Utility Cycling - Does anyone know this trailer?

http://cgi.ebay.com/CARGO-TRAILER-Bicycle-Motorcyle-Golf-bike-SHIPS-in-24hr_W0QQitemZ250207076299QQihZ015QQcategoryZ64648QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ShippingPaym ent

Does anyone have any experience with this trailer? I am looking at this or:

Burly Flatbed
http://www.bicycletrailers.com/Burley-Flatbed.pro

Croozer Travel
http://www.bicycletrailers.com/Croozer-Travel-Trailer.pro

It scares me that the seller states that it weighs less than 50lbs (does that mean 45??)... and he claims it is a trek bike trailer that sells for a lot of $$$ but i cant find it.... Once i pay shipping on it its $150, and the Burly is $200 shipped, but I am leaning twords the Croozer mostly because it looks simple and has a larger usable area... I would idealy like to have 24"X 32"... I dont think the Burly can accomidate this...

Any thought's, except possibly "Why dont you build one" are greatly appriciated

The ebay version sounds heavy to me.

No brand name on it, so doubtful that it "retails for $400".

Can't recall having seen that trailer in the Ebay link before, and I question it's being able to handle 500# that is a crap load of weight to be pulling with that light a trailer. The Ebayer appears to have a decent rating and others have purchased the trailer. Burley has a decent rep and spare parts are available. Have you looked at the Bikes at Work (http://bikesatwork.com/) trailers? I really like their modular concept.

Aaron:)

If money was not an issue I would go with Bikes At Work... My only concern with their set up is that the wheels are not centered on the platform, and i would be concerned about weight at the Bike contact point... But they have a great reputation.... so it probably is not a problem

How about this one?

http://www.wicycle.com/cargo.htm

They also do a kit version.

The ebay trailer you linked to looks plenty strong, but I suspect it does weigh 45 lbs!

I bought one. I really wanted a Bikes-at-Work, and would probably have gotten one except its 4X more expensive.

I have only had it a few weeks, but I think I got my money's worth. It is clearly made in China somewhere and does not have any brand name. The frame is steel; so yes, it is heavy, but I can stand on it without any hesitation. The workmanship is OK, but it appears to be fairly durable. Further, the bed uses standard attachments for the nylon bin thing such that I know I can make other sorts of attachments easily. One weird thing is that the tires really stink to high-heaven (not in a quality stand point, but they really smell like some sort of industrial solvent). It is slowly dissapating, but this is not something you want in your living room right-out-of-the-box.

The only thing I really so not like is the hitch attachment. They clearly have shifted recently from the standard kid-trailer clamp to a fit over the axle thing which is best attached using a bolted axle. (based upon the picto-graph directions...which especially suck...surprisingly so). I am sure this will hold ALOT more payload than the clamp, but I do not think it will work well long-term with a quick-release rear axle. I can probably change this, but just FYI.

Overall, I think it was worth the money, but it certainly is not the top of the line. I think it is better suited for slower-speed utility than the Burly. If I were going for distance/speed/touring, I would definately go for the Burly, but I need tromp around the neighborhood utility.

Thanks for your comments on the trailer. I suspected that the Hitch was not ideal, mostly because it doesn't seam like a strictly bicycle oriented trailer...(the seller talks about hooking it to scooters) Are the vertical post completely removable? I am interested in a completely flat cargo area. and do you know the
demensions of the usable area? Thanks again for getting back to me on this one...

The little description box has it listed as a Trek, but I looked at Trek's website and they don't have any flatbed trailers.

How about this one?

http://www.wicycle.com/cargo.htm

They also do a kit version.

The ebay trailer you linked to looks plenty strong, but I suspect it does weigh 45 lbs!

I had seen this trailer, but not really looked at the "Kit Trailer" section...
It looks like you could get a pretty decent sized trailer for about $150

http://www.wicycle.com/kitbigtube.jpg

Does anyone have any experience with these?

The bed dimensions are 24" wide by 33" long. The inside dimensions from the stantions for the basket is about 22". As you can see from the pictures below, the bars can be removed and you can leave them off, or put something else on. I also might add that the swing-arm for the hitch seems to be an identical design to the In-Step and another trailer I have such that I think you could interchange them (I have not tried this). I have taken some pictures below. If you need to see something else specific, let me know. As I said, I think it is a pretty good deal given the cost of the Fabric trailers, but it is not a high-speed option like a Burly.

Hitch:

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/balindamood/P1020590.jpg

Bars folded down:

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/balindamood/P1020593.jpg

Bars folded up (without the canvas bag):

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/balindamood/P1020594.jpg

This is the stansion where the bars attach to the bed. It appears they can be removed and something else attached:

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q184/balindamood/P1020591.jpg

WOW SIR! Above and beyond with the description and photos! I will have to say that I was thinking I would go another route, but your photos make the trailer look quite good... Would you care to venture a guess as to the weight? and I would like to know why you say it is "not a high speed option"...

I am mainly buying this trailer for a weekly 5 mile round trip to a local farmers market. Obviously the trailer would only be loaded for the return.... That said, I think it would probably suit my needs, but for just a bit more I could get a trailer that might not be as much of a power house, but might lend itself to more uses.....

Anyway, thanks again for your thorough response!

I'd guess it's 20 lbs or so (not light). It is the only steel trailer I know of, as all of the others I have seen or looked at on the internet are aluminum. I am not an advocate of saving every gram when it comes to utility cycling (or much of anything else either). Frankly, if 5 lbs made that big a difference, I could loose 15 for free and be 3x better off.

As far as the speed issue. I have seen a number of folks doing long, touring type rides, on and off road. I believe that the Burly with it's low center of gravity, and only one wheel, and skinnier is the best option for this type of use. Where the Burly falls down is the day-to-day carrying stuff; grocery/hardware store type of stuff. It is to skinny and can get kinda unwieldy with stop/go on and off curb riding. I used it to pull firewood out of the woods (I've only had the chance to use it two times with it so far). It has good clearence for trails and such. I will also probably use it for Costco runs and such once the snow melts. I think it wuld work well for traveling from the market fine so long as you don't go out-of-control at the watermelon stand.

OT-

balindamood- I have that same shelf with the gray plastic bins in my garage. Best storage ever.

balindamood,
I think you may be confusing the Burley (http://www.burley.com/products/adventure/flatbed.cfm) with the BOB (http://www.bobgear.com/trailers/trailer.php?product_id=10) The Burley is a two wheeled trailer similar to the one you have, the BOB is the single wheel. FWIW I have pulled both and they each have their advantages and disadvantages. I know several people that have a Burley Flatbed and use them for everything from the grocery getting to moving complete households.

Aaron:)

Check out cycletote.com. I have one, and I think it's the best trailer I've ever seen.

Check out cycletote.com. I have one, and I think it's the best trailer I've ever seen.

Thanks for bringing the cycletote into the mix.... It seams quite expensive! If I was going to spend $300 (cycletote's cheapest model)i think i would go with the Coozer, it looks like a simpler design with less chance of failure... I also think that for heavy loads it is not wise to use a seat post hitch, i think it will make the bike quite unstable. I do like how low the load rides in relation to the wheels!

At this point I am leaning to the Burley. It appears that the wheels are well designed, I may be wrong, but it would seam that having wheels that bolt on both sides of the wheel would be better for rolling and durability... the wheels on the Ebay cart and the wikes cart are only attached on one side of the wheel. Just my thinking now, i might change my mind again

You are correct, I am confusing the Burly with the Bob.

Thanks for bringing the cycletote into the mix.... It seams quite expensive!

I thought it was pretty comparable to Burley, at the time... it has a lifetime warranty that they really stick by. They have a section on their website where people can sell their used ones.

I like mine because I also use it as a dog cart... they made special attachments for me (the dogs haul the cart) and also as a push cart.

Check out cycletote.com. I have one, and I think it's the best trailer I've ever seen.
That looks impressive, TIG welded, Lifetime frame warranty, Expensive, but does seem to have good features. Do you have the auto brake feature?
I was also impressed they offer a free listing service for customer's used models.

That looks impressive, TIG welded, Lifetime frame warranty, Expensive, but does seem to have good features. Do you have the auto brake feature?
I was also impressed they offer a free listing service for customer's used models.

I wish now I had ponied up for the brakes, but I wasn't planning on doing bike touring at the time. I actually got it to rehab an old, giant dog of mine. He loved to walk away from home, but then he'd tire and wouldn't move. I would then throw him in the cart and bring him home. Now that I'm thinking of touring, I'm going to see if they can retrofit brakes on there.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/bik/544526108.html

http://dallas.craigslist.org/bik/544526108.html

There appears to be some mis-labeling on that one.... the Burley website list the d-lite as a child carrier

http://www.burley.com/products/child/dlite.cfm