Trailering with added bike rack?

I see there are draw bar adapters/extensions that enable mounting a bicycle rack plus your standard hitch ball for coupling the trailer, e.g:

https://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Recei...k+extender#Ask

Could the extended arm of such connections plus the added weight of a bicycle or two present some tradeoffs in trailering stability and weight limits?

Has anyone tried this, and if so what was your experience. Any engineering cautions welcome as well.

Thanks,
Mark

On Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 2:11:33 PM UTC-7, wrote:
I see there are draw bar adapters/extensions that enable mounting a bicycle rack plus your standard hitch ball for coupling the trailer, e.g:

https://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Recei...k+extender#Ask

Could the extended arm of such connections plus the added weight of a bicycle or two present some tradeoffs in trailering stability and weight limits?

Has anyone tried this, and if so what was your experience. Any engineering cautions welcome as well.

Thanks,
Mark

The biggest problem may be keeping under the vehicle tongue weight limit - you'll be adding about 100 pounds of tow bar extender and bicycles. It will typically also extend the location of the tow ball further away from the rear axle - not desirable from a stability standpoint. However, it shouldn't be a problem unless your tow vehicle is already close to the limits of weight and stability. A bicycle carrier on the front of the trailer helps overcome both of these objections.

Mike

Mike

I've done it and it works just fine. A better way is to mount racks on top of the trailer and put the bikes up there where they are more out of the way.

On Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 5:11:33 PM UTC-4, wrote:
I see there are draw bar adapters/extensions that enable mounting a bicycle rack plus your standard hitch ball for coupling the trailer, e.g:

https://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Recei...k+extender#Ask

Could the extended arm of such connections plus the added weight of a bicycle or two present some tradeoffs in trailering stability and weight limits?


Has anyone tried this, and if so what was your experience. Any engineering cautions welcome as well.

Thanks,
Mark

I built a clamp with a bike rack receiver that went onto the square tow bar of my trailer (no brakes on this trailer). The bike rack went into that receiver front-to-rear and I did haul three bikes from SC to UT and back with it. The bike rack was positioned such that I could still open the tail-gate of the station wagon (VW Passat). To access the trailer's front hatch, I could pull a pin on the bike rack and lean the bikes forward a bit. Worked great and the person who bought my glider several years later thought it was a great added feature.

Uli
'AS'

On Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 2:11:33 PM UTC-7, wrote:
I see there are draw bar adapters/extensions that enable mounting a bicycle rack plus your standard hitch ball for coupling the trailer, e.g:

https://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Recei...k+extender#Ask

Could the extended arm of such connections plus the added weight of a bicycle or two present some tradeoffs in trailering stability and weight limits?

Has anyone tried this, and if so what was your experience. Any engineering cautions welcome as well.

Thanks,
Mark

My father mounted a standard roof rack on top of his cobra trailer(with the addition of some brackets) and hauled a canoe up there. Quite a site. I imagine bike would work too.

I used "platform type" bike racks:

https://www.thule.com/en-us/us/bike-...on-9046-_-9046

Mounted one tray on each side of the trailer just ahead of the axle. I used two thin wall tubes to span the width of the trailer to act as receiver hitches on each side of the trailer. Then bolted two tubes to each rack tray, one forward and one aft on the tray so the rig is stable - I can sit on the bicycle while it's on the trailer - it's that solid.

The bikes hardly stick out to the side more than the trailer wheels, and are narrower than the tow vehicle. Due to being mounted aft on the trailer, added hitch weight is minimal.

I don't have a pic handy but I'm sold on my solution:
I got a length of pipe welded to the drawbar. It's a vertical 1.5? inch lump of waterpipe. So I then use a standard bike rack, that normally fits on a tow ball, except that I put it on the pipe AND the rack faces backwards (i..e. prongs towards the car). This works really well.

BUT:
1/ You need to weld to the drawbar (mine is a heavy home-made square section, clearly nice commercial trailers will be different).

2/ The added weight (2 heavy bikes) is significant. I add some luggage items to the rear of the trailer to compensate but this does make it more prone to snaking of course

3/ You need a long enough drawbar so the bikes don't wack the rear of the car when you turn a tight corner

So not for everybody, but if I designed or refurbished a trailer I would build this feature in! cheers JR