I’ve read all the archived stuff on pulling a kayak with a bicycle trailer but have a few more questions. the paddleboy-flyer says it is good for up to a 15’ boat. My Anas Acuta is 17’ 8". Anyone know if this will work? If it is a question of balance, could I load my front hatch with my day-trip gear and even out the balance point? Does this cart work with such a narrow boat (21")? I like the idea of Tony’s Trailers as they are custom but the $$ is more than I’d like to spend. Any info I can get will help. Is the paddleboy ok for dirt roads if they aren’t too rough? Anything else? Thanks a ton in advance. wendy
Haw!
Just go try it. The length shouldn’t be a problem, but notice whether the boat starts oil-canning where it mounts to the cart. if it does, modify it with some sort of extra support.
Next, load the boat with a ton of stuff and go hurtling down a hill. See if you really can stop, or if the brake pads go ping! and fly off into the bushes while you race through the next intersection at a 100 mph. Well… you can work up to it if you don’t want to die.
Going to try something similar
but going to try and get my K-lite boat lower with foam covered web cradle, and create more width between the wheels for stability on rough roads, bike paths. Also, like with a car trailer, should probable have it hitch heavy to prevent fishtailing.
That REALLY is DUMB!
– Last Updated: Mar-01-09 10:00 AM EST –
Let's see, I'll attach a 3' lever to the seatpost of my bike, then hang the weight of a kayak on it...
That sounds like a great way to bend or break a seatpost. It would be a rather rude "awakening" to hit a bump and have your seatpost snap in half. I can imagine the lawsuits.
Might snap
But who would be towing a kayak with a $1500.00 ultra light bike.
Most of us morons would be towing our kayak with a hundred dollar Sears free spirit and then hide it in the brush.
If it is stolen we go out and find another cheap used bike.
This is still better than hitch hikeing up river while your Kayak is trying to hide in the bushes.
bicycle trailer experience
NO need to be such a loser with your replies. Have you ever pulled a trailer behind your bicycle full of kids, groceries, library books, kayak, canoe, recycling or the like? If not, then you don’t have anything to offer the discussion. If so, then you obviously would have some constructive things to say either way. Thanks for your great advice. FYI-trailers don’t “hang” from a seatpost clamp-they attach there. wendy
No, I think he’s right.
– Last Updated: Mar-01-09 11:23 AM EST –
Look at the pictures on that site again, and this one:
http://dumb-stick.com/spec%20page.htm
It looks like the Dumb Stick is simply a tube with holes cut through it at an angle for the seat post to slide through. With no bracing farther out to the axle like, say, a child seat, this essentially IS a lever and could quite possibly damage one's seat post. Actually, it looks more like a large pipe wrench to me. It's exactly what I would design if I WANTED to bend my seat post for some reason. The only thing he's wrong about is that the downforce would not be the ENTIRE weight of the kayak, rather, closer to half, maybe a little less, depending on where the cart is placed. If nearly the middle, then I suppose the weight would be nearly zero, or possibly even negative (pushing up, rather than weighting down). That doesn't solve the potential side-to-side problems though.
And before you accuse me of speaking out of turn, I've ridden my bikes with three different child seats, and attached an Adam's Axle Rider to two different bikes with different setups. None of those scenarios would have allowed the damage to a seat post that I see possible from this product.
YoS
I made a couple
that were pretty flimsy compared to this one and it worked fine going down roads and sidewalks. course you are not speeding and the cart needs to be placed in a pretty neutral position si it didn’t pull on the bar I had clamped to the seat post.
No side to side movement more than the length of the strap on the handle.
Honestly don’t know if I woudl trust it to a fancy wooden boat but i took the fiberglass outer island a few times and the tempests and scupper pros and didn’t have any issues with them. Only thing I would do different now is put a larger and more robust kayak cart with bigger wheels and better attachment points.
what are we talking about? mountain biking with this thing? Or just a mile down a road to the lake?
Paul
Here’s what I see.
A poorly designed bracket that will work fine with no damage 9 times out of 10. The tenth time, I can see the wheels of the cart catching a curb, getting stuck in a pot hole or one of them catching a sign post or something. At that moment, all bets are off and the seat post is going to take some major, possibly catastrophic damage that is likely to seriously injure the rider. Good luck with that.
YoS
Trailers and bikes
– Last Updated: Mar-01-09 5:38 PM EST –
I have never pulled a trailer with a bike (not counting a red wagon when i was kid, tied with rope that eventually passed me and I ran over it :-(. I have loaded 15 lbs on a back beam rack and I can tell you that unless your ride is flat, the extra weight makes for a big workout.
That type of rack is common. I have this on my 29R. http://www.topeak.com/products/Racks/MTXBeamRackE-Type
I would though, be concerned about the torque on the seat post if not properly balanced.
I would just attach something like this to my bike http://www.topeak.com/products/Racks/ExplorerTubularRack_spring (Less then $50) and bolt my own hitch on. It would be much more stable then the beam rack.
That said, nothing better then being "Cage Free". Pedal Power to the People :-)
My Cannondale Bugger’s bracket
just wrapped around the seat post. It had a horse shoe shaped braket with a hitch pin and a safety strap. I pulled about 80lbs. of kids and stuff with no problem. I now have a similar trailer that wraps aroud the seat post buffered by a rubber gromit. I have way over loaded that with wood and had no problem. The only seat post problem I have had is a XTR post that was paper thin chrome moly and it snapped. But I had never used it with a trailer.
Two things about the first product:
The way in which it attaches around the seat post employs a much larger surface area over the seat post, spreading out the load, rather than a simple hole drilled in the thread topic product. That’s much more similar to the Adam’s Trailabike hitch I’ve used.
Second, even beefed up a great deal like it is, it has a 20# maximum rating. I think even if balanced well, a kayak is going to exert more than 20# force on that carrier due to bouncing as one rides.
Notice in the second link that you provided, that the weight of anything carried on the bracket is simply transferred down to the axle. The clip that holds that set up to the seat post is merely to prevent the whole assembly from rotating around the axle connections. There is little or no actual pressure on the seat post.
These options are far better and proven than the Dumb Stick, which I still believe is more aptly named than the inventor intended. . . .
YoS