ie <
[email protected]> wrote:
> We've started riding tandem again and we're thinking of using it for around
> town stuff, in addition to training rides, i.e. grocery runs, going to visit
I bought my first trailer about fifteen years ago to haul my kids
around. When they outgrew it I sold that one (got about 65% of the new
price for it), and a while after bought a Burley cargo trailer. Burley's
web page used to have a testimonial from a couple who had bought the same
model and was riding all over the world pulling it behind their tandem.
They say that after 17,000 miles, all the repairs it needed were a new top
(sunlight is tough on nylon) and a replacement hitch. The model they and
I have has been supplanted by a new one that's more streamlined and can be
equipped with a top rack.
There was a pannier vs. trailer thread here a while back, and I was too
preoccupied with other things to add my $0.02 worth. Panniers are
compact, which is both a plus and a minus. The minus with them is that
you have to have a backpacker-like neurosis about weight and bulk. Also,
weight in a pannier is weight on your frame, spokes, and tires.
There are a variety of trailer models out there. Search "bicycle cargo
trailer" on eBay and Google and you'll see what I mean. One model I saw
was essentially a picnic cooler with wheels. There's a trailer you can
buy that is so big and hairy the maker has a picture on their web page of
it carrying an old refrigerator. One super expensive kid hauler I saw is
shaped like the tip tank on an F-80.
I settled on the Burley, perhaps because I've been a backpacker for
decades and it's built a lot like a backpack, with aluminum tubing and
nylon fabric. I like it because it's roomy (any trailer's biggest
advantage over panniers), it can be used without the top cover, and it
folds for storage in my cluttered garage. It's rated for loads up to 100
lbs. (45 kg).
The plus of this or any trailer is capacity, in both bulk and weight.
Try getting three gallons of milk, four loaves of bread, a dozen eggs,
lettuce, bananas, pizza, tortilla chips, and poster paper for the kids'
homework into panniers! For cold items you can buy small fabric picnic
coolers if you travel long distances in hot weather. I got an antibiotic
shipping box (styrofoam) from a friendly pharmacist that I use for ice
cream.
Someone on the other thread mentioned that if you have a trailer, it's
another tire (and an odd-sized one at that) to go flat. On short trips I
just carry the same old patch kit. On a long trip with a trailer, you
have a place to carry a spare, both for the trailer and for the bike.
The minuses of a trailer: Mass is mass. It has weight and inertia.
You'll notice that coming out of red lights, going through dips, hauling
up hills, and riding into the wind. Coming home from where I do most of
my shopping I climb about 300' in a mile. A fifty-pound load generally
costs me one gear unless I'm already tired, in which case it can cost two.
OTOH, going downhill or downwind you get a bit of a break. The inertia of
the trailer also means you have to be careful when braking. A little
weight will of course go on your hitch. You'll probably notice too that
the hitch will eventually rub some paint off your frame if it attaches to
a painted spot as the Burley does.
A minor plus of trailers: attention. You get all kinds of it hauling
kids. With a cargo trailer most cagers give you a lot of room. And I
recently overheard a shopper as I was mounting up with a trailer of
groceries. "I gotta get one of those," she said. A trailer gets you all
the usual benefits of biking: exercise, clean air, savings on gas--all of
this, to a slightly higher degree.
Bottom line: get a trailer. I recommend the Burley. I think you'll
like it.
Bill
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| We must be the change we seek. |
| --Mohandas K. Ghandi |
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