Enclosed Trailer
 

Hi All,

I am working on an enclosed trailer for our team. It will primarily be used for road bikes. My idea is to have a series of fork mounts on the wall of the trailer and have the bikes held by the fork mounts. My question is this; How critical is it to have the rear wheel touching the floor? In other words does anyone see a problem with the bike being held only by the fork and the rear wheel resting against the wall of the trailer and not the floor?

Thanks

That gravity/leverage combo will put a fair amount of stress on the fork/frame. You could put support blocks under the rear wheels, but I still wouldn't do it.
Why do you have to resort to wedging the bikes in like that? Is the trailer too small, or are you having trouble arranging them side-by-side in the needed capacity?

I've seen commercial bike storage racks that hold the bike by a hook through the front wheel with the rest off the ground so, at least under static conditions, it seems to be a suitable method. However, bouncing around in a trailer over rough roads will certainly multiply the loads.

I'd try to keep the rear wheels on the ground or, better yet, arrange the fork blocks so the bikes sit horizontally like on a roof rack. You can get a lot of bikes into a fairly narrow space by alternating them head-to-tail.

I would secure the fork and rear wheel.

For what it's worth, I went to a trek demo at oleta river state park. The trek trailer guy had the bikes hanging with the front tires off, pedals removed. They were hanging as they would ride, not wheel up.

I am sure that there is more than one way to do things however. Find a solution that works for you, and go with it.

PS - if the trailer does not come with brakes. GET SOME. Trailer brakes rule. Surge type are fine. Kodiak makes a good set of trailer disk brakes (better than drum). Kodiak are all I will use on my boat trailer. You probably don't need the stainless steel or cadimum coated set, unless you will encounter lots of road salt.