Heavy duty trailer

[alanesq]

I would consider making your own, they are easy to make and certainly a lot cheaper and you can then make one (or more) to your exact requirements.

see: http://www.alanesq.eu5.net/trailer.htm
BTW - The top trailer was very experimental and not sure I would recommend it but the bottom one I built to be able to carry pretty much anything I can get on to it and as you can see it has proved to be very handy at least for short distances
I built the hitch using an eye bolt, it just needs to be free to move in all three directions.

[pedalsabout]

Thanks for the replies.

Alan, your home made heavy duty trailer looks great. I'm afraid I'm not good enough at that sort of thing to build my own, although I'm sure you're right that it would be a much better option.

The Carry-freedom ones (sold by SJS cycles) look good but they are shockingly expensive. I really don't understand why there are so expensive, I suppose it's limited demand.

I'll probably have to get something like this and hope for the best:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/vidaXL-Trailer ... KBNK&psc=1

[alanesq]

Alan, your home made heavy duty trailer looks great. I'm afraid I'm not good enough at that sort of thing to build my own, although I'm sure you're right that it would be a much better option.

All you need is a couple of suitable wheels and the rest can be made of whatever you have available
e.g. A basic wooden frame with plastic container attached
or how about: https://www.instructables.com/PVC-Bike-trailer_1/

The only "difficult" part is how it attaches to the cycle as it needs to be free to twist, this can be as simple as a stiff spring on a light trailer.
Once you have made one the only problem will be limiting how many more you make

Having said that, the one on Amazon seems a good price, last time I looked the cheapest cycle trailer available was twice that.

[Jamesh]

I would consider making your own, they are easy to make and certainly a lot cheaper and you can then make one (or more) to your exact requirements.

see: http://www.alanesq.eu5.net/trailer.htm
BTW - The top trailer was very experimental and not sure I would recommend it but the bottom one I built to be able to carry pretty much anything I can get on to it and as you can see it has proved to be very handy at least for short distances
I built the hitch using an eye bolt, it just needs to be free to move in all three directions.

How far did you pedal that fridge freezer / sofa?!!

Was the trailer braked?

Cheers James

[pedalsabout]

Not sure about PVC! But thanks. It's the frame and attachment of the wheels and tow bar that I would not trust myself to build. I'm sure I could manage the box part. I'd just like a strong steel frame.

However, there are quite a few trailers on this site and even the really expensive ones seem to say not to carry more than 40kg when used as a bike trailer (rather than hand towed). Does anyone know if that's the law or something? Or is it to do with the limit on the axle coupling? Or just general safety if it's not got brakes on the trailer?

A lot of the trailers are designed to fold up so don't seem to have a through axle, just wheels that plug in on mini individual axles. I find it hard to believe these can be very strong but I'm not an engineer.

[alanesq]

Interestingly there seems to be no legal restrictions to what you are allowed to tow with a cycle in the U.K. (as far as I can find out)

Looks like some interesting info here: https://www.atob.org.uk/bicycle-trailers/

[pedalsabout]

https://www.manomano.co.uk/p/bike-cargo ... g-11997881

Thanks, that link is useful. So I sort of get the 40-ish kg thing now. Would still be useful if the trailer itself could cope with up to 100kg in extremis but don't think I'm prepared to pay top dollar. Those Surly ones look amazing but so does the price.

And I'm not sure if something like this:
https://hollandbikeshop.com/en-gb/bicyc ... ttachment/ is really going to be worth the extra money compared to £80 Amazon ones.

[RickH]

Interestingly there seems to be no legal restrictions to what you are allowed to tow with a cycle in the U.K. (as far as I can find out)

Looks like some interesting info here: https://www.atob.org.uk/bicycle-trailers/

Pedalme in London seem to haul quite impressive loads with their cargo bike + trailer combos! They also do a taxi service using the cargo bikes.

Pedalme

from their @Pedalmeapp twitter feed

[gaz]

Pedalme do shift some serious loads. e-assist, braked trailers and trained riders.

DSCN3260.JPG

DSCN3261.JPG

[nez]

I love the idea of a cycle borne funeral

[alanesq]

How far did you pedal that fridge freezer / sofa?!!
Was the trailer braked?
Cheers James

The fridge was just a few streets but the sofa was around 3miles. Journeys with a heavy load tend to be pretty slow but it is surprising how well it works.
The trailer doesn't have brakes, As you are not going to attempt anything but very slow with a big load like that it has never been an issue, I guess if you planned to go down a steep hill with it this situation might be different?

[Jamesh]

How far did you pedal that fridge freezer / sofa?!!
Was the trailer braked?
Cheers James

The fridge was just a few streets but the sofa was around 3miles. Journeys with a heavy load tend to be pretty slow but it is surprising how well it works.
The trailer doesn't have brakes, As you are not going to attempt anything but very slow with a big load like that it has never been an issue, I guess if you planned to go down a steep hill with it this situation might be different?

Well done that's some achievement.

I walked 5 miles with a 25ft yacht mast on my bike.

Also several sheets of 8x4 plywood.

A trailer would have been handy!

Cheers James

[Postboxer]

I'm wondering what the difference in stress to a bike wheel is between me going over a bump, some of the jolt being absorbed by my body, compared to something the same mass but solid, say a concrete block on a bike trailer going over the same bump, the peak stress caused must much greater as there is less 'give' in the system. Perhaps bike trailer wheels need to be much stronger than bike wheels for this reason.

[Postboxer]

I've seen a canoe or a kayak being carried on a bike, I didn't get a good look but it must have had a bracket holding it alongside the bike but far enough away to allow pedalling.

[nez]

Thanks for the replies.

Alan, your home made heavy duty trailer looks great. I'm afraid I'm not good enough at that sort of thing to build my own, although I'm sure you're right that it would be a much better option.

The Carry-freedom ones (sold by SJS cycles) look good but they are shockingly expensive. I really don't understand why there are so expensive, I suppose it's limited demand.

I'll probably have to get something like this and hope for the best:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/vidaXL-Trailer ... KBNK&psc=1

The Carryfreedom ones are shockingly expensive but they do work brilliantly, are extremely well made and fold down flat for storage. I wouldn't be concerned about carrying 40 or 50 kilos on mine. 2 bags of cement? Why not?