If you were to design a bicycle trailer what features would you like to see?

I'm designing a new bicycle trailer for a school project and trying to design it so it can be used to tow boats, children and cargo I would like it to be modular/ configurable.

What design considerations would you like to see me include in this trailer what improvements could be made to existing ones, with regards to safety durability ease of use etc?

Thanks!!

1 Attachment

What are the shortfalls in current trailer designs that you are looking to overcome?

Also, what kind of boat are you looking to tow?!

Fold out bbq grill

The main goal is to design a trailer that is multi functional. On the above trailer you can only carry cargo, no children or boat.

Anything extra is just to improve on existing designs covers etc?

The boat would be like a kayak or canoe. :)

Interesting!

Thank you.

Do your own homework

ok..

I use a Halfords trailer mainly for transporting my 3 year old to nursery every morning.
Occasionally her 5 yr old sister will get in too. I've used it for about 2 years now.
IIRC it cost about £70/£80 in a sale.

I suspect most parents have more than one child and tend to have them close to each other so you'll need space for two up to the age of 5 or so.
It will need to be really weather proof. Wet kids does not a happy parent make.
Any chance of expanding as the kids grow would be useful especially as roof tends to be too low and it gets a bit cramped.
It will need to be very safe as well - rollbar, straps, strong, not likely to flip over etc...

Originally we wanted a trailer that could convert into a push along buggy so I could drop the kids off in the morning and someone else could then pick them up and use the same trailer as a buggy to take them home.
There are some that do that but are either too expensive (for us) or not well designed (cheap ones from Amazon). The latter did convert into a trailer but the brakes rubbed and were shite and it took about 5-10 mins to swap from bike trailer to buggy and risked losing some skin and blood. It needs to be done in seconds for it to really work as both.

I prefer trailers to bike seats as it is easy to remove and the bike still looks like a bike.
There's so much I've had to sacrifice for the bairns, putting some hideous child seat on my ride crosses the line.

Good luck with your project. I suspect the compromises you'll have to come up with will make it unappealing to almost everyone, but v happy to be proved wrong!

cannondale's first product was a two kid capacity trailer named, unfortunately, the 'bugger'

Thank you very much for the information.

This type of feedback is exactly what I needed.

Interesting to see the progression from that to the new ones, I can't imagine children would enjoy looking at the front of car in a queue of traffic..

Halfords trailer here:
http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bike-accessories/child-bike-trailers/halfords-double-buggy-child-bike-trailer

Shite amazon trailer/buggy here:
https://www.jago24.co.uk/child-bike-trailer-with-baby-jogger-5.html

Yeah - it's a very US centric design I believe, built for middle-of-nowhere cycle paths and whatnot. Not a commute / school type thing.

Original 1972 (!) version looked like this:

So I guess the kid carrier version came later.

and dynamo-powered beer fridge

attachment options

rear dropouts - can be a struggle to get the wheel tightened properly with the extra width in the dropout
i think frame mounts or seat tube mounts would work the best,
easy to connect detach
must not scratch the paintwork / chrome

maybe some way to have both options

^The Halfords ones attach to rear dropouts and I've had no issues tightening them on my Pearson Douche and the other half's 3 speed Brompton.
I guess though that some of the attachments may be thicker than others and some rear hubs may have longer axles than others.
Options to have different mounts would deffo make it more appealing.

my Pearson Douche

lulwut

Yes seat clamps are great but apparently not as nice to tow as ones that are mounted to dropouts.

Thanks! Saves me locking and great source of information regarding configuration.

I'll look into this more closely.

Ah nice one. Yes I can imagine, I wonder how that effects a child thought.. By not looking forward and therefore going at high speeds backwards. ( they probably enjoy it)

The carry freedom range are excellent. I have the City Trailer which I think is awesome. Though it could be improved….

Larger wheels so that you would have more tyre options for a choice of a more robust tyre. The ones that come with it are easily punctured (I think the 305 size would be perfect).

Some accessories for it such as a flat bed to clip in the top so as to carry stuff wider that the wheel base (hmmm, maybe I will have a go at making something like this!).

I personally do not fold the wheels away as it is a faff to do so, though the folding of the tow bar is very useful as it reduced the storage space well when not using the trailer. Note their (lollypop) hitch. It is very very good.

As a non-parent, what I would really like is something that offers flexibility.

In order to achieve that I think that realistically I would be looking for something with a simple, two wheel base and then an expanding range of modularity that could be built on that. That could be from a simple flat base to a child carrier or a mobile trading stand or something more complex.

I once helped mod a carry freedom Y to be FUCKING MASSIVE.
It was utterly terrifying riding it through traffic but it worked well. Only self-detatched once or twice.

Thank you for all the information I'm looking into it.