Bike Forums - Frame mounted trailer hitch?

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Frame mounted trailer hitch?

I bought a trailer for my bike and love it, but I just don't trust the hitch. First I ride a dutch style bike, so the hitch has to be mounted on top of the IGH anti-turn washer. Next, When riding the hitch rotates slightly slowly loosening the nut which is BAD on an IGH setup. For these reasons I would like a frame mounted hitch, if one exists.

The one I have is almost identical to this...
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=469214

The trailer is this one.
http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Time...icycle+trailer

That hitch has an unnessesary length of leverage before you get to the pivot.
Can you fit a lollipop style hitch: you need 19mm tubeing.
Mine works on Alfine IGH with no problems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelW (Post 18047472)

That hitch has an unnessesary length of leverage before you get to the pivot.
Can you fit a lollipop style hitch: you need 19mm tubeing.
Mine works on Alfine IGH with no problems.

I'll have to get the digital calipers out and find out when I get home. Problem is I'm not sure I could trust that hitch. It looks like a bit of plastic, and I want to carry up to 100 kilos. If it's more of a nylon material, it might be strong enough.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it.

I have a few different hitches. None with a wheel mount.

Two of my bike trailers simply clamp onto the chainstay.
The Burley trailer has a big hitch that snags both the chainstay and the seatstay, although I did notice I was kicking it a bit yesterday :(
Bike Friday welds a piece of pipe onto the frame which they attach the male end of an airhose coupling to. The female end gets connected to the trailer with a short section of hose. Quite simple, and very functional.

I can post photos of the above 3 types of hitches if you wish.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CliffordK (Post 18048482)

That would be helpful. I plan on buying / building something soon that will need a strong hitch. Thanks!

I'll try to get some hitch photos tomorrow.

Here is the Avenir TRA085 Chainstay Hitch
Avenir TRA085 Chain stay Mount Trailer Hitch
Avenir TRA085 Axle Mount Trailer Hitch | eBay

And the Burley Chainstay/Seatstay Hitch
Burley Classic Hitch | eBay

Ok, I have a bike with a Nexus Inter7 IGH.

One of the problems is that on the left side there is a torque arm. Is this only for hubs with brakes? Anyway, the arm gets in the way of the Avenir hitch.

The Burley hitch seemed like it would work with minor modifications.

The Bike Friday airhose design, of course, may require welding which you may or may not be comfortable with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by harshbarj (Post 18048352)

It is a bit of plastic, a very strong, tough and durable bit. -15 ̊c to 50 ̊c operating temperature, 5 year guarentee.
FAQs
The 50kg load limit for quick release axles relates to the axle fatigue life, while the 90 kg limit for threaded axles relates to the bicycles emergency stopping distance. The hitch itself is tested to 150 kg.

Quote:

Originally Posted by harshbarj (Post 18045028)

I bought a trailer for my bike and love it, but I just don't trust the hitch. First I ride a dutch style bike, so the hitch has to be mounted on top of the IGH anti-turn washer. Next, When riding the hitch rotates slightly solely loosening the nut which is BAD on an IGH setup. For these reasons I would like a frame mounted hitch, if one exists.

The one I have is almost identical to this...
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=469214

The trailer is this one.
Amazon.com : Beautiful Time Large Cargo Bicycle Trailer : Sports & Outdoors

<guess> You must be under tightening the axle nut. ... I have hitches by Burly and Thule-Chariot.. the chariot is on my AW3 .

replace the hitch with something else? .. Or, a long wide nut you can bolt Into once you secure te hub , even a setscrew,
pushing against the axle end will make the nut resist unscrewing.

have a stop added (Welded) to the back side so it catches in the dropout and wont rotate .

Quote:

Originally Posted by fietsbob (Post 18050377)

<guess> You must be under tightening the axle nut. ... I have hitches by Burly and Thule-Chariot.. the chariot is on my AW3 .

This hitch has an extra inch or two (possibly 3) of of tubing by which the trailer can lever and rotate the axle mount. This is a design flaw.
My hitch pivot is co-axial, so no leverage. Burly and Thule-Chariot are positioned just below the axle, as high as possible, so hardly any leverage to rotate the hitch

Quote:

Originally Posted by harshbarj (Post 18045028)

When riding the hitch rotates slightly solely loosening the nut which is BAD on an IGH setup.

I had the same problem with my Burley and a NuVinci. The nut actually fell off once. Fortunately I was able to go back and find it.

The general BF reaction is that it doesn't happen and I was imaging things.

I posted a very similar story to yours here:

Quote:

I tested the safety strap on my Burley Flatbed trailer today. That isn’t a good thing.
The bike felt odd and I looked down to see the hitch hanging from the safety strap. As you may know, the hitch is placed behind the axle bolt and the bolt is then put back on. The problem is there is no give for up and down motion of the trailer. When there is an up, or down, movement it loosens the bolt that holds both the trailer, and the wheel, on.

I backtracked and found my axle bolt. However, while this is the first time the bolt has actually come off, it is not the first time the bolt has loosened as a result of using the trailer.
I decided to do something about it. The hole in the hitch is about 10.5mm; this makes it hard to move easily. My rack has a standoff that would put it about 4cm out on an M6 bolt. Not at all ideal; but this was my first plan. I then went to my local ACE hardware to look through the bins and see if parts and ideas would come together.

One idea that looked good was to take a nylon bushing and make a bushing to fit inside the large bolt hole in the hitch bout would shim it down to a M6 bolt and then use a couple of M6 fender washers. This would allow for up and down movement without loosening the bolt.
Once I decided what I wanted to do the hardware guy at Ace took the bushing and filed it down until it fit in the Burley trailer hitch the way I wanted.

While he was doing that I kept losing faith on using the rack bolt as that would put the hitch out on a lever. Instead I picked up a longer M6 and use one of the rear brake mounting points (yes, a steel frame, and a heavy one at that). At this point the hitch is a bit closer to the centre of the bike and has some up and down movement without loosening the bolt that is holding it on.

I am at work right now; the ACE trip was on a lunch break. I will test it this evening (I loaded my laundry in the trailer and used the washers at work, that I why I was even pulling my trailer today). So, even though I haven’t tested it on the road, I want to give a plug to the local ACE, they spent almost 20 minutes trying to get a 27cent part to fit perfectly.

Here is a picture of what I did:
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=469881

My Burly gets used with a CoOP Era alternative Hitch it freely rotates on the left end of that particular QR ,

the Chariot hitch on my Other trailer has a ball end Elastomer, that rotates within the hitch on the S-A 3 speed axle nut.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CliffordK (Post 18049360)

Thanks for the reply. The Burley hitch looks like it might work well. It's a bit late to get one for my next trip, but I'll look into getting one for the one after that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CliffordK (Post 18049360)

And the Burley Chainstay/Seatstay Hitch
Burley Classic Hitch | eBay

I just went and looked. It says:

Quote:

Not compatible with disc brake use

The trouble is that the basic design of the hitches designed to attach to the rear axle is defective. It needs a bearing. as the trailer moves up and down, in relation to the bike, the axle bolt is turned. This does not seem to be a problem with eh Quick Release applications, and I can see why; but it is a problem when a bolt is used.

Again, the fix is that the hitch needs a bearing; however, that is hard to retrofit.

Here are my hitch photos (that don't connect to the axle).

Burley Hitch with Nexus 7 & Drum Brake.
The Burley is close, but it rubs on the hub, causing it to not seat all the way back. I think it would be a minor mod to trim away some plastic for it to seat properly, but I'm not planning on using it with that bike. This bike also has a steep seatstay angle.

I didn't try with disc brakes, that may depend a bit on the bike. I"m not sure I have a bike with rear discs at the moment, but they often have a vertical torque bar which would cause mounting problems.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=470776 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=470777 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=470778

Avenir. This won't work with the Nexus due to the brake torsion bar. I had to add a spacer to fit on my skinny Colnago chainstays. I'm not sure about discs, it might be awfully close, and probably would depend on the bike setup.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=470779

Bike Friday "air hose". Mounting this would require some customization, but once installed, it is a pretty sweet setup. I haven't towed a trailer with it yet though.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=470780 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=470781

I use a straight behind pull with a pin & Heim Joint on my heavy cargo trailer. It does well. The hitch does twist around a bit in the trailer. However that would take a full custom build.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=470782 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=470783

I had the same problem with my homemade hitch and fixed it by adding a diagonal strut attached to the chainstay with a hose clamp.

http://cdn1.bigcommerce.com/n-63unu/...80.380.jpg?c=2
my in step uses this thing and i'm somewhat skeptical of it's strength.
there is another piece (not shown) that has a tab to prevent rotation of the figure 8.
umpty years ago the germans had goose neck utility trailers with a ball hitch bolted to the seat post.
i'd like that, but the curve of the towbar would prevent use of the rack.