Bike Trailers, What do you use?

[K'Tesh]

I got the following private message, but I thought that this would be a good topic.

I noticed in your user photo that you have a Bob trailer. I'm considering getting a trailer and everyone swears by their Burly trailers. I've known a couple of people who love their Bob trailers, but I've also heard stories of them becoming unstable if loaded improperly.

I hope you don't mind sharing your experience with the Bob trailer.

Well, first, it's not a Bob trailer, it's a Yakima Big Tow... It was Yakima's reply to the very successful Bob trailer. Yakima, I understand no longer manufactures the Big Tow, perhaps due to legal trouble, or a lack of sales, I don't know.

I bought it to use for bike touring (then never did a tour), so it ended up being mostly used for grocery shopping. I mainly use it for large shopping trips, as it is a bit of a hassle to drag the bike and trailer around Winco (yes, I take them both inside, but I use a shopping cart to carry the trailer). It is capable of towing about 70lbs and its crossed more than 20 bridges (I've had it on the last two Bridge Pedal rides, the last one with Kenny, a large balloon Velo-si-rapter (Bicyclisaurus)). I've noticed that it does slow me down, and I do have to pedal a little harder than without it, but that's to be expected.

It tracks directly behind the bike. I've never had a problem with it causing any kind of instability while riding. It's major problems are attaching the loaded trailer (it can be a bit heavy), backing up (it can and does jackknife), and parking the bike ('cause it's hard to find something to lean it on). Had I found a Bob for the same price, I may have gone with that, but I never considered any other style of trailer, as I don't like their attachment point/methods. The Big Tow came with a waterproof bag, I really appreciated that.

I've modified it slightly, I slimed the tire (was going flat), added a taillight (Blackburn Mars... I found that I don't like lights that require small screwdrivers to replace the batteries), and covered it with reflective film.

Final thought, I'm happy with it.

Now, for you other trailer owners, what do you use? and Why?

Rubberside Down!

K'Tesh

[rainperimeter]

i have a burley nomad. my employer purchased it for me through the health/wellness program they have. mark at revolver fudged the receipt to make it look like a bike as my employer wasn't into buying the trailer. i use it for groceries and other similar situations where something is gonna be heavy and not going in my backpack, or there is going to be more of whatever than my backpack can carry.

it's great. it's waterproof. holds a ton of stuff (burley says up to 100lbs.). has helped me and other friends move. if i had a dog i'd have it ride in there. my cats probably wouldn't go for that.

[mizake]

my girlfriend and i use the burley nomad as well. we've been using it for 2 years now and as we do not drive, it has been hauling everything: groceries, shelves, beer, chairs, a giant kitchen cutting board/island/spice-rack, and many other things. we've also loaded our large cat carrier for vet visits (lowering tire pressure for a smoother ride for the cats helps). often times i'm certain we've exceeded the 100lb "capacity" listed for the trailer. i've even taken it off-road a few times with a full load and punished it on purpose, just to see how well it could handle it. it passed with flying colors and hasn't flipped once. needless to say, i've been VERY impressed by it's durability and design.

the waterproof top comes off if you have tall loads, as do the sides and back if you've got larger loads. we also use lots of bungee cords with certain loads

we purchased ours from city bikes.

highly recommended!

[vseven]

I am in the market for a trailer and would like to hear whether folks have comments on one or two wheeled trailers and stability, handling etc. I have no experience whatsoever with trailers and need one primarily for grocery shopping. I would use it on a road bike as well as a MTB.

[brock]

I have a BOB (one-wheeled).

Pros: Tracks and corners really well, almost hard to notice when it's not there. Great for touring and long distances.

Cons: Tough to handle for around town stuff. Backing up, turning in tight spaces, etc. is a real hassle because the trailer won't stay upright as you muscle things around like a two-wheeled one would.

[mizake]

Originally Posted by vseven

I am in the market for a trailer and would like to hear whether folks have comments on one or two wheeled trailers and stability, handling etc. I have no experience whatsoever with trailers and need one primarily for grocery shopping. I would use it on a road bike as well as a MTB.

the burley nomad handles extremely well!

there's also a mesh divider which we use to keep the heavier groceries in the front of the trailer to keep from shifting (and possibly crushing fragile stuff), and the weight in the front.

in addition, there is a rack available for seperate purchase, which you can affix to the top of the trailer and bungee other stuff to. AND you can also buy fenders for the trailer wheels.

[Cruizer]

I gave much thought to trailers last summer and, after researching what's available and what my needs are, I narrowed my final choices to the Burley Nomad versus the Croozer cargo trailer. [Croozer is a sub-brand of Chariot, a Canadian company.]

I chose the Croozer and I've been totally pleased with it. You can get it on this site (and read several real-people reviews) for $199 with free shipping:

http://www.bicycletrailers.com/Crooz...go-Trailer.pro

Or you can get a returned one for $59.00 (no doubt in scratched up condition): http://returnsforsale.com/cart.php?m=product_list&c=16

I really like my trailer. It only holds 65 pounds but it has a lot more cubic space than the Burley Nomad, which is one of the reasons I chose it. It goes together easily, is sturdily constructed, and tows and handles smoothly. When I took it out for a test ride (empty) to see what it felt like to tow, I kept looking back to see if it was still there because I couldn't feel any difference from riding trailer-less!

I've used it to haul a week's worth of groceries and I've been on one bike move (and plan to do many more). It has a rain cover and you can remove the back wall to carry longer objects. It's coolest feature, which no other trailers have that I'm aware of, is that the hitch arm has two positions -- regular, for towing, and at an angle that turns it into a handcart! Since it's only a couple of inches wider than a typical grocery store shopping cart, I wheel it in front of me at New Seasons and use it for a grocery cart. This is a totally awesome feature and is the other reason I chose it.

Bicycletrailers.com is a great company to do business with. They are in Wisconsin and if you call them for further info you always get real people and they're very friendly and knowledgable. They also have inexpensive return insurance for something like $5 so that if you decide you don't want it you can return it and they pay the shipping. But I doubt you would want to return it.

[joeb]

http://www.carryfreedom.com/bamboo.html
http://www.carryfreedom.com/products.html
http://www.carryfreedom.com/custom.html

[joeb]

Thanks for this thread. I've been researching trailers. I was looking at the Nomad. I’ll check out the Croozer.

About a month ago, I got stuck needing to pick up some rental equipment before Kennedy Rentals closed on 11th and Steven's (between Hawthorne and Division). I checked Craigslist and called around to see if I could buy a trailer real quick. Used trailers are hard to come by. My solution was going to be, rent the equipment, walk back to work to drop off equipment, walk back to Kennedy Rental to get bike, ride home to Gresham to get a car, drive back to work to get equipment, deliver equipment, drive home. After renting the equipment, I walked pasted Clever Cycle (9th and Hawthorne), rented a Bakfiet, delivered the equipment and saved 2 hours and a 20 mile round trip in the car. A very cool solution!!

All that to say... I need a trailer. I was told trailers aren’t good for touring, but I prefer Cruizer’s experience. I have a fairly lightweight road bike. I don’t know if that is an issue for hauling a trailer.

One of the criteria I was looking for, and could not find anywhere, was a quick unhook shopping cart conversion for groceries. I can’t believe it exists. Primarily I would use the trailer around town (want to join a bike move) but would also like to take overnighters in the Gorge or weekends to the Coast.

...checking out bicycletrailers.com now. Thanks!

[rainperimeter]

Originally Posted by joeb

Primarily I would use the trailer around town (want to join a bike move) but would also like to take overnighters in the Gorge or weekends to the Coast.

i used my trailer once on an overnighter (coast range) and that sucked. i was going with a friend who was gonna carry his stuff on his back the whole way (just over 50 miles out from hillsboro). i thought that was crazy, he was going to be suffering by mid-ride. so we took my trailer and that ended up slowing us down drastically. never again...