DCB0

Hay, Utility Cycling group!

I have seen families riding on the parkways in Ottawa with a tandem, trail-a-bike, and kid trailer, and I think that is about the coolest human powered train I have seen.

What is the longest practical train any of you have put together? Tandem + freeradical + kid trailer + cargo trailer? Is this type of thing possible? I know the Xtracycle design presetns challengest for towing a trailer.

Has anyone ever added a freeradical conversion to a Big Dummy frame? Seems like a silly question now that I see it typed out, but somebody must have tried it.

I guess what I am asking here is “how long is too long?”

labrat

When my kids were younger I spent a fair bit of time with a tandem, trailerbike, kid trailer setup. I can assure you that is about as much rig as I care to handle. One of the things that made tight areas challenging was it was the widest part (trailer) was at the far back end.

DCB0

Thanks for the reply.

Did you mainly pull the train on recreational trails or on roads? I would guess backing up is the biggest hurdle - if you overshoot your destination you might have to go around the block and try again

What sort of brakes did you have and was going down a hill kinda scary?

cabledawg

The Xtra has no trailer towing challenges if it attaches to the rear axle. Been towing an InStep double trailer for over two years with my Xtra with no issues.

The longest train we've used was before the Freeradical was mounted on my wife's bike. Our youngest son had a trailGator on his 20" bmx bike. SO it went wife's bike, son on bmx bike and trailer in back. My wife said it was a workout pulling all that weight, but mostly just taking off; once she got rolling it wasnt as bad.

The longest train I could possible build now (although it wouldnt be practical inthe least): my Xtra+wife's Xtra+my old mtn+bmx (if I used the trailgator)+trailer. It'd probably be 100' long and impossible to ride, but it'd make for an interesting photo shot.

labrat

We used our tandem, trailerbike, trailer train on the roads and the local bike trails. Backing up was not an option so a little advanced planning went a long way. The tandem ran a 28/38/48 with an 11-34. It was pretty easy to get rolling as long as it was in the 28/24 or better when stopped (more planning ahead.)

I'd occasionally pull the trailerbike and trailer behind a single bike but preferred the braking of the tandem. The tandem had a cheapie set of v-brakes but had enough weight on the wheels that the extra weight of the train wasn't as noticable. It did really good on even steep hills but we don't have anything remotely like mountains here so I couldn't tell you how it would do on a long descent.

MadCityCyclist

Portland has big bike trains to school all the time, but I don't think utility cycles are used much for that.

katcorot

I saw a guy on a standard bike hauling 3 burley trailers. First 2 had kids in them, 3rd had all the picnic supplies. They were turning into the local lake/swimming hole.

Fasteryoufool

With my old Schwinn Sierra, I've pulled my youngest on an Adams Trail-A-Bike with my cargo trailer behind that, had no issues at all. The evil ex thought it was "dangerous" and "stupid" but then, she drives everywhere.

dayworks

I've done the Road-train thing. As noted earlier they're awkward and they would only be more so if they got longer. I imagine there utility would be like the real road trains in Australia - if you have a long straight stretch it would be worth it. At the very least you'd need to know your route very well.

hopperja

Hardtail pulling a BAW64A pulling a kid trailer. This is my preferred set-up and have probably ridden 15 miles this way. One time, I had ~500 pounds on both trailers, for about 12 miles round-trip.

Raleigh 20 pulling a trail-a-bike pulling a second trail-a-bike (didn't work too well).

Hardtail pulling a trail-a-bike pulling a kid trailer.

Hardtail pulling the BAW 64A with a kid bike attached and rolling on the back end.

I guess the most I've ever had was 3 items in the train.

The hardest, by far, however, was riding tight, technical single track on my MTB pulling a trail-a-bike.

maximumrob

I tow my kiddos on a Weehoo with a double-wide trailer behind it. I run 37c slicks so we have plenty of braking power (most important when approaching intersections) and flags and blinkies, but not to the absurd.

Besides braking, the only other safety concern on my mind is the seat post or frame giving way on my bike due to the stresses of pulling/stopping so much weight just above the seat stay.

The kids love it and used to regularly yell, "Daddy go 20!" Now that they're older and had a taste of more speed, they yell, "Daddy go 30!" ...like that's easy or something!

salek

When they were the appropriate ages, my daughter was on a semi-bike attached to my touring rig, and my son was in a Winchester attached to the semi-bike. Scott Peterson "assisted" brakes. 22/45/52 against a 13/28. The semi-bike was a three speed and she used them. So we were an articulated, three wheeled tandem towing a trailer.