Bents and Trailers?

We have used a BOB trailer for years on multi-day tours on our very long Ryan Duplex recumbent
tandem and never have had any handling problems. Besides the added weight, you hardly know the thing
is back there.

My complaint with the BOB may be tandem specific only. With my wife and I traveling together, we
have two sleeping bags, two sleeping pads, a bigger tent, and so on. The BOB trailer is very
limited, in my opinion, on what it can carry. We routinely max out the trailer (and we pack light).
I am thinking about selling ours and getting one of the new, redesigned Burley Nomads which seems to
have much more room, and will also fold down flat.

Bob Krzewinski

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Rudy Rostro
I have had an interest in attaching a trailer to my Vision VR40 and taking a long tour. One comment
from a bent rider was that a single wheel trailer (like a BOB) had a detrimental effect on steering
and approached dangerous consequences. Does anyone out there have additional advise?

My first experience with a Bob coincided with my first experience with a recumbent. The bike was a swb Rotator with topside steering. The bike was very unstable at speed, and it took at least the first 3 days of a 10 day trip to gain any level of confidence.
After that trip, I bought a lwb with uss, and found no stability problems with the comination.
The main challenge with a Bob is to load it so as to keep the center of gravity as low as possible, but when combined with a bike engineered for stability, you will hardly know it is back there.
The Bob itself is a fantastic unit. It is a simple design, and there is not much to go wrong with it.
D.B.

I use a Burley Nomad trailor behind my Speed Ross swb and have had no problems. It carries 100 lbs,
and to be honest, I don't even know its there (except on hills !!). Down hills at 30mph, fully
laden, it just follows the bike and has no input on its handling. My only grumble is that the top
cover is only shower proof..heavy rain (or heavy dew) will seap thru', especially if something
underneath is touching the cover..I had to dry my maps out once because of this. Has the BOB cured
the problem of pins coming lose ?..I read a number of stories over the years with this happening.

Mike. 2001 Speed Ross with nearly 5000 miles on it.

"Rudy Rostro" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have had an interest in attaching a trailer to my Vision VR40 and taking a long tour. One
comment from a bent rider was that a single wheel trailer (like a BOB) had a detrimental effect on
steering and approached dangerous consequences. Does anyone out there have additional advise?

I have ridden with a trailerbike with my 6 yo. daughter on after my quasilow Evita. It demands a lot
of concentration, but it's certainly doable. I think a BOB trailer wouldn't be a problem after a
short training period.

OTOH, the trailer I'm starting to build gets 2 wheels - but that's mainly because of the
greater capacity.

Regards, Torben

I've used a BOB trailer since 1997. For the first 4 years I used it with a Vision R44. As long as I
kept the bike below 35 mph, it handle OK. One time I was riding down a long pass a bit too fast,
around 4 mph. The trailer started oscillating back and forth and took me down. Because of this
accident I lost faith in the trailer with the Vision. I bought a Barcroft Dakota and the trailer
handles much better with this bike. The rear triangle is much sturdier. I've used the trailer with a
Santa Cruz Superlight and never had any problems.

Jeff

Dan Burkhart <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Rudy Rostro said:

I have had an interest in attaching a trailer to my Vision VR40 and taking a long tour. One
comment from a bent rider was that a single wheel trailer (like a BOB) had a detrimental
effect on steering and approached dangerous consequences. Does anyone out there have
additional advise?

My first experience with a Bob coincided with my first experience with a recumbent. The bike was
a swb Rotator with topside steering. The bike was very unstable at speed, and it took at least
the first 3 days of a 10 day trip to gain any level of confidence. After that trip, I bought a
lwb with uss, and found no stability problems with the comination. The main challenge with a Bob
is to load it so as to keep the center of gravity as low as possible, but when combined with a
bike engineered for stability, you will hardly know it is back there. The Bob itself is a
fantastic unit. It is a simple design, and there is not much to go wrong with it.
D.B.

--

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Rudy Rostro
I have had an interest in attaching a trailer to my Vision VR40 and taking a long tour. One comment
from a bent rider was that a single wheel trailer (like a BOB) had a detrimental effect on steering
and approached dangerous consequences. Does anyone out there have additional advise?

I have used a BOB Trailer and a Burley Nomad. I love the two wheels

If the towing bike does not have a properly triangulated rear end, the chances are that the
combination of speed and a middling to heavy load will set the rig oscillating in a manner somewhere
between "unpleasant" and "dangerous". I encountered this with a Kingcycle; a confection of extra
stays between the rear dropout at the top of the seat made a world of difference.

--

Dave Larrington - legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uklegslarry.beerdrinkers.co.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Dave Larrington
If the towing bike does not have a properly triangulated rear end, the chances are that the combination of speed and a middling to heavy load will set the rig oscillating in a manner somewhere between "unpleasant" and "dangerous".

When I towed the BOB behond my Burley which has a non-triangulated rear end, I noticed nothing that seemed unpleasant or dangerous. I just prefer a Burley trailer.

(Jeff) said:

I've used a BOB trailer since 1997. For the first 4 years I used it with a Vision R44. As long as
I kept the bike below 35 mph, it handle OK. One time I was riding down a long pass a bit too fast,
around 4 mph. The trailer started oscillating back and forth and took me down. Because of this
accident I lost faith in the trailer with the Vision.

I also have an R44 i tour with and use a bob with it, on occasion. My experience has been the same
as Jeffs, I.E. at around 32 or so it will become unstable and cause an oscillation of increasing
amplitude. Quite scary stuff going down hill out of control like that. The BoB people themselves
recommend the bike be kept below 25 MPH... I have not lost faith in the bob, but i know it will turn
on you at a high rate of speed.

Daniel in West Chester, Pa,USA.

I was wondering if a 2-wheeled trailer might have the same oscillating problem as the B.O.B. Anyone
have this kind of problem when pulling a 2-wheeed trailer?

Jeff

"Daniel Payne" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

(Jeff) said:

I've used a BOB trailer since 1997. For the first 4 years I used it with a Vision R44. As long
as I kept the bike below 35 mph, it handle OK. One time I was riding down a long pass a bit too
fast, around 4 mph. The trailer started oscillating back and forth and took me down. Because of
this accident I lost faith in the trailer with the Vision.

I also have an R44 i tour with and use a bob with it, on occasion. My experience has been the same
as Jeffs, I.E. at around 32 or so it will become unstable and cause an oscillation of increasing
amplitude. Quite scary stuff going down hill out of control like that. The BoB people themselves
recommend the bike be kept below 25 MPH... I have not lost faith in the bob, but i know it will
turn on you at a high rate of speed.

Daniel in West Chester, Pa,USA.

Jeff said:

I was wondering if a 2-wheeled trailer might have the same oscillating problem as the B.O.B.
Anyone have this kind of problem when pulling a 2-wheeed trailer?

Personally, no. In '93 I built a 2-wheel trailer with 559 wheels and a very low centre of gravity,
and used it behind the Kingcycle on a trip to Denmark. It performed well, but was heavy and would
have been an absolute nightmare should it have been visited by the P+nct+r+ Fairy.

--

Dave Larrington - legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uklegslarry.beerdrinkers.co.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
bhpc.org.ukbhpc.org.ukOpen ↗
===========================================================

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Jeff
I was wondering if a 2-wheeled trailer might have the same oscillating problem as the B.O.B. Anyone
have this kind of problem when pulling a 2-wheeed trailer?

No. The two-wheeled trailer that I have (Burley Nomad) is extremely stable. I have been up to 46mph on a downhill with no problems.

Idea. How about being able to lockout your bike hitch so it wouldn't swivel so that in essence,
your recumbent becomes a trike. This would be quite handy whenever you had those steeeep steeeeeep
hiill you lose your balance on whenever going down to mega tiny granny gear? happens a lot to me
here in Seattle.

"bentcruiser" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Jeff said:

I was wondering if a 2-wheeled trailer might have the same oscillating problem as the B.O.B.
Anyone have this kind of problem when pulling a 2-wheeed trailer?

No. The two-wheeled trailer that I have (Burley Nomad) is extremely stable. I have been up to
46mph on a downhill with no problems.

--

Rudy Rostro said:

Idea. How about being able to lockout your bike hitch so it wouldn't swivel so that in essence,
your recumbent becomes a trike. This would be quite handy whenever you had those steeeep steeeeeep
hiill you lose your balance on whenever going down to mega tiny granny gear? happens a lot to me
here in Seattle....

This would not be a good idea. Since a bicycle steers by camber thrust, the largest stresses occur
in the plane of the frame (vertical plane when the bicycle is vertical). Rigidly attaching the
bicycle to a two-wheel trailer will induce torsional stresses in the bicycle frame, trailer hitch,
trailer tongue and trailer frame that they are not designed to handle.

Trikes (at least the properly designed ones) frame are constructed to withstand considerable
torsional stress.

Tom Sherman - Quad Cities

I too have a Burley Nomad and love it. I haul our garbage, and compost with it, (only about 2 blocks
away thou). We haul groceries, at times being around 100 plus lbs about 15 miles one way; And I haul
water, (5 gallon jugs) 4 at a time, (200 lbs - exceeding the max. weight to haul on it), for about
10 miles; The water route has a nice hill on it and I have reached speeds over 35 mph with no
problem at all. I highly recommend the Nomad.

Rob.

"bentcruiser" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Jeff said:

I was wondering if a 2-wheeled trailer might have the same oscillating problem as the B.O.B.
Anyone have this kind of problem when pulling a 2-wheeed trailer?

No. The two-wheeled trailer that I have (Burley Nomad) is extremely stable. I have been up to
46mph on a downhill with no problems.

--

"Daniel Payne" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

(Jeff) said:

I've used a BOB trailer since 1997. For the first 4 years I used it with a Vision R44. As long
as I kept the bike below 35 mph, it handle OK. One time I was riding down a long pass a bit too
fast, around 4 mph. The trailer started oscillating back and forth and took me down. Because of
this accident I lost faith in the trailer with the Vision.

I also have an R44 i tour with and use a bob with it, on occasion. My experience has been the same
as Jeffs, I.E. at around 32 or so it will become unstable and cause an oscillation of increasing
amplitude. Quite scary stuff going down hill out of control like that. The BoB people themselves
recommend the bike be kept below 25 MPH... I have not lost faith in the bob, but i know it will
turn on you at a high rate of speed.

I built a BOB trailer clone of my own and have had it over 60 kph when behind my trikes and I've
never experienced any kind of handling problems from it. I've also had it behind my mountain bike,
but not so fast - again with no problems though. It's doubtful if I hit all the same angles that the
BOB trailers have I've pulled 2 wheel trailers and much prefer the single wheel kind. Aside from
feeling the weight, I couldn't feel the trailer behind me at all. I put suspension on it too, so
that might also have smoothed the pulling out. I'm planning a couple more - one a stretched version
with more capacity and the other with a 24V motor to act as a pusher.

bikes.jkcc.comtrailer%201.jpgOpen ↗

"Sticker Jim" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I built a BOB trailer clone of my own and have had it over 60 kph when behind my trikes and I've
never experienced any kind of handling problems from it. I've also had it behind my mountain bike,
but not so fast -

again

Quoted message said:

with no problems though. It's doubtful if I hit all the same angles that

the

Quoted message said:

BOB trailers have I've pulled 2 wheel trailers and much prefer the single wheel kind. Aside from
feeling the weight, I couldn't feel the trailer behind me at all. I put suspension on it too, so
that might also have smoothed the pulling out. I'm planning a couple more - one a stretched
version with more capacity and the other with a 24V motor to act as a pusher.
bikes.jkcc.comtrailer%201.jpgOpen ↗

Know about thunderstruck-ev.commotobob.htmOpen ↗ ?

"> Know about thunderstruck-ev.commotobob.htmOpen ↗ ?

Nope but I do now, thanks. I don't have a cool hub motor, so where the aluminum battery box is, I
will mount the motor, 2 car batteries and stretch the trailer frame a bit to compensate for the lost
storage space.