Hisamatsu

Anyone used a BikeFriday TravelTrailer with a Brompton?

I want to pack my Brompton in a hard case for flights. Then on arrival setup and ride off with it as a trailer carrying my stuff.

tudorowen1

I think you will find it hard to fit a Brompton into the suitcase BF recommend..The Brompton is rather too square and too wide when folded to fit in my BF Samsonite suitcase..It can be done but it requires somes disassembly..
ie..take off the saddle and remove the seatpost,deflate tyres,remove handlepost stem while still attached to handlebars..remove mainframe folding clamp..and both pedals..

Hisamatsu

The trailer's aluminum-frame I think can be configured to work with whichever hard case; just have to drill/mount it yourself.

Winfried

Cheaper than the Cyclone IV Chubby trailer from Radical Design, but it doesn't look as sturdy:

Bike Friday Trailer System Review after 2000 miles | RollGlobal

prathmann

Yes, the trailer frame has three little bolts sticking up. Just mark their positions on the desired case and drill the holes. I did this with a sheet of plywood to make a utility trailer out of my BF frame.

berlinonaut

Some users of the German Brompton forum did this in the past, using the Brompton Clapton case together with the BF-trailer. Worked flawlessly, including having the trailer parts in the case along with the Brompton. As the case is big and heavy you are better off with a lighter Brompton (like a 2speed Ti-model w/o rack) to stay within the weight limits of the airlines.

2_i 

Can you give links by any chance to those German forum posts or at least to the list where those posts were made? I have both the BF trailer parts and the B&W case. The latter is of material on a brittle side so I was hesitant to go ahead with this kind of modification myself. The Canadian Wike also sells DIY trailer parts besides their trailer suitcase.

berlinonaut

Here you go: B&W Clapton Case mit Bike Friday Anhänger - es passt!

fietsbob

Bike Friday uses a HP air hose connector as a trailer hitch.. you can choose a different hitch type..

Chariot and Burly both offer the hitch parts separately. I have a trailer using each.. liking the chariot ball & socket hitch..

Its on my Brompton * Towed Carry Freedom - City folding trailer..

* I have a second hitch socket on my BF Tikit.




....

badmother

Somebody linked to the Wike page some time back and I had a look. I like the design, looks sturdy.

We have got two Carry freedom flatbed trailers, one big one small. I have seen peopel using the frame only atatched to a suitcase, and also have seen suitcase on top of the trailer. I have tested and found the trailers can use different size wheels, including 12,5" wheels like the ones on the BF site.

I have not yet tryed to fit the frame amd small wheels innside the suitcase together with a bike.

2_i 

I ponder whether the smaller trailer might not fit into the Vincita B132B Brompton bag. I will start looking at the dimensions at the unnecessarily confusing carryfreedom site. The two could be a winning combination.

badmother

Tomorow or the day after I could measure mine, I am not at home at the moment.

Also I made an easy hack by turning (inserting) the towbar so that it is pointing straight up. Makes it much easyer to pull it by hand. They sell a special bar for doing that but you do not want to carry anything extra on a tour. You need to drill a new hole so you can lock the towbar in place with the pin. Being able to pull it like that is especially important if you use small (12,5") wheels becouse you can not lift the nose up much without the rear end touching the road. I like to atatch a small loop of rope or webbing trough the eye of the lolipop when pulling it like that.

Edit: Brompton with small Y frame. This is the old hitch so folding the B to parking mode is not possible with the new hitch system but there is at least one that can do this. Maybe look into what hitch is used on the Brompton specific Cyclone trailer.

https://www.stocksy.co.uk/articles/cy...small_trailer/

I am lucky to have two big and two small boxes like the ones mentioned in that blog. I wonder if the B fits innside...

https://no.images.search.yahoo.com/s...ee&fr2=piv-web

2_i 

I'll post the Vincita dimensions.

Makes sense.

Weight-wise I begin to think that this does not stack itself up well. I doubt that the BF wheels with their bulky plastic offer much savings in weight compared to 16", but I will weigh them just in case. The small Y trailer with 16" weighs 6.7kg and Vincita weighs 2.5kg. With the Brompton and some junk on it this starts pushing airline limits. However, it is not quite out of competition so it can be worth pursing just to establish the option.

2_i 

OK, Vincita internal dimensions are 57x60cm and its real weight is 2.7kg. The BF trailer wheels weigh around 900g around each and 16" wheels around 1kg each. Without a lock my Brompton weighs 14.9kg and with a lock 16.5kg. The B&W case weighs 8.1kg. When I put the Brompton into the B&W case, I take the lock out for an airline.

It seems that the small Y-trailer bed would fit, unless I miss something in the Y-trailer shape. To make this all work as far as weight is concerned, i.e. Brompton+Vincita+small carryme Y-trailer, one would need to take out one trailer wheel together with the lock to the separate piece of luggage. Other people's Bromptons may be lighter.

berlinonaut

I have a CF BikeCity-Trailer with the new hitch (called Lollypop-hitch). Parking-mode with the Brompton is still possible with that hitch - only on even surfaces and not always totally stable. Works better with a Brompton with rack due to more stability for the parked Brompton and more weight on it's rear end. I suppose therefor that a 3- or 6-gear-Brompton would word better as a two speed as well. A bit annoying is, that with the Lollypop-hitch the part of the hitch that stays on the bike sticks out quite a bit. Therefor it is uncomfortable to a degree to carry the Brompton in folded state as the hitch tends to hit your legs.

badmother

What is shipping prices compared to overweight prices? If you have a place to ship to you could ship (by post or other source) to your destination in advance instead of paying the heavy fees. Just playing with ideas.

Also if this is something you would do often maybe getting lighter 12" wheels?

Are the no puncture tyres (foam) lighter than the rubber tyres and tubes that are more and more available?

I have been thinking for some time that if the small wheels on kick scooters (or the A bike) can take the beating they do should they not be able to be used on a bike trailer- at least on paved roads? I tend to look at bags for sports equipments and other suitcases with that size wheels to decide if the wheels can be exchanged for better ones and then pull behind a bike. Not suited for world touring but if you want to go from the airport to a hotel- or a friend- maybe. I bet it could be noicy.

Can you buy carbon wheels in 12"? I bet you can. There is a lot going on in the "sports equipment for disabeled" area that we know nothing about (I`d like to dumpster dive outside theyr offices .

One more thing: You say the small Y frame with wheels are 6,7. My suggestion is to leave the flat plywood part at home and only use the alu frame plus some small and light wheels. Drill holes in the box like you do with the BF tailer. I`ll look into weight for trailer frame only and size of same in a day or two. At the moment I am in my sons house and he has got the big Y trailer only (since I decided it was time for him to pull most of the weight )

badmother

Good to know. I remember using a trailer on my Brompton but not what trailer and what hitch. I know my friend have an older City trailer and that the hitch is not sticking out as much as the new one- but I also know it broke.. The old ones can still be bought.

We tend to use the Burly hitch on our bikes becouse they are easy to buy locally. You can use it with the orange Y frame lollypop. It sticks out less, is made of aluminium so lighter and the corners are softer. Also it is cheaper to buy since it is off the shelf so no shipping.

Yet another reminder that I must pull my finger out and buy a rack for my B. I have problems deciding what rack to buy, that is why I am slow.

berlinonaut

Sometimes slowness is a good thing. I bought a rack just recently for one of my Bromptons and it turned out that I like the small changes that went into the 2016-onwards version. The straps are now no longer hitting the ground when the bike is rolled in folded state, there's a set of four of the new rollers delivered with the rack (no more need for easy-wheels at an additional cost), the surface is slightly lengthened towards the seatpost (looks better, not sure it is useful as well) and along with the new rollers you get the new version of the rubber bung delivered which weights almost nothing. It is a cheap piece of plastic (whereas the old one was a massive hand heavy piece of rubber with a screw in it) but still should do the job. Therefor I prefer the new rack over the old one though the changes are not big enough for an upgrade if you already have a rack. Does not make it easier to decide in comparision to the various 3rd party racks.

Winfried

As for the rack for a Brompton, I've been using Brombacher's for a few months on multiple road trips, no problem so far. It's also available on Taobao:



Other cheap racks on eBay:
H&H Brompton Chrome Aluminum Rear Q Rack Electroplated Glossy Folding bike | eBay
sobybike stainless rear rack for brompton bike bicycle part | eBay
Carrier Rear Rack Shelf Bracket Luggage Rack Aluminum Alloy for brompton | eBay

Simple solution to heel strike:

BassNotBass

Ooh, that Sobybike rack looks tasty.

fietsbob

Yea the Lollypop hitch is Thule-Chariot,

because the Carry Freedom City trailer tow handle is coming in parallel to the axle and fold hinge axis,
the ball shaped elastomer Lolly rotates in the stainless steel socket.

Burly tow bar comes in at an angle , their elastomer lolly for their kid and cargo trailers has a hole in it.

and so, used on a Brompton , that rear 'kickstand fold' wont work ..

...

berlinonaut

What do you mean with "ball-shaped elastomer"? The actual CF Lollypop is this:


(Source: Carry Freedom Lollypop Hitch)

fietsbob

I bought my CF-C from a shop in the US, it is a shop that fitted the Chariot ball-lolly and socket hitch.

you got yours from a different source, but you did not know there are other possibilities..

https://4bvcf231p0yn3098v01g91om-wpe...ipop-stock.jpg

https://www.bikeshophub.com/wp-conte...itch-stock.jpg

The trailer batch has sold out, since then in UK company, , and in other dealers..







...

fietsbob

this is Burly's hitch lolly

https://4bvcf231p0yn3098v01g91om-wpe...-connector.jpg

berlinonaut

Well obviously your's has - for whatever reason - a custom, 3rd-party hitch instead of the factory fitted one. I do use the stock one which works very well. For sure you can change the hitch on most trailers to a lot of different ones - but I see and saw no reason to do so. The more as you say the parking position of the Brompton does not work with your hitch which would be a major downside for me - seems a bit of a downgrade. I rarely use it to park the bike with the trailer attached but I do constantly use it in elevators at train-stations that are too short for bike + trailer. Folding the Brompton to the parking position makes it possible to use the elevator with the attached trailer which is very helpful.

Why did you change your hitch?