Bicycle Trailer

[Colby Fahrenbacher]

Over the past year, I have been trying to use my bicycle as my default mode of transportation whenever possible. From running errands around town to attending concerts in the park, it has been wonderful exploring my city by bike rather than from behind a steering wheel. Obviously, with just a bike, anything that involves a tuba so far has required a car, but with the current availability of things like cargo bikes, it got me to wonder...

Has anyone here used a bicycle trailer for hauling a tuba around town?

I've started casually looking at a few online, and there are a few that could work, but I wanted to see if there were any preferred set ups. It definitely needs to check a few boxes:

- sturdy (pot holes can be rough)
- stable (can't tip over in a turn)
- secure (don't want the tuba bouncing off in previously mentioned potholes)
= protective (can't damage the tuba in a soft case)

Thoughts?

[sdloveless]

Has anyone here used a bicycle trailer for hauling a tuba around town?

I've started casually looking at a few online, and there are a few that could work, but I wanted to see if there were any preferred set ups. It definitely needs to check a few boxes:

- sturdy (pot holes can be rough)
- stable (can't tip over in a turn)
- secure (don't want the tuba bouncing off in previously mentioned potholes)
= protective (can't damage the tuba in a soft case)

Thoughts?

I'll start by saying I was a transportation cyclist for quite a few years. My commute to work was about 7 miles each way. I dragged the kids around in a trailer to school and back, I used that same trailer for groceries, hardware store runs, you name it. If I could get it onto, or into, the trailer, that's what I did. I also worked at a bike shop for several years and sold quite a few trailers.

First, I'd avoid the X-mart trailers (Schwinn, etc.). They're OK for occasional recreational use, but won't hold up for long term commuting/hauling. Obviously, you probably want to also avoid the BOB-stye trailers with their single rear wheel or trailers that attach to the seat post. These will not protect the cargo in a fall.

You should be looking for a trailer that attaches at, or near, the rear axle. I think the most cost effective way to obtain something functional and reliable would be to purchase a used, name brand passenger trailer. Look for Burley, Thule, etc. Strip off the kid hauling paraphernalia, maybe fashion a platform on top of the frame, run in some eye bolts, and then strap the case down.

If you really want to go all out, look at the Surly Bill and Ted trailers. These are seriously overbuilt to hold weight most of us wouldn't be able to pull on a bike. They are pricey. For the smaller Ted, expect to spend around a grand after you get all the hitch parts, pay sales tax, etc. Aside from an altercation with a car, or dropping it off a cliff, it's pretty much indestructible.

When my kids were still little, but a bit too big for the cheapie Schwinn trailer I'd been using, we ordered a Wike. Primarily, because it was bigger. More head room, more shoulder room for the girls. It turned out to be superbly made. We used it for several years. When they finally outgrew it, it was put to use as a cargo/grocery getter. It now resides with a friend who has small children. 14 years of fairly heavy use, and it's still intact. They do offer some cargo options, too. https://wicycle.com/products/forcargo

[bort2.0]

Sounds like you could use one of those Tuba cargo bikes.

I see them in my neighborhood. Some of them fit like 3 or 4 kids in the bucket and are electrically assisted. You could definitely fit a tuba in there.

I hate those things for many reasons. They also cost like $5k. But, they exist...

[Nworbekim]

the Amish/mennonite community around me use lots of bicycles and carts. there are some interesting 4 wheel units that are used to haul heavier loads... i saw one with a cover like a golf cart. if an electric assist were available for these i would almost be interested...

[donn]

Has anyone here used a bicycle trailer for hauling a tuba around town?

Yes.

First I built a couple trailers. Big and very light, they were mainly plastic drain pipe. Wish I had a picture. The second one was of course better, made of ABS, larger diameter (2"?) black waste pipe that's much less brittle than the PVC white stuff. The wheels I also assembled myself, 27" with simple radial spoking. The load was pretty high, but wide, and the second one never threatened to turn over that I recalled. String bass no problem. Trailer tongue attached to seat post, and I even planned a failure point, a threaded connection between the tongue and frame that I thought would likely break first on an impact and spare the frame.

I apparently remember only the good things about that trailer. I eventually for some reason went out and bought a steel framed ordinary trailer with a fraction of the capacity that attached to the left chainstay, and used that a few times for sousaphone.

I see the occasional trailer around here, but the only thing that people seem to want to haul around that way is small children, or occasionally dogs.

You have to be kind of careful in narrow places, of course the trailer will be your widest spot and it's back where you can't see it.

[Snake Charmer]

My tuba travels since 2001 in my Nihola Family cargo trike (www.nihola.com). The trike offers safe stand for loading/unloading and safety in slippery corners, and being only two feet longer than a standard bike it is still compact in traffic. I use a well padded gigbag for the tuba, placing her with some extra padding onto the lower bow, so the bell is free of load. Until now: no damages for ca 2000 miles... The trike earned its price in only seven months for not using the car for the weekly rehearsals of my communty band. (OK, I bought it with a big discount on a bike show and in 2001 I had a Saab 96 with carburator, which drank a lot on the first two miles!) Since then I used it for everything like shopping, kid carrier, hauling firewood, moving, etc... with now 15000 miles on the clock it safed ca 25000 miles by car ( we have a lot of shortcuts in town, not allowed for cars!). Living in a flat region it is still OK without electrical help.

[2nd tenor]

duplicate post.

[2nd tenor]

‘Thoughts’.

I cycle quite a bit - and always have - but don’t use my trailer much at all, for me it’s really there for eventualities. Would I cycle anywhere towing a Tuba on a trailer? Well I might attempt taking my small and not valuable three valve Eb somewhere in it’s hard case, but I’m not sure that my trailer’s big enough to take it and it’s not a small trailer. Replacement trailers can be expensive, but if you aren’t picky and are willing to do some work (repair or adaptation) on one then you might well pick up something second hand at a reasonable price. ‘Proper’ cyclists can move large loads with trailers and cargo bikes so a Tuba shouldn’t be an insurmountable issue. Two wheel trailer, sensible sized wheels and tyres, large load area and ideally attached to the bike next to the bike’s rear axle, make sure that your bike has good brakes and some low gears.

Dedicated Cargo bikes are typically expensive, heavy and, I find, not that readily available. If the load bed was long enough and I could shock protect the Tuba then I’d wonder about a two wheel long John or bakefiets type bike. I’d wondered about a three wheeler too (the type with a large cargo box in front of the rider) but for the area about where I live the relative narrowness and additional speed of a two wheeler would be a big benefit.

Good luck.

[bloke]

In an ideal world (and were it safe to live and cycle in a city, and were there a remote control for precipitation) I'd love to have something like that.

Even at that, I'm the doofus who likes to bring diverse instruments (more than one tuba) to play diverse pieces.

Even this is not safe, (ok: in my view). For this money, I believe I'd prefer a same-year under 100K mi. Corolla.

https://www.smartcycleguide.com/L48190172

[donn]

The advantage in principle that I see, of a trailer over a tricycle, is that with the trailer, the operator's weight doesn't figure into the top-heavy tip-over physics.

If you look at the tricycles sold these days for use on the road, they're built really close to the ground, so the operator's weight is mostly between the wheels. That way, you can go around curves. (Of course people who live in parts of the world where everything is on a straight line, may not care about this.) That design doesn't typically leave much room for cargo, though, so your cargo hauling tricycle will be pretty tall, and you might want to put some bricks or something in the bed to keep the center of gravity down.

As far as whether your tuba is safe in a trailer -- maybe not ... like I said, for some reason people seem to use them only for hauling kids, which are easy enough to fix up or replace.

[sdloveless]

Even this is not safe, (ok: in my view). For this money, I believe I'd prefer a same-year under 100K mi. Corolla.

https://www.smartcycleguide.com/L48190172

The Corolla would be cheaper and more reliable, too!

[bloke]

For several years, I had a gig that ended at noon (a ship docked at the foot of Beale St. in Memphis) and a graduation at Ole Miss that began at 1:30.

I'm not commenting on how fast I drove my car from Memphis to Oxford , but I will say this:

I parked JUST off campus and (my formerly fatter self in a black suit) I would pull my bike out of the back of my Matrix, stick the tuba on my back (about the only time I EVER used the straps), and RODE MY BIKE though campus (past all of the not-moving cars: parents trying to leave from one commencement and parents trying to find parking places for the one at which I was playing). This strategy (nice steep downhill finish to the basketball arena's loading dock) got me there - each year - about seven minutes before I needed to begin playing.

Many parents had their car windows open (because air conditioning doesn't work particularly well, when a car is idling) and - over-and-over - I would hear, "Why didn't WE think of that...??"

...so "strapped to you back, then...??"


...or - perhaps - 50 minutes.

[hubert]

This does it all: kids, dogs, tubas, beer, etc
https://www.profibike.nl/Vogue-Carry-2/ ... gL2_fD_BwE
Very sturdy and electric.
Lots of it in my country, The Netherlands.
Best,
Hubert

[daktx2]

I'd second everything sdloveless said about avoiding the crummy brands.

I own a Thule Courier for transporting my kids, and a wouldn't hesitate to put a tuba or two in there. An additional benefit of the admittedly pricey Thule trailers (Chariot and Courier) is that the seating area that folds flat, so no modifications would be necessary to put a tuba in. They also have an integrated rain cover/windscreen, so your tuba wouldn't get soaked in a storm (though you would). The Thule/Burleys also have pretty high quality wheel/axle/bearings so the trailers aren't that hard to pull, as long as it isn't hilly.

Even if you have to buy the trailer new, this setup beats a used Corolla on price.

Enjoy your cycling!

[Colby Fahrenbacher]

Thanks all for the great comments. There are definitely some new brands (to me) that I'm going to take a closer look at.

@daktx2 If it's not too much to ask, would you mind putting a tuba in your Thule Courier and sending me a picture? I keep looking at these images thinking "There's no way a tuba will fit in that, it must be too small." Yet, they claim to fit two kids, so there must be space.

@hubert I LOVE this style of electric cargo bike and would love to get one someday. I've seen these show up in a number of videos I would like and think it is awesome how they are a clear innovation of bicycle tech. Maybe one day I'll pony up the cash for one, but for now, a trailer is probably wiser.

@bloke I have also rode a bike with a tuba on my back, and I really can't recommend it. When I did it in the past, it was always a short, safe, and known route. Yes it is doable, but is very dangerous. To put it simply (since this is a topic I have strong feelings about and this isn't the place for it), you're taking an already vulnerable road user and making them less stable, slower to accelerate through intersections, and at higher risk of getting injured (and incurring expensive repairs) in an incident. Considering a number of the recommendations I've quickly flipped through here are available for under $1,000, it seems like a prudent investment for an instrument.

@Snake Charmer I'll have to take a look at trikes, which I hadn't considered before. As it is right now, I have a nice bicycle that I would like to keep using, so a trailer is preferred. Still something to look into for the future and good to know about.

@donn Do you remember what material you used for the bed and if you added any cushioning? One of the concerns I have is about a tuba bouncing around on a sheet of plywood and getting banged up. Even strapping down, since there usually isn't a suspension on a trailer (not always), I could imagine the jostling could still damage the instrument.

@bort2.0 What tuba cargo bikes are those? Are they the Urban Arrow or Profibikes mentioned elsewhere in this thread?

@sdloveless THANK YOU for your insight. I was skeptical of the seat post mounts, but now I'll stay away form them for sure. I also had a feeling a single wheel was a bad idea, so I appreciate the confirmation.

[donn]

I have also rode a bike with a tuba on my back, and I really can't recommend it.

I tried it with a string bass. Can't recommend that.

Do you remember what material you used for the bed and if you added any cushioning? One of the concerns I have is about a tuba bouncing around on a sheet of plywood and getting banged up. Even strapping down, since there usually isn't a suspension on a trailer (not always), I could imagine the jostling could still damage the instrument.

Some kind of braided synthetic cord knotted up in 4 inch mesh. I guess you could use shock cord for a real trampoline. It's a reasonable concern - I dented up a couple old Eb tubas a bit, strapping them to the back of a motorcycle, and it had reasonable suspension. Plywood or whatever, any hard surface is going to connect the tuba to the road a little too much.

[bloke]

Personally I just don’t like any of these options.
I biked in - to reach that basketball arena - because it was my only option to get there on time.
Bikes and cars don’t mix, and I don’t like the idea of putting a $20,000 piece of equipment (particularly if it’s just in a thin padded bag) in a $400 - $1000 trailer,

[donn]

Yeah, as I mentioned, around here the only thing most folks will risk in a trailer is kids, monetary value of which is arguably negative.

[Colby Fahrenbacher]

Personally I just don’t like any of these options.
I biked in - to reach that basketball arena - because it was my only option to get there on time.
Bikes and cars don’t mix, and I don’t like the idea of putting a $20,000 piece of equipment (particularly if it’s just in a thin padded bag) in a $400 - $1000 trailer,

Frankly, the tuba portion of that statement is irrelevant, because if it's too dangerous to bike with a tuba, it's too dangerous to bike period. In that scenario, any damage done to your body is of significant more concern than to a dumb hunk of brass, whether it's on your back or in a trailer.

But, in full disclosure, I believe that is a reason for our communities to be investing in bike-friendly (and other non-car friendly) infrastructures rather than avoiding alternative modes of transportation altogether. I agree, one should not be mingling with 40 mph+ car traffic on a bike in general, unless there is some form of dedicated protected bicycle infrastructure. The speed disparity almost guarantees death of the vulnerable road user if an incident occurs.

The decision one way or another really comes down to the individual and the environment they are presented with. Some design styles are downright hostile towards non-automobile drivers, while others are much safer. And as others have illustrated, it is possible to do it safely. I am appreciative of all of the recommendations those with more experience tuba hauling on a bike have offered.

[bloke]