antokelly

i have a beautiful raleigh road bike 28 years old as good as the day it was made.
the tubing is reynolds top grade 753 used only on there top notch race bikes of the day.
anyway thats the history sorted my question ,would i put a lot of stress on the bike (frame) by using it to pull a trailer loaded up of course.
next question if the frame could handle it, what's out there that's light/ strong. should i be looking at two wheel or single.
thanks in advance

gorshkov

I don't think that a trailer would put any additional stress on the frame if you used a hitch that mounts directly to the rear skewer, since the force from the trailer tongue would be applied directy to the rear axle and/or dropouts.

antokelly

thanks gorshkov that sounds reasonable to me ,what trailer would be best .

fietsbob

I'd go with a 2 wheel trailer with an elastomer hitch connection like a Burly Nomad ,
https://www.biketrailershop.com/burle...er-p-1310.html
Flat bed
https://www.biketrailershop.com/burle...er-p-1304.html
Travoy looks like that one would let you use a Backpack for your hike /bike combination trekking
https://www.biketrailershop.com/burle...er-p-1843.html
or a Carry Freedom Y frame or City..
https://www.biketrailershop.com/wande...ers-c-284.html
https://www.biketrailershop.com/carry...ers-c-198.html

I disagree with gorshkov, BoB 1 wheel trailer will pass its load
up the seat stays and chainstays,
given the thin wall race spec tubes torquing the axle
will twist them all the time.. has been Known to cause problems
on light flexible bike such as your 753 tubed one.

Travoy seems like it will put the hitch point up on the seat post,
a place where the design expects a load, from the riders bottom.

I own a Burly flatbed, a good utility trailer,
then I got the Folding Carry-Freedom City
its a nice compact trailer, its single bag can be augmented
with another duffel bag on Top of the standard bag.

Folding up, the C F C fits in the cargo area of the Flatbed.
handy for storage.

EriktheFish

The Quik-pak is an awesome trailer!

Gus Riley

I didn't have a bit of trouble with pulling a trailer on my Raleigh...I did end up having headset problems, but they weren't related in anyway to the trailer. Bike, trailer, and gear came to about 95 lbs. I crossed the Appalachians (lots of climbing, and lots of steep descents) with no troubles at all.

djb

if you can, I would suggest trying both 1 and 2 wheeled trailers. While I havent toured with trailers, i have a lot of experience pulling kids in 2 wheeled ones, as well as 1 wheeled trail-a-bikes. I vastly prefer 1 wheels as they track nicer, dont shimmy when hitting bumps (or one wheel in pothole, 1 not). I have pulled a 60lb kid on the 1 wheel thing, which I am sure weighs more than a Bob trailer, and it worked well, even over distances of 30-40km (not that a 2 wheeled one wouldnt either)

I also liked, and can see for touring, that a 1 wheeler is narrower, so less issues with worrying about clearance with stuff (walls,cars etc) also probably easier to stick into a car etc being narrower.

guess you really must try them on your own, I know which way I would go. That said, a two wheeler might be better for big bulky stuff, I personally would prefer the narrow tracking riding characteristics of a 1 wheeler.

antokelly

i like the look of the bob but as fietsbob says it could twist the tubes on my bike .that wouldn't do at all .
emm maybe i should stick to panniers.

Thulsadoom

You're a lot more likely to incur damage to your frame by loading it up with pans and racks than by pulling a trailer.

antokelly

i understand your point but the problem i have with the single wheel trailers is they tip over as soon as you stop.
that would be very annoying for me,but i still think the single wheel would be better than two ,or maybe not i really don't know .

fietsbob

Elastomer hitches on 2 wheel trailers minimize the torque to the bike..

sticking racks on a race bike frame has the foot hitting the bags issue at the least.

Trikin'

I use a BoB trailer but on the trike the loads are different. I have a Scram DualDrive on the trike, I wanted to keep it so the trailer had to be mouted different then the directions (PIC) Recently I installed a 500W Crystalyte hub laced into the 16" wheel on the BOB. The torque is amazing, it's all about hill assist, it's way beyond my expectations........Sweet Ride

Trikin'

I've only done 2 tours last summer (5day-4day) with the BoB as my hauler and I didn't feel any sway at speed (40K+) and had no difficulty while breaking (Avid BB5 Disc). I didn't feel it on the downhills or the flats but when I got to the hills it was quite a push. It was my last tour that I felt I could use some assist if I wanted to continue touring......Some pic's from the SunShine Coast tour #2

Trikin'

I've only done 2 tours last summer (5day-4day) with the BoB as my hauler and I didn't feel any sway at speed (40K+) and had no difficulty while breaking (Avid BB5 Disc). I didn't feel it on the downhills or the flats but when I got to the hills it was quite a push. It was my last tour that I felt I could use some assist if I wanted to continue touring......Some pic's from the SunShine Coast tour #2

gorshkov

That makes sense, I was thinking of my two-wheel Burley with the flexible coupling. What kind of problems did the torque from the Bob cause? Screwy handling? Alignment issues? Or did the frame just all-out break?

KDC1956

I use a BoB with Painners and have had no problem at all.

Gus Riley

Are you the SAG for a group of road riders, or what? Loaded down, you are!!

antokelly

wow bet you tired after a days cycling on that rig ,what a great set up but don't think i would have the strength to power it.any more photos.

fietsbob

unless I packed the load low and tight, the BoB trailer would oscillate and twist.
so for a utility trailer it was not a good choice..
pack it tight and keep the load low and forward and it may be OK

particularly with a Beefy tubed Touring bike.. I doubt KDC has a 753 frame under all that gear.

I got rid of the BoB [+wheel quality was cheap, I felt] and got the 2 wheel Burly flatbed instead.

I'd suggest for the 753 race bike , pack very light, get your load down
to where it will fit in a Carradice camper long flap saddle bag,
and a nice handle bar bag,
and leave it at that.
Hennesee hammocks take up little space, booking into a b&b, none..
want to haul more ? get the right tool for the job..

antokelly

fietsbob i have a thorn sherpa and enough gear to tour the planet two times over.
but to be honest i find the sherpa a beast on climbs and i had this mad idea to get a custom light weight frame built ,i have a thread on it somewhere on the forum.
anyway i scrapped that idea mainly because i could not sell my look kx light to finance the purchase of the new frame.no value in second hand bikes .
so my next plan crazy and all as it sounds was why not get a trailer for the raleigh ,but my big fear is will the bike be up to the task, i certainly would not put racks on the bike because i know it would be a big mistake ,even with a carradice camper saddle bag loaded up and a bar bag emm i just would not chance it.
i like to tour and be comfy even though all my gear is top of the line lightweight it all adds up to a good weight (can't give a good figure as its been last year since i toured).
i looked at nun's kit list really don't know how he does it .so basically i'm saying if i were to use the raleigh 753 road bike i'm sure the only way to go would be trailer,or should i just stick to my thorn sherpa and pannier set up.

antokelly

just an update on the trailer,well i went and bought on ebay a clone of the bob trailer, looks exactly like the bob so lets hope it preforms as good.
well i going to have to change a few things on my raleigh like
new triple chainset
new hub for rear wheel ,the ultegra is goosed .
mud guards (fenders)
front and rear derailers 9 speed.
new sti leavers
new brakes calipers.
i don't intend to buy all this gear just yet well i can't as i'm pretty well broke .
but i'm looking forward to getting it all together over time ,but what i'm most looking forward too is getting back on my beautiful raleigh.sure hope i dont put any strain on it.
thanks folks for all the reply's much appreciated.

Gus Riley

Once I put touring wheels and tires on my Raleigh there was absolutely no room for a rear fender. In fact it was one area that was touch and go. The rear tire was so close to the seat tube that occasionally a rock would hit the derailleur mount bolt...when this occurred I could tell it happened because it would sometimes make a clunking sound. On the front, the tire was too close to the brake calipers...I'd have to stop and dislodge rocks from there though. The point is, there was not nearly enough clearance for fenders. Of course V-brakes or Conti levers were out of the question because the frame isn't set up with the required studs.

I went with an XTR rear derailleur, this allowed me to use a 12/34 cassette. Up front was an ultegra 9 spd triple chainring with a 24 granny....38 mid ring, and a 48 big ring.

Wheels were 36 spoked with XT hubs. Another thing I found that was useful was a seatpost clamp that doubled as an upper brazeon mount for a rack. See picture below.

antokelly

thanks Gus Riley i haven't looked at the clearance for fenders just yet ,i was thinking of using the clip on ones there pretty thin might just do the trick.i have a set of macic exp 33 wheels but the rear hub is goosed my fault (long story) so i will buy a new xt m770 hub 9 speed for it 36 hole.
i really cant afford to buy xt chainset or gears so what triple chainset would be a good alternative.might go for barend shifters cant afford sti ah well .gus i don't want to put a rack on the bike ,i had it resprayed about 5 years ago the guy that done it said it was one of a kind (he used to make bikes, bit of a genius) but he said the tubes were to thin to put racks on it would be a big mistake .

antokelly

update again, done a bit more work on getting my trailer sorted still on a mission to get new parts for bike.seeing a guy tonight for triple shimano 105 chainset and b/b front/rear derailleurs bit of luck I'll get them at a good price.
anyway is there a trick on loading up the trailer ,shoul most of the weight be near to front or back.anyone got photos on the proper way to load the trailer.
thanks all.