Trailers: Where to start?

[Wayne pudding Mol]

      , I expect my initiation fee int mail correct :)

Nice one man.    

no haha, I contacted the seller only to find out he sold it last night

[Prince Albert Cycles]

Try 15" wheels . I do a lot of dirt roads with Venter trailer , Strides rack for 6 bikes and the 15" wheels are excellent

[Me rida my bicycle]

Chase trailers in D'ville do custom trailers. If you are planning on long term use and maintenance etc. It would be better for parts availability. We use to build trailers and these "Hypermarket" trailers have stupid issues things like, Venter wheel nuts and wheels are nearly impossible to find local.

Make sure it is "on the road" and licensed up to date. No play on the wheels and if it has rubberride axles check the alignment (in other words it should not have a beach buggy stance). Unless you are looking for more space I would rather opt for a custom rack if you can't find a big enough one.

[DJR]

Try 15" wheels . I do a lot of dirt roads with Venter trailer , Strides rack for 6 bikes and the 15" wheels are excellent

It is always a plus if your trailer and your cars wheels are interchangeable.

[PhilipV]

Try 15" wheels . I do a lot of dirt roads with Venter trailer , Strides rack for 6 bikes and the 15" wheels are excellent

.

If towing behind a bakkie or bigger SUV yes.

 

My trailer has 14 inch wheels, and is a bit higher than the tow hitch of my wife's tiguan, leading to a slightly nose down stance.

I deflate my tyres to 1.5bar when doing gravel to calm it down a bit.

 

Those stride racks are very nice.

[FondTF2]

We have a Venter Trailer that is probably close to 30 years old and still going strong. 

 

Most of them are specially coated for rust protection but have had to do the odd touch up with some spray paint.

 

Other than that, only other repair was replacing the bearings a few years ago.

[The Ouzo]

Something I realised over the weekend.

 

I bought my Venter used about 20 years ago, fitted a 4 bike bike rack from Venter. Its one of the ones where you take the front wheel off and the rack has quick release brackets where the fork fits into.

 

Anyway, I made a make shift chain keeper for cleaning the chain and decided to use a QR skewer from the trailer bike rack to fit the chain keeper to the bike. It was to short.

You see, the last time I used the trailer for bikes I did not have any disc brake bike in my stable, to it was no problem, I now have a problem with 1 disc brake MTB and 1 disc brake road bike in the stable.

 

I will have to investigate other options for bike transport on the trailer.

 

 

So, if the trailer you are buying has a bike rack, make sure you will be able to use it with the bikes you have.

 

 

 

On the wheel size, my trailer came with 10inch wheels, I later did the upgrade to 13 inch, it required a lift kit for extra clearance to the mudgaurds but it made a big difference to the towing of the trailer.

[Long Wheel Base]

WRT a trailer with no papers, how does it work? Are trailers serialised?

When I was building my garage to save costs I picked up as much of the material I could with my bakkie. When I needed the lintels for above the double door, I hired a flat bed trailer(because they were like 8 meters long). Now I am not sure if this is legal but it seemed like this trailer place had more trailers than licenses. So there were 6 flat bed trailers like what I hired but only 3 seemed to have licenses on. I also saw them fitting a plate and disk to another trailer when I was there.

[Kuys]

I also have problem transporting 4 bikes. 

 

Its not easy to fit 4 bikes onto a 4 bike towbar rack... 

 

And I dont have space for a normal trailer. 

 

Sooo: Im designing my own dedicate bike trailer, to carry 4 bikes only, nothing else. 

 

Will have good suspension otherwise it will just bounce around. 

 

And will be stowable upright against garage wall

 

Hope to have it running by October

[PhilipV]

WRT a trailer with no papers, how does it work? Are trailers serialised?

When I was building my garage to save costs I picked up as much of the material I could with my bakkie. When I needed the lintels for above the double door, I hired a flat bed trailer(because they were like 8 meters long). Now I am not sure if this is legal but it seemed like this trailer place had more trailers than licenses. So there were 6 flat bed trailers like what I hired but only 3 seemed to have licenses on. I also saw them fitting a plate and disk to another trailer when I was there.

Dodgy AF. They probably have duplicate VIN numbers on a couple of trailers.

 

A trailer is like a car. has a unique VIN number, license and number plate and is in eNatis like a car. Also needs to go for roadworthy test.

Home built trailers are very hard to get registered. So a trailer without papers either had a lapsed license or has never been licensed.

[ChrisF]

WRT a trailer with no papers, how does it work? Are trailers serialised?

When I was building my garage to save costs I picked up as much of the material I could with my bakkie. When I needed the lintels for above the double door, I hired a flat bed trailer(because they were like 8 meters long). Now I am not sure if this is legal but it seemed like this trailer place had more trailers than licenses. So there were 6 flat bed trailers like what I hired but only 3 seemed to have licenses on. I also saw them fitting a plate and disk to another trailer when I was there.

 

Yes, trailers have serial numbers.

 

Early 90's I bought an old home made trailer - with papers, but no serial number.  In the end I had to go to a special office (yard) of the traffic Department.  Then had to have e new serial number stamped onto the frame.

 

About 10 years ago a friend wanted to build and register a trailer ... BIG schlep !! 

 

 

So getting a trailer "back on the road" could be costly, if it is confirmed as not stolen.  But do-able.

 

 

Buying a home built trailer and trying to get that on the road really is a pain !

[Breezer]

I have a 1988 venter. Still have 10 inch wheels. Build my own 4 bike rack. Cost me R750. Stay away from no papers trailers. If you do a lot of miles continuously consider 13 inch wheels, but for short trips up to 200km there is nothing wrong with 10inch wheels. Just check the bearings regularly.

You can find real bargains in 10 inch venters.

[Dadbod Racing]

I bought a trailer two years ago, best move I could make. 

 

Must have papers and license up to date, so many advertised without licenses. 

I service the bearings once a year, also before I use it I always check the tire pressure. 

I'm having a heavy duty canvas cover made as I go through about 2 covers a year. 

Do lock it up when you are parked. 

I fitted a holdfast top runner on the top, I have a Fibreglass Eagle 6ft but not sure of the weight of 4 bikes so I put big bikes on the car (another old school Holdfast rack the one with the bracket next to the tow ball and the kids bikes go on the trailer)

Insurance costs me less than R30 a month. 

I worked out that our last trip would have cost us about R2500. 

 

Your trailer does stand for alot of the time but for me it made more sense buying one and keeping it. You never know when you need it. 

 

In closing... There's nothing that makes me feel more like a ballie than hooking your trailer up. 

 

And yes I did ask my wife to take a video of me reversing it all the way up our driveway to send to her friend, her friend replied with one word...LEGEND.

This friend a I had a good laugh as we knew the fun of using a trailer in the 80's, your toppie would need to make sure the cars lights matched the trailer lights and you having to shout what light is on and make sure it corresponds with the car lights... #goodtimes

[breaker]

Thanx for the feedback everyone, managed to get a good looking camp master roadster 310. Looking at getting the bike rack sorted for it. Originally I was going to source another 2 bike holdfast rack as I have one that I use now and make some sort of adaptation so that the one 2 rack is fixed and the other can be removed. However I stumbled onto a 4 bike rack for this trailer, the only thing I noticed is that the bikes are mounted perpendicular to the trailer/car instead of inline with it if that makes sense. Is this going to be as big of an issue? I know its mounted exactly the same on the normal bike rack but that is behind the car and this would be a little more exposed sitting on top of the trailer?

[mazambaan]

I have had various motor bike and boat trailers for years and reinforce the bearings and spare wheel comment.  Check the both once a year or before any longish trip and have a spare set of bearings with you, plus grease etc. Near the coast - check for rust; I have stories.

[ChrisF]

Thanx for the feedback everyone, managed to get a good looking camp master roadster 310. Looking at getting the bike rack sorted for it. Originally I was going to source another 2 bike holdfast rack as I have one that I use now and make some sort of adaptation so that the one 2 rack is fixed and the other can be removed. However I stumbled onto a 4 bike rack for this trailer, the only thing I noticed is that the bikes are mounted perpendicular to the trailer/car instead of inline with it if that makes sense. Is this going to be as big of an issue? I know its mounted exactly the same on the normal bike rack but that is behind the car and this would be a little more exposed sitting on top of the trailer?

Does this provide a bit more space between the bikes ?

 

Four bikes in line with the trailer may get super cramped to still fit on the trailer lid ...