tatfiend 

Does anyone have experience towing one bike with another? I have made a custom snapdeck for my Big Dummy with a pickup bed mount style front fork clamp mounted on it but figured I should ask before trying it. One member of the Rootsradicals Yahoo group said it would not work but with no explanation of why.

I have read of xtracycle owners towing bikes by putting the front wheel and fork in a freeloader and mechanically it appears to me like what I am doing is basically the same thing. Am I overlooking something?

sooprvylyn

Post a picture of your contraption. From what it sounds like you are doing you should be fine, but it would be good to see the device, preferably mounted to your bike.

barturtle

About the only issue I can think of is the moving up and down of the bikes in relation to each other causing stress on the nonrotating fork mount.

If I were wanting to do this, I'd probably zip-tie an old front hub to the rear bridge of the freeradical, that would keep the bike lower to keep the center of gravity lower, and allow the connection to rotate.

davidmcowan

I tow my other bikes with my Xtracycle that way all the time. I secure it with a few different straps and it works wonderfully as long as I don't make too sharp of a turn. Why do you want the special setup?

vik 

If I have to go any distance I prefer to get the bike right off the ground and onto my wideloaders. You don't have to buy the mount from Xtracycle you can pick one up used for cheap on CL and DIY.

tatfiend 

Vik;

Neat idea. I have an old Yakima channel around somewhere I can adapt to that once I get my wideloaders. Xtracycle has been out of stock on them for some time, at least the kit which includes the one longloader too.

I built a extra long snapdeck with a very heavy duty aluminum taillight mounting plate and as I had the truck bed fork clamp around I thought that I would put it to use by mounting it below the taillight. As long as the towed bike has lawyers lips on the dropout I suspect that I can adjust things so that the fork is not overly tightly clamped and be ok as I also have a jam nut I can use with the fork thickness adjustment nut so nothing should come loose.

B + M

I have a yakima pick up bed fork mount attached to the rear of my xtracycle and I've towed a couple of bikes with no problem.

Dan Burkhart 

I put a fork down mount on the rear of my Big Dummy for this purpose. It works OK, but I think it's best to keep the mount low for stability.

I would not try it with a rider on the seat of the second bike though.

cman

The Lower the better. Obvious is the center of gravity. Also when you raise the fork you change rake and trail equation as the angle on the head tube changes relative to the ground.

vik 

Lots of great ways to carry/haul a second bike on a Big Dummy. It really comes down to how far you need to go and how fast/hard you want to ride. If you use the roof rack tray you can ride the BD just like normal...I've even gone offroad on MTB trails with a 2nd bike aboard.

Really no wrong answer as long as your needs get met.

katcorot

That be an interesting picture to see.

vik 

hubcap

picture from Yuba's blog site. https://yubaride.com/yubamundo.blog/?p=110

noglider 

I tried to lash a regular bike to my rack. I'm riding a regular bike. It didn't work.

I towed a couple of bikes in my kiddie trailer. It worked but not well. I think I didn't distribute the weight evenly.

I'd love to do this eventually, but on a low budget. I may need to replace my trailer with a cargo trailer.

coffeecake

Towing the Aurora to the bike shop for some new pedals. Our Free Radical (second-hand) has a fork mount on the rear. No problems towing, except for that we found out quite early on that we needed to bungee the pedal/crank arm to the downtube so that it wouldn't keep rotating down and striking pavement around corners. The blue bits are pieces of rag (SO is very protective about the Aurora's paint job).

I should note that our Free Radical belonged to the LBS owner and he towed many, many bikes for repairs with it. One time, he was stopped by the police, who were under the impression that he was, uh, liberating other people's rides.

mr_colostomy

The Yuba siderail towing technique works very well with as little as 1 bungee cord. I think it would work with the Xtracycle sideloaders. I once managed to use cable ties (zip-ties) to attach another bike to my old mountain bike's rack for a brief 8 km trip. It felt a bit dicey but it went ok.

oldfolksmashers

https://jerrylikesbikes.blogspot.com/...it-begins.html

The longest thing I've ever ridden....

thehum

I've towed bikes several ways.

I had a homebuilt xtracycle with a duffel bag for a pannier which also came in handy to tow bikes by sticking the front wheel in it.


The next best option is using my wald rear basket. I take the wheel off and bungee the fork down. Here I am towing my homebuilt xtra.


I've also towed bikes without the rear basket by sticking the fork through the rear rack and bungeeing the fork down:

noglider 

You did a lot better than I did. After having a very difficult time trying, I determined your third method is impossible. I can see it's not.

Today, I towed my kiddie trailer with the bike I was delivering. I put my folding bike in the trailer. When I dropped the bike off, I pulled the folding bike out and towed the empty trailer back home.

Chicagoan

Towed a tiny 10 speed (kid sized) home from the salvation army hand to stem. This little bike had all mini parts, super narrow drops, a tiny quil stem, 24 inch wheels, you name it. I was riding my track bike, no brakes or foot retention, and going downhill was interesting to say the least. Coming uphill was super slow, but do able. Wish I had my trailer with me, but it was fine.

LucianTheOne

My homemade Xtracycle, hang up a girl and took her home.

LucianTheOne

This time I made it with 3 !!!

vik 

Cool - that's a load!

noglider 

How did that setup steer?

Dan Burkhart 

Good question. I'll bet tight turns are out due to wheel/frame interference.