Dear all,
We are now the proud parents of a little daughter, and are looking into getting a trailer to bring her biking with us.
The problem is that we both have Trek Fuels (Ex9 & EX8 WSD), and no one seems to know if the active rear triangle will work with the usual quick release hitches for trailers.
Have emailed Burley and Chariot, but both were pretty vague.
Any one got any experience of this? (Not keen on having to buy a hardtail and a trailer!)
Any feedback welcomed!
Ed
How does the rear axle work? Does it clamp 'hard' against the outermost 'plate' (like a normal quick release), or does it all somehow pivot?
A lot of the trailers that attach via the axle require the hitch to be clamped between the QR and the frame.....
An alternative would be a hitch that clamps to the chain stay, like avenir ones... As it happens, I've a spare one of those you could have for a tenner posted...
DrP
Hi,
Its a screw in job, so a fairly hard placement I guess. Will look more closely.
Think I will get a trailer before buying accesories, but thanks anyway!
I see.
(the bit I'm selling isn't an accessory as such, it's a different hitch that doesn't fix to the QR - it clamps to the chain stay, therefore will work on your bike....)
DrP
More a question for Trek than Burley or Chariot I'd think, given the latter two will have just as much trouble working it out as I am, not having seen how the rear end of a Fuel works. If it doesn't take a normal QR then you'll certainly have problems - as mentioned, the attachment is with a plate which clamps on the outside of the dropout using a special longer QR. Surely fairly easy for you to tell if that will actually work?
As mentioned, your alternative is a chainstay mounted hitch - what DrP is selling is probably just what you want.
Cruiser, I've got a Fuel EX and a Chariot kiddie trailer and, although I've never connected the two, I seem to remember holding the hitch in front of the swing arm and deciding "No, won't work". However, I'll try connecting the hitch to the Trek this evening and post up a photo so you can see for yourself if that would help.
I think that you could find a way to attatch the Chariot to the Trek but you'd have to clamp the hitch in place with an additional strap of some sort rather than the locking mechanism on the hitch itself and this might not be considered safely acceptable to you or your partner. Also, if you over tighten the hitch or clamp it to a beefy chainstay (as I've discovered on chuckier hardtail frames) it can pop apart. Furthermore, the clamp has to be fixed tight to the chainstay or it'll slide into the disc rotor when you're gurning up a steep incline. On my hard tail frames I've had to zip-tie a bit of inner tube to the frame to stop this happening (steel chainstays taper towards the drop out).
BTW, our Chariot's over ten years old but looking at their website they seem to be using the same sort of hitch. Other makes may have a better hitch (seat post mounted?) but as you mention, the rear ABP quick release on the Trek may not work with axle mounted hitches.
If it's an ABP it almost certainly won't work without bodging, if it's a pre-2009 one, it should be alright.
I have a chainstay clamp hitch for all charot models, I used it a lot before moving to the standard QR hitch and it was fine on most sus bikes.
Contact me if you want it, I would do this for a tenner posted as well!
chariots are the best by the way.....we've had 2 and they are much better than burleys we have borrowed/hired. Superb build quality, could not recommend them enough. Huge ebay market on ebay.de germany is full of them and most sellers will post to uk.
Gizzup, have sent you an email.
Ed
What you need is the "Burley Altenatve Hitch". This has the clevis for attaching the trailer on the end of the quick release skewer. The Trek ABP quick release skewers are slightly longer than standard but are otherwise no different to standard skewers and the Burley one fits fine to my Trek EX9.
That looks just the job!
Thanks.
Presume it will only work with a Burley.? Quite keen on a chariot!
Ed
I just modified my trailer to suit the hitch. I think my trailer is branded Philips but it should work with most trailers. I just removed the chainstay clamp from the towing arm and fitted a rod end with a spherical bearing instead. The rod end slots into the clevis on the end of the QR skewer.