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At first I though this thread was madness, but now I understand it.
Since you are ready to mod bike, build rack and have bags made I take it you are invested in making it happen.
But as someone else have suggested I am also worried about the combined flimsiness of parts/components.I genuinely think you should try to develop the most aero, lightweight trailer known to man. I imagine it being made completely out of carbon like those ultra lightweight aero cars that go several hundred km on a single liter of petrol. the one in the attached photo did 665km on a single liter.
Advantages would be:
- Aerodynamic - and aero beats weight
- A dry place for the cat when it’s pouring
- You can take it off and go for a ride with the cat in a bag/basket
- At stations and stairs, you can unhook it and carry your bike over the shoulder and the trailer one one hand (combined weight should be low with your gear)
So you have cat and you one the bike, and everything else in the trailer.
Another option is to make frame and bottom of trailer in carbon and then use a light weight fabric to cover it.
I genuinely hope you’re feeling better.
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- Aerodynamic - and aero beats weight
Simba
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I am also worried about the combined flimsiness of parts/components. I genuinely think you should try to develop the most aero, lightweight trailer known to man
If thin rods are too flimsy and I swap them for thicker ones, I think the rack would still be much, much lighter than the lightest trailer.
nick_h.
I like a lot of space. Plus enough headroom to sit up properly. And masses of ventilation. My current tent design is, I think, hard to improve on. I had a look at that Topeak Bikamper which uses the bike as tent poles https://youtu.be/OkDEkzMKWxM
but I don't think that's the answer, even if I made an improved version of it. It causes more problems than it solves.
Definitely with me! The trip wouldn't have much point if I didn't enjoy her company! She's my best friend. (Is that a bit sad?) And she'd hate being excluded and would shred her own tent and make a constant racket until she was allowed into mine.
I think there's room for a 27 tyre with guards. But I haven't tried it. I was hoping to have ticked this box by now but my ME is murdering me at the moment. Not making it out of bed until 3 or 4pm. I'm very fearful that this whole project will just join my long list of unfinished things. My flat is as bad as a landfill site. Worse than anything on that Channel 4 programme. All it needs is a seagull. This project is my liferaft. I'm trying to swim towards it but running out of strength.
I visualise a sort of crate above the rear wheel, say 15" wide and 18" long and 15" high. That's 66 litres of space. (A pair of Ortlieb backrollers plus front panniers is 65 litres.) The
bags wouldn't have to bear any weight, so they could be made of ultralight fabric, without stiffeners or clips. Struts would go to the dropouts, which would bear all the weight. The base of the crate would have a sheet of thin carbon fibre to spread the load on the struts beneath. Don't know whether thin rods can support the weight or cope with bumps or whether I can make the structure strong enough not to tear itself apart with the swaying caused by the momentum of the load. Or smash to pieces if the bike falls over. If this was a commercially available thing it would be made of 12mm steel tubes and weigh 3 kg.
I just hope I can come up for air and make something happen. Tbh every day is a disaster at the moment.