(no subject)
For Armiphlage and anyone else interested, my write-up about assembling the bike trailer I ordered!
The trailer arrived today (that was March 27) and I assembled it to make sure everything was there and undamaged. It's still pretty chilly out, though it's supposed to get to 0 later, so I put it together in the living room under Ella and Purrsephone's watchful eyes.
The quality seems ok. One review talked about poor quality of the tack welds holding the metal bottom plate of the cargo box to the frame, and I don't know welding very well but I agree with that. If they break, I can use zip-ties or something.
Another review said the quality of the wheels was awful. Before putting them on the axles, I took one tire off to look at the inside of the rim. The rim tape is not as nice as the fabric-based stuff on my bike's rims, but it'll probably do the job. None of the spokes seemed in danger of puncturing through it. The rim and tires look generally servicable as far as I can tell.
The axles were not attached to the wheels, so I put them on and attached them with the appropriate hardware: washers and snap-rings. The trailer came with a snap ring pliers. Another reviewer said it was the wrong size, but I had no problem with it. That reviewer also pointed out that unless you grease the axles, the whole attachment is just metal rotating against metal, and that seems like a bad idea. I greased the axle with white lithium grease before installing. It if needs to be regreased, it wouldn't be horrible to take the axle back out. It came with twice the number of washers and snap rings needed too.
The cargo area is pretty big! Ella fits with lots of room to spare, though she looks a bit concerned about this strange box she's in. I'm pretty sure a whole grocery order will fit in there. I'm going to find something to use as a cross-piece between the front and back corners around wheel level because cargo could easily lean against the fabric wall and push it against a wheel.
The whole thing is pretty big and heavy, actually. Fortunately, there are a couple of vinyl hooks in the wall in the storage room that hold it up nicely. The bike fits underneath, right where I'd been keeping it, so I don't need to take the wheels off to make it fit somewhere.
I'm really excited about showing up for my next grocery order pickup, sitting there in a parking spot with my bike and trailer to meet the employee coming out with the order. Given that this is Regina, they'll probably have never seen that before!
It came with a couple of little angled metal pieces with small projections at one end. I have no idea what they are and they didn't seem necessary for assembly and are not pictured in the directions.
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My first trip to get groceries on the 30th was successful! I wrote:
It's supposedly -3 out right now, but it feels warmer. I have to pick up groceries today so I wanted to see if I could get the trailer set up, and it turns out it was pretty simple. I removed the skewer from the rear quick release (QR), put the hitch plate between the lever part (I don't know if it has a precise name) and the frame, and put the skewer back in and tightened it. I had thought that the little indent on the hitch plate looked too small for the inboard end of the lever part of the QR to fit into, but it's actually just about perfect. I walked it around a little bit with the trailer attached and all seems good!
And later that day:
It was a success.
Riding on flats wasn't too different: I had to go down maybe a gear. When I was on a hill I could *really* tell I was on a hill!
The last set of fenders I had would have been long enough to keep wheel spray from flying up and into the trailer, but the set I have now is not. If there's any snow or rain or water, I'll need to put the cover on in it. Wheel spray refreezing on my trailer left little icicles on it!
The store employee who brought my order out didn't comment on the bike and trailer, but I think he smiled.
