And so I’ve taken advantage of shipping, as it still exists, to invest in a bike trailer to help replace the use of the family car. I contemplated building a trailer myself, but after weighing up the material + time investment vs. purchasing a ready-made, the latter won out; and I’m glad it did.

Over the last six months, I’ve progressively replaced my auto driving habits with bike riding ones. I now live in a rural area of central Victoria Australia with my lovely partner and young daughter, and while I’d previously done a lot of riding while living in cities, I must say it’s far more enjoyable in the country. I’m now riding between 150-200km a week, and enjoying the benefits of fitness and not at all missing the petrol bowser!

Of course, up until now, there were still some ‘missions’ that required the use of our car; a number I’m glad to say has now been significantly reduced. Typical trips for groceries, animal feed, general errands and so forth, that exceeded what my saddle bags could carry, will now be handled by the BOB.

So my ‘Beast of Burden’ trailer was delivered this morning and I’m looking forward to taking it out for it’s first spin. This evening I unpackaged the trailer and assembled it. The photos I’ve included below, along with some observations. Tomorrow, I’ll make the final attachments to my bike and document the test ride and provide a description of how it rolls and so forth.

For those interested, I hope you enjoy.

Australian (or international people I suppose), might like to know that I ordered this on recommendation from the people at Dean Woods. Very fast delivery. I considered a second-hand trailer, but at the time, there wasn’t any BOBs for sale (though I have seen them previously). Weighing it up, I thought it might be safer to go with a new one since they take a fair punishment.

This was somewhat amusing. I don’t consider myself mechanically minded either. Although it listed the tools required (which I was concerned I wouldn’t have), I didn’t end up needing anything special beyond a basic allen key set, phillips head screwdriver, and a couple of spanners.

efficiently packaged…

…and unpackaged.

Thankfully, the BOB people provide excellent instructions. Generally, I intuitively put things together, but at times assistance was required. This instructions were written in english and not translated from chinese!

As you can see from the photos, the yellow bag is ‘all weather’. It’s a robust rubber bag that folds over at the top, and it’s basically water-proof. It fits perfectly into the trailer tray, and is secured by a set of stretchy monkey thingos (or whatever they are called).

The tray can be seen well here. In this photo, it seems small, but the trailer is very well proportioned. In one review that I read prior to deciding, the reviewer said that they thought the BOB design was somewhat ‘dated’. How ridiculous a statement that is! Considering that in this department, efficiency, aerodynamics and lightness are key; once a good design it arrived at, changing it for the sake of something so vaporous as ’style’ is the height of stupidity.

The tray is large. It is rated to carry 32kg or 70pounds. Though I’m sure depending on the kind of cargo and road surface it would handle a lot more.

Sturdy mud guard (fender). In my research (for those interested), the Ibex (the model with suspension) has a poor fender. The Yak (this one), is superior in fender. I did consider the Ibex (suspension trailer), though I’m a fan of [i]simplicity[/i], and don’t like the idea of more parts that break down. I understand that the Ibex also sits higher off the ground (assuming rougher terrain). It’s tray appears a little smaller. It certainly wasn’t money that determined my choice. The Yak was it.

Small, tough wheel.

The assembled product.

With the dry-sack included.

So tomorrow, I’ll rig up the bike and take a test drive before reporting back here with some more observations…

Following up from my original post with details of the trailers attachment to the bike itself, plus observations on the maiden voyage.

It was raining this morning when I went to attach the trailer for the first time, but since rain is a total rarity now where I live (see: Wikipedia : Effects of global warming on Australia), I saw it as a good opportunity to test out the fender performance and find out if I need to make any modifications for wet weather riding (however rare an event that now seems to be!).

Pictured below is my original rig. This consists of a pair of very reliable rear panniers (strange name for them - apparently it’s any bag or similar container strung in pairs over a beast of burden, though it’s also the name of a kind of undershirt worn in the 18th century).

These bags have served me well for years now, doing thousands of useful kilometers for pleasure and function. For the purpose of testing the new trailer, I decided to remove them temporarily. I’d heard it said that front panniers are actually more beneficial to trailer use, as they stabilize the bike and prevent the front wheel lifting off the ground. Since the BOB is so low to the ground, I doubt very much that rear panniers will be a problem, but I can imagine some difficulties on extremely heavy loads.

Here she is, all assembled and ready to be attached.

Now with rear bottle holders, that were removed from my bike and placed on the nifty bottle attachments. Though now with the cancer risks over hardened plastic, I’m not sure I’ll be using these suckers any longer. I never really like the taste of water held in plastic anyway.

Out come the instructions again! Don’t want to mess up this attachment, as my life relies on it!

The BOB comes with a replacement quick-release rod for your bikes rear wheel. This provides you with a inch or so greater length on the rod, thus allowing the trailer to be rigged up. Apparently, on some bikes, this rod has to be hack-sawed shorter, though it was the perfect length for mine.

As you can see from this photo, there is a extension bolt that sits beyond the standard quick release tightening bolt. This thing is asymmetrical so it can be reversed so the trailer will sit properly. It’s got a groove in it, that supports the trailer. The trailer itself is secured by passing a curved pin over the bike frame and through a small hole (that presumably all modern bikes have).

I know, that probably sounds like pig latin, but honestly, I worked this part out by trial and error - not from the included instructions!

So here it is, all ready to go.

And again…

And now for the ‘hero shot’! The trailer in action. I’m totally satisfied with this purchase. I’ve been working a lot personally, on reducing my personal consumption habits, and purchases like this are rare. I generally spend a long time researching these kind of things before making a decision. As a result, I’m usually quite pleased with the outcome.

This trailer is exceptional. The BOB is a great addition, and for only $465, I think it’s a total bargain. It boggles my mind that people invest $50K on cars that only enslave them with further insurance costs, and petrol fees. With this rig, beyond maintenance, it’s essentially free, and riding it only makes me fit and positive (even in bad weather - as it makes the bath or shower afterwards, that much more enjoyable). The performance is beautiful. It glides behind the bike like it wasn’t there. I can’t emphasise this point too much. It tracks perfectly behind the bike. Admittedly, I haven’t carried a heavy load yet, but I’m certain it won’t present any problems.

A few groceries to test out of the monkey grips (is this what they are called anyone??) At this point, I was quite amused by the stares. As I said earlier, people look at this things like the monkeys look at the monolith from Kubrick’s 2001 : A Space Odyssey!

To me, it seems so simple and elegant. An efficient design, and I’m amazed that people haven’t been using these from a long time. I suppose that it’s only really in the west that people don’t use this kind of thing commonly. I’ve personally seen some pretty amazing motorcycle rigs around the world. Carrying one’s own weight though, plus cargo seems pretty essential an activity.

Leaving this behind…

I’m willing to bet I’ll see a couple of these trailers appear in the local area within the next 6 months. Just using this trailer makes me an advertisement for other people to realize they don’t have to pay through the teeth for a diminishing resource. I saw the newspaper headline as I was buying some food, and it read “$125 / month increase on average family food expenditure”. Of course, none of these articles ever ask WHY oil is more expensive. Maybe, hopefully, as I cruise by, someone might ask themselves if they really need their car for every small trip to town. You never know, it might just be the beginning for them, of a new awareness.