Tandem+trailer, how slow?

[Andydauddwr]

Hi folks,

We're on holiday next week and the week after and have pencilled in riding from Aberystwyth to Aberdeen (800km) and back to visit the father-in-law.  Being a pair of shameless audax points chasers, we need to do this in blocks of at least 200km.

Our tandem is a racing beast with minimal brazings and rather than mess around with P-clips, we recently did a weekend away with a mini rack mounted to the stoker seat post.  This did horrible things to the handling and also didn't allow very much capacity for carrying gear.

We've recently taken delivery of a 1 wheeled trailer from the nice folks at Edinburgh bicycle, but due to delivery problems haven't had the opportunity to test it prior to the main event.  We won't be carrying masses of weight, just clothes, shoes & essentials and will be staying indoors rather than camping.  So the question is, how much is this likely to slow us down?  Is 200km day-on-day realistic with one of these (unlaiden we tend to cover 200 in around 10 hours)?  Also to complicate matters further our time window has been reduced by a couple of days from each side, so the original plan of ride 2 days, rest, ride 2 days then get to Aberdeen rest for 2-3 days and reverse is looking less viable.  So the options are 300-200-rest-300 or 4x200 with no rest day.

I've rambled a bit, but this is worrying me slightly as I don't fancy our chances of bailing out via train with the trailer.

Over to the panel.

Thanks,

AC

[clarion]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I do know that the EBC trailer is a really good item, and you barely notice it when hauling shopping or camping kit with a solo.

[Ian H]

When we had the Rann trailer and 4yr old on the back we were quite slow uphill, but bloody fast on descents with the extra weight. Our friends who tandem with a one wheel trailer (the famous one — wotsitsname?) keep up a good pace on rolling roads.

[Wowbagger]

Mrs. Wow and I had no problem whatever with railway staff (in fact they were very helpful) when we did this on the train:

Prittlewell - London - Retford - Sheffield - Stockport

then

Stalybridge - Northallerton - London - Southend Vic.

Occasionally we S & S uncoupled the beast, but prefer not to. Pratting about at stations, especially those with undersized lifts or none at all, was remarkably irksome.

Our return trip from Reeth to Northallerton was remarkably rapid by our standards. Mostly downhill, we kept up over 10 mph comfortably. Mostly we were around the 7-8 mph mark. You, however, are much fitter than us and have a faster tandem. I reckon that the trailer and hills reduced our average speed by 2 mph. This is about 20%. I have no idea whether this will be of any help to you.

If your trailer is a BobYak-alike, is it Taiwanese made by TW Bents and rebadged for EBC? If so it's the same make as ours, bought from Square Wheels in Strathpeffer. I think the QR skewer looks very flimsy. Also, the bits which hook over the ends of the skewer are liable to bend.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

A Bob trailer (or copy) will slow you down a bit on uphills but not a huge amount.  A lightly-loaded trailer on a tandem isn't a huge drag.

I'd opt for 4 X 200 myself.

[Andydauddwr]

Thanks for the comments all.

I think we're going to go for it.  We'll run a 4x200 schedule northwards, and will probably look at 300-200-300 for the way back but with an option to change our minds depending on how we feel when we're ready to leave Aberdeen.

AC