Bike Trailer

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dlovett
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Bike Trailer

Post by dlovett »

Hello,

Can any of you suggest a bike trailer for me?

I want one to carry the dog in when we go out on longer rides, and as he is 56kg, most of the kid style/ebay cargo ones are out for their 30-40kg weight limit. ideally a solid floor and opening rear end would be preferred.

For those of you that have used them, whats best a seat post or rear QR mount? I'd rather a seat post mount as our bikes are a mix between QR and maxel/bolt through rear axels, but if a QR style one is better then...

TIA

d
Mark E
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by Mark E »

Duncan, I can’t help in terms of a trailer with a suitable weight limit, but from experience towing our daughters about, I would definitely go for a trailer that attaches at the axle rather than seatpost. They seem much more stable in my experience. We had a croozer trailer when they were younger and it was great.
ScotRoutes
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by ScotRoutes »

56Kg? What's the dog?
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benp1
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by benp1 »

Have you seen the video of danny macaskill taking out his mates daughter? It's recent, looks like a trailer that'll take a lot of abuse!
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dlovett
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by dlovett »

mje25 wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 12:27 pm Duncan, I can’t help in terms of a trailer with a suitable weight limit, but from experience towing our daughters about, I would definitely go for a trailer that attaches at the axle rather than seatpost. They seem much more stable in my experience. We had a croozer trailer when they were younger and it was great.
Cheers!!
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dlovett
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by dlovett »

ScotRoutes wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 12:32 pm 56Kg? What's the dog?
Izikhulu is a Rhodesian Ridgeback.
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dlovett
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by dlovett »

benp1 wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 12:33 pm Have you seen the video of danny macaskill taking out his mates daughter? It's recent, looks like a trailer that'll take a lot of abuse!
Dany Daycare, that's brilliant. Thankfully for Ku's sake I can't ride like Danny. I think the trailer he used wouldn't take the weight though.
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PaulE
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by PaulE »

Where are you? I've a 2 child one going spare you could try. Think the limit is 50kg, but that's a lot closer than the ones you've seen
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Alpinum
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by Alpinum »

Hinterher :-bd

https://www.hinterher.com

Love ours, bloody brilliant and convenient for a car free life.
Multiple axle choices available, on our bikes with boost thru axle. No probs.
Cheddar Man
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by Cheddar Man »

Get a kids one and strip all the fabric off, then attach a dog crate across the top of it with whatever clips work. Then get someone to knock up a cover for it out of an old tent flysheet. Bingo!

That is what I did for our Beagle, we did try him in the kids thing with the seats taken out, but he got quite nervous very quickly and got out of the thing, which was an issue as i was going about 10mph! With the crate he is safe, secure and feels at home, especially with the cover on it except for him looking backwards.

Good luck though, 53kgs is quite a weight!
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by jaminb »

Crikey those german ones are expensive. i bought a Little Van kids trailer off ebay for £1 with a broken hitch. fitted a new Burley hitch rubber which connected into an existing axle mount that we already had for the kids trailer. The bottom section is an aluminium box and I had intended to strip the sides off but they turned out quite useful for overloading. It is surprisingly strong i suspect this foraged load was over 60kg and didn't break it.

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dlovett
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by dlovett »

PaulE wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 5:22 pm Where are you? I've a 2 child one going spare you could try. Think the limit is 50kg, but that's a lot closer than the ones you've seen
Hey Paul, I am on the south coast near Portsmouth, where are you?
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dlovett
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by dlovett »

I have found various trailers and they all say 40kg. However they are all rated for a lot more, just not to be towed by a bike. Now I’m not sure if that’s to do with the German road safety laws, or if it would actually be a safety issue. I don’t want to do anything that would put him at risk, but if it’s just about rules, well.....

The duramaxx Mountee looks a reasonable bet as it is designed for a 60kg load (40kg towed), has a good sized load bed and a metal floor. It would be easy enough to attach some kind of soft cage and harness point for ku. Still I am keeping an eye out for used children’s ones but most seem to be a very low load weight.
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dlovett
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by dlovett »

Alpinum wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 5:43 pm Hinterher :-bd

https://www.hinterher.com

Love ours, bloody brilliant and convenient for a car free life.
Multiple axle choices available, on our bikes with boost thru axle. No probs.
Holy crap the price of them!! They don’t actually say a max weight load that I can see anywhere in there website, a good thing as they cost more than my car, so they are out of the budget!
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PaulE
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by PaulE »

dlovett wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 1:01 am
PaulE wrote: Tue May 28, 2019 5:22 pm Where are you? I've a 2 child one going spare you could try. Think the limit is 50kg, but that's a lot closer than the ones you've seen
Hey Paul, I am on the south coast near Portsmouth, where are you?
In Sheffield, so might be a tad tricky
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Alpinum
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by Alpinum »

dlovett wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 1:13 am a good thing as they cost more than my car
It doesn't need any fuel or insurance... sell your car.
Like all cars, it's stupid anyway :wink:
dlovett wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 1:13 am They don’t actually say a max weight load that I can see anywhere in there website
They actually say at every model. They suggest 45 kg, but you can get them with a coupler for up to 200 kg. Running the trailer with QR limits the weight to 80 kg.

You get what you pay for.
Cheddar Man
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by Cheddar Man »

I wouldn't worry about the weight thing too much. They are child trailers, so will have a huge safety margin. I have stood on mine, and I am more that 50kg, Your dog won't be jumping up and down, it will be fine.

I would urge you to not use a soft cage, if your dog gets a bit freaked, at 50kg, a soft cage is not going to hold him. Also if the trailer tips he won't have any protection in a crash. A crate will add more weight, but you are already into this for well over 50kg, so it's just more weight training at this stage :lol:
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dlovett
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by dlovett »

Alpinum wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 7:34 am
dlovett wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 1:13 am a good thing as they cost more than my car
It doesn't need any fuel or insurance... sell your car.
Like all cars, it's stupid anyway :wink:
dlovett wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 1:13 am They don’t actually say a max weight load that I can see anywhere in there website
They actually say at every model. They suggest 45 kg, but you can get them with a coupler for up to 200 kg. Running the trailer with QR limits the weight to 80 kg.

You get what you pay for.
If I overloaded another brand and it can take it ok, is 80kg a standard limit with a QR?
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dlovett
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by dlovett »

Cheddar Man wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 7:47 am I wouldn't worry about the weight thing too much. They are child trailers, so will have a huge safety margin. I have stood on mine, and I am more that 50kg, Your dog won't be jumping up and down, it will be fine.

I would urge you to not use a soft cage, if your dog gets a bit freaked, at 50kg, a soft cage is not going to hold him. Also if the trailer tips he won't have any protection in a crash. A crate will add more weight, but you are already into this for well over 50kg, so it's just more weight training at this stage :lol:
That's the way I am thinking at the moment. What are these things like to pedal with when loaded up?
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Bearlegged
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by Bearlegged »

My experience is limited to a rear axle mounted Chariot, with 2 kids (thankfully combined weight less than your dog!). I found it important to remain seated, and pedal smoothly. Any side to side motion in my riding style seemed to result in the trailer "wagging" the bike.
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Alpinum
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by Alpinum »

dlovett wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 11:36 am If I overloaded another brand and it can take it ok, is 80kg a standard limit with a QR?
Good question... I can ask the maker of Hinterher, he's very helpful and will likely have a good answer.
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dlovett
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by dlovett »

Landslide wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 11:53 am My experience is limited to a rear axle mounted Chariot, with 2 kids (thankfully combined weight less than your dog!). I found it important to remain seated, and pedal smoothly. Any side to side motion in my riding style seemed to result in the trailer "wagging" the bike.
ta will remember that.
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dlovett
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by dlovett »

Alpinum wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 1:34 pm
dlovett wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 11:36 am If I overloaded another brand and it can take it ok, is 80kg a standard limit with a QR?
Good question... I can ask the maker of Hinterher, he's very helpful and will likely have a good answer.
If you could, that would be ace.
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by Cheddar Man »

dlovett wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 11:37 am
Cheddar Man wrote: Wed May 29, 2019 7:47 am I wouldn't worry about the weight thing too much. They are child trailers, so will have a huge safety margin. I have stood on mine, and I am more that 50kg, Your dog won't be jumping up and down, it will be fine.

I would urge you to not use a soft cage, if your dog gets a bit freaked, at 50kg, a soft cage is not going to hold him. Also if the trailer tips he won't have any protection in a crash. A crate will add more weight, but you are already into this for well over 50kg, so it's just more weight training at this stage :lol:
That's the way I am thinking at the moment. What are these things like to pedal with when loaded up?
Well mine had one child, then two children with assorted child nonsense, and I cycled the circumference of the Isle of Wight fully loaded like that with no problem. Strangely my dog is less easy (he's a Beagle so I should probably stop that sentence there to be honest) but he moves around a lot more and although he weighs less that 20kg when he starts circling to get comfortable like they do I do know about it.

All in all though, it is a very good idea, and most of the time of the Strawberry Line near us he runs alongside now anyway.
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dlovett
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Re: Bike Trailer

Post by dlovett »

Most of the kids ones say a max speed of 10mph, for those of you that use them is going faster than that a problem?
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