xcapekey

hey all....i've just started commuting and am looking for a trailer...i stumbled upon the actionbent folding trailer and am wondering if anyone has used it? i'm a photographer and would like to bike to locations as i saw someone else on the board does...

i'd like a BOB, i suppose as many people like it, but the actionbent trailer is 2/3 the price....

here's the link to it...

https://actionbent.com/twtrailer.html

any user experience or feedback would be much appreciated...

Marylandnewbie

I just got one 2 days ago for some family bike camping. I haven't had a chance to use it yet so I won't know until some test rides this weekend. Price was the big motivator for us as well.

Construction wise it seems pretty solid. My only area of concern (and it is probably unwarranted) is with the back wheel and fender attachment. It appears that the QR holds both the wheel and the fender stays on. I am concerned about how secure this might be. Fortunately, the fender stays could be shortened and bolted to the frame (using the dropout holes), leaving the QR to hold only the wheel. Of course that would make it harder to fold the trailer quickly.

Assembly is not quite tool-less as they say -- I used a screwdriver and small wrench to tighten things up, but it is not a difficult assembly. The bag supplied to store the trailer or your gear is cavernous. It looks pretty well put together, but I haven't put it to the acid test of actual use. Its kind of nice that the flag they send is just a plain green triangle -- no logos or advertising. I joked with my wife that we should create campaign streamers for each of our trips to hang off the flag.

I'll let you know more after I've had a chance to put a few test miles on this weekend.

Doug Campbell

Got mine a couple of weeks ago and agree woith Marylandnewbie's comments. I, also, did not want to mount the fender stays with the quick release. My solution was to leave the fender off. I'm not sure what purpose a fender serves (stops the dry bag from getting wet?). I was unimpressed with the quality of the bag, so ordered a BOB bag. Now that I've compared the bags side-by-side I can see that the BOB bag is a little more heavy duty, but not enough to warrent buying a 2nd bag. Neither the BOB bag nor the one that came with the trailer are near the quality that I am used to in a conoe dry bag. Still, I think they both are good enough to do the job.

Overall, I think the trailer is a great value.

xcapekey

thanks for the info....i just put in an order for one....hoping it works well....i'm a photog and loading my gear in panniers is a heavy and limiting option...hoping to be able to use it for location shoots and just fold it out of the way

i'll tell u guys how it goes...

Marylandnewbie

Well I finally got a chance to take my new Action Bent folding trailer out for a test ride. I did about 9 mi. on a gravel rail trail which is very similar to most of the things I will ride with my family. So here's the review thus far:

The test setup: Fuji Supreme hybrid with 700x35 tires with 260# of rider. The trailer weighs about 16# empty and I had perhaps 40# of gear in the trailer. I mentioned earlier in the thread that assembling the trailer fender will require a screwdriver and a small wrench, but otherwise assembly is easy.

Results:
The trailer was pretty easy to load although as with all single wheel trailers you will want to pay some attention to left/right balance as well as keeping the load as low as possible. I found that by holding onto the arms of the hitch I could wheel the trailer around somewhat like a wheelbarrow. This makes moving the fully loaded trailer around a fairly easy task. It is very easy to attach the their special rear QR skewer. The sliding latches on the trailer hitch are very easy to lock in place and showed no signs of looseness in my ride. You just wheel the trailer up behind the bike, drop the hitch over the towing pins and slide the latches in place.

Riding with an extra 50-60# attached to the bike is noticeable in the handling in some situations. None of it seemed unique to the Action Bent trailer, since I have read similar comments from BOB users. The trailer tracked very well and once moving you hardly notice it on flat or downhill terrain. On uphills you can of course feel the extra weight. But the trailer pulled very well through loose gravel, ruts and small gullies on the trail with no tendency to destabilize the bike. On the roads going into a turn feels like you are on rails, so pick your line through curves carefully and with some foresight. I found I had little difficulty mainitaining my usual speed on flat and downhill terrain. On uphills you feel the extra work, but it is not excessive.

You will give a wider range of gears a work out since it is much easier to start off a fully loaded trailer in a lower gear. I found the more I road the easier it was to get into a trailer pulling frame of mind and anticipate properly. None of this seemed peculiar to the Action Bent trailer. Similarly, backing up bike and trailer can be interesting as can getting it parked. Examining the trailer after the ride everything seemed to be a in good shape and the trailer was surprisingly quiet during the ride. There was little or no noise from the hitch or trailer unless I hit a bump. On undulating pavement I could feel the trailer more as it responded to the ups and downs. You can pedal standing up if you need to, but you will want to develop a very smooth fluid style so the trailer does not whiplash around on you.

General Observations

Overall I am very happy with the trailer so far. I'll know more once we take it on a real bike camping trip. Also I found that a 22 gal. Rubbermaid type container will fit in the trailer with room to spare. That might be a better choice for hauling camera equipment since you could make foam padding for the equipment and enjoy a nice water resistant seal. That might also be a better choice for hauling groceries as well since it would keep everything more tightly together that the bag that comes with the trailer..

xcapekey

thanks for the review MLNB....i'm due to get mine tommorrow which is perfect timing as i have to deliver a few framed photographs to a gallery for a show....would be nice to be able to tow it instead of shleping on the bus...i'll give my .02 when i test it out