clengman

I originally posted this in the LCF forum thinking there might be a few people that frequent that forum with experience hauling lots of cargo and a kid or three, but i got no responses, so I'll try it here.

I've been considering ways to get my wife and daughter to go on some short, rail trail, bike camping trips. I'd like to find a way that I can haul all or at least the majority of our family camping gear on my bike so my wife can just ride along, maybe with a small daypack.

I'm thinking about getting an xtracycle freeradical kit for my hybrid bike. Should have no problem hauling all our gear on that. I would probably even have room for my 8-year-old daughter to ride on the deck, BUT we also have an Adams trail-a-bike and it might be nice to have a stoker with a load like that. My thought is that it should be simple to mount it to one of the rear uprights on the xtracycle, but I wonder 1) Will the mount point be high enough? and 2) Will the fact that it's a little off center be a major detriment to the way the bike handles?

fietsbob

I Don't, and Won't, but as a Mechanic, Here is what I think is needed,
you need to fabricate a Seatpost like stub into the middle of the Rear end, top of the extra length
for the trail-a-bike arm's mount to attach to..
since the actual seatpost is further ahead of the rear wheel as required for the long cargo space,,
eliminating the top of the rear seating ..

or hire it to made to be on the very back.
this won't be a ready made, , or link to amazon to find it for you.

here is an image of a trailabike on a regular bike ,
and a child trailer being towed behind the trailabike.


good luck..

clengman

Good point. Trailer behind trail-a- bike probably makes more sense. There are lots of used trailers around.

3speed

saddlesores

it's been done. i wouldn't wanna do if for the safety and logistics aspects.

clengman

Oh yeah. She's a champ. I take her to school on the tag along a few times a week in nice weather. We have a 9% hill for about a 1/4 mile right after we leave the house and a short 12% hill closer to her school. She works hard.

clengman

I'm not worried about safety for the kinds of camping trips I'm envisioning. It'll all be on rail trails, no road riding. I think a long bike train is fine for that.

I still like the xtracycle though, because it'd be useful for camping as well as for utility duty at home. I think I'd like a cargo bike better than a trailer for trips to the grocery store.