Commuter bike for towing a trailer

[annirak]

I've started pulling a trailer about 14 miles a day. I'm doing this on my old Trek FX 7.0. I find I rarely get above 38x20 on 700c wheels. The trailer weighs about 24kg unloaded and I have another 20kg worth of kid and gear in it.

I've already broken an axle & QR skewer, worn out a chain, and had my chain fall off the top end of the cassette and get jammed in between the cassette and the spokes. Then, I discovered that my front brakes are scraping my rim and had the trailer partly pull the rear wheel out of the dropouts because the QR skewer wasn't tight enough, causing my brakes to rub.

Given the trailer weight, the maintenance headaches, and the all-weather commuting, I'm starting to crave disc brakes, a hub gear, and a belt drive.

I've had a look at a Cannondale Contro 2, and the Alfine hub gear was nice. I'm also looking at the Genesis day one 20, the Cube Hyde race, and the foffa Nuvinci Black.

Any thoughts on these or other options would be much appreciated.

 

[raleighnut]

Old CrMo steel mtb with 7x3 transmission and a rear wheel with a nutted axle.

 

[Flyboy]

Fat bike with 29er wheels, you could fix the trailer to the actual bike.

 

[annirak]

Did I mention that I seem to wear 8-speed chains out in 3-6 months, without the trailer? I don't think derailleur transmissions are suited to towing trailers