Trailer (swivel wheel) for bicycles, overkill ?

[Ridgeway]

We've pretty much decided not to upgrade our van this year, mainly as the children are fast growing up it won't be too long before the number of people in the van will become less and hence upgrading to a 9m/4.5t bus seems off the cards.

It does however leave us with the 9 million bicycle challenge, ok 5 actually..... and some times 6, plus a dog trailer oh and my 2nd bike, so make that 7 bicycles in a worse case scenario.

One of the key drivers has also been as the children get bigger, the bikes get bigger and by the end of this year all will be on adult sized bikes.

The only idea i've come up with is a swivel wheel trailer (YO Remorques) and fit the bikes and dog trailer onto that. I'm not too keen on adding a trailer as I'm crap at reversing but the newer version of the Yo Remorques has a reversing arm that will help aid my poor skills, it does however add 2m to the van length but i guess i can live with that.

One benefit is weight as i'll be shifting 90kgs of bikes and trailer off the van and onto the trailer. I am now trying to plan the layout of bikes on the trailer as i'd likely go for a quad bike version ie a simple flat top trailer, so i will need to build the bike rack itself, probably by using a Fiamma garage plus system and mounting the bikes at 90º to the direction of travel although i may try to plan the layout with them in the direction of travel if they'll fit, but suspect they'll be too long (trailer top is 1.2m vs bikes being 1.6m).

Anyone seen or done similar ? any thoughts or concerns ?

My only real concern so far is that it's a lot of money to carry bikes, need a tow bar fitting as well so it will soon mount up...

 

[bobandjanie]

I would go for a box trailer, and the bigger the trailer the easier to reverse.
You could put all sorts of things in it, and if the children and dog are good, they could travel in the motorhome with you. Bob.

 

[gus-lopez]

Why not just get a cheap 3 bike motorbike trailer which will easily take seven push bikes?

 

[Ridgeway]

Why not just get a cheap 3 bike motorbike trailer which will easily take seven push bikes?

Length and cost. I guess they be 3.5m in length and won't fit on the drive with the van and i assume they'll cost even more...

 

[Ridgeway]

I would go for a box trailer, and the bigger the trailer the easier to reverse.
You could put all sorts of things in it, and if the children and dog are good, they could travel in the motorhome with you. Bob.

Same as above really, a bit too long to fit on the drive and cost but having a covered trailer would be better. I used one a few years back with the landy and it was great.

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[Ridgeway]

Perhaps i should elaborate on the other reasons for looking at the above config:

• only 2m additional length on the van/trailer combo so can fit on the drive, also easier to squeeze into small pitches
• can up-end the trailer for storage just behind the van, so only take 1m when stored
• they are light and easy to move around for 1 person

Having said all that the covered trailer idea would be lovely as it would offer other storage solutions for "stuff"

 

[Geo]

I would go for a box trailer, and the bigger the trailer the easier to reverse.
You could put all sorts of things in it, and if the children and dog are good, they could travel in the motorhome with you. Bob.

An Excellent idea Just so happens I ave one HERE

 

[Ridgeway]

An Excellent idea Just so happens I ave one HERE

That is a little stunner of a trailer ! and it's made in my home village or Marple, i used to work next door to Batesons, and most of my duck and chicken houses were built out of trailer flooring offcuts.

Would be an amazing PIA to get the hologlomated here though

 

[Northernraider]

Length and cost. I guess they be 3.5m in length and won't fit on the drive with the van and i assume they'll cost even more...

2nd hand Trelgo on eBay/gumtree between £150-200
Only weighs 50kg and can be stored on end when not in use.

I just sold one last year , I paid £120 for it 3 years ago

 

[Ridgeway]

Why not just get a cheap 3 bike motorbike trailer which will easily take seven push bikes?

I gave this some more thought and perhaps it could work.... what i realised is that as this type of trailer is much narrower then it would actually fit under our car port when it's attached to the van and hence the length would be OK.

Also they aren't expensive at all vs the swivel wheel jobbies, about £600 new !

So it might be a good alternative route.

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[Ridgeway]

Why not just get a cheap 3 bike motorbike trailer which will easily take seven push bikes?

i nearly bought the one in stock at the trailer dealer last week. It seemed good value and as you said will easily take plenty of bikes etc. I then saw a small flatbed trailer that i thought may be easier to mount the bike rack parts on and offer better protection from road spray in the wet... cut a long story short i've gone for a classic hobby trailer 2m and 1.1m box size with a high top cover, it's about 1.2m high with a heavy curtain side all around. It should be even easier to fix the bikes into and also offer some move space for camping gear, it's also pretty light at 135kgs with the high top cover etc so hopefully will be easy to move around. Hopefully will pick it up next week but have to wait 4-6wks for the tow bar so Easter may be just out.

So now i need to learn how to reverse with a 2m trailer behind the van

 

[teddybear]

With great difficulty, the longer the easier. Used to put a 45-50ft trailer exactly were I wanted it. But,a short trailer behind car/van was a lot harder work

 

[tacr2man]

With a trailer that short , as @teddybear says can be a pita , quite often quicker to unhook and push