This is part of my commute between my workplace and the evening school where I take welding classes twice a week. In the trailer, I bring all my workshop stuff (toolbox, welding helmet, clothes, safety shoes, half-done parts…). Unfortunately I can’t leave any of it at school because the lockers are regularly “visited”, so I have to bring everything to class each and every time. All of it weighs about 40 lbs, plus 18 lbs for the trailer itself.
In the rear-view mirrors, you can see that the trailer tags along just fine at any speed – I get it up to almost 45 mph near the end of the video and it tracks dead stable. It’s also quiet, it doesn’t rattle and doesn’t transmit jolts to the velo through the towbar unless it passes over a really nasty pothole.
The trailer rides on 16″ Schwalbe Big Apple tires pumped up at 20 psi, which go a long way toward smoothing out the ride and preventing the trailer from bouncing all over the place when it’s empty.
If you’re wondering why I’m so slow, and why the tires scream like a banshee at the end of the video, it’s because I ride on Marathon Winter spiked tires. Saying they’re not the fastest tires in the world is probably the understatement of the year, but there was black ice on the road when I shot this video, and I’d rather be safe than sorry.
The spiked tires and the loaded trailer in tow make me lose 7 mph on the flat, which is crazy slow but also good exercise. As for climbing, let’s just say a very small granny ring comes in handy.
