As above; I'm considering this for summer. If I use one on a Carbon Road frame and/or a very light Easton aluminium MTB, is there any rish of damagin the frames? I know they clamp onto the special QR, but its not clear whether they are effectively pushing down through the wheel or if they are clamped onto the frame, therefore able to generate side-loads on the back end…

What do we, the STW collective, think please?

They push down on the wheel, but will generate twisting loads on the frame as the trailer tries to tip from side to side.

Obviously if you are rolling along on a smooth road and not cornering sharply these loads will be pretty small. if you're out of the saddle honking up climbs you'll notice it pretty sharply as the whole bike starts wobbling about beneath you!

You learn to use your upper body to steady it, but also to pedal more smoothly.

For the record I used it on a Charge Duster, but the Charge is has pretty beefy stays so I wasn't too worried.

Hi

I am afraid that I can't comment on their likely impact on light frames in great detail but I can confirm that they rest on the QR and do not exert a clamping force on the dropouts. As the previous poster said if you are out of the saddle, they will generate a twisting force.

Do you mind me asking your reasons for wanting to use one with such a light frame / bike? In my experience of touring, once you have loaded the bike / trailer up then the weight of the bike becomes less significant. Consequently, I have been happy to have a heavier but more robust bike when using a BOB (with panniers as well).

I rode a longish roadride with minimal camping and hiking gear using a BOB and my carbon TCR roadbike. It was ok, but the tallish gearing, extra weight and very long hills in Oregon and Washington made climbing out of the saddle tricky. Next time I'll use my Ti inbred CX with more sensible gearing.

Oh, before I forget a Conti 4000s rear tyre only lasts about 80 miles with a BOB trailer. 😯

http://picasaweb.google.com/erickson.edwin/2009_09CycleOAimeeS02?authkey=Gv1sRgCOGPksnL37PM2gE#5424921990873486562

Thanks for those, very useful 🙂 I think I'll look at using my turbo bike, I'll have to fit some brakes first thought!

Do you mind me asking your reasons for wanting to use one with such a light frame / bike?

Simply because they are my bikes! I don't have anything else but the turbo scrapper…

Hi Swalsey – fair point!

I don't know what your budget is but it is possible to pick up a reasonable rigid MTB off ebay or this forum for £100 or so. Often a pair of slicks and a new set of cables can turn these into reasonable tourers.

I did something similar with a 10year old Saracen that has done me very well on a number of tours loaded with barbag, rear panniers and BOB (for the tent and food for all the family). It even coped reasonably well with some off road tracks in the Hebrides as well.

I appreciate that this might not be possible on your budget or might not be the kind of touring that you have in mind but might be worth considering. Another advantage is that you won't be paranoid about the security of your best bike while on tour.

They push down on the wheel, but will generate twisting loads on the frame as the trailer tries to tip from side to side.

Obviously if you are rolling along on a smooth road and not cornering sharply these loads will be pretty small. if you're out of the saddle honking up climbs you'll notice it pretty sharply as the whole bike starts wobbling about beneath you!

You learn to use your upper body to steady it, but also to pedal more smoothly

That was well put I tried my trailer on my old S/works rigid hardtail and the wheel was not as tightly built as I should of done, 15 hilly miles later and the back wheel lost all its tension and er wobbled alot

Moral have a good tightly tensioned wheel

Similar dilemma, having just returned from 7 months in Afghanistan was doing John O groats to Lands End with a support vehicle. I'm going solo for the charity BLESMA who help limbless ex-service men and women
DONATE HERE

Support driver and vehicle are now not an option so am considering fully un-supported and taking a BOB or similar. (Brothers too busy and van became terminally ill yesterday)

However mildly concerned about attaching it to my carbon Specialized Roubaix!
Any thoughts?!

put my geared inbred drop out slightly out but that was after way overloading and doing 3 days of very hard riding including significant technical downs on it. luckily steel is easily reset!