Transporting our dogs with a bike trailer
 

This is our inaugural ride with the new bike dog trailer. Worked very well. No more driving in the car to the park on the weekends :thumb:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxsXzBp3dlg

Hey that's pretty cute! They seem to do very well in the trailer. Are they strapped in too? Is that what the red harness thing is?

Both dogs are wearing harnesses (the red one is Siren's) which clip into the trailer. It took a few adjustments before found the right length so they couldn't jump out.

I am not sure from what I see if the dogs can get one foot out and onto a wheel. That was something I had to fix with Bailey.

Nice rig.

At first the dogs were a bit ansy riding in the trailer. Turbo managed to get a foot out of the trailer, close to the wheel. Had to adjust the strap a few times to prevent it. I think we're also going to rig up a slightly higher ledge. It comes with a front cover, but then the dogs don't get any air flow. Good for rainy rides I guess.

Nice:thumb: I have been thinking for getting a trailer for my dog to take him on a mini tour. He is a bit bigger and can walk about 6 or 7 mph but longer distance would be as problem. What is the make of your trailer?

Nashbar trailer, $100.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...y/100_1440.jpg

Be carefull if they see something that gets them very excited they may get almost half out of the trailer if it's possible. I also had to adjust the length of the attachment to the harness. Be carefull in the heat of the summer, a surprising amount of heat radiates up off the pavement and the lower level of the trailer is a lot hotter than you are up on a bike seat when riding on pavement. It is also about 10 degrees hotter on the pavement than the dirt in the very hot weather.
Some trailers come with a mesh screen cover for the front of the trailer. That is actually to help prevent things like dirt that is tossed up from the back wheel from getting to the trailer passengers. If it were me, I would add a very long mud flap to the rear fender. Something flexible can almost touch the ground with no problems,

Good tips! I'll have to watch the temp in the hot part of the summer. There is a thick cushion on the bottom that should help insulate from heat radiating off the pavement, however I'll keep an eye on it. My concern is more about ensuring airflow. The front cover that comes with it is basically a solid plastic window ... no airflow. There is a screen mesh at the back to allow heat to escape, however I'd rather have a method of getting actual airflow through the trailer. We may have to sew up a mesh front panel. A longer rear fender is a great idea. Should reduce any debris that gets kicked up by the tire. Your concern about the dogs being able to get their feet out of the trailer is a valid one. It took us many adjustments along our route before we got the right length. The video was taken before all the final adjustments were done. Now they definitely can't get their feet out.

Thanks for the suggestions!

That's a great price! Looks fairly similar to ours. The only thing it seems to be missing is the built-in jacuzzi :innocent:

Excellent ! :thumb: :thumb:

I now have a small thermometer in Bailey's basket all the time. I don't take him out in the sun if it's much over 70f ambient air temp now. I did make a trailer for Bailey with totall air flow. (A dog crate mounted on a trailer like yours). That's how I found out about the increase in heat down low compared to the basket in the trike.

Have fun! :thumb:

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/7669/hpim8995it9.jpg

I haven't seen you post that trailer pic before. It's a great idea. Definitely lots of airflow. Have you thought of installing a thin heat shield an inch or two below the base of the cage? That should eliminate most of the radiant heat transferred to the cage.

There is a thin metal bottom on the crate, just like a heat shield. There were two density types of foam and a blanket. The air is hotter a foot off the pavement compared to three feet off. In the summer one can actually feel it just by squating down. I measured it with a thermometer, when I could see that Bailey was panting and hotter. I thought the roof and the good air flow would be better than the trike basket. It was a lot worse. I put a lot of time into that project. :( I added frame members and it would still fold up to go in the trunk of a sedan.
Also three wheels roll easier than four. The total weight of the trailer and the bike is about the same as the trike. It is a little more work to pedal than the trike. The trailer has my legs and the bike in front of it of course. The trike actually has slightly better air flow, my seat is above his head when he lies down. The pavment heat does not reallly get too bad around here until the middle of the summer. It's ok in the spring. Also Bailey does better in the snow at 20F compared to 75F. Maybe your dogs will not be as sensetive to the heat as he is.
Google "dog cooling pad" I bought one. It is filled with something like silica dessicant. ?
It swells up to about a half inch thick from almost as thin as paper when soaked in water.
It will stay wet and cool the dog for days. Lie it on the dog and one can feel the temp go down just by touching the dog or the pad. The pad is around 70 ish and cools off the dog which is naturally about 105F. The pads with the frozen gel in them are too cold for thedog. As you ride the air passing over the pad increases evaporation and it cools even more.

The only negative thing about the trike is that it does not fit well onto a car bike rack and does not fold up. One needs a station wagon or a van to transport it somewhere.

I would have given you the trailer :(. I gave it away.

The (blue) cooling pad..............

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/4097/hpim9175wp9.jpg

You're right that the air is hotter a foot off the pavement. This hot air passing by the trailer will heat up the trailer through convection heating. Not much you can do about that. However there has to be a way to prevent the primary radiant heating the trailer also sees from the pavement itself. This can easily heat up the trailer much quicker than convection heating. For a radiant shield to be effective, you'd have to locate it at least 1 inch from any surface you want to prevent heating up. The airflow between the heat shield and the bottom of the trailer should prevent heat being transferred to the trailer too quickly.

Your earlier suggestions made me wonder if there were any safety standards for these trailers ... keeping in mind that they're more often used for pulling children. Apparently ASTM is working on developing some standards. It will be interesting to see if they deal with the heat issue. I would assume they'd have to.

http://www.astm.org/SNEWS/MJ_2009/f0810_mj09.html

http://www.astm.org/DATABASE.CART/WORKITEMS/WK22294.htm

http://www.astm.org/Standards/F1975.htm

I'll have to check into the cooling pads. They'll come in handy during the summer. I had actually thought of putting ice packs underneath the cushion on hot days.

That's very interesting about the safety. I ocasionally see kids riding in trailers that look as if they are too hot.

The heat shield is a great idea. Wish I thought of that in time. Bailey actually sits on a couple of old car floor mats on top of the foam in his trike basket, I have put ice packs under the car mats. It works for a while but they thaw and get warm very fast. They can be too cold if the mat moves and they are exposed. It took me a while to realize that the blue pad is plenty cool enough for the dog, and will last days, (at least a few all day rides). I prefer to take Bailey out almost all day when possible. Not too many miles, maybe 30, but lots of stopping for parks,dogs, friends, geese, water to wade in, etc.
One problem with the mat is keeping it in contact with the dog as we are rolling. He can move around and move the mat. He does have a special water cooling vest too. It just is some absorbent material. It works, but I found that just putting water on his fur works as good, and is easier. A couple of people suggested attaching velcro to warp the pad around him and keep it on. I have not tried it, but it seems like a great idea.

I bring an insulated big thermos, maybe a half gallon?? I open it and pour it into his dish. He drinks out of the dish, and i can use the dish to get him wet too. That way He does not lick the spout on the thermos and I can drink directly from the thermos spout. I put just two or three ice cubes in, it keeps the water just cool enough all day, it's a little too cold at first. Then I only need to carry one water container.

I can tell you are bringing one of the most important tools on your rides already. The camera !!

Thanks so much for bringing up the heat factor!! To be honest I hadn't considered that since my 70 lb. boy rides strapped in an open trailer and my wife's (cyclepup) little boy is in an enclosed one with what I had felt was flow through "ventilation" front to back... we both got a "hmmm, have to reconsider the current set up", out of this part of the thread. Love the trike set-up, is there another picture of it posted somewhere?

It's always fun to see someone else enjoying their dogs while biking. I don't know about your dogs but my dog, Jasmine, settled down after the first couple of rides and stopped trying to jump out. It helps that she runs a few miles before I put her in it though. Then she just lets out a lttle whimper when she's done resting and I let her back out to run. Are you going to be touring with them?

Tiff :)

There are a lot of trike photos in the forums, some " photoshopped" some not. Try using forum search for "Bailey"
Or videos.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1xzuv-gejY

Here's how far this can go:
http://www.oregonlive.com/pets/index...epression.html

I'd like to take my pets with me, but being cat-owned I can't see them putting up with my shenanigans.

What would you use for a heat shield? One of those foil looking emergency blankets? A windshield pop up thingy? I hadn't thought of using a heat shield thing.

2manybikes, how much does the pad weigh when after it's been soaked? I have been eyeing one of these for my dog trailer but I keep thinking it would be REALLY heavy...of course I tow 55 lbs of dog so a few pounds wouldn't matter much..

Tiff :)

Actually using an emergency blanket is a good idea if you can keep it solidly in place. I'm considering using thin sheet metal that I can cut with metal shears. I'd have to put kinks into the metal to give it some extra strength / stiffness.

55 lbs of dog. Ouch. What type of dog is Jasmine?

I'll have to soak it and weight it. The one for Bailey would probably not be as big as one for a 55 lb dog. Bailey is only 29 lbs. maybe around twice as a soaking wet towel of the same size ?

This is the type I have, I think Bailey has the small one on this page 12" x 18". I don't see any weights. You could email and ask.

http://www.bodycooler.com/cooling-pets-mats.htm

I'll post here after I soak Bailey's and weigh it.

Alfster, Jasmine is a chow/lab mix? Well, she's definitely part chow but she lives to run so maybe some husky? She looks nothing like a husky though...it's hard to say with rescue dogs. Yeah, it makes me slow when she's in the trailer but even slower when she's running along because I go at her speed, which is hard to keep up with on the uphills.

2manybikes, thanks for that link! I had been looking at those at Drs. Foster and Smith and they stopped selling them before I bought one. The others I have found looked much cheaper (quality wise) so have been debating on whether or not to even get one.

Tiff :)

Uhh, yeah. I know what trikes look like... I was simply inquiring about your specific set-up, but, it's cool. Appreciate the links and the heads up about this curious thing called "photoshopped" you refer to.