New to Trailering... questions about stability, ride quality yadda yadda

Google sponsored links

Sigurdd50

hey all

I scored my first 2 wheel trailer on C-list local, a Winchester kid carrier... great price. I believe they are now owned by Kool-Stop.

anyway... yer basic thing, I took my first solo on it to the Grocery (about 2-3 miles, up and down a few hills in town, and got several bags of groceries... a good work out!)

I didn't do any maintenance on this thing (lubricant, etc), but it felt as tho it would be fine, and then it would 'tug' at my... slow me down, and then it was okay. Also, the connector is this sort of coiled spring inside the tow bar. I haven't seen many of these.

Are there any tips (aside from biting the bullet and getting a Burley Nomad) to make them run a bit smoother? Or is this just the nature of the beast?

The BikeForums Team

-adv-

This is an archived thread, you can find the full version of this thread, with images, links and more content here.

Ready to buy? Check out these two online bike stores:
- http://www.nashbar.com (you can find the latest bike nashbar coupons in this thread)
- http://www.performancebike.com (you can find the latest performance bike coupons in this thread)

Cya on the forums,
- The BikeForums Team
- http://www.bikeforums.net

Bikepacker67

I think every trailer is different, but I can give you the thumbs up for the Nomad! :D

I've had mine for about a month now, and will never go back to racks and pans unless I'm singletrack touring.

vulpes

I have read on other trailer threads that the spring-loaded tongue type hitch is pretty squirrelly. I assume it is a seat post hitch, and I hear the axle is by far the best place to hitch a trailer.

Sigurdd50

Well Unless I got it wrong, which has happened, the hitch connects to one of the chain stays by the rear hub.

it looks a little like this:
http://lansing.craigslist.org/bab/375950734.html

hmmm can one modify the hitch?
( I guess I just need to get down and take a look at what I got)

Raiyn

Hmmm my trailer has a hitch like what you described. Perhaps you should check out my thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=311932).

Sigurdd50

Raiyn

Raiyn: I have been reading your thread, considering modifying the trailer from 'kid trailer' to stuff hauler. So perhaps the nature of these things is that they 'squirrel' a little. It almost feels like fishing for a walleye... smoothe and then then a soft puuuuuuuull then nothing. They do tend to surge mildly, but it's nothing to panic over.

In your thread, you talk about replacing the spring and 'chain' but I'm not sure what you mean by the chain, and where it is located (can't see it in the pics).
I'll add the following to that first post
The chain was used to replace the black plastic piece shown in this photo
http://img470.imageshack.us/img470/1017/img0030croppedux3.jpg
I've pulled the plastic piece out a bit in the picture to shown that it too was broken, possibly due to the trailer being overloaded by a previous owner. The break actually occurred at the noticeably stretched portion of the spring. The bolts that hold the spring and clamp assembly in place also passed through the plastic "stick". The trick to the chain was finding one that would fit through the interior of the spring, and have a high enough working load rating (mines twice what the trailer's rated for). I ended up having to hold one link (on both ends) in a pair of pliers and smack the end with a hammer into a concrete block in order to reshape it slightly, just enough for a bolt to pass through. I then used a small zip tie to anchor the chain to the ends of the spring simply for the purpose of easing the assembly process.

Sigurdd50

okay... that makes it a bit clearer (both on the ride quality -- surging, and on the chain in the spring)
Are there other hitch options? Non-spring types?
And if so, can you change... or is the spring the most common hitching method

like I said, I rekon what I need to do is just get off my bike when these things appear parked at some path intersection and get down and inspect them. I'm keen on shifting my errand-getting to bike powered and want to do it efficiently -- AND at a LOW cost.

Michel Gagnon

Short of buying a new trailer, I see two solutions:

– Replace the spring by a new one. You might find one at a specialised hardware or machine shop.

– Get a new Bike Hitch and Trailer Hitch Replacement from Wike (http://www.wicycle.com/parts.htm). Just check dimensions and maybe call them to make sure the trailer hitch would fit on your trailer.

Raiyn

okay... that makes it a bit clearer (both on the ride quality -- surging, and on the chain in the spring)
Are there other hitch options? Non-spring types?
And if so, can you change... or is the spring the most common hitching method.Springs are quite common in the clamp on style of hitches. You could switch it out, but I've seen no need to do so at this time.
Also just to further clarify things, I've made a pic showing how the spring assembly comes together as I had a spare spring and chain as well as provided info on the spring itself.
http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x74/RaiynStorm/Springassembly.jpg
Obviously you trim the zipties ;)

like I said, I reckon what I need to do is just get off my bike when these things appear parked at some path intersection and get down and inspect them. I'm keen on shifting my errand-getting to bike powered and want to do it efficiently -- AND at a LOW cost.
The trailer that our mod is based on was received free through our local Freecycle (http://www.freecycle.org/) chapter. The plywood was leftover scraps we had in the garage. The shellac primer for the deck was leftover from house maintenance. The blue exterior house paint was obtained from our local (county) household chemicals recycling center and was also a remnant from another project. We also had some self drilling sheetmetal screws that were used to attach the safety flag to the SMVT. Even the blue reflective tape was a leftover.
We only ended up purchasing
10 2½" x ¼ hex head bolts (2 spares)
About 2 dozen fender washers
2 cans of Rustoleum Rust Reformer
2 cans Rustoleum Flourecent Green (There was a buy 2 get 1 sale, so one of the Rust Reformers was free)
1 Slow Moving Vehicle Triangle (SMVT)
1 Safety (aka "dork") flag
1 Gate Hinge
Some shorter ¼" hex head bolts to attach the hinge to the trailer and SMVT to the hinge.
A handful of ¼" nylock stop nuts
5 ¼" wingnuts
1 Gate Spring
1 linear foot of chain cut into sections (We ended up with 2 usable pieces and a scrap piece that was a link too short)
2 Rubbermaid bins (accept no substitute) We needed one for food (use a light color) and the other for utility hauling. (recyclables etc)

All totaled I think we were in around $60 - $70 which in the grand scheme of things isn't bad.

Sigurdd50

Raiyn

I can easily mod the trailer as per your suggestions, and I have most everything -- save the rubbermaid container, of course. I was assessing it last night (finally had some time!) and was trying to decide if I wanted to shed the groovy covering and all... but I rekon that if the canvas/plastic windowing was shed, replaced with a sturdy Rubbermaid container, that wind resistance might be reduced. Plus it goes more to utilitarian.

inspired!
Hopefully I included enough pictures to help guide you along. The way I approached our trailer isn't the only way, but it seems to be the best for us - combining utility and safety features in a package that still is easily collapsed for storage yet is sturdily built with commonly available hardware.

I generally take weekends off from the computer (and pretend I have a life), but I'll be happy to help you with anything I can when I come back (probably) on Monday.

Previous - Top - Next