips the impression over the top that
> > > you're really being slowed down.
> > >
> > > So if you need gear, put a milk crate on a sturdy rear luggage rack
> > > and do it that way. (I recommend a conventional rack with legs
> > > PLUS the core innards of a seat-post rack under it, so it's stabilized
> > > as firmly to the frame as possible; the latter prevents sway and the
> > > former bears the weight.)
> >
> > why on earth would you put a milk crate on your rack instead of pannier
> > bags?
>
> To make it more theft resistant.

hee!

 

[Mike Kruger]

"The Queen of Cans and Jars" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:1gfwchx.1xbaq281o4mewlN%> > >
> > > why on earth would you put a milk crate on your rack instead of
pannier
> > > bags?
> >
>
> i've never had any problem fitting everything i needed to fit into my
> pannier bags. and, as an added bonus, i don't have to ride around with
> a friggin' milk crate on my rack.
>
> don't get me wrong - if it works for you, okey doke. i'm not interested
> in arguing with you about it. but i think that it's aesthetically and
> functionally inferior, and that even if you don't want to use panniers
> there are far better solutions.
>
> you go on with your bad milk crate, though. have fun with it.

1. A milk crate costs about $3 at a hardware store, and most people already
have one. Panniers are more expensive.
2. The dorky look of a milk crate serves as an effective anti-theft device
for the entire bike. It marks the rider as somebody not worth mugging,
because how much money could they possibly have? Certainly it's hard to
imagine stealing the milk crate itself. Panniers make a bike look more
attractive, and can be stolen easily if left on the bike.
3. The milk crate doesn't need any extra attention in rain.
4. You can stick a backpack in a milk crate more easily than in panniers,
which is an advantage for students.
5. No heel strike problems with a milk crate.
6. The back of the milk crate makes a nice surface for bumper stickers
containing the irritating political slogan of your choice.

I've used both, and prefer panniers. The humble milk crate is not without
appeal, however.

 

[Leo Lichtman]

"The Queen of Cans and Jars" wrote: (clip) i think that it's aesthetically
and functionally inferior (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^
Can anyone comment on the effect on handling of the high center of gravity
of a rack-mounted crate vs. the lower center of panniers? Seems to me the
panniers would be less leable to "wag the bike."

 

[Leo Lichtman]

"Lorenzo L. Love" wrote: (clip) rainproof panniers I made from cat litter
buckets and a few dollars of hardware.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Now I'm going to bring this discussion full circle. I think those panniers
are really neat, but it looks like they would add as much wind resistance as
a trailer.

 

[The Queen of Cans and Jars]

Mike Kruger <[email protected]> wrote:

> "The Queen of Cans and Jars" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > i've never had any problem fitting everything i needed to fit into my
> > pannier bags. and, as an added bonus, i don't have to ride around with
> > a friggin' milk crate on my rack.
> >
> > don't get me wrong - if it works for you, okey doke. i'm not interested
> > in arguing with you about it. but i think that it's aesthetically and
> > functionally inferior, and that even if you don't want to use panniers
> > there are far better solutions.
> >
> > you go on with your bad milk crate, though. have fun with it.
>
> 1. A milk crate costs about $3 at a hardware store, and most people already
> have one. Panniers are more expensive.

smart shoppers find good deals when they need them.

> 2. The dorky look of a milk crate serves as an effective anti-theft device
> for the entire bike. It marks the rider as somebody not worth mugging,
> because how much money could they possibly have? Certainly it's hard to
> imagine stealing the milk crate itself. Panniers make a bike look more
> attractive, and can be stolen easily if left on the bike.

they can also be easily locked, or removed and carried.

> 3. The milk crate doesn't need any extra attention in rain.

i don't ride in the rain.

> 4. You can stick a backpack in a milk crate more easily than in panniers,
> which is an advantage for students.

i could fit three backpacks in my pannier bags.

> 5. No heel strike problems with a milk crate.

nor with my panniers.

> 6. The back of the milk crate makes a nice surface for bumper stickers
> containing the irritating political slogan of your choice.

i don't put bumperstickers on my car, so why would i put them on my
bike?

> I've used both, and prefer panniers. The humble milk crate is not without
> appeal, however.

except for the fact that they're hideous, of course.