Having seen one of these many years ago when on holiday in France, I thought it would be interesting to see how practical it actually is.
Using a scooter wheel from the dismantled 3 wheels STV experiment and an old mountain bike rear spring, I built this. Hitched to the VFFF feet forward bike, I loaded it with a 40 kg bag of coal and rode it down a bumpy road.
It towed fine, but the swing arm on the VFFF is too torsionally flexible so I could feel the trailer steering the bike as it rocked laterally on bumps.
Conclusions
- The hitching point on the bike should be torsionally stiff.
- The total mass carried is limited, especially if carried high up. Same effect as a pillion on the handling of a bike.
- On an off-road bike with a light pay load it could work very well, following the bike’s wheel track.
- I have an idea for a torsionally stiff mount sharing the load between the rear seat subframe and the swing arm, but no actual use for such a trailer.
- For heavy loads, a non-tilting trailer is probably better in most cases. I have an idea about that too which seems worth an experiment. Some time.
- Overall length of a single wheel tilter is greater than that for a non tilter.