Trailers

Nice! Glad it's working for you.  I had one for years - a great tool.  Mine was cheaper / lower quality than yours and the drag of two extra wheels was noticable so I didn't use it for groceries. It was invaluable on a number of occasions though. 1 and a half flat moves, furniture, DIY supplies etc.

I'm sure you've got the common sense I haven't... but for anyone like me, be aware of the centre of gravity of your load and the fact that the rear wheels can act as a lever.  If your trailer tips it may also result in you and your bike laying down unexpectedly. Wind on a light but tall load but especially kerbs - even dropped ones e.g. when turning to cross a pavement - can cause this.

You'll note that the 4 people who mention or show trailers in here have ebikes !

Well that's an excellent pairing.  Agree - the effect of 2 extra small-diameter wheels will never be insignificant.  I always considered just using the rack / panniers before reaching for the trailer.  However even with no motor on your bike they're useable.  I've no e-bike but found them handy even in hilly Edinburgh and being of average fitness or below.  You just go slow.

They're really good if you have:
 - occasionally got loads to shift, want to do it by bike and don't have cash or storage for a dedicated cargo bike. Mine cost me under 40 quid 2nd hand and lived folded up in a cupboard most of the time.
 - are shifting > 20 kg or so and / or it's a bulky or awkwardly-shaped load

Not so useful if:
 - you've smaller loads - see above about drag.  With a suitable bike (I've an old tourer), rack(s) and set of large panniers you can carry a lot (see "luggage capacity" on this page)!
 - you live up a mountain.  A motor might help though.  Also check your braking capacity and if the trailer will tend to lift one end of the bike...
 - you're in a hurry.  Taxi!
 - you have only got busy / fast roads to use.  Doable but can be unpleasant.  Lobby for proper infra / get a car.
 - you've no low gears (talking below 30 gear inches, for hills below 20 or put a down-payment on new knees).

You'll note that the 4 people who mention or show trailers in here have ebikes !
Not all of them!

Looks more like a magnetic bike to me.  But good point about the Yak, I'd forgotten that there were lots of different wheel options!  Horses - or yaks - for courses.

Hmm, one month late to the thread, despite the invite.

chrisonatrike wrote:

I'm sure you've got the common sense I haven't... but for anyone like me, be aware of the centre of gravity of your load and the fact that the rear wheels can act as a lever.  If your trailer tips it may also result in you and your bike laying down unexpectedly. Wind on a light but tall load but especially kerbs - even dropped ones e.g. when turning to cross a pavement - can cause this.

I have a Burley Nomad (cargo) and a Burley Solo (child). Thie hitch is such that if you flip the trailer it doesn't flip your bike over - there is enough rotation allowed to prevent that. The thing that sold me on Burley when we first got a trailer (maybe 15-20 years ago?) was the hitch design though. This may not be true for all hitch designs. 

Don't ask me how I know that even the child trailer doesn't flip the bike when it rolls over. I do commend the seat belt design in these trailers.

P.S. I don't have an e-Bike @hirsute and I have moved house with the trailer

Yes. When you put the hitch on, the locknut tightens it all up. Then you just have effectively a longer axle.
You then use your 5mm Allen key to remove it (subject to the shape of your rack !!).

The RAP pages have some short videos of them installing and swapping out. For liability issues, they tell you to swap the tow axle out when not in use.

I'd have thought hirsute was on the money with the Robert axle project thing:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7JohX44UczY

Topeak also do their own:
https://www.topeak.com/global/en/products/301-Journey-Trailer-TX-&-DryBa...

The easy solution is a RAP axle and then a 5mm allen key to remove it as normal - about £60.

SJS & Robert Axle in the states were both really helpful when I was getting an axle for a kids trailer. It's on an MTB that came with similar thru axles (QR-style handle thing) to yours. I just leave the hitch axle in all the time, it's not been an issue riding off road so far (touches wood 🙂)

Don't give up!

An e-bike with a trailer is an amazing transport solution. Pic of my setup here for "inspiration". The trailer is a Carry Freedom Y Frame and the box is second hand from a military type on Ebay.

 Hirsute's messages below are absolutely spot on. The bike in the picture has solid axles, so was easy for the trailer attachment, but I have another bike with a through-axle that also works using a Robert Axle Project axle. The axle-finder on the Robert website is pretty good (Cargo type trailers are "kid" trailers in their nomenclature) , and both Robert Axle Project and SJS cycles will help you pick the right one if you have any doublts. On my other bike, I leave the original axle in most of the time and just swap them over in a few seconds if I want to use the trailer. 

...And here's the Carry Freedom bracket/Robert Axle combination

I'm not sure that makes sense to me.

Firstly, what Tom shows is that there is a hole that matches up to a QR lever and the towed item attaches to the post in some way. I'm assuming that the above picture of yours also assumes that the hole on the left is attached to the bike and the QR device is to attach to the trailer.

Without knowing your through axle design (because there have been many) what we are seeing now is a move towards standardised designs with a 4mm hex socket and they provide a QR style handle to plug in to it. The QR lever often does not work with a cam but simply is a means of rotating the srew in fitting, either with a hex socket or with a nurled interface. It's unlikely that you can fit something inbetween the head of the through axle and the frame because they are engineered to fit the bike, and if you put something in the way, then the threaded end on the drive size isn't going to be fully home.

The main issue you have is that with a through axle, you need a fitting that can take the strain of towing. Something clipped on the end isn't going to work. The QR design works because it is clamped close onto the frame so there isn't much leverage. With a through axle, you can't just bolt something on the end because there is nothing to bolt to. I would have thought that to get something to work with a through axle, it is going to need a replacement axle to provide sufficient purchase for the trailer.

It seems, at some expense, these modified axles exist. See 

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/trailer-spares-hitches-fittings/?page=3

I don't think 1.5 turns sounds wise. Threads provide friction against unscrewing, and you know when you undo a bolt, at first it can be stiff even when loosened, but as it withdraws it frees up, so often you need to use a hex key at first, but eventually you can undo it by hand, That is because there is less friction from the threads. It is quite possible, especially with an attachment banging around, that the through axle could come unscrewed.

Without the axle being tight, you might also find that the freehub fitting, if it is screwed together like on my Giant, can work its way loose. I had the joy of fixing a puncture and rebuilding my freehub at the side of the road when it worked loose. There was a clue I should have noticed - the thru-axle didn't tighten to the same position (the hub was a mm or so wider as a result). As I didn't properly solve it (needed to torque up the freehub fitting which bacame too fond of the thru-axle),  after the next couple of rides, the thru-axle worked its way lose to the point where my rear wheel started moving around - it was not fully home, and I was sulking about why my never needed adjusting Di2 needed adjusting.

So thinking about it, I have actually experienced a thru-axle unwinding due to it not having enough turns, even though it was tight.

Isn't your qr bit part of your axle though? Not sure how you would use that with yor existing through axle.

When I had a quick look at trailers, some gave you a longer qr skewer to accommodate the extra length which is also what you get with the thru axle replacement.

Might be worth a conversation with sjs cycles.

Slightly tangential, but how do you mount a thru-axle set up with a QR skewer? I've thought about it, looked at my own bike (thru-axle), scratched my head, and googled it, but whichever way I'd have thought it can't be done. I know I'm missing something!
https://bikerumor.com/aasq-31-can-you-run-a-qr-hub-in-a-thru-axle-fork/