My choice in tyres was the only poor decision that I made when I originally built my bike trailer some 10 years ago. At the time I was using a steel framed, hard tail mountain bike for all my cycling needs; pleasure, commuting, errends, etc.

The trailer was designed so that I could easily complete the weekly shopping run, haul the family picnics, run out on trips with my fishing gear, and to support my children and their friends when out and about with the school on cycling trips in countryside.

I chose a very cheap set of nobbly tyres to fit on to the 16 X 1.75 rims that I had fitted to my trailer, and physically paid the price with the increased friction and rolling resistance that they imparted on the road surface and me, they were also exceptionally good at picking up mud when used off road on the forest trails and river banks. Like a damn fool I persisted with these tyres for almost 9 years on my trailer. When I completely refurbished my bike trailer last year, one of the first jobs that I did was to remove the old knobbly tyres and replace them with a pair of semi-slick Schwalbe City Jet tyres in size 16 X 1.9; a very wise decision on my part.


These tyres have virtually no tread patern, except some water channelling, which works exceptionally well. They also have a Vee type cross section across their width. The result of this when the tyre is correctly inflated is; only the minimum amount of tyre required to support the load is in contact with the road surface. This has greatly reduced the contact friction and rolling resistance to the point that my trailer is so much easier and is an absolute pleasure rather than a chore to tow. The noise from the trailer tyres has reduced to an almost silent hum, and they no longer pick up or flick any mud when used off road. OK, the vast majority of the 1000 miles or so that my trailer does each year is on tamac surfaced roads here within the city of Norwich, but it does get to do about 100 of those miles off road on some of the many cross country cycle routes and coastal paths here in the UK when I go away on brief cycling and camping trips.

As for punctures; I have yet to have one on my trailer; either laden or unladen, but I do run the trailer tyres (and my bicyle tyres) at the manufacturers recommended maximum pressure, I also have OKO (or slime) in the inner tubes, and a puncture resistant Kevler liner between the tyre and tube.

It is my considered opinion and experience that a set of correctly inflated, semi-slick pneumatic tyres are the only viable and sensible solution to be fitted on to a bicycle trailer.