Probably the most common question here at the shop begins with, “so, I bought a used trailer on eBay.” Our follow up question is always, “what brand is the trailer?” The answer will invariably come from this list: Kidarooz, Rhode Gear, Bell, Kool-Stop, Winchester Original, JD Razor, Cannondale, Tanjor, Yakima, Norco USA, or Trek, those trailers abandoned, orphaned, and kicked to the side of the bike path in the name of progress. Did they deserve this sort of treatment. Some, yes, but all old trailers have some usefulness. But can they be revived without looking too hillbilly?
Maybe. A lot of old trailers suffer from clunky, complicated hitch designs. The first step to reviving your trailer is to abandon the notion that you’ll ever find a hitch exactly like the original. For these brands, it’s just not going to happen. You must accept change.
The easiest trailers to retrofit with a newer hitch are those with towbars made from either square or round tubing and that allow you to remove every bit of the old coupler, leaving an open tubing end. This obviously excludes single-wheeled trailers, like the Yakima Big Tow, which I’ll mention later.
Burley and Chariot make the two most common trailer couplers that may work with your now bare towbar. They bolt into the empty towbar socket and provide a solid connection to their corresponding hitch. The Burley Flex Connectors come in square and round tongue versions and connect to a variety of Burley hitches, depending on your bike. Their dimensions are as follows:
Round tongue:
Outer diameter - 0.85″
Square tongue:
Outer diameter - 0.92″
The Chariot Lollipop connects to the Chariot hitch (entire assembly here), which can be used with either quick release and nutted axles, and even some Breezer-style dropouts. Its dimensions are:
Lollipop:
Outer diameter - 0.75″
If your towbar’s inner diameter is just a bit larger than one of these, i.e. within about 0.1″, you may be able to resurrect the beast. For all three couplers, there needs to be a bolt hole between 1.5″ and 1.75″ from the end of the towbar in order to connect the two.
Fortunately, the Yakima Big Tow, that I mentioned earlier, is a simpler matter. The fork tabs on the frame are spaced just a smidge wider than the head tube of a BOB fork, but if you have a few washers to take up the space, it’s that easy to put your Big Tow back in service.
Warning/Safety Issues:
While the various methods for restoring hitchless trailers, mentioned above can function quite well with well thought out installation, please be aware of the following warranty and safety issues:
1: Hitch designs are not recognized as being cross compatible by the bike trailer manufacturers. Installing the hitch of one brand of trailer onto another brand of bike trailer will likely void the warranty on both the hitch and the bike trailer.
2: Bicycle Trailer hitch design effects the placement of the trailer behind the bicycle. Most bicycle trailers are designed to be centered behind the bicycle. The length of the trailer’s hitch arm is specifically designed to work with the trailer’s specific hitch. If you choose to install another hitch style on your bike, this may have the affect of putting your trailer off center in relation to your bicycle. This can possibly be adjusted for by shortening or lengthening the hitch arm.
3. Modifying and changing a bicycle trailer can have other unintended consequences. Do not attempt to use a self modified bike trailer without a very thorough understanding of the changes and adjustment being made to the bicycle trailer.
5 responses so far ↓
1 steely // Jul 20, 2008 at 8:29 pm
You should add Nashbar to your list. I bought a kid karrier on sale. The darn thing is great and almost indistructable. After the kid grows out of it, all the kid related stuff will strip off leaving a nice cargo platform. The only problem is the hitch is a POS. Thanks for the info on hitches. Maybe I can get one to work.
2 Ryan // Jul 21, 2008 at 4:47 am
I was frustrated trying to use a trailer arm off a low end kiddie trailer because it was incompatable with disc brakes and it lacked enough heel clearance for my size 12’s. I decided that I needed an new attachment method that would be quicker/easier to hook up and release and would allow heel clearance. I used an idea I found elsewhere on the interwebs and used a ball-bearing swivel castor wheel and an airline quick connect. Sorry the pictures are not great, camera was dieing on me.
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h170/HandsomeRyan/IMG_0384.jpg
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h170/HandsomeRyan/IMG_0386.jpg
I have not integrated a fail-safe strap yet but 30 miles of pulling on bumpy poorly paved roads and I not had a problem yet.
*If you like to build stuff and you don’t own a welder you should buy one! Best. Tool. Ever.
3 Richard // Jul 25, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I have a custom made cargo trailer and need a hitch for it and was going to get a Burley Flex connector, im concern about getting it because if im pulling heavy weight will the rubber Burley Flex connector handle it and how much can it handle?
4 Josh // Jul 25, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Most of the Burley Trailers are rated at 100lbs. This is a rating based on a variety of strength and safety precautions. I do not know if the Flex Connector is measured specifically for its durability beyond its use with the 100lb limit of the Burley Trailer. Burley does not make this as a part designed for use with other trailers. That being said, the flex connector is made from a very durable rubber/plastic that can actually stretch up to 6 ft in length. As with all Do-It-Yourself bicycle related projects, you must take the assessment and risk of adapted parts into your own hands.
5 The Bike Trailer List — Bike Trailer Blog // Jul 29, 2008 at 11:09 am
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