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Hauled my first trailer today



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 15th 11, 11:44 AM posted to aus.bicycle
Geoff Lock[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 475
Default Hauled my first trailer today

It's the weekend and it just so happened I needed supplies - you know,
veges, meat, and eeerrr... more Coopers Red.

I decided to hook up my el cheapo trailer from KMart to do the shopping
at the local Westfields.

Everything worked fine until I loaded up the trailer, beer and all, and
tried to ride up one of the ramps between car park floors. You see, Dan
Murphy's was right down in the very bowels of this Westfields and the
only way out was up the ramp and out thru the floor above.

Now, the trailer is rated at 45kgs max and I estimate I have about 25kgs
onboard (beer was 15kgs, my bag was about 8kgs, and meat and veges was
about 2kgs).

I got up to about three quarters of the ramp and the going got really
hard and I had to jump off and push it up the rest of the way - there
was a car following me up the ramp, you see

Thinking that it was becos I didn't have my WeetBix AND thinking ahead
for the ride home up some small inclines, I tort it'd be a good idea to
change gears on the front derailleur to the smaller chainring and than
use the rear set of gears to get the rest of the gearing to haul my
trailer home.

Bad mistake - I had forgotten that my piece of **** road bike can only
handle one set of gear settings due to me stuffing up the front and rear
derailleurs some time back. Changing the front gear setting simply
caused my chain to come off and sent my rear derailleur in the spokes of
my rear wheel. *Sigh* Never mind, I tort I'll just twist the rear
derailleur back into some sorta shape to hold the gear setting I wanted,
get home and swap out the rear derailleur with a good second handie I've
got lying around.

I bent and I twisted and I vandalised that rear derailleur and I simply
could not get the rear wheel spinning. I was getting a bit hot under the
collar but resisted the urge to cool down with a beer from the trailer.
I was determine to crack the carton at home

A closer look revealed another problem.

You see, the el cheapo trailer uses a system which is part of the rear
wheel axle. Unless the rear axle is tighten on REAL HARD, a loaded
trailer can pull the axle out of alignment and cause the rear wheel to
rub on the left-hand chain stay.

Re-aligning the rear wheel got the wheel spinning again and I took it
real easy pedalling home as I got myself used to pulling that trailer
plus I knew I was carrying precious cargo

I'll have to rethink how this trailer hooks onto the bike.

I am now inclined to agree with what I call the "Trisha's Luxury
Limousine" principle which hooks the trailer, eeerrr... Limousine,
directly onto the frame of the bike at the seat stays(?). At least, I
think it was hooked onto the seat stays but I was too busy climbing the
hill near Stanwell Tops to notice, but that is another story.

Using the frame of the bike should allow a more sturdy connection and
thus the ability to pull a greater load, as evidenced by Trisha's Luxury
Limousine which would probably weigh damn near 80-90kgs fully laden with
Trisha(?), all her stuff and the weight of the Limousine - if not more.

Oh well, I can't knock the trailer though. I bought it off Gazza for $50
who paid $35 for it - it's a long story so we'll leave it for the time
being (KMart was selling originally it for $129) For 50 bucks, it
does the job - got me carton of beer home

Now, I wonder if the trailer would haul TWO cartons of beer - there's
room for it, you know
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  #2  
Old January 15th 11, 12:00 PM posted to aus.bicycle
Rob
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 107
Default Hauled my first trailer today


Now did the car driver following react to all this?

On 15/01/2011 9:44 PM, Geoff Lock wrote:
It's the weekend and it just so happened I needed supplies - you know,
veges, meat, and eeerrr... more Coopers Red.

I decided to hook up my el cheapo trailer from KMart to do the shopping
at the local Westfields.

Everything worked fine until I loaded up the trailer, beer and all, and
tried to ride up one of the ramps between car park floors. You see, Dan
Murphy's was right down in the very bowels of this Westfields and the
only way out was up the ramp and out thru the floor above.

Now, the trailer is rated at 45kgs max and I estimate I have about 25kgs
onboard (beer was 15kgs, my bag was about 8kgs, and meat and veges was
about 2kgs).

I got up to about three quarters of the ramp and the going got really
hard and I had to jump off and push it up the rest of the way - there
was a car following me up the ramp, you see

Thinking that it was becos I didn't have my WeetBix AND thinking ahead
for the ride home up some small inclines, I tort it'd be a good idea to
change gears on the front derailleur to the smaller chainring and than
use the rear set of gears to get the rest of the gearing to haul my
trailer home.

Bad mistake - I had forgotten that my piece of **** road bike can only
handle one set of gear settings due to me stuffing up the front and rear
derailleurs some time back. Changing the front gear setting simply
caused my chain to come off and sent my rear derailleur in the spokes of
my rear wheel. *Sigh* Never mind, I tort I'll just twist the rear
derailleur back into some sorta shape to hold the gear setting I wanted,
get home and swap out the rear derailleur with a good second handie I've
got lying around.

I bent and I twisted and I vandalised that rear derailleur and I simply
could not get the rear wheel spinning. I was getting a bit hot under the
collar but resisted the urge to cool down with a beer from the trailer.
I was determine to crack the carton at home

A closer look revealed another problem.

You see, the el cheapo trailer uses a system which is part of the rear
wheel axle. Unless the rear axle is tighten on REAL HARD, a loaded
trailer can pull the axle out of alignment and cause the rear wheel to
rub on the left-hand chain stay.

Re-aligning the rear wheel got the wheel spinning again and I took it
real easy pedalling home as I got myself used to pulling that trailer
plus I knew I was carrying precious cargo

I'll have to rethink how this trailer hooks onto the bike.

I am now inclined to agree with what I call the "Trisha's Luxury
Limousine" principle which hooks the trailer, eeerrr... Limousine,
directly onto the frame of the bike at the seat stays(?). At least, I
think it was hooked onto the seat stays but I was too busy climbing the
hill near Stanwell Tops to notice, but that is another story.

Using the frame of the bike should allow a more sturdy connection and
thus the ability to pull a greater load, as evidenced by Trisha's Luxury
Limousine which would probably weigh damn near 80-90kgs fully laden with
Trisha(?), all her stuff and the weight of the Limousine - if not more.

Oh well, I can't knock the trailer though. I bought it off Gazza for $50
who paid $35 for it - it's a long story so we'll leave it for the time
being (KMart was selling originally it for $129) For 50 bucks, it
does the job - got me carton of beer home

Now, I wonder if the trailer would haul TWO cartons of beer - there's
room for it, you know


  #3  
Old January 15th 11, 03:41 PM posted to aus.bicycle
Geoff Lock[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 475
Default Hauled my first trailer today

On 15/01/2011 10:00 PM, Rob wrote:

Now did the car driver following react to all this?


Eeerrr, nothing It was only a short distance to the top of the ramp
and I was off my bike pretty quick anyway. I reckon that if I was in a
different type of vehicle, they might have had been a bit concerned as I
would have had to roll back down the ramp to clear teh ramp for other
vehicles.

Maybe they sympathised with me or they were hoping I'd ask for a
push-start and they might score some beer from the trailer
  #4  
Old January 15th 11, 04:09 PM posted to aus.bicycle
Geoff Lock[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 475
Default Hauled my first trailer today

On 16/01/2011 12:00 AM, Erik Vastmasd wrote:
I caught a glimpse of Geoff Lockglock@home on Sat, 15 Jan 2011
21:44:19 +1100, writing in aus.bicycle:

It's the weekend and it just so happened I needed supplies - you know,
veges, meat, and eeerrr... more Coopers Red.

I decided to hook up my el cheapo trailer from KMart to do the shopping
at the local Westfields.


There is your first mistake.

I have an electric trike with 6 manual gears and a large basket should I
need to handle grog& groceries etc. The trike usually handles steep
inclines as long as the battery is reasonably charged.


Basket up front or on a carrier at the back?

Also, I am still _ahem_ young enough to use my legs instead of needing
artificial power to assist me Just joking, mate You will not
believe the number of mates who have offered to put motors on my various
bikes but I have declined all offers.

I could go into long discussions about efficient motorised designs, new
clutch systems, drive shafts, etc but I won't.

Maybe when I find it harder to manually turn over those crank arms later
on life ....

I do know that I can't catch up to a motorised bicycle - I have tried


I find it more convenient though to contact either Coles or Woolworths:

http://www.colesonline.com.au
http://www.homeshop.com.au

I take advantage of the specials that are available and delivery
problems are somebody else's worry.


Knowwhatchamean, mate I do enjoy the shopping experience though -
selecting the meat, picking the veges, discussing my choices with the
staff, tenderly placing the beer in the trailer, etc etc

It was interesting pulling that trailer under load as well cos the rear
end of the bike feels different - how? I am not sure yet. Might have to
get those two cartons of beer to run another test

One thing I did notice was that, becos the trailer connection to the
bike was spring-loaded, I would get very gentle "kicks" forward
presumably as the spring flexes about when the loaded trailer is
bouncing along - momentum, Hookes Law, load, projectile motion, blah
blah blah. I dunno - I am not writing any physics engines at the moment
  #5  
Old January 16th 11, 03:26 AM posted to aus.bicycle
TimC[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 46
Default Hauled my first trailer today

On 2011-01-15, Geoff Lock (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
I do know that I can't catch up to a motorised bicycle - I have tried


I had a Honda Tourist Trophy 500 (looks like a light, manouverable
bike) overtake me at the top of the mountain just before a sharp
decline, and the next day the coworker who rode it expressed surprise
that everytime he looked in the rear view mirror, I was still there -
he couldn't shake me until we started heading sharply uphill again.

I replied "yeah, you were in my way! You kept on using the brakes
around the corners!"

--
TimC
"I'm gonna show you a hill that would choke a mule."
-- President G.W. Bush on his MTB, moments before losing his
front-wheel traction and flying over his bars down a steep dropoff.
  #6  
Old January 16th 11, 08:42 AM posted to aus.bicycle
Geoff Lock[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 475
Default Hauled my first trailer today

On 16/01/2011 1:26 PM, TimC wrote:
On 2011-01-15, Geoff Lock (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
I do know that I can't catch up to a motorised bicycle - I have tried


I had a Honda Tourist Trophy 500 (looks like a light, manouverable
bike) overtake me at the top of the mountain just before a sharp
decline, and the next day the coworker who rode it expressed surprise
that everytime he looked in the rear view mirror, I was still there -
he couldn't shake me until we started heading sharply uphill again.

I replied "yeah, you were in my way! You kept on using the brakes
around the corners!"


Heheheh!! The old story, eh? "It's not how fast you're in a straight
line - it's how fast you are in a corner"


  #7  
Old January 16th 11, 11:19 AM posted to aus.bicycle
BT Humble[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 67
Default Hauled my first trailer today

Geoff Lock wrote:
...
Now, the trailer is rated at 45kgs max and I estimate I have about 25kgs
onboard (beer was 15kgs, my bag was about 8kgs, and meat and veges was
about 2kgs).
...


If you have a sturdy rack and panniers, it's very possible to carry a 25kg
load entirely over the rear wheel (I did just that on the GVBR a few years
ago, and I've lugged a 25kg back off feed wheat for the chooks 16km home
on several occasions[1]).

It makes the handling a touch top-heavy, but you're gonna be riding slow
anyway...


BTH
[1] I'll grant you that the terrain over that route is likely a lot less
hilly than pretty much anywhere in central Sydney.

--
Posted at www.usenet.com.au
  #8  
Old January 16th 11, 02:21 PM posted to aus.bicycle
Geoff Lock[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 475
Default Hauled my first trailer today

On 16/01/2011 9:19 PM, BT Humble wrote:
Geoff Lock wrote:
...
Now, the trailer is rated at 45kgs max and I estimate I have about 25kgs
onboard (beer was 15kgs, my bag was about 8kgs, and meat and veges was
about 2kgs).
...


If you have a sturdy rack and panniers, it's very possible to carry a 25kg
load entirely over the rear wheel (I did just that on the GVBR a few years
ago, and I've lugged a 25kg back off feed wheat for the chooks 16km home
on several occasions[1]).

It makes the handling a touch top-heavy, but you're gonna be riding slow
anyway...


Having the load sitting directly over the rear axle would logically give
much much better stability and superior handling over my el cheapo
trailer setup.

One would think, though, that the carrier/pannier rack(?) would have to
be permanent features of the bike to have them secure enough. Would be
too much of a hassle to put them on and take them off everytime one
wanted to use them.

I do have a carrier somewhere amongst my junk but I'll need to make some
mods to fit it on my road bike though.

The main advantage of the trailer appears to be its ability to easily
hold two cartons of beer.

[1] I'll grant you that the terrain over that route is likely a lot less
hilly than pretty much anywhere in central Sydney.


Lugging 25kgs is still 25kgs over any terrain. Some hills are bigger and
some are smaller

  #9  
Old January 16th 11, 10:40 PM posted to aus.bicycle
Dave Hughes
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 228
Default Hauled my first trailer today

On Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:21:58 +1100, Geoff Lock wrote:

I do have a carrier somewhere amongst my junk but I'll need to make some
mods to fit it on my road bike though.


If you don't have rack mounts on the bike you should be able to get around
12mm saddle clamps from the hardy. Try a couple to find what'll fold
around the seat stay nicely, because it depends on the bike. Use a bit of
old inner tube to stop the metals chewing each other apart under vibration.

The top of the rack is a lot easier because there tend to be a variety of
mounting points.

Trailers are handy because you can take significant weight and it's down
low. The racks start to feel a bit wobbly once you've got a few kg piled
on. Axle mount trailers need a good QR done up nice and tight, but they
work well. I've had trailer + 2 kids into and out of Bobbin Head without
any movement at the axle. The overall movement wasn't much faster on the
way out!

--
Dave Hughes -
I think it's a beautiful day to go to the zoo and feed the ducks.
To the lions. -- Brian Kantor

  #10  
Old January 17th 11, 04:46 AM posted to aus.bicycle
Geoff Lock[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 475
Default Hauled my first trailer today

On 17/01/2011 8:40 AM, Dave Hughes wrote:
On Mon, 17 Jan 2011 00:21:58 +1100, Geoff Lock wrote:

I do have a carrier somewhere amongst my junk but I'll need to make some
mods to fit it on my road bike though.


If you don't have rack mounts on the bike you should be able to get around
12mm saddle clamps from the hardy. Try a couple to find what'll fold
around the seat stay nicely, because it depends on the bike. Use a bit of
old inner tube to stop the metals chewing each other apart under vibration.


Ah! I was thinking of wonderful handmade contraptions which I was gonna
cut and file and drill and weld and what-have-you. Just goes to show
how smart I really am, eh? And just how technical as well

Sometimes, I am so blind to the bleeding obvious

The top of the rack is a lot easier because there tend to be a variety of
mounting points.

Trailers are handy because you can take significant weight and it's down
low. The racks start to feel a bit wobbly once you've got a few kg piled
on. Axle mount trailers need a good QR done up nice and tight, but they
work well. I've had trailer + 2 kids into and out of Bobbin Head without
any movement at the axle. The overall movement wasn't much faster on the
way out!


Seeing as how you have used a trailer to carry precious cargo, it gives
me confidence for me own precious cargo - them two cartons of beer
 




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