There are many ways to build custom DIY bike trailer solutions to suit your needs.  I’ll let Dillon explain his solution:

I have been building many different types of bike trailers trying to find one that will hold up to what i need. With my bike shop I have to be able to tow a bike if I can’t fix it on site. I took an old dolly cart that I found in a dumpster and put on  two 26″ bike wheels and a steel arm and used a “U” hook and attached it to my bike, now I can tow any bike.

With our amazing deals on 2011 and 2012 Chariots going on through May 28th, I thought I would highlight this customer photo of David out enjoying his Chariot CX2. Not only our the Chariots great for cycling with your kids, they are great multi-use carriers for strolling, jogging, hiking, cross-country skiing and in this case roller blading.

Fabian has previously submitted photos of his bike cargo trailer, his train of bike trailers and a video as well  all hooked up to his gas-motor/hybrid.  Fabian took to the mountains with his bike and a BOB Ibex and I figured it was a good time to post in conjunction with our BOB vs. Extrawheel sale.

The story regarding these photos is best told by viewing the web link:
http://motorizedbikeforum.the-talk.net/t208-hill-climb-with-bob-ibex-trailer

Continuing on with our BOB vs Extrawheel Sale inspired post’s, we have this great post by world bike wanderer and writer Cass Gilbert who borrowed an Extrawheel Voyager from us for a bit.  If anyone knows touring gear, it is Cass.  Check his great photography and writing about his adventures and favorite gear at his blog While Out Riding. So without further ado here is Cass…

Extrawheel Voyager

A rear rack and pannier setup, supplemented with a bar bag up front, is probably the ideal setup for  most tours. But there are times when a trailer comes in handy too, particularly for off-road exploration, where conditions are more demanding on your bicycle and its wheels.

As someone who enjoys the challenges of finding remote, dirt road routes across the world, the Extrawheel appeals in two ways.

Like all trailers, it shifts weight – and thus wear and tear – away from your bike. This opens up the opportunity off running a lighter setup than a traditional touring bike, without fretting over all important tyres and wheels. If you enjoy mountain biking side trips as part of a longer tour, this works particularly well.

Unlike other brands, its 26in or 700c wheel also serves perfectly as a spare, in far flung parts of the planet where a replacement would be hard to find. Granted a failed rim is an unlikely, worst case scenario. But the longer and more remote the tour, the more opportunity there is for a mechanical failure. This is particularly beneficial if you tour on 700c rims, which are all but impossible to find outside of the US, Europe and Australasia.

The Ride

Overall, the Extrawheel handles well. There’s little side to side tug when riding out of the saddle, it tracks neatly behind the bike, and its big wheel skips confidently over rocks and roots. Panniers make access to cargo straightforward, though it’s worth packing weight low and evenly, as this impacts the way the trailer handles. Similarly, I found a small amount of weight on the handlebars, like a bar bag, helps to stabilize steering. Without this, I experienced some low-frequency wobbles when pedaling.

On steep, loose climb, it pays to concentrate on keeping the back of the bike weighted, to stop the rear wheel slipping out. As with most trailers, the Voyager suits sitting and spinning, rather than honking dramatically from side to side.

The sprung fork hitch system is simple to use – no fiddly retention pins are necessary. Despite appearances, I never had it disconnect even over even the roughest of terrain.

The Extrawheel also benefits from being considerably more compact than many single wheel trailers, making it easier to weave around town – and deal with off the bike.

The trailer is rated to a massive 30kg in payload. For day to day touring I wouldn’t burden it with anything like that amount, especially if heading off road. But it’s good to know the capability is there if you really need it – for hauling extra water, for instance.

I should add that like most trailers, the Extrawheel takes some time getting used to. After a couple of outings, it’s starts to feel more comfortable and predictable – as you react and adapt to its quirks.

Pros:

The Extrawheel moves weight away from your bike, decreasing wear and tear on your wheels and tyres. Similarly, running three wheels allows you to rotate tyres more often (it’s the back tyre on your bike that takes the brunt of the action), so you can eek more life out of them.

At 3.6kg as tested with a 29er wheel, it’s light – and you can offset the need to carry a spare tyre and a rear rack, bringing it down to around 2.3kg. It’s simple too – there’s not a lot to go wrong.

The big wheel rolls well over obstacles and doesn’t hook up on on curbs as smaller wheels are prone to do.

It will fit any bicycle, without the need to make any modifications for loaded touring.

It’s compact enough that the turning circle is tight and it won’t get in the way too much. The Extrawheel’s easy to load on a train or bus, or store in a guesthouse.

The trailer can be broken down in size and stashed in a bag. With a big enough bike box, there should be room for a third wheel in there too.
Carrying a spare wheel could get you out of a fix when you most need it…

Cons:

Despite all the extra hardware, the Voyager only actually provides two large panniers worth of space –  40-50L – compared to other more capacious trailers, which typically offer 80L. If this isn’t enough, you’ll still need to run a rack on your bike too.

The load’s positioned relatively low, which is worth taking into account if you’re planning a rocky, rutted tours. This may affect pannier choice too, as some are shaped deeper than others.

Tents with longer poles don’t always fit in panniers. Unlike a traditional rear rack and panniers, there’s no platform to strap a tent to, so you may need Extrawheel’s  ‘top rack‘ too.

If loaded to its full rated capacity – 30kg – it can adversely affect steering. I wouldn’t recommend it with that kind of payload if you’re riding challenging off road terrain.

Unlike many other single wheel trailers, the Extrawheel doesn’t double up well for utility uses back home – after all, it’s effectively the same as carrying two of panniers on a rear rack. Trailers with a larger loading bay are more versatile, and easier to pack too.

Spec:

Typically, the Extrawheel weighs under 4kg, depending on the wheel/tyre combo you run. You can offset the need to carry a spare tyre against this – knocking off an extra 500-800g, and potentially a rear rack on your bike – another 700g. This puts it at about 2.3kg heavier than the equivalent rack and pannier setup.

There are 3 fork mounts to choose from, accommodating 26in, 29er or ‘snow’ tyres. The 29er fork has room for ‘standard’ 700c tyres and mudguards.
The Extrawheel uses a 130mm space hub, the same as your front wheel.

There’s all kinds of fork/wheel/mudguard/pannier combinations you can choose from, so you only need buy what works for you. For longer tours, I’d recommend sourcing your own wheel, with the same hub/rim/spoke combo as your bike for versatility.

Final Thoughts:

For a trailer, the Voyager’s load capacity is limited – in many cases, it makes more sense to simply fit a rear rack and panniers, especially for more road-orientated touring, or for those who pack light. As compact as it is compared to other trailers, it’s still an extra piece of hardware to deal with, for a relatively small amount of added capacity.

This said, the Extrawheel moves valuable weight away from the rear wheel, without the weight penalty incurred by many other trailers. If you enjoy mountain biking as much as touring, it offers the opportunity of travelling with a light bike that’s fun to ride – which is particularly welcome on singletrack side trips. For anyone touring with 700c wheels, there’s also the warm, peace-of-mind feeling of knowing you’re self sufficient, wherever you are in the world.

For real expedition types, the Extrawheel also adds capacity on those remote, long distance tours – again, spreading heavy cargo over a third wheel – and giving you the option of running a suspension fork without needing to load it with weight. Seeing as you’re going to the trouble of pulling a trailer, it makes great sense that you can cannibalize parts of it too.

Lastly, I can see the Extrawheel’s compact length working particularly well for tandem tours, where space can be a real premium. I bumped into a couple touring with one in Ecuador, who’d chosen it for that very reason.

We’ve just kicked off our Extrawheel vs. BOB Trailer Sale, a sale dedicated to comparing the virtues of these two great single wheeled bike trailers.  Over the next couple of weeks, I will be publishing some posts I’ve been collecting about the two trailers.

To kick off the posting, I thought I would start out with a bang, with these crazy pictures of this BOB modified for Fat Biking.  I really can’t tell if this setup would be very practical in many situations, but it sure is fun to look at…

I wanted a big wheel trailer that i can use to go fishing, so i transformed my standard Bob trailer in to a two wheel trailer by adding a rotational feature on the trailer fork, now i can use it as a rode holder, with the fat tires i can ride on the beach to my favorite fishing spot and catch Halibuts here on the Homer Spit in Alaska.

The trailer-cycle/bike-child-trailer train, is a rare creature that reveals itself in parks with bike paths and suburbs with low traffic. This fun but awkward setup is scared of traffic, steep turns and rough roads. Though always lingering on the endangered species list, they tend to crop up when the kids are just the right age and mom wants to go cycling.

A DIY solution to the bike trailer.  Simple materials and a solid design make for a nice looking cargo hauler.

Greg, sent in this clever setup for using his Xtracycle to commute with this his dog. A good use of the WideLoaders.

The customer innovation never stops! Keep on sending in those photos…

My new commuter that gets me and my "child" to work every day

]]> http://www.bikeshophub.com/gregs-xtracycle-dog-rig/feed/ 0 http://www.bikeshophub.com/gregs-xtracycle-dog-rig/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BikeShopHub/~3/KwzhoKE2YLE/ http://www.bikeshophub.com/rudis-techno-bob-trailer-wonder/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:15:23 +0000 Josh Lipton http://www.bikeshophub.com/?p=4904

We were really impressed to see these photos of Rudi’s  very impressive bike touring setup.  This is a very interesting example of utilizing the products together that we represent through 3 of our 4 specialty shops, BikeTrailerShop.com, BikeBagShop.com and BikeTechShop.com.

Greetings from Berlin, Germany.  I have mounted a solar panel on my B.O.B. Ibex. Since I do a lot of camping and carry some electronics with me (GPS, phone, mp3-player, sometimes due to my job a laptop), there’s always the need to charge some batteries.

The rear two boxes carry two 7.2 Ah accumulators which serve as a buffer, a solar charger and the rest of the electronics like step-up/step-down converters for the different voltages I need.

The unregulated 12V outlet is also capable of charging the system via an onboard AC/DC converter in case I find an A/C outlet somewhere.

In addition I have replaced the rear hub with a SON hub dynamo which constantly feeds into the system as well (and takes care of the rear light via a sensor).

The panel can be raised for better efficiency. The most difficult part of the construction was the mounting of the solar panel itself. The Ibex has a suspension, so the rear wheel moves in relation to the trailer. I constructed a rail guide with two rollers which convert the “vertical” movement into a horizontal sliding movement (you can see that on the second picture underneath the panel).

The third picture shows the first field testing near the Elbe river in Northern Germany. System is working fine Hope you like it.

I love to ride my bicycle.  I also like my beer.  I don’t drink and drive, and thank goodness my bike has enough horse-sense to get me home in case I have a beer or two while out and about.

I have a large Ortlieb Handlebar bag.  I am now beginning to believe that the German engineers whom designed this bag also like to ride and drink because a 6-Pack of bottled beer fits PERFECTLY in this bag, and still offers just enough room for my mini Abus U-lock on the side.

Reverse engineering at its finest, or a fantastic coincidence? I don’t care, but a big Thank You is in order!!!

Great beer from Great Divide, a great bag, and a great bike – Ride on!