Riding back from Hoogeveen

Last week I showed what the centre of Hoogeveen now looks like. I also made a video on the way home again.

The company from where I buy the racks is 35 km from my home, along a route which follows the main road between the two towns. The video shows a representative section of the trip back home, which is mostly on separate cycle path but also some access roads (with little or no cars on them, but the occasional tractor) and a short stretch on road through a village. This is quite normal for riding between towns on routes which haven't been improved further.

I rode the Mango, pulling an empty trailer there, which was full of bike racks on the return trip, so I've now got a good stock of those again.

As usual, this was a straightforward and uneventful journey, with no nasty surprises over the 80 km (including the detour to the centre to make the film for last week). That's just how it is.

This film is a bit similar to one I made two years ago on the same journey, but despite the trailer not helping the aerodynamics, it was somewhat quicker this time around with the Mango.
Read my review of the Sinner Mango Velomobile.

Bike Trailers - Wandertec Bongo

We have the very first Wandertec Bongo trailer in Europe.

Ours is the "small" size trailer, which weighs just 6.5 kg (14.5 lbs) and has a load bed size of 63 cm x 38 cm (25 inches x 15 inches).

The Bongo makes a surprisingly lightweight package. All the parts arrived in one cardboard box.






The light weight is in part due to the frame being of aluminium. It also makes for a very rigid construction.








The wheels are radial spoked, 16 inch (ETRTO 305) size. which looks nice, have aluminium rims and hubs, and spin very freely.






The trailer uses the well established Chariot trailer mount. We already have this on other trailers, so it means we can swap between bikes easily. Earlier I showed how I retrofitted this hitch to our dog trailer.


The wheels mount and unmount simply by pushing in the centre of the hub, which makes a locking mechanism withdraw.






It took just a few minutes to assemble the trailer, but it was a couple of weeks before I got around to using it !

Note that the load bed as supplied is not the maximum size which will fit between the wheels.


The trailer comes with straps which can be used to attach many different shapes to the top, but I will make a slightly oversized basket to fit between the wheels and carry more things conveniently.

More later when we've had a chance to get more use from the trailer !

Bike Trailers - Dog trailer

In the last two weeks I've covered our other two bicycle trailers, the BOB Yak and the Carry Freedom City. Now it's the turn of our largest trailer.

Commercial bike trailers for dogs are available, but our dog trailer was constructed out of an old child trailer that we were given five years or so ago. The plastic "tent" part was well past its prime, and in any case not particularly pleasant for our dog to sit in. Instead of using this, I stripped it back to its frame and...

...made a basket on a plywood base to go on top.

So it stayed until very recently, despite the constant aggravation caused by the inadequately designed hitch mechanism, which tried to clamp onto one of the chain tubes, but would often become loose.

Luckily, such clamp type hitches can be replaced. I used the Chariot hitch.

It's very easy to replace most hitches.

In this case I needed an allen key and a spanner to remove the old hitch.

The same allen key, spanner, nut and bolt now hold the new hitch.

Note that as the "lollipop" was a bit thinner than what came off the trailer, I also needed a bit of shimming here. I found that a slide of narrow inner tube exactly filled the gap in the case of my trailer and hitch, and as the lollipop itself is flexible this is probably rigid enough.

You connect the trailer by sliding the ball into the cast hitch which is attached permanently to the bike by the wheel nut or quick release.

Then you push through the pin and it's held securely by a rubber part.

The customer inspects my work... We then went for a test ride, and another walk in the woods.

The trailer is much more usable with a decent hitch mechanism.

We sell some solutions for carrying dogs by bicycle.

There's also a video of a previous adventure with Harry by bike.

Bike Trailers - Carry Freedom City

The Carry Freedom City trailer is our newest bicycle trailer. Judy used it on Wednesday last week to make a 75 km round trip to pick up 35 kg of bicycle racks.

Unlike the BOB trailer covered last week, this is a recent addition. It has a few unique characteristics which make it useful for us.


This photo was taken on the outward journey, showing Judy's bike pulling the trailer. Note that it's empty in this shot but there is a good view of the bag which comes with the trailer.

This is not so effective for carrying large amounts of things, but you can bungie on considerably more on top of the bag as shown above.


A close up of the way the trailer attaches to the bike. You have to remove the left wheel nut or quick release and re-install it with the hook attachment. That's it.

One of the outstanding things about this trailer is how it folds completely flat and can be unfolded in seconds.

Ideal for someone who lives in a flat with limited bicycle storage (we don't), or if you want to be able to take a bicycle trailer by train. In most places it is not allowed to take bicycle trailers on trains even if you are allowed to take your bike. This folding trailer may well be a good way of getting around the restriction, as when folded it really doesn't look that much like a trailer. One day I will try a cycle / train tour with folding trailer and folding bike.

There is just one drawback to the City trailer. I find that the supplied bag is a little too small for most uses. However, it's quite OK to attach other things on top, as you see in the first photo here, and at some point I'm going to get around to making a basket to fit on top of this trailer for shopping trips.

Another review of the same trailer.

Bike Trailers - BOB Yak

We've got three different bike trailers, and they're used in different ways. All three of them have been used in the last few days and I think all three are worth a few words.

Our oldest is the BOB Yak trailer. In the early 1990s when we lived in Cambridge I read on the HPV (Human Powered Vehicle) mailing list about the newly introduced BOB Yak single wheel trailer. Much to my surprise, a few weeks later when I visited my parents in Somerset, their local bike shop happened to have a BOB Yak before any had been officially imported to the UK. It had been left behind by an American cycle tourist who passed through the area and sold his equipment before returning home. That's how I came to have one of the very first BOB trailers in the UK. Thirteen years later we still have that trailer and it's still used regularly.

It has its limitations. You can only transport relatively light loads, up to thirty kg or so. Load it up too heavy and you will have a hard time keeping the bike upright. Put too much weight on before heading down a steep hill and you discover there is a speed at which it starts steering you rather than the other way around. Because it's a single wheel trailer it's not the best choice for shopping because it doesn't support itself, and of course if you want to carry children or pets, you need to look elsewhere. However used for what it excels at, fair distances and speeds, and it's wonderful. A single wheel trailer never tips when you corner. I find the BOB works excellently with recumbent bikes.

I used to make a basket especially to fit the trailer, which meant you could simply sling stuff in instead of having to muck about with zips.

The photo shows the trailer in use on Tuesday when I took it to Groningen with me and returned with a roll of packaging. A light load, but not an especially aerodynamic one. A while ago I made a blog post including a video showing the trailer in use. More trailer posts to come...