I don't have a dog in this fight but why the vitriolic remarks for what doesn't seem like an unreasonable way to travel?

You aren't familiar with Squeeze? :troll:

I've considered a Back pack straps equipped Trailer Portage Bag. as Offering the ability to wear the trailer and climb stairs

and cross road washouts while carrying the unlaided mike in my Hands ...

having had to get to a Train on a Platform I could only reach via an Underpass with Stairs down and back Up again.




A squeeze box is all about just a Bellows Moving air around, maybe the music is tolerable , Or Not. :lol:

You're not wrong on the survivalist mentality. I guess im not factoring in towns, etc along the way. I'm quite used to living on MREs for months at time, that's why they were my first choice for food. wasn't really factoring in weight, since my 3-4 day bike camping trips (all in Arizona) were done on a beach cruiser that is 57lbs unloaded. and I was thinking the stand because it's quick to fold and stow, so taking it along didn't sound terrible. I have no real experience touring outside AZ, all my camping trips were around 125miles and under.

The truth is, weight does make a difference, but how much that matters to you is a personal decision. When you're pedaling for eight hours a day, those extra pounds start to grind you down a bit. If you intend to tour for more than a week or two, I would suggest that you pare down your weight as much as possible, and I would use panniers front and back on the 520 (a bike which I happen to like quite a bit), rather than a trailer. Definitely leave the repair stand at home. You will be amazed at how helpful people will be if you run into trouble with your bike on the road. As for the MREs, they weigh about a pound and a half each, so I wouldn't plan on packing more than a couple of them.

Good luck.

Ha, what? When did these 8 months of your life happen?...you posted that you havent toured before.

Don't be such a nit picker. ;)

Carrying a stand is like literally taking a kitchen sink or folding lawn furniture. Living with what the 520 can carry and what more you can carry with a trailer is adding a lot of weight that you probably won't use. Learn to carry just enough before tying a shopping car to the bike.

1 trip in '78 the other in '81. How dare you say I didn't.

If I didn't have enough faith in my mechanical abilities to pre-trip a bike for 125 miles I think that I would have a mechanic at a LBS get it ready.

For a 125mi trip I doubt that I'd bring chain lube let alone a stand of any sort.

I do use a BOB, I had bought a cheap eBarf trailer to see how much I would use one. No sense paying three hundred bucks for something to sit around. I used it at least twice---often more per week. Now.....I have a BOB. It's worth twice of every penny difference above the eBarf thing.

Bit of an offensive post mate.

Wake up to yourself.

I'd rather interact with people with mental health issues than those who'd condemn them without understanding.

Go have a think about what you've posted.

Outstanding. Oops, I might get banned.

I used a BOB trailer on my trip from Michigan to Maine (2 1/2 weeks). It worked very well, though it allowed me to bring too much stuff. :)

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6ran_Kropp

Book http://"http://www.goodreads.com/boo...okclubs, Lists

We do short tours with a trailer, used a bob until I found a lighter variety but RGTFT is correct, " it allows me to bring too much stuff."
I was told on tour never more than fifty pounds, including the trailer. We are a tandem team so that is not much stuff per person!
R&J

I have probably met hundreds of other tourists, some of them packing crazy heavy, and have never seen a single one carrying a work stand. It is just not something that would add enough convenience to justify the extra weight and bulk. There just isn't any repair that can't be done without one.

Unless you are going off road into the back country there really isn't any reason to carry much food. Buy it from grocery stores frequently and in small quantities when you can, daily if possible. Even if you wanted to carry a lot of food, MREs would be pretty far down on my list. Freeze dried foods would be as well. I do, rarely, buy a frozen meal and a bag salad if I am close to a store at dinner time, typically only if I am sharing it with someone.

I'm curious what's the lighter variety of trailer?
I've only ever pulled a kiddy trailer when my son was a pre-schooler. I'ld like to hear your opinion about pulling a cargo trailer. How does it affect bicycle handling, braking, and such things?
I do have a kitchen sink and a bathtub. One is the bottom 1/2 of a gallon milk jug, the other a 2 gal. nylon water bucket. 3 oz. total.

I did one trip with a trailer. Not too long (a week or so), and the reasons were that the suitcase trailer doubled as the way I would transport my bike on the airplanes and because my folding bike wasn't set up to carry that much stuff anyway. I don't know how much the trailer slowed me down. I'm plenty slow anyway, and that bike is pretty under-geared. It was harder to maneuver and the weight of the trailer was weight I could have done without. But it was doable and useful in that I was able to carry way more than I should have. But now I have a different set-up in part to avoid the necessity of the trailer. More trouble than it's worth, in my opinion, unless you really need that kind of space. Obviously if you carry repair stand and more than a month's worth of food, a trailer will be necessary, but I'll add my voice to the masses saying that your trip will likely be more pleasant if you find a way to do without those items.

The repair stand, for sure. I have ridden around town with a repair stand in a trailer. It's a lot of extra weight for something you might have occasional use for. I don't have a "real" repair stand in my house, and yet I don 99% of my own bike work. So it's hard to imagine what troubles you would encounter where having a stand would justify the hassle of bringing a stand.

I've traveled with MREs, too, but not for long distances. On an overnight trip where I could skip carrying any cooking supplies by bringing a couple of MREs, they made sense. On a trip of a few days, I threw one or two in my pack as an emergency, back-up meal. But I wouldn't plan on using them for a whole trip. And if I did want to do that, I'd look at ways to avoid carrying a whole trailer full. Maybe carry a few, and have some boxes left somewhere to be mailed out if you wanted to refresh your supply. But ultimately, unless you're going to shun civilization entirely, it'd be easier to come up with a plan to resupply at grocery stores (or vegetable stands or gas stations) along the way.

On the other hand, if you carry a trip's worth of MREs, think about how much lighter your load will get as the trip continues.

So I guess the answer to your question is that many of us have toured with a trailer, and it's perfectly feasible, but if you can pare down your load to where you don't need one, you may be happier.

Doesn't MRE stand for Meals Rejected by Etheopians? Or at least that's how they were referred to by GI's in one of our recent wars. I hope it isn't too offensive a joke.

There's no real need to bring the MREs as there are very few places in the US more than a day's ride from food

I love your sink! Keep in mind we are 68 year old team so any weight reduction at all is nice touring mostly in the Rockies. this is what we purchased, have use it two seasons t2 single wheel bicycle trailer | Free Parable Design ltd.. The T-2 cut our weight by 4 lbs, yes it's a bit less capacity which I relate to "murphy's law". With a tandem, one cannot hang as many panniers as with two singles, hence my thought on the trailer. IMHO, crosswinds bother less, head winds are a no brainer, as far as handling, one has to be aware of short turns going slow, it WILL tip you over! We have disc brakes so stopping is not an issue. A friend sent me this link just the other day Homepage - Maya Cycle Discussions between trailers and panniers will go on forever, we do well with the trailer.
R&J

We entertained (warm showers) three kids who rode from the E coast on bike fridays using suitcase trailers, not my choice but they made it this far. couple thousand miles!
R&J

i think he was referring to time served.

suncruiser, In short...Touring with a trailer is certainly a viable option. Touring with a work stand is much less so.

As long as the bike is serviced prior to the tour, there is little to go wrong for several thousand miles. The most important item to service beforehand is the wheel set. Purchase a fiber spoke and a good bicycle multi tool along with a patch kit and a spare tube for the most common emergencies. A small bottle of chain lube is all I add to what I normally carry on my road bikes.

Brad

Yeah, I modeled mine after the Bike Friday System. Used their trailer frame, but my own bike and suitcase. I think the idea has a lot of merit, and maybe I would have liked it more if I were riding an actual Bike Friday instead of my highly modified, cobbled together Raleigh Twenty. But I decided that for long days in the saddle, I'd rather be on a full-sized bike, and I'd not have a trailer. This year I try my new tour-and-travel system: full-sized bike with S & S couplers and a soft-sided case. Definitely won't be packing the bike stand.