Bob Yak style trailer or Cargo Bike?

What would you recommend for general utility carrying, weekly shop, lugging stuff around etc?

I’m kind of drawn to the idea of a detachable trailer as it gives more options and obviously I can leave it at home if not needed, but wondering about the faff of having the ‘third wheel’ and extra hinge/pivot on the bike.

Do you get used to the extra wheelbase and bulk pretty quickly?
Anybody tried both and got anything useful to add?

Tried both, sell both. I’d say if you’re going to be using it intensively, especially every day, then a cargo bike is the way to go. If it’s once a week then a trailer is good.

The Yak is very easy to ride with – you notice a bit of extra weight on hills, but apart from that it behaves itself 😉

It would be more occasional use rather than needing it everday so possibly trailer is the way forward…

Any chance you could elaborate a bit Ben on why you say the above, is it a capacity thing, handling, reliability etc?

Well, a cargo bike is built from scratch to carry a load, it’s built tough. It’ll probably have things like a built-in twin-leg stand. It’s also partly a convenience thing – a cargo bike is always ready to go, you just jump in and ride. Whereas a trailer has to be hitched on, and is a bit more of a pain to park and lock up.

I have been very surprised by how often I carry passengers on my Dummy. It’s really, really pleasing. For that reason, if you’ve got room to store one, I’d get a cargo bike.

In terms of riding it, the Dummy basically behaves like a hefty Dutch bike. You don’t notice the length particularly, you do notice the weight and because you’re often loaded or have a passenger you tend to go gently all the time.

🙂

That was another consideration, trailer would allow me to have a normal bike when needed, and a load lugger when needed, where as cargo bike would be in LargeBarge mode all the time.

Hadn’t even thought about passengers though!

Carrying passengers is The Best. 😀

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(my Flickr set, containing some showing off…[/url])

The Dummy is pretty challenging to store – I’m lucky to have a garage for it now, when I lived in a flat it was annoying. It’s a chunk of money too, although running costs haven’t been significant and it’s been an immense amount of fun.

In typical STW fashion, I’m gonna chip in with no experience of either.. However I do use a child trailer and/or rear mounted child seat on a daily basis..

I wonder if weight distribution should be a consideration.. The handling of the bike is very different when you have a heavy load attached to the rear of the frame, stability, cornering and climbing out of the saddle are all greatly effected, whereas when towing, your bike still handles like a bike (pretty much)

The Dummy is remarkably stable with a load. It’s a lump of a thing, but because the wheelbase is nice and long, as long as you’re careful how you load it, it handles really well. You tend not to stand up to climb if you’re loaded (it’s far easier to sit quiet and turn the granny ring), but it’s not a problem.

There are a few pictures in my link above showing the thing carrying a kayak. That trip was 25 miles, and involved climbing over the Mendips.

🙂

yunki, that’s precisely why I’m thinking about a trailer or cargo bike rather than just mahoosive panniers and more bungies.

I think a proper cargo bike with a big bin/tub at the front or back would be a real struggle to store, extended flat-bed like a Ute or Dummy although long is no wider than a normal bike.

I think I’m almost sold on the trailer but just want to make sure I’m not missing some other aspect I’d not thought of vs cargo bike.

Big dummy, great pics. Although she doesn’t look like a Trevor.

Ok, well I guess the weight is lower down perhaps on a cargo bike, with the lower centre of gravity being another variable to consider
I’m generally hauling a considerably heavier load than a kayak, without the benefit of a granny ring..
With the hills here, and a busy schedule, I don’t have time to pootle :

been thinking about a cargo bike for a while now. anyone know of any going cheap/second hand, preferably a Ute?

LOL those pics are great BigDummy.. I’d love to try one sometime 😀

Well I decided to buy a cheapie single wheel trailer as a tester, to see how I get on with one, I’m fully expecting it to weight a ton and fall apart pretty quick but will hopefully it will give me an idea of whether or not a trailer is going to work for me.

If it does then I’ll be looking for a proper bob yak, they seem to be strangely expensive over here compared to what they cost in the US, is it the normal dollar/pound conversion thing or is it just lack of importers or something like that?

Ben, how much do you sell Yaks for?

The Yak is £345 – £390 with the bag.

Quick update – a month or so in and Have not had to use the car for any local trips since getting trailer 🙂

Has been great, weekly shop is easy, lugging awkward shaped and sized stuff isn’t too bad either, took two full size cardboard bike boxes to the dump (folded and wedged in ), load of stuff to the local bike jumble, it’s great!

Haven’t found any major issues yet, handling is ok, you pretty much forget it’s there, did scare myself in the first week when I forgot you can’t easily bunnyhop a trailer and caused it to jump a good foot or two in the air behind me up a kerb 😆

First week I was towing on my normal SS commuter and it was fine with light loads but was getting to be a bit of a struggle with a full load up hill so now only hitching it up to the geared bimbler and have dropped a chainring size allow for lugging 20Kg+ uphill.

Cheapie trailer is just about coping although not expecting the wheel to last much longer so now saving pennies for a BOB.