Boxes for large Y-Frame trailer? Combining gardening and cycling!

[cycleman]

sugar lumps

[Valiant]

The original hitch is a stainless steel universal joint, that is very rattly!


The lollipop has been road tested for, at least, four years so I doubt that anything you throw at it, in normal use </discliamer>, will harm it!

Tis not the original. Original was the resin ball & steel socket affair.

My advice to those who are attaching boxes is, if you have a decent base on the box, just remove the trailer bed to save yourself that extra weight. I have a range of boxes/flat beds that I drop on mine and stick 4 bolts through the frame with twist knobs on the other side. When I need a bit of security I have my samsonite suitcase bolted to it. Very versatile trailer.

[Kim]

And the lump hammer is for...?

You should always carry a lump hammer when cycling.  It's the only way to show errant cotter pins or crank bolts who's boss.  Charlotte and Deano will testify.

[TimO]

I just got a B&Q Jumbo Tote box, which seems quite a handy size for my purposes.  It's not quite as wide as Kim's box, but suitable for me, so I can use it for Sainsburys runs, and similar.

I'll probably get a triangular reflector for the rear, but just the one in the middle.  I haven't yet fitted the legs to it.  I'll only fit a couple, because the left and right hand side ones are probably not quite within the footprint of the box.

[Valiant]

It's positively aero

[Tigerbiten]

I've a aluminium box bolted directly to the frame of my large Y frame trailer.

It started out at ~150 liters in size but I've found out over the last 2 years that I don't need all that room.
So I've cut around 1/3 in hight out and pop rivited the two halves back together.
Also the old trailer had the wooden board undernether and this one doesn't so its also around half the weight.
I just need to add lights, mudguards, flag and reflectors to finish it off.

[Kim]

Who's that committing crimes against fashion in the foreground?   

[Tigerbiten]

I've added my trailer flag and 4x orange/yellow striped trailer boards ( one on each corner) to my trailer.
Now just need to add lights, triangle reflectors and mudguards to finish it.

Not sure how I'm going to do the mudguards.
Not sure if I'll use the old trike mudguards I've got or a strip of aluminium bent into a curve to fit over the tops of the wheels ?

[TimO]

Lightly hacked BS trailer reflectors and Smart rear light bracket complete the job:

Out of interest Kim, why did you slice up the reflectors?  As far as I can work out, the law says that a bicycle trailer needs a triangular reflector (with ECE mark III or IIIA), so you probably could have gotten away with a single one mounted in the centre.

I've got two on order, so when they turn up, I can choose to mount one or two on my box, depending on size and fit etc.  Not using one would waste a whole £1-50 or so, which wouldn't overly upset me!

(Interestingly, I notice that I've just fitted exactly the same Smart rear light onto mine!)

Edit: Apparently whilst the UK fairly minimal regulations on bicycle trailers seem to require a triangular reflector, it looks like the German regulations explicitly forbid a triangular one (whilst requiring a rear reflector, and front and side ones, which don't appear at all in the UK regs).

[Kim]

It never really occurred to me to only use a single reflector.  I considered making triangles that would fit properly with the red tape, but I already had the reflectors and only one strip of red reflective tape left over from barakta's flag.  I also considered hacking the box, but I decided that compromising the structural ridges would be silly.

Anyway, two reflectors makes it look wide, which can only be a good thing.


While we're on this thread, I used the trailer with the box for the first time the other day, to do a bulk shop from a Tesco about 4 fairly non-flat miles away.  I had about 30kg of stuff in it, including 24 litres of orange juice and a couple of bulk packs of loo roll, and the box was only about half full.  Hills were climbable with that load, though I would have wanted the trike for anything heavier.  Descending was fine, but sharp braking and travelling at less than 5mph were a bit 'interesting'.

It's impressively non-rattly when there's a decent load in it.  Even on the potholes.  And drivers suddenly become uber-patient and polite.

What I did learn, was that there's no way I can lift the box off (or indeed onto) the trailer with that sort of weight in it, which means it won't go through the door.  Not really a problem, just something to be aware of when loading up.

[road-runner]

... drivers suddenly become uber-patient and polite.

Something I have noticed too. It is strange that the trailer trailer is less than 20cm (8") wider than the handlebars on my MTB and yet drivers' reactions are so very different when I am towing the trailer.

[Tigerbiten]

Cars tend to be only slightly better with the trailer on behind the trike than without.
But then again I'm starting with the bent effect on cars anyway ............ 

But I tend to leave it on as it get stops cars sitting on my back wheel which is only inches from my head.

Plus, if I try hard enough, I cannot reverse the trailer while on the trike without jacknifing it ........ 

[Kim]

Cars tend to be only slightly better with the trailer on behind the trike than without.
But then again I'm starting with the bent effect on cars anyway ............ 

I'm finding that upwrong + trailer seems to get loads more room and politeness than either flavour of 'bent.  Presumably because of the "Aww, it's a gurl hauling lots of stuff, poor thing, if only she could afford a car" effect.

Not tried the trailer onna bent yet, but I doubt it'll add much WTF-factor to the trike, as they're about the same width and height, and the trike has a powerful wtf-factor anyway.

[TimO]

Right, I've now got a couple of triangular reflectors, white backed ones as well, so completely legal on a dark background (such as my box).  I may put both of them on the box, mainly depending on finding enough suitable bolts to attach them.

[fboab]

I'm finding that upwrong + trailer seems to get loads more room and politeness than either flavour of 'bent.  Presumably because of the "Aww, it's a gurl hauling lots of stuff, poor thing, if only she could afford a car" effect.

Hmmm.
Me & No2Daughter with trailer clearly got some 'Jesus what an evil parent making a child do that, lets kill 'em off and save her from years of misery'.
Or it could have been the Fetfud effect.

[Kim]

I admit that so far my trailer-hauling has been limited to relatively quiet roads (like the new bypass that nobody really uses) and dual carriageways, outside of peak hours.  I expect that pulling a trailer down the Pershore Road in rush hour would bring out the best of brummie.

[marcusjb]

On the whole we find more room and courtesy being given when we're towing a trailer. 

I don't know whether it's because people have seen bikes hauling trailers with kids/dogs/cats in (not that our Radical Cyclone could ever carry a kid or whatever!). 

[Valiant]

We seem to get a fair ammount of respect when out with trike and trailer. I think it's something to do with the ammount of wheels and sheer size lol.