trailer vs. panniers
 

Hi. I'm new here, but have been lurking for a couple weeks.

My girlfriend & I are beginning planning for a long tour next summer. We're also in the process of shopping for a tandem for this tour. The trip would be 2 - 3 months long, mostly camping, unsupported.

For hauling gear, what are the opinions of panniers vs. a trailer? Does the answer change if we're on a tandem vs singles?

My personal bias is that I don't think I want to carry front panniers. It also seems like the bike will be stressed less if the gear is on a trailer rather than being on the bike.

Thoughts?
Brian

I like a trailer. When I was going through the panniers vs. trailer debate, my wife settled it by giving me a BOB for my birthday. I'm glad she did. A handlebar bag and trailer have all the capacity I'll ever need. The BOB has plenty of room, a waterproof bag, a durable frame and wheel (mine has easily replaceable cartridge bearings), and a sturdy attachment yoke, I don't trust the special rear quick release required for attaching the trailer (one fell apart on me), so carry a spare. In use, you forget you're pulling one after a while... and I prefer a trailer to panniers in a crosswind.

Towing one behind a tandem makes for a long rig... you won't be making any quick U-turns for sure. Without front panniers, it'll give you way more capacity than you could get with just a set of rear bags. Have fun planning youir ride. Later.

I'll chime in for the pannier side of the soon ensuing debate:
I like panniers because of the organizational aspect; food always goes in the front left, raingear in the front right (both of which I can get at without dismounting the bike), etc. I find the bike handling on bad surfaces or downhills easier to deal with using panniers than a trailer. I also find them much more versatile in the camping sense: can be converted to a backpack with a few straps, can be sat or knelt on on wet ground, can separate wet gear from dry gear easily, can be used as additional insulation from the ground if it's really cold, etc.

Also, I just think they look cooler :)

I vote for Panniers! I have a Bob Yak, and will still use it some . . . But I like panniers better also! In addition to the points that Baz made, I find managing the bike easier with panniers vs a trailer. I find managing my stuff easier also. The dry bag with the Bob is not exactly handy when retrieving items either. One cool use for the bob though, and I have posted this before, is that you can unhook it and flip it over, and it makes for a pretty cool cooking surface/eating table! Also consider that this is my opinion as someone who has toured on a single bike with one/two others or solo. I might suggest that you post this same question in the tandem group. I am sure there are experiences specific to tandems that I for one would never consider, as I have never owned one . . . .

Also, I think panniers look cooler too! :D

My vote is for a trailer, I have ridden extensivly with both, and I found a trailer much easier to deal with. I have a bob ibex and love touring on it, i will never go back to a full set up of panniers....just my vote..

I've toured with a trailer, and I've toured with panniers. For a fully loaded tour I prefer the trailer, but for a tour where I'm staying inside instead of camping (assuming that I am starting and ending in the same location) I'll choose panniers. I have an article up on crazyguyonabike.com that summarizes the good and bad of both. If you're interested, here's the link to my article: Panniers, a trailer, both?.

Happy touring!

I vote for a reaer panniers and a small trailer. The thing I like the least about trailers is the drag. I'm always 3 mph slower.

Thanks for everyone's input so far, particularly denise for the reference to a very appropriate page. The jury's still out (Beth thinks a tandem would be too long with a trailer), but its all good food for thought.

Brian

About the length: I occasionally tow my kayak with a trailer. My bike, trailer and kayak have a combined length of over 7 meters. Sure, it can be awkward, but mostly because the kayak exceeds the trailer's wheels by a good 2 meters in the back. You will not have that problem. I don't think the length itself is a big issue. You do have to be aware of it at all times, especially in curves and junctions, but that awareness develops quickly.

--J

I find a two wheel trailer works very well. The best thing is that, other than a loss in speed and reduced acceleration/deceleration, the bike handles just like it does unloaded. I would never have learned this but with the children to tow a two wheeled trailer became a necessity. It turns out the wider wheel track is a non-issue for me even though this is what I was most concerned with at first.

It's pretty straight forward to build you own. I made one out of an old Rubbermaid "Action Packer" and a couple of Yakima jogger wheels I got on Ebay for $15. Waterproof, huge capacity, easy to load, and makes a handy table at the campsite. If anyone's interested I could post pics and plans. Maybe not the most fashionable...

I just bought a tailer a couple months back..Each morining panniers were a pain. Bike felt unsteady..Especially in winds. Stuffing panniers and remembering where all the stuff is..I got tired of that. I think a trailer will be easier on the bike..

Please post some plans and pics. I like making my own gear. I building a set of panniers now. A homebuilt trailer would be cool also.

Well, I guess I can answer this now. I just got back from a 590 mile tour from Kansas to Utah, across Colorado and the Rockies, with front and rear panniers and a big handlebar bag. (Lonepine panniers...)

Last summer I did 700 miles from Fort Collins across almost all of Kansas with a Bob Yak.

The panniers are FAR better, imo.

* One less tube to carry, and one less tire to worry about.

* The organizational aspects of panniers are far better. As someone mentioned above, with panniers, not only do you always know where everything is (if you organize correctly), but you also are far less reluctant to dig something out when you want it. The bob dry bag is a pain in the rear, and I would only dig through there to grab something if I absolutely needed it.

* The bike handles far more like a bike when you have panniers on it, than it does with a trailer on the back of it. I wouldn't worry about front panniers being a problem if you get a low-rider rack for the front. I came down some passes at 50 MPH. I would NEVER EVER EVER want to have a Bob on back of my bike going that fast.

* Regarding wind, in my experience, the panniers make for harder cranking in a head wind, but the bob makes for a far less steady ride in a crosswind. In fact, when I was going across Kansas last summer, all I had where headwinds and crosswinds (typical) and found that strong crosswinds could make the whole rig downright squirrely. This summer, the winds really just made me work harder to go forward, but didn't really effect my overall stability.

Finally, since I'm using a different bike, I won't say that panniers will be any different (since it's related to weight, and who knows how the panniers would have effected my old bike), but I will say that I had never broken a spoke until I hooked a Bob up to the back of my old bike.

funbun,

Here are some pics of my home made trailer. It is basically a Rubbermaid Action Packer with wheels and a drawbar.

The wheels I got on Ebay for $15 and the shipping was about $12. The wheels have sealed cartridge bearings and alloy rims - good wheels. They were actually sold as Yakima jogger conversion kits so I got a bunch of additional hardware with the wheels. Maybe it will come in handy on a later project.

The Rubbermaid I've had for around 10 years, I think it cost around $10.

The drawbar and frame is thin walled steel from the hardware store and cost around $6. It would be much cheaper at a steel yard but not worth driving that far for so little steel. The hitch end of the drawbar is a heavier piece of steel left over from my last garage door opener replacement. I put an electrical grommet in the hitch so it wouldn't rattle.

The frame is welded together and bolts to the packer and the drawbar. I used nylocks for all of the small nuts.

The axles are actually 1/2" bolts welded into the frame. They have long shanks and are cut down to an appropriate length. I just jam-nutted the wheels on and have had no problems with the nuts loosening. Other than the nylocks, all of the hardware cost $1.19 per pound.

The hitch on the bike is the optional Burley hitch for use with a disk brake. It replaces the bikes stock skewer.

The bends in the drawbar are the most critical thing to get right. You want the bike tire to clear so you can make a reasonably sharp right hand turn but you don't want to come so straight out with it that it can get in the way of your foot when turning left. You want the hitch pivot point to be centered between the trailer wheels so it tracks straight. This will offset the trailer to the left of the bike which is also good as you can ride the bike closer to the edge of the road.

The flag is $5 at Walmart. I put an additional support on it using a piece of rubber fuel line and a zip tie. I thought that was clever :) .

The track width is just under 20". For comparison the Burley Solo is about 23" and the D'Lite is about 28".

I had it tip once when it was heavily loaded and the inside tire hit a curb on a sharp corner. It didn't roll all the way over but balanced on one wheel at about a 45 degree angle. I didn't even notice at first but happened to see the flag sticking out to the side. I turned back the other way and it dropped back onto two wheels. I guess the way I did the hitch it can't flop over. Fortunately, the hitch was strong enough to handle it.

The trailer is waterproof as far as I know. I've towed it in the rain several times and also left it sit outside in the rain all day without any water getting inside. I did put sealant around all the bolt holes.

It tracks great and other than when climbing hills or accelerating I really can't tell it's back there. It's also very handy. The bike I normally tow it with has a kickstand and it's super easy to pop the trailer lid off, drop in whatever I'm carrying, pop the lid on, and go. The lid can even be locked on with padlocks.

It took a Saturday afternoon to build and was fun to do.

phinney-
Thanks for the pics & text. Looks like a fun project & good results. I have half a mind to mess around with making a trailer too; but want to try making a single-wheel.

Yeah, I had a two whell trailer before and it tipped all the time. How would you go about buidling a single wheel trailer?

In the most sincere form of flattery, I will copy the ideas that these guys use (for a motorcycle trailer). Basically you use a universal joint between the bike & the trailer. This allows relative motion in two planes: left/right (turns) and up/down. But not lean - the trailer will always lean with the bike.

But for bicycles, a hitching system similar to the Bob trailer can be easily duplicated and might be more practical than U-joints.

True. The problem is I'm stubborn. My current plan is to phart around with my own trailer design over the winter; if I can't make it work, invest in a real one, prolly a bob.

Where's a link to a Bob Yak style trailer.

http://www.biketrailers.20m.com/MAIN.htm

Check out the xtracycle for a solution for trailers vs panniers.
www.xtracycle.com

One of the reasons I recently bought a trailer. Yak...When on tour..The group is always in a huge hurry to get to breakfast..They break up camp like some kind of marathon..They like time the event and expect to be out in 20 minutes..(It takes me 5 minutes just to fold up my tent..)
Gosh, when I get older and retired, most of touring friends are) I will be in no hurry like that..Why older folks in such a hurry- Been hurrying all our lives.!)Sorry for the unsolicited editorial.
But, anyway the point..In such a hurry, I have more than once not had all the straps secured and clicked in about the panniers.
This can be lethal....I was lucky. The straps did not get caught up in my spokes....I actually went a mile or two, in the traffic; not hearing the clinging of the straps into the spokes..
With trailers you can pack up faster. And don't have to worry about dangly stuff getting caught up in your spokes.
Think these were the biggest single factors in going Yak..

This trailer looks like it has a universla joint. Appearently the guy rides bent and tours some.

http://www.quik-pak.com/

Those are very cool; saw one at an LBS a couple months ago. That'd be quite a wheelbase on a tandem!

I love my Bob trailer. After weeks of trying to decide, I went with the Bob for the convenience. I can switch between my OCR touring and my mountain bike in about 30 seconds. The only drawback is with the Bob I find myself taking too much stuff!