Sheffield_Tiger
Guru
Raleigh Avenir Mule Cycle Trailer Review 16/2/10
This bike trailer is available in many stores including JE James (where I purchased mine), online retailers, and even Argos.
I chose the Mule as it had the most traditional trailer layout - two wheels, a "box" shape body, a flat base and quite a generous cargo area. Initially I was impressed with the way the tubular framework over which the canvas sides are stretched, quickly folded down (a simple case of unscrewing two large knurled bolts by hand that hold the two hinged crossbars and swinging them parallel to the frame sides). The drawbar folds back under the base with a simple lynch pin securing it, and the wheels are removed in the same fashion.
The folding aspect is an important one for me, my bikes sharing a wooden shiplap shed with lawnmower, garden tools, ladders and all the usual "shed clutter" - no spacious garage for me. The Mule, when folded with wheels removed, takes up almost no floor space. Hanging wouldn't be out of the question either. After a couple of times, folding/unfolding takes about a minute.
LIGHTING
When choosing the Mule I also looked at lighting options, since it would need to be used in the dark. Happily, the frame diameter is similar to a chainstay, and there is a gap in the bottom corner of the canvas sides which just allows a rear light bracket to poke out. I fitted a Smart 1/2 watt 3 LED to each side, and the trailer is well lit, the top low enough for my rack mounted and seatpost mounted rear lights to be clearly visible too.
The Mule's top cover is a bright yellow with small reflective strips sewn in to aid visibility further, although to emphasise to oncoming traffic that I am wider than a normal cycle, I find that looping a lashing LED armband around each front corner gives clear warning of width.
TECHNICALLY, showing the red light of the arm-bands front-facing is illegal, also mounting the trailer rear lights in their position at the bottom rear corners contravenes regulations giving a minimum height for rear lights. I would suggest that one would have to encounter a particularly grumpy jobsworth police officer to land in hot water for these minor issues - being seen is more important than the letter of the law in my opinion.
The trailer's manual does however suggest that it should not be used at night, probably because of the lack of a dedicated lighting mount and the issue of light height and the law.
ATTACHING TO THE BIKE
The Mule doesn't have specific couplings, the drawbar is a simple affair with a chainstay clamp-on fitting, again with a large knurled headed bolt. Some reviews comment that a wrench is needed to sufficiently tighten the clamp - I find that tightening by hand is secure enough, though I do have reasonably large hands that have been accustomed to swinging spanners around under cars. Someone with a lesser grip may well need to use the assistance of tools.
The problem with the clamp fitting is that it is designed for 1970s bicycles, where straight, consistently round stays were the order of the day.
The trailer fits fine around the chainstays of my Virtuoso. It will not fit my Felt MTB frame at all. I eventually managed to hook up to the EBC Country Explorer despite its rear disc and non-straight, oval chainstays, by instead clamping to the bottom of the seat stay. The connection from the clamp to the drawbar is via a spring coupling which allows for a little shock absorption and for turning, which made connecting to the seat stay possible. However, this made the clamp a little close to the heel when pedalling - not good if you are "flat footed" on the pedals.
For security, a webbing strap is also provided, to loop around the frame and back to a D-ring on the drawbar, to prevent loss of the trailer should the clamp become uncoupled from the bike. I prefer to loop this twice, to keep it tight, in such en event i would not like a loose drawbar in my spokes.
You would certainly be advised to try the trailer on your bike to make sure it fitted and that it didn't interfere with your pedalling, before buying the Mule.
LOADING AND TOWING
The canvas sides of the trailer save weight. Unfortunately they also allow your cargo to push outwards. The cargo can easily shift and, if there is any weight to it, invariably pushes the canvas into the side of the wheels. For carrying carriers of tins and plastic for recycling its fine. Any other load needs strapping down. The plywood base does however offer scope for attaching cleats, hooks etc available from car trailer part suppliers, to allow this. The trailer as it is, offers no convenient effective strapping points. Climbing a hill on a shopping trip became impossible when the shopping rubbed on the back wheel, in effect applying a brake..
HANDLING
When towing, even unloaded, you certainly know the trailer is there up any inclines. Whilst the canvas sides do save some weight, the frame is steel, and the base is a big chunk of plywood. Enough to have an effect especially where your journey is hilly.
The simple idea of the spring to allow turning does have an impact with a load of any weight. The spring is not damped, so with undulations in the road, and acceleration etc. the trailer starts to "bounce" back and forth, which you can certainly feel whilst riding, and which is a little disconcerting.
Most worrying however is that the trailer can tip over! It doesn't look like it has a tendency to, its two wheels look stable enough. However, as I discovered, when empty, there is no weight to compensate for tilt. As I rode along a busy road, I pulled into the right hand lane as I do when unladen, and made brisk progress to my right turn 50 yards ahead - the road clear I turned as normal, as I made the turn, a terrible scraping noise suddenly appeared - a quick glance showed the trailer still attached to the stay, so I figured that I'd lost a wheel, and brought the bike to a gentle stop.
The trailer's wheels were both present - however the trailer was sat on its left side. The speed of the right turn had caused the right wheel to lift - possibly the non-standard connection to the seat stay rather than inline to the chainstay may have added to the problem. The scraping noise had been that of the trailer being pulled on its side, damaging the canvas cover (however the damage was minimal, the durability of the cover seeming quite good)
I then remembered the words of the instruction manual: "Do not exceed 10MPH"
I had never seen this stated before purchasing the trailer and initially was concerned but as is evident, forgot about it. If this had been advertised, i would not have purchased this trailer.
The quality is cheap in some aspects, such as plastic bushed "pram wheels" but this is a cheaper bike trailer. My feeling after having used it a number of times is that it ought to be even cheaper, and advertised with the speed limit.
BUY CHEAP, BUY TWICE
I am now in search of a new trailer, I will use the Mule again with care but no longer with confidence. Whilst I don't think loss of load would have been an issue as the load would have weighted the base down avoiding the overturning, I don't like the idea of things overturning in traffic. Neither do I like the idea of having to keep to 10MPH and make a right-turn on a busy two lane road, by trying to change into the right lane at 10MPH.
I didn't know whether I would use a trailer much when I bought the Mule in December - now I know that I will make use of it, a better trailer is on the shopping list.
The trouble is, with a £90-ish price tag, its an expensive "tryout"
A promising start but ultimately disappointing.
-----------------------------------------------------------
As a footnote to the review;
The Mule still remains spacious compared to other trailers and in that respect is still ideal for occasional use with bulkier loads, such as tip trips (if allowed, re: other thread about bikes to the tip)
It has shown not to be suited to "fast commuting" for which it seems a single wheel trailer may be more practical. I await the opening of the local Edinburgh Bike Co-Op to look at their single-wheeler option more closely.
This bike trailer is available in many stores including JE James (where I purchased mine), online retailers, and even Argos.
I chose the Mule as it had the most traditional trailer layout - two wheels, a "box" shape body, a flat base and quite a generous cargo area. Initially I was impressed with the way the tubular framework over which the canvas sides are stretched, quickly folded down (a simple case of unscrewing two large knurled bolts by hand that hold the two hinged crossbars and swinging them parallel to the frame sides). The drawbar folds back under the base with a simple lynch pin securing it, and the wheels are removed in the same fashion.
The folding aspect is an important one for me, my bikes sharing a wooden shiplap shed with lawnmower, garden tools, ladders and all the usual "shed clutter" - no spacious garage for me. The Mule, when folded with wheels removed, takes up almost no floor space. Hanging wouldn't be out of the question either. After a couple of times, folding/unfolding takes about a minute.
LIGHTING
When choosing the Mule I also looked at lighting options, since it would need to be used in the dark. Happily, the frame diameter is similar to a chainstay, and there is a gap in the bottom corner of the canvas sides which just allows a rear light bracket to poke out. I fitted a Smart 1/2 watt 3 LED to each side, and the trailer is well lit, the top low enough for my rack mounted and seatpost mounted rear lights to be clearly visible too.
The Mule's top cover is a bright yellow with small reflective strips sewn in to aid visibility further, although to emphasise to oncoming traffic that I am wider than a normal cycle, I find that looping a lashing LED armband around each front corner gives clear warning of width.
TECHNICALLY, showing the red light of the arm-bands front-facing is illegal, also mounting the trailer rear lights in their position at the bottom rear corners contravenes regulations giving a minimum height for rear lights. I would suggest that one would have to encounter a particularly grumpy jobsworth police officer to land in hot water for these minor issues - being seen is more important than the letter of the law in my opinion.
The trailer's manual does however suggest that it should not be used at night, probably because of the lack of a dedicated lighting mount and the issue of light height and the law.
ATTACHING TO THE BIKE
The Mule doesn't have specific couplings, the drawbar is a simple affair with a chainstay clamp-on fitting, again with a large knurled headed bolt. Some reviews comment that a wrench is needed to sufficiently tighten the clamp - I find that tightening by hand is secure enough, though I do have reasonably large hands that have been accustomed to swinging spanners around under cars. Someone with a lesser grip may well need to use the assistance of tools.
The problem with the clamp fitting is that it is designed for 1970s bicycles, where straight, consistently round stays were the order of the day.
The trailer fits fine around the chainstays of my Virtuoso. It will not fit my Felt MTB frame at all. I eventually managed to hook up to the EBC Country Explorer despite its rear disc and non-straight, oval chainstays, by instead clamping to the bottom of the seat stay. The connection from the clamp to the drawbar is via a spring coupling which allows for a little shock absorption and for turning, which made connecting to the seat stay possible. However, this made the clamp a little close to the heel when pedalling - not good if you are "flat footed" on the pedals.
For security, a webbing strap is also provided, to loop around the frame and back to a D-ring on the drawbar, to prevent loss of the trailer should the clamp become uncoupled from the bike. I prefer to loop this twice, to keep it tight, in such en event i would not like a loose drawbar in my spokes.
You would certainly be advised to try the trailer on your bike to make sure it fitted and that it didn't interfere with your pedalling, before buying the Mule.
LOADING AND TOWING
The canvas sides of the trailer save weight. Unfortunately they also allow your cargo to push outwards. The cargo can easily shift and, if there is any weight to it, invariably pushes the canvas into the side of the wheels. For carrying carriers of tins and plastic for recycling its fine. Any other load needs strapping down. The plywood base does however offer scope for attaching cleats, hooks etc available from car trailer part suppliers, to allow this. The trailer as it is, offers no convenient effective strapping points. Climbing a hill on a shopping trip became impossible when the shopping rubbed on the back wheel, in effect applying a brake..
HANDLING
When towing, even unloaded, you certainly know the trailer is there up any inclines. Whilst the canvas sides do save some weight, the frame is steel, and the base is a big chunk of plywood. Enough to have an effect especially where your journey is hilly.
The simple idea of the spring to allow turning does have an impact with a load of any weight. The spring is not damped, so with undulations in the road, and acceleration etc. the trailer starts to "bounce" back and forth, which you can certainly feel whilst riding, and which is a little disconcerting.
Most worrying however is that the trailer can tip over! It doesn't look like it has a tendency to, its two wheels look stable enough. However, as I discovered, when empty, there is no weight to compensate for tilt. As I rode along a busy road, I pulled into the right hand lane as I do when unladen, and made brisk progress to my right turn 50 yards ahead - the road clear I turned as normal, as I made the turn, a terrible scraping noise suddenly appeared - a quick glance showed the trailer still attached to the stay, so I figured that I'd lost a wheel, and brought the bike to a gentle stop.
The trailer's wheels were both present - however the trailer was sat on its left side. The speed of the right turn had caused the right wheel to lift - possibly the non-standard connection to the seat stay rather than inline to the chainstay may have added to the problem. The scraping noise had been that of the trailer being pulled on its side, damaging the canvas cover (however the damage was minimal, the durability of the cover seeming quite good)
I then remembered the words of the instruction manual: "Do not exceed 10MPH"
I had never seen this stated before purchasing the trailer and initially was concerned but as is evident, forgot about it. If this had been advertised, i would not have purchased this trailer.
The quality is cheap in some aspects, such as plastic bushed "pram wheels" but this is a cheaper bike trailer. My feeling after having used it a number of times is that it ought to be even cheaper, and advertised with the speed limit.
BUY CHEAP, BUY TWICE
I am now in search of a new trailer, I will use the Mule again with care but no longer with confidence. Whilst I don't think loss of load would have been an issue as the load would have weighted the base down avoiding the overturning, I don't like the idea of things overturning in traffic. Neither do I like the idea of having to keep to 10MPH and make a right-turn on a busy two lane road, by trying to change into the right lane at 10MPH.
I didn't know whether I would use a trailer much when I bought the Mule in December - now I know that I will make use of it, a better trailer is on the shopping list.
The trouble is, with a £90-ish price tag, its an expensive "tryout"
A promising start but ultimately disappointing.
-----------------------------------------------------------
As a footnote to the review;
The Mule still remains spacious compared to other trailers and in that respect is still ideal for occasional use with bulkier loads, such as tip trips (if allowed, re: other thread about bikes to the tip)
It has shown not to be suited to "fast commuting" for which it seems a single wheel trailer may be more practical. I await the opening of the local Edinburgh Bike Co-Op to look at their single-wheeler option more closely.
