Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bicycle and trailer

No more (bike) junk in my trunk

fijiwriter — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 06:41:51 -0800

Shopping for trailer-hitch mounted bike rack for my road bike, with room for two additional ones. What should I look for? Who do you recommend? Who or what to avoid? I've grown tired of putting my road bike in the back of my SUV, so I'm shopping around for a trailer-hitch-mounted rack. I've seen my fair share of Yakimas and Thules, but I really love how the Saris models look.

But seriously, what should I know? What should I look for? Currently, I have a road bike, but I can foresee needing space for two more bikes for my family or cycling trips with friends.

To add more confusion, I don't currently have a trailer hitch, so I'd need to get one - it looks like 1.25 or 2".

Side-question: can I make do with a standard gate-mount rack, rather than such a big $$$ investment for a hitch and rack?

FWIW, it's a '97 Ford Expedition, with factory roof rack (which I don't want to use), no trailer hitch.

What type of bike should I get for pulling a trailer?

winston — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 06:31:28 -0800

I'm planning to buy a bicycle for myself and a trailer for two children to ride in. For the bike, I'd like to get something like a simple three-speed cruiser, but I've been told that I'll need more gears to pull the trailer. What do I need to look for in a bike to make it a good trailer-puller? The kids are currently 20 lbs and 30 lbs.

I'd like a bike I can sit upright on.

I'm planning to buy both the bike and the trailer used.

I'm not especially athletic but not in terrible shape. I walk about half an hour a day. Most of the cycling will be short distances without steep slopes.

How could I forget to mention the bicycle is a good invention

optovox — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:20:43 -0800

I'm building a two-wheeled cargo trailer for my bicycle, and I'm mounting standard caliper brakes on each wheel of the trailer. I want to control both brakes with one handle i.e. I squeeze the handle, and both calipers close. How can I set this up? My first idea was to use motorcycle cable housing and run both brake cables inside that, but I nixed that idea because I'd have to figure out a way to attach both cables at the handle.

I'd prefer to buy an off-the-shelf "two-caliper-one-handle" setup, but I can fabricate parts and build a setup if someone has an engineering solution or design idea. Anyone?

Smallest folding bicycle folding trailer

krisjohn — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:32:12 -0800

I'm looking for a folding bicycle trailer. That's a trailer that folds up and connects to a bicycle (though it coincidentally will be connected to a folding bicycle, so I guess it's a folding bicycle folding trailer). Anyway, the main thing is that it needs to fold up really small. Please point me to the smallest, when folded, bicycle trailer you know about. Thanks.