Long: Yakity Yak (What I did on my holidays!)

I've finally got around to writing this down (Or indeed, writing
anything other than cross-posted ranting!).

A week ago I got back from a holiday in Brittany. In previous years I
had travelled with my parents in their car. My parents however, have not
mastered the concept of travelling light and are easily capable of
filling their Megane with "stuff" (My rucksack of everything I took for
a week's holiday was only marginally bigger than their overnight bag for
the journey down!).

This year I decided to travel independently. I had hoped that I might
have finished Hooves 2 in time but it was not to be. Consequently I
would be taking the Giant. The lack of fixings for a rack necessitated a
trailer, so I made arrangements to borrow the B.O.B. Yak from the Bike
Station. I had initially hoped to have some time to ride with it first
so as to get used to it, but a few delays resulted in my picking it up
the night before departure. I packed my stuff into the dry sack and got
some sleep.

The following day I rolled out for a 9:30 train. The Yak handled a
little differently with a load in it from when it was empty but it
followed me far better than I'd expected. I was also amazed that while
the extra weight had an obvious effect on acceleration, I could cruise a
pretty close to the same speed as normal. I rolled on down to the
station, found out where the guard's van was and (brandishing my cycle
reservation... you're not getting me this time!) I put the bike on and
boarded the train.

Edinburgh - Kings Cross was easy and having made my way out onto the
road (And made it across) I was on my way to Waterloo. I'd bought a copy
of the London A-Z on route so I knew where I was headed. The route was
uneventful aside from the diversion due to roadworks and the minor
problem of getting in to Waterloo (I ended up going right around the one
way system which I'm sure wasn't necessary!). Despite dithering at Kings
Cross and the diversion, I still arrived at Waterloo with 30 minutes to
spare. I found the next train to Portsmouth and got on board. Here in
lie-eth the first mistake.

The train I had boarded was due to leave 15 minutes before my scheduled
one... the one which would subsequently overtake us. The guard announced
at one of the stations that we could reach Portsmouth faster my leaving
and boarding an alternative train (My scheduled one), but I didn't fancy
my chances of getting everything off the train, re-hitching the trailer,
and making it over to another platform before said train arrived. I
muttered to myself and stuck it out!

Leaving the train at Portsmouth (Portsmouth Harbour station not actually
being near the ferry terminal!), I asked a taxi driver for directions.
He was very helpful, but didn't seem to understand that I would prefer
to stay on the roads, so directed me through the shopping precinct. I
walked through, wondering how the cars got there! I finally arrived at
the harbour with only one incident in the whole journey. Some daffy bint
beeped me because I had the audacity to be riding in the road. Judging
from the way that she pulled out I suspect that she had simply failed to
notice me (And the trailer... and the flag!) and was trying to cover her
embarrassment. I offered a few friendly hand gestures and turned into
the port. Cycles board with the cars which means joining the car queue
for check-in. When they handed me the little piece of card to hang off
the rear-view mirror, I felt obliged to attach it to the stem. I thought
it was funny.

Boarding was fine and aside from the tedium of a long crossing the
journey was also fine. We docked at St. Malo at 8:15am local time and I
rode out onto the roads and off to my destination 30km away.

The extreme tiredness (I don't sleep brilliantly on boats!) made some
parts of the journey a bit exciting (Like the bit where I nearly dozed
off and rode off the edge of the road!), but I survived. The descent to
the Barrage de la Rance (A huge tidal power station) was fantastic
although not having a working speedo meant that I wasn't sure I hadn't
exceeded the 30mph max for the trailer! The climb the other side wasn't
quite so much fun, but I made it. I wouldn't buy a bike without a triple
now I don't think! Certainly a brief attempt at standing up was aborted
when I realised that the handling wasn't at all suited to that style of
riding.

I stopped for water in Ploubalay and was quizzed about the trailer by a
local. Being asked to explain what it's like with a trailer is a
fantastic way to get your French up to speed. After a brief chat I
continued on my way and arrived at the Gite at just before 11am where
the couple who own the place cheered the trailer and dragged me off for
coffee and an update on my life (We've been going to the same place on
and off every Easter for 18 years).

I unpacked, rode to the local town to get some shopping, then after a
couple of brief circuits of the local roads (And some minor adjustment
to the saddle which I kept sliding off) I settled in for the night. All
in, it had taken me about 27 hours from Edinburgh - Pluduno. Another
successful journey.

*** Notes on the Yak ***

Riding with the Yak was interesting. There was obviously some
sluggishness when accelerating and climbing due to the weight (~10kg on
the way out, ~15kg on the way back plus the weight of the trailer), but
the effect on the handling was no where near as pronounced as I'd
expected. This was despite having my headset done up too tight, so the
handling on the solo bike was a little dodgy to begin with. The only
noticeable difference with a load was that the rattling decreased as the
weight on the bobbins reduced the trailer movement. I did discover that
last minute "jinks" around potholes were harder as the trailer did tend
to straighten the bike out a little faster and I also noticed that if
the trailer wheel dropped sideways into a hole in the road, it made the
back end of the bike flick sideways a little.

I'd be very interested to ride a selection of bikes with a trailer to
see how the different bike changed the feel. I'd also be interested to
take it out on the Giant again, now that the headset is correctly
adjusted and behaving.

Jon (More will follow later if I get time!)

On 9/4/05 8:08 pm, in article ,
"Jon Senior" jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk wrote:

The following day I rolled out for a 9:30 train. The Yak handled a
little differently with a load in it from when it was empty but it
followed me far better than I'd expected.

The problem I have with trailers is they keep wondering off on their own,
stopping for coffee or just sulking by the side of the road. How do you
train yours to follow you?

But seriously.. trailers do interesting things to the handling. They slow
everything down. I have not towed a single wheel trailer (apart from sprog
on bike with towbar) but the two wheel variety are quite interesting. Riding
up some very steep paths I was having to get off the saddle and lean on the
handlebars to keep the front wheel on the ground.. Riding down steep hills
with a slipepry road and a heavy load is also an interesting experience.

...d

Jon Senior jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk wrote:

: Riding with the Yak was interesting.

This pretty much matches my experience with my YaK. It has much less
effect on the bike than you'd expect, though when overloaded with 30kg
of coal the bike does get rather senstive!

The main time I notice the trailer (even in flat York) is when the road
goes even a little uphill. I find myself really going down through the
gears.

As for different bikes, I find it easier to deal with the very heavy
loads on my Galaxy with very wide, flat bars than on narrow (I use 42s
drops). But that's pretty much what you'd expect.

Arthur

--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
Don't get me wrong, perl is an OK operating system, but it lacks a
lightweight scripting language -- Walter Dnes

David Martin wrote:

: The problem I have with trailers is they keep wondering off on their own,
: stopping for coffee or just sulking by the side of the road. How do you
: train yours to follow you?

That's becuase.....

: I have not towed a single wheel trailer

The one wheel type follow the bike much, much better than the two wheel
type. Of course, the two wheel type carry heavy loads better than the
one wheel type.

Arthur


--
Arthur Clune PGP/GPG Key: http://www.clune.org/pubkey.txt
Don't get me wrong, perl is an OK operating system, but it lacks a
lightweight scripting language -- Walter Dnes

in message , David Martin
') wrote:

On 9/4/05 8:08 pm, in article
, "Jon Senior"
jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk wrote:

The following day I rolled out for a 9:30 train. The Yak handled a
little differently with a load in it from when it was empty but it
followed me far better than I'd expected.

The problem I have with trailers is they keep wondering off on their
own, stopping for coffee or just sulking by the side of the road. How
do you train yours to follow you?

But seriously.. trailers do interesting things to the handling. They
slow everything down. I have not towed a single wheel trailer (apart
from sprog on bike with towbar) but the two wheel variety are quite
interesting. Riding up some very steep paths I was having to get off
the saddle and lean on the handlebars to keep the front wheel on the
ground.. Riding down steep hills with a slipepry road and a heavy load
is also an interesting experience.

I've ridden many thousand miles with a Bike Hod two wheel trailer. My
experience agrees with Jon's with regard to getting out of the saddle
and stonking - the trailer makes the bike behave entirely differently
and on the whole it's better not. The other issue with a two wheel
trailer is that it can capsize on fast downhill corners, and that is a
little disconcerting - although it's never caused me to fall off. I
haven't experienced problems with keeping the front wheel on the ground
(and really can't see how this works, because the weight on the front
wheel doesn't change). I'd agree that riding on slippery wet roads with
an overloaded trailer is somewhat interesting.

But I'm a convinced believer in bike trailers - they are an excellent
way of moving loads with a bike, and in my opinion far preferable to
panniers.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
; ... of course nothing said here will be taken notice of by
; the W3C. The official place to be ignored is on www-style or
; www-html. -- George Lund

On 9/4/05 11:46 pm, in article
, "Simon Brooke"
wrote:

I
haven't experienced problems with keeping the front wheel on the ground
(and really can't see how this works, because the weight on the front
wheel doesn't change).

Two kids in trailer, riding up something that was steep enough to have me in
my lowest (22x28) gear. The torque from pedalling plus the resistance
attached at the rear axle was sufficient to lift the front wheel. So I got
out of the saddle and moved my weight further forwards, literally leaning on
the handlebars..

...d

Simon Brooke wrote:

I haven't experienced problems with keeping the front wheel on the ground
(and really can't see how this works, because the weight on the front
wheel doesn't change).

It would depend where the trailer attaches but take the BOB for example,
all the weight is on the rear axle so at first sight it shouldn't make
any difference. However you are pulling a lot more weight so in a lower
gear and therefore more likely to life the front wheel with the pedal
stroke torque. Usually on steep ground its finding the right front/rear
weight balance to get rear wheel traction and keep the front wheel on
the ground. The BOB actually helps to a degree as it is weighting the
rear wheel for you so you need to get out the saddle and put more weight
that you would usually on the front. Of course that doesn't help at all
if its rough enough ground that that small BOB wheel hooks up on a rock.

OTOH you are towing capacity for a fair bit of cargo so shouldn't expect
it to handle exactly like a single.

Tony