Hi,

i am a design student in my final year at university, i am designing a new bicycle trailer and other storage solutions for cyclists

as part of my research i want to speak to users of such products, i was wondering if some of you could give some of your experiences with current methods of storage on bicycles and your opinions on them,

what you like, what you dont like, any features you would like to see, absolutely anything would be welcome.

in particular i am interested to know about how much you use things like trailers around town and just for general use (eg shopping), for instance, when you cycle to shops, do you feel limited as to what you can buy, becuase you know you cant carry it all home?

would you like to have a storage solution that is flexible and can be used for many purposes? or would you like one that is dedicated to just one purpose but does it really well, (eg, carrying shopping home from a supermarket)

any comments at all are welcome!

Thank you

Andy

Hi Lasty,

i use the BoB Yak trailer and im completely satisfied, except for:

the balance of the complete system, when you load heavy weights at the front of the trailer. But this seems to be a physical problem and special for the yak.

I only sometimes use the Yak for shopping. I made the experience that the Yak works perfectly, when you only load one box of beverages (we have here baskets/boxes with 12-24 bottles). Two is slightly critical (you have to load them diagonally) but three is impossible.

So one would need two different trailers: one for shopping (doing the daily jobs) and one for touring with luggage.

The linking system of the yak is fairly easy, except for
the yak is heavily loaded and you don´t have the possibility to fix your bike (either to a wall or with the right gear on the frame to stand alone). Then you have to juggle and balance the heavy Yak with one hand and hold the bike with the other.

I would favour the possiblity to pack the trailer to a small size for transport in a car or train. The actual Yak has an additional metal bar at the frame. It prevents the fork from being turned backwards when you like to store the yak. The previous version of the Yak had this possibility for downsizing.

I would also favour corrosion free frame. When the colour fades because of slight accidents or heavy usage, the set free metal instantly begins to corrode.

So far the contribution to your survey,

Greetings from Germany,

Daniel

Thank you!
stories like that are really useful to know!

Cheers

could be of interest for some bob yak pilots.

http://www.wandertec.com/index.html

Hi
I work as a cycle courier in Brighton, England for The Bike's The Business (www.thebikesthebusiness.co.uk) and we use a variety of different load carriers:-

1. Carry Freedom trailer > we've just bought this and I haven't yet tried it with a load, but it's very nicely put together. Lightweight (around 6kg), holds 95kg (according to Carry Freedom), sealed bearings, nice people at the other end of the phone. The trailers can also be hitched together, though we've yet to do this, although it was one of the reasons we bought it.

2. Pashley trailer > not sure which model we've got, but it holds a 600mm x 800mm box, payload of 50kg. Again well built, but heavier than the Carry Freedom. Sealed cartridge bearings, same as the Carry Freedom and very strong. No problems with it yet and it's had daily use for a few months. Comes with Weber hitch which is very good.

3. Avenir Mule > we bought this because we needed a trailer quickly and a local bike shop had it in stock. Cheap trailer and good for shopping trips, but not much good with constant use. Hitch is attached to a spring so pulls back a fair bit, sides of the trailer are made from fabric, so loads press against it and can easily rub on the wheels. Steel rims rust and bearings aren't sealed. Decent runaround though.

4. Xtracycle > this is marketed as a 'hitchless trailer' (see www.xtracycle.com). This is a 'fit and forget' affair. No moving parts - holds 100kg according to website, although packing can be a bit awkward. I use mine everyday and it's a joy of an accessory, turns a bike into a true transportation vehicle. Recommended.

I notice that someone who replied to your posting has used a Bob Yak. We bought one of those and tried distributing a magazine on it. The balancing is a real issue. I imagine off-road on singletrack it comes into its own, but as a load carrier, no way.

Cheers

Chris S

Hi
I work as a cycle courier in Brighton, England for The Bike's The Business ( www.thebikesthebusiness.co.uk ) and we use a variety of different load carriers:-

1. Carry Freedom trailer > we've just bought this and I haven't yet tried it with a load, but it's very nicely put together. Lightweight (around 6kg), holds 95kg (according to Carry Freedom), sealed bearings, nice people at the other end of the phone. The trailers can also be hitched together, though we've yet to do this, although it was one of the reasons we bought it.

2. Pashley trailer > not sure which model we've got, but it holds a 600mm x 800mm box, payload of 50kg. Again well built, but heavier than the Carry Freedom. Sealed cartridge bearings, same as the Carry Freedom and very strong. No problems with it yet and it's had daily use for a few months. Comes with Weber hitch which is very good.

3. Avenir Mule > we bought this because we needed a trailer quickly and a local bike shop had it in stock. Cheap trailer and good for shopping trips, but not much good with constant use. Hitch is attached to a spring so pulls back a fair bit, sides of the trailer are made from fabric, so loads press against it and can easily rub on the wheels. Steel rims rust and bearings aren't sealed. Decent runaround though.

4. Xtracycle > this is marketed as a 'hitchless trailer' (see www.xtracycle.com). This is a 'fit and forget' affair. No moving parts - holds 100kg according to website, although packing can be a bit awkward. I use mine everyday and it's a joy of an accessory, turns a bike into a true transportation vehicle. Recommended.

I notice that someone who replied to your posting has used a Bob Yak. We bought one of those and tried distributing a magazine on it. The balancing is a real issue. I imagine off-road on singletrack it comes into its own, but as a load carrier, no way.

Cheers

Chris S