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Trailer Party

(21 posts)

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  1. Dave
    Member

    Carry-Freedom Y-Frame: 2.7% paid for itself since 07-11-2011

    Car use displaced: 24.5 miles
    CO2 not emitted*: 7.3kg

    I found a Carry Freedom Y-Frame going cheap** to compliment my new bike. Chief Accountant is not impressed though, despite buying it from my personal discretionary budget.

    I figure though that if I'm disciplined with use, it will easily pay for itself in the near to mid term. Then I can have an extravagant party at Peter's Yard to celebrate the world of towed cyclecraft...

    I need to ride 895 miles to break even***.

    * For what it's worth I thought I might record the carbon approach too. The CTC says on average a car puts out 30kg of carbon per hundred miles driven. Ours is probably less efficient than that, and the trailer will displace only stop-start urban traffic, not highly favourable motorway driving - but it makes a useful baseline.

    ** The trailer cost £170 (RRP £220). Other definitions of cheap are available!

    *** According to the AA, the marginal cost of a mile driven in our car is just over 19p. That being so, 895 miles will cost £170. This favours the car since, again, only stop-start urban traffic is being displaced, not "average" motorway driving.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  2. crowriver
    Member

    Well done you! I wonder what the average payback time for a motor vehicle is, for comparison? Don't forget running costs too like fuel, maintenance and insurance. Come to think of it, does a motor vehicle ever pay for itself?

    Did you purchase the Large or the standard Y-Frame? I have the smaller version, and find the Carry Freedom to be an extraordinarily useful trailer. Even though I'll soon join the ranks of the cargonistas with a Kona Ute, I'll still use the Y-Frame. Imagine the loads I'll be able to shift with the UIte and the trailer!

    Anyway, look forward to further stats on the Y-Frame. 97.3% to go!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  3. Dave
    Member

    Large, because I couldn't see any disadvantage and it would be annoying to have a load that was just slightly too big or heavy.

    Cycling up from Canonmills to St Andrews Square, I'm sure it must be more effort but I just twiddled up as usual feeling pretty pleased with myself.

    The way that the bike feels just like normal is great. In fact I almost forgot this morning and destroyed a car at Picardy Place.

    The 19p figure includes fuel and maintenance, but not insurance (I would have insurance anyway), or depreciation (likewise) etc. If you offset a whole car needless to say it would be a dramatically different story!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  4. crowriver
    Member

    I bought the standard size for touring, as it fits through doors and is more compact for taking on trains. Hardly notice it behind the bike.

    Effectively I have a Large too, that I built myself from Nick Lobnitz's Bamboo trailer design. Greener Leith organised a Build Your Own Bike Trailer workshop last year and we made 9 trailers from wood, BMX wheels, bits of metal and coach bolts. The Leith trailer is not quite as elegant as the Y-Frame, but follows the same design principles and carries a big load very well. I fitted it with an elastomer 'lollipop' hitch from Nick and it does a good job. Just tracks further to the left than the Y-Frame, so I have to leave extra room when passing parked cars, etc.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  5. Roibeard
    Member

    @Dave "Chief Accountant is not impressed though, despite buying it from my personal discretionary budget.

    I figure though that if I'm disciplined..."

    ...I won't be allowed out to Peter's Yard?

    ...I won't be able to sit down for a week?

    Or is it only parents that misunderstood that sentence on the first reading?

    ;-)

    Robert

    Posted 12 years ago #

  6. Dave
    Member

    Hehe.. I did get the cold shoulder all evening!

    "...that I built myself from Nick Lobnitz's Bamboo trailer design"

    That sounds great. I would have liked a DIY but lack the skills (and material).

    The main thing I need to organise now are attachments for the boxes I want to put on there, and most importantly, some way of getting Thule bike racks to mount on it. :)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  7. Dave
    Member

    Carry-Freedom Y-Frame: 3.3% paid for itself since 07-11-2011

    Out of interest I did some calculation on the AA's suggested diesel fuel pence-per-mile just to check it wasn't too far from reality.

    They say 10.23p/mile.

    We get about 500 miles to a tank, or 50L.

    10 miles to the litre, where a litre costs 139p, gives
    13.9p/mile. That's still combined rather than urban, so it still gives a big advantage to the car, but I'll be generous.

    The revised figure is 22.8p/mile, bringing the required mileage down to 745 miles - hence the update above. Crikey, if I had these errands to run every day, it would break even in a month and a half :o

    Posted 12 years ago #

  8. ruggtomcat
    Member

    Good choice, Mine has done a full season on the road (around 4000km) and apart from the restraining pins needing replaced is still totally sound. I would recomend to take a spare inner tube of the trailer wheel size though.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  9. Dave
    Member

    I've written a little bit about the new trailer on my blog.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  10. crowriver
    Member

    when they do eventually overtake, everybody gives you a wide berth, perhaps rightly afraid of having the side of their car torn apart. No taxi is going to try skimming past in the bus lane with this on the back – it’s almost like having a recumbent.

    Yes, I really like this aspect of trailerdom too!

    One tip I found out about which may come in handy: the wee rubber end caps on your axles may fall off if you brush a dry stane dyke or bump on one cobble too many. To stop this happening, get a couple of longish cable ties and loop each in a figure of 8 pattern through the spokes and across the rubber end caps. Case solved!

    The trailer rattles like a demented castanet player on the cobbles. Who cares in town, but before going on tour you’d want to fix this.

    I find the Y-Frame only rattles when unladen. Once you are fully loaded up for touring, not a single rattle will be in evidence!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  11. Dave
    Member

    As I need to take the wheels off at either end, I haven't bothered to fit the "hubcaps" at all. Do you think it will matter?

    I may cover it in grease before taking out in the salt, I guess.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  12. crowriver
    Member

    Apparently the 'hubcaps' are to keep water, grit, etc. out of that button which releases the axle from its sleeve. Greasing can't hurt, but if it were me I'd keep the wee black rubber things on there if possible. Looks cool too as an added bonus.

    Actually used my Y-Frame Small today, carting some stuff to the garage. Tracks over speed humps like they're not there... Great wee trailer.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  13. ruggtomcat
    Member

    we should have a real trailer party, Ill bring the sound system!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  14. crowriver
    Member

    Trailers are good for hauling cases of beer.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  15. Dave
    Member

    OK - I'm up to 4.96% now.

    A trip to the supermarket yesterday (I got some odd looks wheeling the trailer around Cameron Toll, but nobody said anything), I towed back 10kg of goods, and to be honest it felt fine. Sure, it was slower going uphill, but I only really noticed because I was thinking about it.

    This evening I rode to work and back to pick up my wheel components. I still haven't fitted a light but have put ankle bands around the axle support members (which our very own Kaputnik assured me are rather fetching).

    I'm thinking of getting one of these helmet-mounted "front and back" double lights - I can't think of a particular model - and mounting it on the tow hitch at the widest point. Since I run the hitch with the elbow pointing into traffic, this would give maximum apparent width for the light, and also the front-facing flasher would alert oncoming right-turners to the danger of losing their radiator.

    Can hardly believe how mild-mannered drivers are in rush hour with this thing. I did have a taxi driver who drove in a semi-disgruntled manner, but two other taxis actually waited behind for me to negotiated separate parked cars in the bus lane, incredibly.

    I think however upset they are, it's like being upset about a bin lorry - you just wouldn't scrape your expensive paint down the side to make a point :)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  16. Roibeard
    Member

    @Dave - I don't really mind the lights, reflectors, high viz, etc, but I draw the line at pulling a trailer to enhance my safety...

    Don't let on, in case Australians are required by law to pull one...

    ;-)

    Robert

    Posted 12 years ago #

  17. Dave
    Member

    I've written some more about my trailer now I've hit 50 miles (60 by this time tomorrow, as I'm off to the metalworkers over lunch). Clicky:

    That's 8.2% paid for and a healthy 18kg of CO2 not emitted.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  18. Arellcat
    Moderator

    I'm thinking of getting one of these helmet-mounted "front and back" double lights - I can't think of a particular model - and mounting it on the tow hitch at the widest point.

    The Topeak Headlux might be the one to get. About £14 each.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  19. wee folding bike
    Member

    I fitted one of their hitches to the kid trailer. It is much faster to hitch and doesn't foul the wheel. The original one was a big clamp for the near side chain stay.

    It's been on there a year now with no obvious wear and tear. The drawbar on the trailer had to be mended because I put in too many kids and go too fast so the metal suffered at one of the joins but the CarryFreedom lollipop has been fine. Their older version allowed a Brompton back wheel to fold under the frame. The lollipop doesn't.

    Nasty URL for pic of trailer carrying bike to pick up boys from school.

    Edit. Or perhaps just the tail end of the photo.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  20. Dave
    Member

    Today I made it to 10% of break-even. That's taken almost dead on a month (31 days), but I haven't had much to move around really - I hope that I'll make it by the middle of next year.

    More significantly, I haven't driven to the shops at all since I bought the trailer, or to do recycling. I also haven't taken any carrier bags (since there's always loads of room in the voluminous box).

    Have been considering getting another B&M toplight line plus and just using the dynamo to light the trailer, but frankly it's so obvious at night even without lights that my motivation to tick the legal box is flagging.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  21. kaputnik
    Moderator

    @weefoldingbike you got some paving slabs in the wardrobe, or a flat?

    Posted 12 years ago #

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