I have never really used one before

We are going to try towing a trailer behind the tandem for a short camping trip. Cheapo bob copy trailer. Not going to be doing a huge amount of miles but any tips for riding with the trailer? Anything to watch out for? we will be on singletrack mainly I think

Gonna be well packed up and heavy with two folks kit

Remember that, as it is a test ride for you, I’ll not be offering to assist with any lifting/pushing/carrying.

Don’t let the trailer overtake you.
Practice taking the trailer on and off the bike.

if using sustrans trails remember some have loop motorbike restrictors, so you may well need to lift the trailer over it or feed it through.

Dont forget the wobble when traveling at speed, that can build up quite alarmingly, slow down very slowly while clamping legs to cross bar, allow handlebars to slightly wander, dont grip vice like.

Worked for me with my trailer years ago.

Alos remember to chain trailer to bike,when in use and when left parked up.

Fit a flag if its low down, some prats in cars dont see them.

Wrap everything in plastic bags, the outer bag always leaks and fils with water.

Be amazed at the amount of stuff you can carry with little effort.

Ta.

Is it the EBC Bob clone? If so- beware packing too much weight in it, a friend managed to open the dropouts that attatch the trailer yoke to the rear qr.

Get as much momentum as you can for hills. If they are short enough you will steam up them like you are on steroids. If they are just that little bit too long, once the momentum is gone it will feel like your brakes have been applied.

Take a spare tube for the trailer as well as for the bike. And any specific tools. I have an Ibex- I lost a locking pin in the snow lifting the thing over a gate once. You will only make the mistake once.

Beware the yoke scissoring your fingers off as it swings whilst being fitted to the bike.

It is possible to park upright by turning the bike/ trailer combo in just the right way.

The mesh base grips snow, mud, anything like a rasp- if there is any possibility of this I cover the underside with heavy duty polythene.

And despite manufacturer’s claims, the bag is only waterproof in one direction. It will allow water in, but not out again.

Take a spare tube for the trailer as well as for the bike

plus 1

My tip from experience would be to take a spare innertube for the wheel/make sure you have a repair kit. I didn’t have a tube for the trailer or a working repair kit (my own fault), used that infrequently the glue had dried out. When I punctured 20miles from the end of my ride it was a long way back pulling the trailer with a flat tyre.

I was surprised how much easier it was to ride with compared to panniers.
I did a tour of the Cairngorms, route was mainly double and singletrack.

Hope you have a nice trip.

Kissing gates / styles / anti-motorbike traps are the major PITA with a trailer – but I guess they are pretty bad with a tandem anyway.

Dont forget the wobble when traveling at speed, that can build up quite alarmingly, slow down very slowly while clamping legs to cross bar, allow handlebars to slightly wander, dont grip vice like.

Project – what kind of trailer were you using for it to feed back to the bike so much? One wheel? Two wheel? where did it attach to the bike. With a properly designed trailer you should get less feedback from the load, compared to panniers, not more – but I’ve seen some catastrophically badly designed ones.

I’ve defended off the top of Mont Ventoux with a fully loaded trailer and pretty much been able to forget it was there (although it made its presence felt on the way up!), but that was a two wheeler

Used to pull a kiddy trailer off road with the tandem. Biggest problem was working out where the wheels would be to avoid rocks but you get used to it quickly. As someone else said, bring the right size inner tube

DO NOT, under any circumstances, try to manual through dried out puddles at speed* when towing a trailer. The effect of having a loaded trailer leaping about 1m into the air behind you then landing and fishtailing all over the place is quite alarming to say the least.

*although I guess you wouldn’t be doing this on a tandem anyway…

Project – what kind of trailer were you using for it to feed back to the bike so much? One wheel? Two wheel? where did it attach to the bike.

Two wheel, one attached to the seat ppillar with a length of industrial hose and some exhaust brackets, and worked really well.

The other attached to the side of the rear hub spindle with a sort of clamp, you closed like a handcuff and locked closed with a padlock, gave you a slight oscilation up and down.

Think it was called a bike buddy.

Two wheel, one attached to the seat ppillar with a length of industrial hose and some exhaust brackets, and worked really well.

That’ll be why you were getting all those wobbles – attached that high the trailer can shove the bike around. Attached at the hub is much better – if there was some way to attach them at the point where the tyre touches the ground that would be bestest

Don’t overload it…

😳

😳

Did the west coast pulling a trailer and my highest speed was 44mph 😕
BOB Yak so stable. You should be fine. Pack the stuff you want on the top sounds obvious but sometimes you forget then need something. I got loads better at packing as the trip went on.

Well – should be interesting. Total length is 12 ft ish, total weight including riders over 220 kgs keep out of our way!

Ta for the tips

Just be aware how long you are!!!

This was obviously a priceless cargo…..

DrP

Just back for a trial trip. Rode some tricky singletack that involved some pushing / carrying / scrambling

I was a bit disappointed I have to say – the trailer hung up on rocks, because of the tight singletrack wouldn’t follow the bike well and dragged thru the heather and had a noticeable bad effect on handling not much less than panniers. Utter pain to park as well

Perhaps due to the fact it was two peoples kit in it so it was packed up quite high and the trails were tricky. But every corner the bike dropped in too far and had to be steered out of the corner

Unconvinced either way – will try it again on some easier trails I think

IMG_3381 by TandemJeremy, on Flickr

Fair points I guess Jeremy, I’d forgotten about the hanging up on rocks thing although in truth I started riding the trailer quite light (to the point where I could pick it up one handed, useful for crossing fences!).

The handling/following the bike thing just became second nature after a while, in the same way that you would ride a different bike differently (i.e. taking corners wider etc.). Perhaps with the tandem you weren’t able to do this. I think my trailer-tinted glasses are largely because I enjoyed the different handling so much!

I remain sold on the idea but look forward to experimenting with an extrawheel which I certainly think will roll better than a smaller wheeled BoB.

You need to over sterr on the rocks, to get the rear wheel of the trailer round, think youre driving a lorry with a long trailer swing wide, problem is on singletrack your on a narrow track so cant swing wide.

Try walking the bike and watch what happens when you go round a bend, and learn the space required.

I’ve done a trailer on a solo off road and a trailer on a tandem off road. I think they are a fab way to carry lots of gear without too much hassle. I’d certainly agree with the comments on here so far.

I have a Yak BOB and I have used a little loop of string to connect the split pin thingies to the frame of the trailer. That way they can’t get lost when I remove them to take the trailer off.

I’d also suggest cobbling together an extended rear mudguard. Any muck, dirt, water goes directly off the rear wheel and onto the trailer. Even if your kit is properly waterproofed, it is not nice to have to deal with bags that are covered in grime. If you can bear the bodge, then half a 1.5 litre pop bottle mounted vertically in the yoke of the trailer works well.

trouble is the single track was 8 inches wide 🙂 Even with the front wheel a foot of the track in places it still did and it ran so low it was hitting rocks hard Still we had enough momentum to pull us over them but with some awful clunks and scrapes at times – and at times on slippy bits I had 3 wheels each in different ruts going in different direction.

At times the trailer was dragging on rocks / vegitation eachside of thetrail at once

this was a wide and straight bit. Some of you will know the trail – the single track on the east side of glen feshie – a tough ask

IMG_3396 by TandemJeremy, on Flickr