I've reported on this before, but don't mind posting again. I was glad to read others' posts before I bought my Bob.
I bought a Bob on Ebay, which made it palatable; they're kind of pricey new. I was curious about whether I would like it for touring, so I took it on my tour last summer to give it a good test. My conclusion was that I preferred panniers. I'm going back to them for touring, and will relegate my Bob to grocery shopping, etc. To be fair, I've read many reports of people who love theirs and will continue to use them on tour. I can understand this - it's not a completely one-sided argument in my mind. Here are my reasons:
Good things about the Bob:
- Less liklihood of breaking spokes. I've had tours severely marred by repeatedly breaking spokes. With the Bob a good portion of the weight is taken off the bike's rear wheel.
- Easy to pack. That big yellow bag holds a ton! I didn't have to worry too much about organized packing. I just stuffed everything in.
- Waterproof - That big yellow bag is also waterproof. I didn't have to worry about packing my sleeping bag, tent, and sleeping pad in garbage bags, or stop to put my pannier rain covers on.
- Handling - It handled so well that I always had to check my rear view mirror after a stop to make sure I had remembered to attach it.
- Wind resistance - I guess it dragged less than panniers. I don't know if I really noticed this though.
Things I didn't like about it:
- Weight - this was the big one. The trailer weighs around 13 lbs. When I'm trying to avoid any excess grams, that's huge! I was pulling it over a couple big passes, including the North Cascades Highway.
- Rolling resistance - a 3rd wheel and fat tire are bound to add resistance. When I was pulling that thing uphill I started referring to it in my mind as "the anchor".
- Necessity of bringing another spare tube along.
- The trailer tube had a Schrader valve. In the morning when I went to pump up my tires for the day's ride I'd have to switch the head of my HPx pump over from Presta to Schrader. Bit of a hassle.
- It's a bit of a pain to park. It's easiest to lean the bike/trailer rig up agains a wall, but then where do you lock it? Speaking of which, it takes a long cable to reach from the Bob through both bike wheels.
- It can be a little difficult to get it hooked up in the morning. It's one of those things where you sometimes wish you had two hands to hold the Bob and another hand or two to hold the bike steady. Not a big deal though.
In conclusion, I'm going back to panniers, like I said. I'm going to buy a set of Ortliebs. I liked the waterproofing of that big yellow bag! After next summer's tour I'll know more - were my complaints about the Bob valid or was I just being a wimp because I picked a tough route for my tour? I'll also tell you that I'm not ready to sell the Bob yet.