How will that work out?

I am not of the "carbon explodes on contact" school of thought. With that said, I am terribly unfamiliar with touring, pulling a trailer. The local salvage store has a baby trailer in which has seen better days, of the clamp attachment type. I was thinking of picking it up, and using some webbing to create a bottom for it, along with some bungee cords to pack and carry some supplies for a short weekend based ride and camp tour.
It appears to me that the clamp was designed for the chain stay of a steel frame, but looks like with a rubber insert I should have no problem adapting it. Will the stress of a load on the chain stay cause me any issues with my carbon frame, or should I consider looking into finding something metal, and more suitable for carrying the load?

James is currently undertaking a ride from Darwin to Perth which is around 4,000 km on a carbon framed bike. His route includes the infamous Gibb River Road.



James crossing the Pentecost River on the Gibb River Road. Bigger issue here is not a carbon framed bike but the "friendly" saltwater crocodiles

He is pulling an Extrawheel Voyager trailer behind his bike.



This is my trailer, not James but it gives you are idea of the design.

James is progressing well and other than an issue with the rack that he added to the trailer, bike, trailer and rider are going well. So for me, I cannot see this as being an issue unless of course you are taking on some pretty serious off-road riding

Regards
Andrew

Many 2 wheel trailers attach to the left axle end,
the BoB, and the Xtra wheel use a QR-ish skewer ,
so the plastic frame is not directly effected.

have a look around for alternate hitches instead of a clamp
onto the carbon chainstays..

Can't speak to the frame getting beat up in shipping to
or returning from the trip, in a box.

The frame should be able to take it.

However, I wouldn't skimp out on the trailer, or use a baby trailer for touring. Might as well get the right tool for the job, and get one designed for hauling gear (new or used).

Clamping to carbon is generally considered to be a Bad Idea. Your seat stay will be hollow and wasn't designed with the thought that anything would be clamped to it. Crushing the seat stay is possible, though probably unlikely, and using a clamp would probably void any frame warranty you might have.

For peace of mind, I would think you'd want a trailer that attached via the axle...

+1 .The only area of a CF frame suitable for attaching trailer is directly to dropouts/hub/axle.

The BOB Yak and Burley Nomad trailers can be safely attached to CF bikes with standard attachment hardware.

https://www.bobgear.com/trailers/bobqr

https://www.bobgear.com/trailers/bobnutz

https://www.burley.com/home/bur/page_..._qrnutted.html

I am not seeing the "baby trailer" issue...it was designed for carrying young human beings, so as long as I don't exceed the limit of the frame and web work I would do...as I mentioned I would be doing away with the "seat" and just using the square frame rig to carry a very light load. Tent, sleeping bag, some food and a sterno stove with "scouts" plate/cooking dish.
Since I asked, and really don't know, what issues would there be with the "baby" trailer as opposed to one specifically designed to carry gear?

No offroading, actually probably not even going to go on chipseal if I can avoid doing so. Likely would be about 100 miles total from home, out to a State or National park, and then back home a slightly different route. I am considering doing this over the fall when it cools some, or next spring. Very much according to how my financial situation pans out over the next few months.

As far as the baby trailer I see no issues with it other than the typical 1 vs 2 wheel trailer issues. (Wider, tougher on very narrow shoulders etc.)
Cannot speak about the carbon fiber issue.

One way in which carbon varies from steel is that steel is a commodity type thing where as much as they try to make you think they are all different, the parts are pretty indistinguishable, particularly once you get into a given class of bike. With carbon, who knows what is there, and who knows whether what is there when so and so does a trip, is there next day or week. You can make very rugged carbon structures, or ones that are very weak even as a matter of intentional design. So really nobody knows what is in your stay for starters.

Clamping is bad, but bonding is not, one could quite likely build up a fitting in that area by composite techniques, or something as simple as bonding your clamp to the stay, with a lot of epoxy putty, you could even do it in such a way that it would probably be reversible. If you just put a lot of epoxy bog onto the clamp, and gently clamped it in place, it would not depend on the clamping force for positioning, and it would not have as many hard spots, it would custom contour the part.

The axle sounds like a preferable solution, but there are was to get stuff onto carbon parts, and generally lashing or bonding are the best options.

I doubt that the relative low forces required to pull a trailer would be an issue at all with a carbon frame, unless the method of attachment itself was dubious. The following video is a test of carbon frames. Although they're not testing race frames, and these test results would vary for different brands/types of frames, it does add something to the conversation about carbon's strength.
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/santa-c...-test-lab.html

I have both an old baby trailer that I've repurposed for hauling and a burley nomad designed for touring. Given that I have both, I wouldn't use the old baby trailer conversion for touring for the following reasons:

1. It is wide and does not break down. It will not fit through many regular doors (fits in garage fine). A newer old one might fold down in some way to be friendlier in this way. The nomad is narrower and the wheels pop off real easy. No issues.
2. The wheels/hubs are just old. Lubed and what not they work fine for hauling groceries and cargo around town...but not nearly as smooth as the nomad.
3. It is heavier. It is just bigger and clunkier...by virtue of being an older model, I guess.


All this being said. I wouldn't not tour with the converted child trailer if the alternative was not to tour at all or I didn't have the cash for the touring trailer. A trailer is a trailer and will work if you are good with hauling it. I think you idea to rip of the old kiddie canvas and using something else is a good one.

Not a good idea and it's heavy. The achilles heel with trailers is when you go up any hill -- it's brutal when the trailer itself is a heavy anchor! You can feel it dragging your carbon bike. So my suggestion is to go with a dedicated trailer that's light. I really like the Maya Cycle Trailer with its kickstand and axle mount setup with a single wheel. It's light being at 13lbs and considered superior to the BOB Yak. And only on August 1st, 2012, Maya Cycle is having a trailer sale for $199 (regular $249) with free bag. What's not to like. Part of the advantage towing a bike trailer is its aerodynamic profile and it is designed that way to streamline with the rider and bike. Unfortunately, baby trailers with their wider profile aren't designed with aerodynamics in mind. Imagine you are towing a boat anchor subjected to aerodynamic drag for the rest of your camping trip (making it a reverse teardrop shape), wasting precious watts of your own power to fight headwind plus going uphill. Unlike city riding, open country riding will have winds, sometime nasty ones. Believe me, people who had went the cheap route immediately realized and abandoned the baby trailer and went with a more dedicated bike trailer instead. No one wants to be subjected to a torture test day in and day out. If you want to save some money, go with the Maya Cycle Trailer. It's well built.

Where I don't doubt the efficiency of the purpose built touring trailer...you pretty much made my point for me. The baby trailer I am looking at is $10 at the Goodwill, opposed to the $200 on sale price of the purpose built one. With the removal of the baby seat portion, I was looking to adding a bottom of the same webbing kits used to repair the old folding chairs with aluminum frame and nylon webbing bottom and back. The trailer will be flat with nothing to stand up in the wind, or create drag aside from my loaded gear, which would on any trailer anyway.

The point made above about the wheels and width are something I will take a look at. This frame certainly does not fold. The attachment looks to be either a clamp, or that there is a bit missing that went to a hinge and axle mount. I don't know if I could procure a part that would allow using it that way with a metal skewer from a trainer or the like. It sounds to me like axle mount will be desirable in every way.

I don't want to dismiss what any of your are saying as anything aside from sage advice. I don't know, and am asking those who would...but I cannot argue the financial discrepancies between this find and something "better".

Thanks much.

you can buy a roll of webbing up to and including seat belt webbing.

One of the reasons lawn chairs need the replacements is the UV resistance
of their materials is Low. & people leave the chairs out in the sun, summer after summer..

One way to square your circle is with ultralight backpacking gear. You can carry so little that no special gear is required to transport it by bike. Plus you can make or cheap your way into most of the required gear. Of course if you already own a ton of camping gear, but just need a baby carrier to get it around, that is another mater.

https://www.rayjardine.com/adventures...nsAm/index.htm

You'd definitely want to go with an axle mount to protect your carbon fiber frame. You will also probably need to do that to keep your heels from hitting the hitch. I was able to change the framestay mount on a child trailer given to me to an axle mount fairly easily. I'd bet you'll figure something out. Search Youtube and Google for ideas. $10 for a trailer is a great price by the way.

I also agree the width of the trailer could make touring a little less safe, but then that extra width might make cars wait until it's safe to pass. I came across a group on a mountain highway pulling a two wheeled trailer just a few days ago and was pleased to notice the cars waiting until there was no oncoming traffic to pass. Typically, cars will pass cyclists even when there is little to no shoulder and oncoming traffic. I would pick your routes carefully to avoid roads with narrow shoulders or impatient drivers.

Here's a couple sites I found that might help give you some ideas:
https://031c100.namesecurehost.com/Le...ler/index.html
https://www.instructables.com/id/Bike...acement-axle-/

Well, thanks all for the advice, but I waited too long and missed the trailer. I went back up there and someone else had picked it up. Funny after my going to see it several times to check various things.
I did note that the axle appeared to be on a bushing type, rather than cups and bearings. I couldn't exactly take it apart to see.
Either way, I think I have a bit better info now, and am going to continue to look around for something suitable, cheap, and axle mounted.

Thanks

A single wheel trailer like the BoB puts more torque(twisitng) stress on a frame. The frame is holding up the trailer. How will this affect a Carbon frame?

I've thought of hauling a trailer behind my Lemond Spine Bike. I haven't done it yet, but if i did I would only use a two wheeled trailer with an axle attachment. That, even though i have no scientific or antedotal evidence that doing otherwise would be harmful. Just seems like common sense. The twisitng motion a single wheeled trailer induces to the frame is something no bike was made to withstand. Yet, thousands of Steel/aluminum bikes hauling BoB trailers have crossed the U. S. without any frame failure issues. I'm just not ready to offer up my prized Carbon bike for beta testing.