The Chainlink

Within the next few weeks, I'm getting a new band saw. I looked up the weight, and it's listed at 160lbs. Dang! My rear rack is limited to 88lbs(and I've held 65lbs or so on it).

I've been looking over some rear cargo trailers and was wondering if anyone had any opinions on what works best for them. I've never used a trailer on a bike before. I don't have quick release tires on my LHT either, but I could swap the skewer back out for temporary use. Ideally I would love something that holds 200lbs, but a little less is fine. There's one that I've been looking at that is about $90 that will take 180lbs.

Any other great, bike-friendly ways that you transport something large?

Second option is using the $30 in Lyft credit that I have, but I know I'll use the trailer all the time.

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I found this one by searching online for "carrying heavy loads on bike trailer". After looking over around 20 different trailers, reading reviews, and trying to figure out which one would best suit my needs, this one fit the best.

My second choice was from bikes at work. The reason I liked their trailers is that if something breaks, you buy a new part. If something breaks on welded trailer, you have to reweld it. Mine is welded. I had discussed this with a few people, and the topic came up about safety regulations and carrying capacity. We came to the conclusion that most trailers put a lower capacity weight because of legality issues so that they don't have to replace it if something breaks when you're carrying the "intended weight". I'm guessing that this trailer may hold around 250lbs if it didn't have quick release wheels, but I doubt that I'll carry that to try it out.

The bed isn't level because of the hitch being high on the bike. I'm sure if I find a longer L bracket, it will be level. I emailed the company asking about them. 


h' 1.0 said:

Jaik, how did you find/choose this one?

 Any idea why the bed is not level? I can't imagine it's intended to be tilted.

I was out taking a laptop over to a friend during lunch and looked a little closer at the hitch...Very intelligent design. It turns out that I can unscrew the pin and reverse it to extend it another inch or two. I'll see how that works out when I get home and have the trailer.

Did you mail order this trailer? Or did find it locally?

Had to order it from ChainReactonCycles because I couldn't find a local retailer that carried it. Ordered it on the 12th and it was delivered on the 17th...free shipping.

I ordered the Large, they also have a small, and a city trailer. The city trailer is more of a frame, but still looks pretty stable.

I found a video of a guy putting together a small one with the collapsible box that you can get with it.

Video Here

Just readjusted the hitch...With the bolt on top it was significantly better, but still tilted. I put the bolt on the bottom and it seemed to be almost level. If I can't find a longer L hitch, I may just get a bolt that would extend lower and grind off the thread on the part that would have the lollipop slid on it. I'm sure it will be fine the way that it is with the better level area. 


h' 1.0 said:

 Any idea why the bed is not level? I can't imagine it's intended to be tilted.

I think the current slant would be safer than the longer bolt option, Jaik.

I hope this trailer serves you long and well. Appreciative that you 'took one for the team' here to test out an unknown.

I do like the way it's engineered, including the innovative hitch system.

Just looking at pictures, and being among the more experienced with trailers of your current audience, I would have had the following main reservations:

1) Nothing to keep the cargo from contacting the wheels

2) overall width

It may be that these are non-issues for you-- I look forward to hearing your ongoing experience and hopfully trying it at Steven's next Cargo Bike Roll Call.

I'll keep my eye out for the next one, and definitely let you try out the trailer.

Thanks to everyone for all of their advice and recommendations on trailer selection. All of that was really helpful in my hunt. 

A full cart of groceries on an xtracycle.

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