Rear Hub Motor + Baby/Child Trailer possible?

[ryan]

Anyone here ever try to hook up a child trailer to an ebike with a rear hub motor? If so, can you share your setup here?

 

[pithy]

i've used an old burley trailer with my setup. don't have any pics of trailer (was borrowed), but here's my bike:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3995

i really liked the way the burley trailer connected to the frame.

 

[gmouchawar]

Sure. It is possible.
I tow a child behind my miniebike. It attaches to the seat post.

 

[GCinDC]

i pull a Burley two-seater every day. pics of my bike (w/ childseat) in my signature.

I got a new full suspension bike but the burley connector would hit the rear rotor.

The hub wire can sometimes get in the way of the connector, which braces between the rear stays, or whatever they're called. My wife's bike (w/ BionX) is worse, but I taped her wires down so they squirrel around out of the way of the connector.

Finally, on a tight left turn, the connector arm can hit the end of the axle, but if the wires are twisted down, as they are on my 9C, they can't get pinched.

 

[jag]

Anyone here ever try to hook up a child trailer to an ebike with a rear hub motor? If so, can you share your setup here?

Might be a good idea to choose a strong "hitch" mechanism to connect the trailer to the bike. I've seen three types:

1. Friction fit with a clamp over a frame tube, e.g. Bell trailers. Seems like the least good solution to me.
2. Ball hitch, e.g. Chariot. Promising idea, but with a plastic ball the strength might be questionable.
3. Receiver tube, e.g. MEC and Schwinn. The receiver plate bolts rigidly to the rear dropout and the tube part on the trailer is fixed with a hitch pin just like on a car receiver hitch. Looks the strongest to me. MEC uses a clumsy solid square iron, while Schwinn uses a lightweight tube. I'm hoping to transfer the Schwinn hitch to use on my (lighter/nicer) Bell trailer.

 

[jag]

Summer is coming to Edmonton. Yesterday evening I took out the trailers and swapped hitches so now I have the Schwinn hitch on the Bell trailer. Both are relatively inexpensive. Schwinn bought for 50% off at Canadian tire for $125, and Bell bought lightly used for $160. (Originally sold at Costco for about $250 I think). By comparison a Chariot costs $600+.

Why swap hitches? Well the Schwinn weighs 13kg (Left) the Bell 8kg (Right), but the Schwinn had the better hitch.

A trailer is not just for transporting kids. It can be used as a flatbed, or it can fold flat in the front-rear direction and with just the sides up can fit bulky stuff that is longer than the interior:

For transporting it folds to a surprisingly compact and a flat package:

 

[jag]

Here is the friction fit which clamps over a frame tube, as originally on the Bell trailer. I rode with this for a while, but is seems like the least good solution to me. The clamp is clumsy. I had to put it relatively far forward on the lower frame stay, and if it slides backwards it will interfere with the hub motor:

Some trailer has a receiver tube type hitch, e.g. MEC and Schwinn. The receiver plate bolts rigidly to the rear dropout and the tube part on the trailer is fixed with a hitch pin just like on a car receiver hitch. Looks the strongest to me. MEC uses a clumsy solid square iron, while Schwinn uses a lightweight tube. I transfered the Schwinn hitch to use on my (lighter/nicer) Bell trailer.

 

[jag]

Note: A friend spotted the Bell trailer new at Costco for $150. Looked that the Edmonton Canada store had a lot in stock, so I assume they are available elsewhere also. She immediately bought one. A pretty good deal IMHO.
(I paid $160 used after Costco had run out of new ones a couple of years ago. I'm still the happy third owner of mine)

Summer is coming to Edmonton. Yesterday evening I took out the trailers and swapped hitches so now I have the Schwinn hitch on the Bell trailer. Both are relatively inexpensive. Schwinn bought for 50% off at Canadian tire for $125, and Bell bought lightly used for $160. (Originally sold at Costco for about $250 I think). By comparison a Chariot costs $600+.

the Schwinn weighs 13kg (Left) the Bell 8kg (Right),

 

[spinningmagnets]

Here's a clever home-made hitch with the pivot from a castering wheel (if you're unhappy with your stock hitch, and can't find the kind you'd like to buy):

http://www.biketrailerblog.com/2010/01/a-new-twist-on-an-old-idea-home-made-bike-cargo-trailer/

 

[jag]

Today biking on my way to daycare with my 2year old I suddenly heard a bonk and then a scraping dragging sound. Looked back and trailer + kid was not on the wheels anymore but being dragged along on the side. I had hit a bump only a few inches tall, but that was enough to flip the trailer. Speed was probably 15-20km/h.

Luckily the 5-point harness/seatbelt did its job. Kid ended up hanging in the straps suspended in the middle of the flipped trailer, and was protected by the trailer metal cage from hitting the pavement. Helmet made sense too, as her head is pretty close to the top.

So only apparent damage was that the canvas cover of the trailer was torn up.

I knew kids trailers are flip prone, both from other parent's stories and having flipped mine while riding empty from daycare. I keep speed to 10-20 km/h with the trailer, and try to keep off steets (while the 8kg tailer aluminum frame did the job in the flip, it would be no protection against a 5000 lbs SUV running into it had there been one just behind me in traffic. Therefore I mostly ride paths and sidewalks.

I sometimes see motorcycles towing trailers and wonder if those flip too. They may be a little bit wider than a bicycle trailer, but not nearly as wide and stable as a car trailer.

 

[grindz145]

Today biking on my way to daycare with my 2year old I suddenly heard a bonk and then a scraping dragging sound. Looked back and trailer + kid was not on the wheels anymore but being dragged along on the side. I had hit a bump only a few inches tall, but that was enough to flip the trailer. Speed was probably 15-20km/h.

Luckily the 5-point harness/seatbelt did its job. Kid ended up hanging in the straps suspended in the middle of the flipped trailer, and was protected by the trailer metal cage from hitting the pavement. Helmet made sense too, as her head is pretty close to the top.

So only apparent damage was that the canvas cover of the trailer was torn up.

I knew kids trailers are flip prone, both from other parent's stories and having flipped mine while riding empty from daycare. I keep speed to 10-20 km/h with the trailer, and try to keep off steets (while the 8kg tailer aluminum frame did the job in the flip, it would be no protection against a 5000 lbs SUV running into it had there been one just behind me in traffic. Therefore I mostly ride paths and sidewalks.

I sometimes see motorcycles towing trailers and wonder if those flip too. They may be a little bit wider than a bicycle trailer, but not nearly as wide and stable as a car trailer.

Yeah, these trailers are NOT optimized for high speed. They're really only semi stable at 15mph. That's really scary though... Agreed that the axles themselves need to be wider on the trailer to deal with higher speed. Axle may need to also be moved back.