Bicycle Trailer

[Snake Charmer]

I have a nice bicycle that I would like to keep using, so a trailer is preferred

The cargo trike is very useful, but I would not recommend it as the one and only set of wheels. As with instruments I prefer some variety and love to pedal on my Pedersen, or my 1939 Victoria touring bike (bought new for my dad), or my fixie...
Sometimes even I use a trailer. I once got a 1950s trailer for free, really solid with 20" wheels and a big wooden box, usable as a hand cart or seatpost-attached. With new tires and some paint it is great for everything. It is even big enough for a large Bb tuba in one of those modern styrofoam softcases (which would have caused problems to sqeeze into a car!)

[tofu]

.

[donn]

I've seen the cargo bikes. You're never going to ride those things fast. Around some small area I'm sure they're great. If you're planning on riding say 10-15 miles speed is an issue because a long slow ride is not a ride that is conducive to getting stuff done in a timely manner and for me at least not fun. An electric assist for them makes them much more feasible and probably doable for most folks - but something like that would have zero fun factor for me as the athletic effort of the ride is a major part of the doing it in the first place.

I have a motor on one of my recumbent bicycles. There's a range of options, and mine isn't a whole lot like what you'd get on hubert's bicycle, but the bottom line is in any case, you can get stuff done in a more timely manner. At higher speeds, it really gets to be predominately motor power, so battery is an issue. At 15-20mph, you can share the load with the motor and extend the range a lot, but someone who wants to go crazy fast and pedal at the usual duffer's 100W is going to drain the battery in a hurry, due to rapidly increasing wind resistance. Anyway, I think a lot of it as practical transportation.

I'm glad to see there are good trailer designs that attach to the seatpost, which was dismissed earlier in this thread as inferior to the chainstay attachment. I liked my seatpost attachment better, but honestly it's been long enough that I don't recall them well enough to really compare.

[Oedipoes]

I am a daily all-weather bike commuter (40km each day).
The weekly band-rehearsals are done by bike with the BBb kaiser on my back.
I have a great bag for this purpose, and it works for the 2km each way… much better than driving the car home after a couple of Belgian beers anyway…

[daktx2]

Well @Colby Fahrenbacher, I will have to retract my post: standard sized (I have a Yamaha 321 Eb and a PT-5) tubas won't fit into the Thule branded kid trailers, they're too long. You will definitely need something with larger dimensions, apologies!

[Snake Charmer]

One or two thoughts for the safety discussion:
-Most damages to tubas happen in the backstage area of concerts or rehearsal rooms. So it seems not to matter how you arrived there.
-When hauling a tuba by bike, the rider (in my case: ME!!) will be hurt in an accident, so better avoid riding in fast moving intense car traffic. Even in my small village there is one street I avoid using by bike some hours of the day.
-Don't use the bike in crime-prone areas, when your load may look interesting.

These are the normal survival strategies for any bicyclist, tuba hauling or not.

For the tipping-over-in corners discussion: A tuba hauling bike, either with trailer or as a cargo bike/trike is a tad unsporty, so you may adapt your speed for safety reasons. The weight of the tuba helps there...

An electric assist for them makes them much more feasible and probably doable for most folks - but something like that would have zero fun factor for me as the athletic effort of the ride is a major part of the doing it in the first place.

I use two electric assisted bikes for commuting, one big advance is less sweat on arrival, the other is better speed in nose-wind. But with the athletic effort: You don't have the speed or the dynamics of a proper race bike on a cargo, but you need much more muscle to ride it the same distance. My heaviest load were 300kgs of construction material on the cargo trike with trailer (and without electrics!), the bridge over the railway felt like the rockies! Just a different kind of fun. The tuba hauler is more US Postal van than Nascar...

[Colby Fahrenbacher]

Well @Colby Fahrenbacher, I will have to retract my post: standard sized (I have a Yamaha 321 Eb and a PT-5) tubas won't fit into the Thule branded kid trailers, they're too long. You will definitely need something with larger dimensions, apologies!

Thanks for checking! I'm glad that I asked (and that my eyes weren't deceiving me). I had a feeling that the covered trailers might be an issue, even if you try and have the horn in at an angle. It looks like that means (as nice as they are) that Thule trailers won't make very good general purpose tuba haulers.

I've been taking a closer look at Burley's options. The Nomad and Coho XC both seem like pretty decent options, with the Coho being the definite better option of the two. Although the Coho XC is a single wheel design, it does include a suspension and attaches to both sides of the rear axle. That seems like it would balance the drawbacks of it being single wheel. For both trailers, neither are wide enough (nor really have any I've found so far) to allow a wide tuba (like my MRP CC) lay down flat. It's close, but I have a feeling most trailers will need a big tuba to be angled to some extent.

I appreciate everyone's contributions. It's been nice to see all of the different types of bike uses going on, and how the little nuances change our preferred setups. For me, I'm not an athletic or recreational bike rider, I like to commute. When I can, I want to be able to use it leisurely around town to run errands and appreciate the health (and financial) benefits that come from it. I wouldn't need a motor to go fast, rather to help take the edge off the hills. South Bend is small enough it would help extend the distance I could go, and reduce the time a bit, but that's not a priority.

Special thanks to @tofu for sharing all of that information, particularly regarding advocacy. I've been considering getting into that here, but for the moment I've been trying to educate myself, learn the area, and find where I think I could be the most help. For the time being, I have been trying to be visible on a bike as much as I can to hopefully encourage others to give it a try (and discourage the stale argument of "I never see anyone use the bike lanes!").

[Mary Ann]

Glad to finally see the danger post. When I was in college in the late 1960s, I had a motorcycle and my now-lost-underinsured-for-$25k violin went everywhere strapped to the back (I was young.) I've always been of the opinion that bicycles are MUCH more dangerous than motorcycles because they have no mass, no way to accelerate out of danger, and no stable braking option. Only if I lived with an extremely safe pathway to and from my destination, would I even attempt a bicycle, and then there are always dogs and pedestrians, crazy kids on skateboards etc. Especially around here, I'm amazed that people who ride bikes actually live. I gave up the MC about 25 years ago because I no longer found it sane to ride one here.

[Colby Fahrenbacher]

Today marked the maiden voyage of the bicycle trailer that I built this summer, so I thought that it would be an appropriate time to update this thread with what I ended up doing and my thoughts so far. First, a picture.

68910904231__35859593-6F03-4D01-9A32-8072668B9F5A.jpg (30.02 KiB) Viewed 781 times

IMG_3213.JPG (185.4 KiB) Viewed 745 times

Construction

Now for some details. For the base of the trailer, I picked up a used Aosom kid's bike trailer. I stumbled across it by happenstance, and picked it up right away because it had a suspension. It's only rated up to about 50 lbs, so I won't be using it for any extreme hauling, but it should be able to handle a tuba. Two tubas may be pushing my luck though.

Once I had the Aosom trailer, I stripped it down to just the base frame and made a few modifications to allow room for a wooden crate to mounted on top of it. I wanted to keep the price down for this project as much as was safe, so the materials that I picked up from the hardware store were generally cheap and did not require much additional processing before construction. Speaking of materials...

Base: 2' x 4' x 1/2" ACX Handi Panel Plywood
Front and Back: 2' x 2' x 1/2" ACX Handi Panel Plywood (trimmed down to 18" x 2' to reduce unnecessary height and help clear the currently attached crate on my rear rack
Sides: 1" x 4" x 4' pine planks

For the most part, I was able to screw the box together with these parts as is from the store. A few bits had to be cut out with a jigsaw to make room for the existing hardware on the base frame (you can see the cut out for the suspension in the picture). I used two different stains and a polyurethane coat to protect it from the elements.

To mount the box onto the frame, I bolted them together using the already available holes in the frame. I had to drill them out to a larger size to fit what I had. I also had to drill all the way through the tube since the original trailer only screwed into the tube.

I lined the bottom of the box with a 15mm thick yoga mat that I found at Target (they normally are 4-6mm thick, so I was happy to find this one). The mat was 1.5x the length i needed, so I cut the excess and put it underneath to give 30mm of padding where the bottom bow of a tuba would rest. It seems like it should be enough padding.

All said and done, the trailer has cost about $250, which is significantly less than anything that you can find on the market. I still have a few more additions to make, so that number will probably change.

The First Journey

Today was my first chance to use the new trailer for a concert band rehearsal at a local university. I loaded up my B&S MRP CC tuba and went for a 4.5 mile ride. Fortunately the weather was beautiful and the rehearsal was early enough that the sun was out the entire time. All in the all, it was fantastic. I did not feel like the extra weight of the tuba and the trailer made a significant difference in how tired I was when I got to rehearsal. I rode slower, didn't expect to accelerate as fast, and generally took my time enjoying our beautiful river walk and the fall leaves. It was an incredibly pleasant way to get to rehearsal.

Ok, it wasn't perfect, so here are some things I noticed on my ride:
- if South Bend didn't have what little bike infrastructure it had, I would never even have considered trying this. We have some painted bike lanes and a multi-use pathway along the river, which accounted for most of the 4.5 miles
- We could still benefit from more bicycle friendly upgrades. My biggest concern was crossing three busy streets (stroads, if you will...). They were unsignalized intersections, and I knew I would need a large gap to get safely across. Thankfully, traffic is not really that bad in South Bend (despite what some individuals around here seem to think...)
- Residential neighborhoods make up the remainder of areas that I rode, and although there was little to no car traffic to interact with, road degradation made it tricky at times. I agree with the notion that we don't need dedicated bike infrastructure in neighborhoods and we can allow all forms of transportation to mingle (if speeds are actually slow enough), but the infrastructure needs to be held to the standard appropriate for the most vulnerable road user, not the least. That is to say, a pot hole that a car doesn't notice can throw a cyclist off their bike.
- Hills suck extra hard. I live on a pretty big hill, so it was definitely leg day at the end. It was definitely manageable though, and would be much better with an eBike.

Future Upgrades

There are a few things I would like to upgrade before I call this project completely finished.
- find better hardware for attaching the trailer to the bike. I used the original bike trailer hardware, which uses a locking pin and is sprung loaded, and works well. The problem that I have noticed is that the weight of the trailer can cause the hardware to shift a bit and throw off the alignment. Particularly if the load is balanced well, the spring can cause the trailer to constantly sway back and forth...and squeek...
- visibility flags
- custom German license plate in honor of buying my bike while stationed in Germany
- led lights on the trailer
- possibly a battery charged by a dynamo to run the lights

Things I would do differently

- higher quality materials
- actually make the thing square (it's functional though)
- make it shorter (getting it to clear the crate on my rear rack was a pain)
- shift it further back on the frame (it also needs to clear the rear tire, as it turns out)

Final Thoughts

I love this thing, and I'm super excited about the next opportunity to use it, which will probably be in the spring. Hauling a tuba in the cold, possible snow/ice, and with limited daylight is a bit too risky for me. For me, this project reinforced the idea that most people don't use a bike for transportation because they haven't found a way to overcome the numerous obstacles in their way. In the end, a vast majority of the obstacles can be overcome individually, or with help/investment from your community. It takes surprisingly less effort than you realize, if you just give it a try.

[russiantuba]

I have a serious question regarding this:

What is your solution to rain? Seeing you this area of the Midwest (your area even more prone to random rain storms than my area); what is your solution to this?

[Colby Fahrenbacher]

I have a serious question regarding this:

What is your solution to rain? Seeing you this area of the Midwest (your area even more prone to random rain storms than my area); what is your solution to this?

The first option would be to add a removable tarp to the top of it. It wouldn't water-proof it, since the sides are exposed somewhat, although I suppose the tarp could extend down the sides also. I'm storing the trailer outside at the moment, and I have a tarp covering it. I don't feel like completely water-proofing it is necessary because of option two...

The second option is to not ride in inclement weather. My personal opinion is not that "everyone should always ride bikes all of the time," but rather "bikes should be legitimate option that is worth considering by many people." The difference is subtle, but important because it means that is ok to decide to drive for whatever reason comes up. What is important is that you considered alternatives, and they should a reasonable chance of being chosen. Weather in my area isn't so fickle that weather apps aren't accurate enough to make a decision based off of, so I don't get by surprise in the rain that often.

The few times I have though, it's been warm enough that it was still a pleasant ride. Light rain isn't always a guaranteed time to drive for me, and I don't wear any special clothing to make it easier (although I suppose a windbreaker or raincoak would be worth having).

[Breavdah]

I use my bike trailer to fetch a months worth of beer from the discount megagrocery. THANK YOU granny gear!

Only one time I saw a guy with a giant instrument on a bike. It may have been a cello. I saluted that man but I had to hang my head and admit I had been outdone.

[ZZZ]

Joining in very late. Take a look at this tuba trailer: https://innertuba.org.uk/

[Paulver]

I agree with Bloke and Mary Ann. I used to ride my bike everywhere, but safety and inconvenience started to become very real issues. Automobile traffic has increased unbelievably over the years, and drivers of said vehicles have too many distractions available to them while driving. I also gave up riding motorcycles and scooters for the same reasons.

Hauling a tuba around in essentially a cart with no suspension, I think, is asking for damage. The bumps in the road surface would telegraph directly to the tuba case. That would be my opinion, not knowing all of the details of the trailer construction, etc. It just seems like a risk that I would not be willing to take.

[hrender]

Other option that just popped up in my feed:





I've seen the bakfiets and the Worksman cycles models, but I hadn't seen anything from this mfr before this.

I've been taking a closer look at Burley's options. The Nomad and Coho XC both seem like pretty decent options, with the Coho being the definite better option of the two. Although the Coho XC is a single wheel design, it does include a suspension and attaches to both sides of the rear axle. That seems like it would balance the drawbacks of it being single wheel. For both trailers, neither are wide enough (nor really have any I've found so far) to allow a wide tuba (like my MRP CC) lay down flat. It's close, but I have a feeling most trailers will need a big tuba to be angled to some extent.

The Burleys are what I see most around here. They have a very good reputation.

There was a real boom in cargo bikes and bike trailers 10-15 years ago, but that seems to have cooled off. WIth the increasing use of ebikes that might pick up again. This guy has a pinterest board that you can use as a jumping off point. Frances Cycles was a notable cottage vendor, but I checked, and the trailer they sell may be too lightweight for what you want.

[Colby Fahrenbacher]

Happy to see this get bumped back up with some new posts! There are definitely a lot of viable cargo bike options for hauling an instrument around, and the latest boom in the e-Bike market is helping a lot with that.

For myself, and I had a couple of goals when I went down this project. I wasn't sure if I would really feel safe hauling a tuba on my bike in my area, given it's general car-centric design. I was also concerned about how physically demanding it would be, considering I live on top of a sizeable hill. With those two things in mind, I was hesitant to make a large financial investment, and I opted for building a trailer to attach to my current bike, rather than buying a second, very expensive bike/trike/etc.

Once my mind started going down that path, I took it as a challenge to prove that there is much less of a barrier for entry for this than people think. For about $250 (not counting the bike), using really only a few power tools, I now have a reasonable option for replacing my car for many local trips. If the city mulching facility wasn't on the other side of town, I would use the trailer to haul towns of free mulch and compost. If the local hardware had a continuous sidewalk/path leading to it, I would use the trailer for larger hardware store runs. Hopefully that will change in the future.

@Paulver, very valid points, and I would never criticize someone for not feeling safe on our roadways on a bicycle. I almost exclusively avoid any road wider than 3 lanes and a speed limit over 35 mph. Oftentimes, there are alternate routes that I can take, though they are usually out of the way. Ideally, the city would include separated bicycle infrastructure when there is space, since having to take a longer route discourages bike use.

FWIW, the trailer that I built not only has a suspension, but it also has 15-30mm of padding in the bed itself. I'm sure I could hit a pothole hard enough to cause damage, but with a little bit of care, it should be fine. I wouldn't have built this trailer without a suspension.