Bike trailer questions

[Mr. Coffee]

I'm considering purchasing a bike trailer. In the conversations I've had with bike shops so far the concern has been that my e-bikes might not be compatible with any trailers out there. So I'd like to know if any of you have used a trailer with your e-bike, what brand of bike and trailer you used, and how well it works for you.

A related concern is that a lot of the trailers have a speed limit of 15mph. I suspect that limit was written by lawyers.

At this point I'm very interested in this trailer:

 

[TAZMANIMAN]

We bought a 79.99 Wal-Mart special,it was for 2 small children but we bought it for our 3 dogs. It actually pulls very well. I have muscular dystrophy so I always use a little more battery power than my wife, so we use hers for the trailer and we run closer to even. Honestly we only average 10-13 mph most of the time but I'm sure we've done closer to 20 on some downslopes.
With all three dogs we have about 70 lbs of payload plus the trailer.

 

[TAZMANIMAN]

That one looks much more specialized and we'll built. I would think you'll barely know it's there. One thing is you can't beat the cargo space you get with a trailer!

 

[dblhelix]

I'm considering purchasing a bike trailer. In the conversations I've had with bike shops so far the concern has been that my e-bikes might not be compatible with any trailers out there. So I'd like to know if any of you have used a trailer with your e-bike, what brand of bike and trailer you used, and how well it works for you.

A related concern is that a lot of the trailers have a speed limit of 15mph. I suspect that limit was written by lawyers.

At this point I'm very interested in this trailer:

Is this for the Charger?

It is compatible with the BOB using BOB Nutz.

It is compatible with any seatpost-clamped trailer. I had a special application that led me to the Burley Travoy. I was skeptical at first but pleasantly surprised. Handled great, the small wheels were not a problem. It actually stabilized the bike in severe mud/brush.

The 15mph - Burley sells bearing packs at 4/$12. My observation is that the bearings go quicker when pulled by an ebike - no surprise here.

My next trailer will prob be the Tout Terrain Mule. Spendy, tho’ and few US dealers at the moment. I’m going to check out the Coho as well, but I am biased at this point because I do own a conventional trailer that attaches to the rear axle of a non-e bike. To my surprise, I found the seat post (or rack) attached hauling to be more stable. YMMV.

Update: the COHO is 21.5 lb. Yikes.
Second Update: for the RM Charger specifically, I had to rack-mount the Travoy hitch.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

@dblhelix

Thanks for the info. This is for the Charger and a Pedego Interceptor.

This trailer isn't so much for bicycle travel as it is for hauling things like skis, dogs, and building supplies. I know there are specialty dog-hauling trailers but I haven't been grossly impressed with them and my concern is that I have a lot of rough-road riding and most of those trailers don't look up to the task. The Burley is a heavy beast but for my rough-road situations I think I need a pretty beefy and strong trailer.

 

[dblhelix]

@dblhelix

Thanks for the info. This is for the Charger and a Pedego Interceptor.

This trailer isn't so much for bicycle travel as it is for hauling things like skis, dogs, and building supplies. I know there are specialty dog-hauling trailers but I haven't been grossly impressed with them and my concern is that I have a lot of rough-road riding and most of those trailers don't look up to the task. The Burley is a heavy beast but for my rough-road situations I think I need a pretty beefy and strong trailer.

I went to Burley’s site to check out the accessories. The 3/8x26 Ballz Nutted Axle Adapter should work with the RM.

REI stocks it but as an online purchase. I might stop by the DC store to ask about return policy. Tempted to give it a whirl if I can pull off that rack in exchange, lol.

 

[Gary007]

I'm considering purchasing a bike trailer. In the conversations I've had with bike shops so far the concern has been that my e-bikes might not be compatible with any trailers out there. So I'd like to know if any of you have used a trailer with your e-bike, what brand of bike and trailer you used, and how well it works for you.

A related concern is that a lot of the trailers have a speed limit of 15mph. I suspect that limit was written by lawyers.

At this point I'm very interested in this trailer:

Hello I'm a new member. I ride a Voltbike Mariner and pull a Wike city cargo trailer. I ordered it from the Wike website and so far have been quite pleased with it. When loaded with groceries I do feel a bit of a drag but nothing really substantial. For me using the bike for basic chores just adds another dimension of fun.?

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I went to Burley’s site to check out the accessories. The 3/8x26 Ballz Nutted Axle Adapter should work with the RM.

REI stocks it but as an online purchase. I might stop by the DC store to ask about return policy. Tempted to give it a whirl if I can pull off that rack in exchange, lol.

... My RM has a quick release rear hub so I think I need one of the QR Ballz hubs, but I don't know what length...

One of the things I like about the Coho trailer is that it uses a two-sided yoke rather than only a one-sided hitch that a lot of bike trailers use.

 

[dblhelix]

... My RM has a quick release rear hub so I think I need one of the QR Ballz hubs, but I don't know what length...

One of the things I like about the Coho trailer is that it uses a two-sided yoke rather than only a one-sided hitch that a lot of bike trailers use.

It appears in the video that it is simple to hitch/unhitch. This summer I encountered some twenty odd downed trees with no easy path around. I was lucky to have about the simplest system imaginable at a comfortable height. Some of the trees required clearing branches/brush when I was the first to arrive, so no adding to the fun with a stubborn trailer...

 

[dblhelix]

Hello I'm a new member. I ride a Voltbike Mariner and pull a Wike city cargo trailer. I ordered it from the Wike website and so far have been quite pleased with it. When loaded with groceries I do feel a bit of a drag but nothing really substantial. For me using the bike for basic chores just adds another dimension of fun.?View attachment 25627

Your dog looks too big to hop in the trailer, or am I wrong?

 

[WilliamT]

I have a Schwinn trailer that I have attached to my mountain bike (Specialized Rockhopper 29)/BBSHD. I use it to carry an extra 17 ah battery, some additional food, water, and clothes. 15 mph speed limit, lol. I'm ridden down roads going over 30 mph with my trailer.

I've also taken it through from pretty rough singletrack trails (not by choice) and the little guy survived with just some torn fabric from flipping over from tree roots. It survived some pretty sharp rocks and held together. It was able to cross streams even with its tiny 16 inch wheels with water rising almost up to the platform.

I was looking at the Nomad, but concerned that the fabric bottom wouldn't be strong enough to hold my gear and I didn't want rocks tearing up the bottom fabric part of the trailer. The Schwinn has a hard platform surface.

I have 2 bikes that have a hitch for towing my trailer. One uses a BBS02 mid-drive and the other a BBSHD. I haven't had any problems with towing on either bike. It hooks right up to my rear quick release through the skewer.

The Coho does look nice and the suspension would really help over the really rough trails. Just wish the wheels were a bit larger to cross over deeper streams.

 

[Mr. Bungle]

I'm currently building my electric motor bicycle strictly for the purpose of pulling a trailer, for getting groceries and being my car-replacement vehicle.

When I saw this Burley SoHo XC, I had to have it. I've had the B.O.B. Yak trailer, and also have the Surly Ted trailer, but I think I'll be using the Burley SoHo XC the most.

 

[ecconnerjr]

I've ordered my Falco 48v 750w system for my Rans Stratus XP LWB recumbent. My Bob Yak trailer has a 10mm fork and the Falco motor has a 12mm solid axle. How have others connected their Bob Yak's to their Falco axle? Thank you!

 

[EMGX]

I bought a cheap but, I think, nicely designed and built one wheel trailer from Amazon a couple years ago that attaches to a QR type axle with a special skewer. On a regular bike it works well and tows pretty easily. I have pulled up to 50 lbs with it at speeds up to 30mph (downhill) and was very stable and barely noticeable except for the extra pedaling effort pulling grades. My BH/Emotion Rebel Gravel X has a thru axle which doesn't work with the trailer so I made my own thru axle using some 6061 center drilled 12mm aluminum round bar by cutting a 1.0 pitch on one end to match the bike threads and a 1.75 pitch on the other end for a nut. I tapped the center hole for a 6mm bolt which runs through 9mm sleeves to match the trailer attachment. It seems to work well with and without the trailer attached.

I had seen a thru axle made for Bob trailers (Robert axle project) but it wasn't clear if that would work with my trailer attachments as it isn't a "Bob".

Reason for wanting to use a trailer is that my bike wheels only have 24 spokes and I didn't want to overload the wheels and bike frame with camping gear.

I happen to have a MXUS 36v 250W geared hub motor and a 15ah battery sitting around currently unused and was thinking of lacing it into a 16" rim for the trailer to make it a throttle only pusher. This because I do have some range concerns with my bike for long touring rides with the 400ah Yamaha battery and I don't want to buy another Yamaha battery which cost almost $1,000. Anyone have any experience with a pusher trailer like that? I wouldn't use the pusher motor continuously, only on hills to take the strain off of the Yamaha motor and battery and preserve battery. Maybe also if I had a chain break or other failure of the bike motor/drive.

 

[EMGX]

I've ordered my Falco 48v 750w system for my Rans Stratus XP LWB recumbent. My Bob Yak trailer has a 10mm fork and the Falco motor has a 12mm solid axle. How have others connected their Bob Yak's to their Falco axle? Thank you!

Have you figured out a way to do this yet?
They don't make Bob Nutz that fit your axle?
I can think of one way that seems like it might work. Use connecting nuts for your motor axle, they are essentially long barrel type nuts that would extend the threads of the nut beyond the end of the axle. You could then thread in some 12mm bolts of the same thread pitch using a bench grinder to take off the threads down to 10mm only where the trailer attaches. Hopefully that makes sense.

This is what a connecting nut looks like, they come in various lengths.

 

[Handlebars]

I'm looking at an old bike frame and thinking the rear end for the trailer wheel and the head tube for a swivel might work. Then build containers all over it.
Welcome any thoughts about it.

 

[EMGX]

I'm looking at an old bike frame and thinking the rear end for the trailer wheel and the head tube for a swivel might work. Then build containers all over it.
Welcome any thoughts about it.

To end up with something like this?

It looks like it would be a lot of trouble trying to work out the details and might not be happy with the results. Unless you are wanting to do a project, I get that.

 

[Handlebars]

To end up with something like this?

View attachment 57065

It looks like it would be a lot of trouble trying to work out the details and might not be happy with the results. Unless you are wanting to do a project, I get that.

I was thinking of connecting from the head tube to the ebike axle. Something like this: https://cdn.mec.ca/medias/sys_master/high-res/high-res/8817347690526/5044121-NOC02.jpg
or this https://www.burley.com/product/coho-xc/

 

[ecconnerjr]

Have you figured out a way to do this yet?
They don't make Bob Nutz that fit your axle?
I can think of one way that seems like it might work. Use connecting nuts for your motor axle, they are essentially long barrel type nuts that would extend the threads of the nut beyond the end of the axle. You could then thread in some 12mm bolts of the same thread pitch using a bench grinder to take off the threads down to 10mm only where the trailer attaches. Hopefully that makes sense.

This is what a connecting nut looks like, they come in various lengths.

View attachment 57019

Thank you for the idea!

 

[WilliamT]

I picked up the Coho XC just for fun. One thing I noticed is that the way the attachment is made, you can't use it with a bicycle that has a rear rack made for disc brakes. I have an Ibera rack. Maybe a Topeak will work better.

The rack protrudes out and blocks the space you need to drop the the trailer clamps on top of the Coho skewer. Most of my bikes have racks for panniers so I had to move it to another bike.

The quick release skewer that comes with the Coho is for non-thru axle. For my new bikes that use thru-axles, I had to order a special Burley thru-axle which adds another $60 on top of the trailer cost. I also got the additional rack attachment.

I haven't tried it out yet. Not sure if I want to get the waterproof bag.