Folding Bikes - (Non-folding) Grocery getting setup

I've been posting this everywhere else, so I may as well post it here.:p
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_VpTv7iD0j2I/SQ0BCo7kmRI/AAAAAAAAAvk/TxVjqspezD8/s800/DSCI0468.JPG

My Healing fixie conversion and new K-mart trailer.:D Now I won't need to drive the 2km to the supermarket or greengrocers to get my fortnightly groceries (my car, being old and air cooled, doesn't get properly warmed up in that short a distance). I won't have to do multiple trips by bike or foot either.:rolleyes:

Does anyone else haul a trailer with their small wheeled (folding or non-folding) bike?

Love it!

Does anyone else haul a trailer with their small wheeled (folding or non-folding) bike?

See avatar. :)

I keep meaning to take a picture of my grocery setup. I fold the bike and put it in the shopping cart. I then fill panniers with groceries. Trader Joe's likes to see the bike folded, but Pathmark doesn't mind an unfolded bike.

Trader Joe's

Whoah--there's one right down River Road in New Jersey! I can get groceries and do hill training at the same time!

If you're not a transplanted Angeleno, you have no idea how exciting this is...

Thanks for this thread. I'd never have looked otherwise.

Did you actually get the trailer at K-Mart, or is that a reference to the quality? If you did, may I ask how much you paid? Any quality issues? How much weight will it carry?

I've been investigating making my own, but this might be a more viable/inexpensive solution.

Did you actually get the trailer at K-Mart, or is that a reference to the quality? If you did, may I ask how much you paid? Any quality issues? How much weight will it carry?

I've been investigating making my own, but this might be a more viable/inexpensive solution.

I did indeed get it at my local K-mart. It was on sale and cost me NZ$130.00. It is rated to carry two kids totaling 45kg but a maximum speed of 15kmh. I have already exceeded the speed rating but not by much (25kmh) but I wouldn't want to go much faster.

So far it is too new for any quality issues, apart from the hitch, to form. The hitch itself is fine, but the method of providing articulation is energy sapping. Instead of using a ball joint or other rigid pivot, it uses a undamped coil spring. The hitch attaches to a short metal tube which is attached to the towing arm by a large coil spring. This means that every time one trailer wheel goes over a bump, or if your cadence isn't smooth the spring pulls against you.

Oh and the tyres are low pressure ones that probably add heaps to the drag.
But at the price, I couldn't get anything else locally (even second hand) and I think that it will serve my needs adequately.

I use a Instep trialer from Wal-mart with my R20 and it's great. I think I paid $135 for mine. It's fine when hauling stuff from the store, but when I put my two grandchildren in the back, I REALLY notice the drag. It might be becasue they will not sit still.

I have a Chariot which is a way too expensive kid hauler that we scored at the REI scratch and dent sale that I pull behind my bike friday with the little one in it. My wife rides along beside us on a brompton. Trailers work great with folding bikes as long as you can figure out how to fit the hitch.