Bike trailer

[Atavar]

Can I ask, how does this act in a hard turn? Does the wheel ever "lock up" because it is at right angles to the rest of the bike, also how does it behave when empty? I have a little Allen trailer, which I love, but it can get goofy if I'm flying around town with it empty. To its credit, it is light and had never planned to be on an ebike.

As for your concern about locking up in a hard turn, if you look at the picture in the ad above the pivot is at the back of the wishbone, so the trailer is articulated behind the bike.
That way the trailer wheel is always rolling forward and never gets pulled sideways.
The trailer wheel follows the bike track, as opposed to trailers that pivot at the axle which will trail to the inside of a turn.

 

[LastButNotLeast]

That’s the trailer I have. All in all it does well, no problem with two 40 lb bags of dog food or two 5 gal bottles of water (steering gets light).
One issue is you have to tighten the hitch points with a wrench. If only snug it can disconnect.
The other issue is that a single wheel trailer can be hard on kickstands.

So put a kickstand on the trailer.

 

[Annieolnie]

I have an extended basket on the back of my cargo bike. It gets floaty when fully loaded. Locking out the front suspension does help a lot. Ooh, I like the idea of putting a kickstand on there. If you put on a cargo style stand, the whole trailer could become a camp table.

 

[Atavar]

So put a kickstand on the trailer.

There is a two legged kickstand on the trailer but to get on or off the bike you have to rely on the bike kickstand for the transition.
I wish there was a cheap way to remote the trailer kickstand. Lol

 

[Annieolnie]

It is a camp table!

 

[BiggKidd]

There is a two legged kickstand on the trailer but to get on or off the bike you have to rely on the bike kickstand for the transition.
I wish there was a cheap way to remote the trailer kickstand. Lol
View attachment 18253

I do like the look of that trailer! Sadly I don't much like the price. The little trailer I just got the lady actually ended up letting me have for free, a much better price IMO! lol She gave it to me after finding out she was over 100 miles away. I had arranged to buy it after finding it and thinking it was only about 40-50 miles which while quite a ways wasn't out of the question. Then when she sent her actual address and I found it was more like 110 miles each way I wrote back and explained it wasn't really worth the trip to me. Then she wrote back and said if I was willing to come all that way to get it she'd give it to me so we went and I'm glad we did...

 

[Atavar]

The best price I’ve seen is direct from Vevor for $258.
I got mine as part of a bundle from Magicycle.

 

[BiggKidd]

The best price I’ve seen is direct from Vevor for $258.
I got mine as part of a bundle from Magicycle.

I have mixed feelings when it comes to dealing with Vevor. Simply put because you never know if what you'll get is quality or junk as I have personally gotten both when ordering from them!

 

[Rawly Old]

BiggKidd you going to build something like this?View attachment 18192

Looks like the crate i'm building 'cept the windows are lower for the dogs, Basically a dog house on wheel's. Just that
mine will be hitched to a Wired Freedom, & not quite that tall. Should be easy, took months to choose & refine a blueprint.
I've made a list of all components. prices ,etc. Just waiting for outside work weather. Then I'll have Home Depot deliver
the lot. I've built a hundred crates for the UPS Store. I put a lot of thought into it.

 

[Rawly Old]

I have mixed feelings when it comes to dealing with Vevor. Simply put because you never know if what you'll get is quality or junk as I have personally gotten both when ordering from them!

Ditto!

 

[Annieolnie]

Looks like the crate i'm building 'cept the windows are lower for the dogs, Basically a dog house on wheel's. Just that
mine will be hitched to a Wired Freedom, & not quite that tall. Should be easy, took months to choose & refine a blueprint.
I've made a list of all components. prices ,etc. Just waiting for outside work weather. Then I'll have Home Depot deliver
the lot. I've built a hundred crates for the UPS Store. I put a lot of thought into it.

How much will it weigh?

 

[BiggKidd]

The more I think on it the more a trike makes sense to pull a camping trailer. There's a very large BUT in there though! I Want my regular E-bike to explore more remote areas where the trike could never go. Then a solution also came to mind I could just carry the E-bike in the trailer.... It would instantly add 100 lbs. though. Might be doable

 

[Rawly Old]

How much will it weigh?

Am hoping to come in about 160# to 180#, outfitted. Still a bit unsure what size wheel.
each size has advantages & liabilities. The wired, with it's power, should handle it with ease.
Still open to some viable trailer brake. Suggestions?

 

[BiggKidd]

Am hoping to come in about 160# to 180#, outfitted. Still a bit unsure what size wheel.
each size has advantages & liabilities. The wired, with it's power, should handle it with ease.
Still open to some viable trailer brake. Suggestions?

I can't and wont speak for others but for my build I'm planning to use both regen braking and hydraulic disk brakes.

Speaking of bike power and pulling a trailer my bike has dual 1,000 watt motors and probably could pull a loaded trailer just fine. I'd just rather the bike power the bike and the trailer power itself so as not to over work the bikes motors. Now if I move over and decide to use a trike to pull the trailer all bets are off on my last statement.

 

[Atavar]

Am hoping to come in about 160# to 180#, outfitted. Still a bit unsure what size wheel.
each size has advantages & liabilities. The wired, with it's power, should handle it with ease.
Still open to some viable trailer brake. Suggestions?

I would use standard hydraulic disc brakes on the trailer wheels and make a surge brake system where the trailer pushed against a master cylinder in the tongue when the bike slowed.
That’s a fairly common setup in automotive boat and camper trailers. Nothing to disconnect or decouple when hooking or unhooking the trailer and no electrical interface to cause problems.

 

[Serotta]

Turns hard or soft I can’t tell it’s back there. Having suspension on the trailer may help that. It could also be that attaching on both sides of the axle with the pivot behind the rear wheel helps the trailering geometry.
The trailer doesn’t seem to affect power or battery noticeably, even when heavily loaded. I don’t understand that.
There isn’t a big difference between empty and loaded.
The only performance effect I see is that if I put 100 lbs in the trailer the bike steering gets floaty. I haven’t tried locking out the front suspension to counter that.
View attachment 18249

Could you send me a close up picture of how the braces connect into your bike

 

[Atavar]

Could you send me a close up picture of how the braces connect into your bike

It’s -25°F outside so I’m not moving stuff in the garage to take pictures.
Hopefully you can zoom in on these to see what you need.

 

[Annieolnie]

It’s -25°F outside so I’m not moving stuff in the garage to take pictures.
Hopefully you can zoom in on these to see what you need.

Geez atavar, you're making me feel like 5 degrees in Rhode Island is positively balmy. Here is a picture of the "bobbins" that go on to the axle posts, if that helps Serotta visualize it.

 

[Atavar]

My bobbins are slightly different as shown in the third picture.
I had to pop out to the garage to plug my car in so here’s a picture of one trailer coupling (there are two).

The Allen head screw secures a hook that captivates the bobbin when the trailer is mounted.
I got minor frostbite touching metal bits to get that picture.

 

[Atavar]

The issue I have with the two wheel trailers is that they are wide enough that they expand you in to the two lanes adjacent to the one you are riding in. To exacerbate the issue because of the pivot at the axle they trail to the inside of a turn, increasing your exposure.
It is abysmally easy to forget the trailer is there and hook a wheel on a tree or post (or worse a pedestrian or another bike). Don’t ask me how I know.
This is common enough that quality two wheel trailers have deflector guards forward of the wheels.
My inline trailer tracks in the same lane my bike occupies and is IMHO much safer.