Trailer or Panniers?

[Mini58]

i intend to do LEJOG in MAY this year! Does anyone have any thoughts on taking a trailer or packing panniers? With regards to weight I was looking at packing 20kg plus a bit of food - I am camping with the odd day B&B

I am looking to take a month though a little bit over is not a problem. I will be riding an ICE Trike Adventure

Kind regards Alan

 

[Deleted member 26715]

No idea on your question, but good luck

 

[cosmicbike]

I presume you have the rack, in which case I'd reckon a set of side panniers, top bag and a pair of Radical seat bags would do the job, and probablly be a bit more flexible than just a trailer.
Mind you, I've never done it.....

 

[Mini58]

No idea on your question, but good luck

Thanks for your support- I will need it - must say I like the look of the “buggy “

 

[Mini58]

I presume you have the rack, in which case I'd reckon a set of side panniers, top bag and a pair of Radical seat bags would do the job, and probablly be a bit more flexible than just a trailer.
Mind you, I've never done it.....

Cheers cosmicbike: yip got a rack Ortlieb panniers and Radicals : just need someone to do the cycling for me now

 

[Mini58]

Panniers and I'd be taking the absolute minimum as well. You dont want to be struggling up those massive hills with a really heavy bike.

Thanks Liz: it will be a bit of a struggle - but hey that is the fun of it is it not.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

There’s something fun looking about those Bob Yak trailers. The YouTube touring videos from America are full of the things. Our cousins sure like to pack masses of stuff though.

My only experience is of a trailer bike, and although it was stable and fast enough, I didn’t like the ‘third party’ feedback I got from pulling a separate piece of equipment.

I’ve got to say I prefer the fluidity of just the bike and panniers.

 

[Tigerbiten]

I'm disabled so I cannot pack my kit to its smallest volume.
So for ease of use, I've always used a trailer.
With a bent trike a single wheel Bob Yak type trailer is not advised due to the forces on the frame trying to tip you up.
So I use the frame of a large Carry Freedom trailer with around a 100 liter aluminium box bolted to it, which adds around an extra 10 Kg to the total load.
The extra volume is its main advantage.
Plus I think it makes the trike look bigger from behind and it doesn't affect the handling.
It's main downside is it makes it a lot harder/impossible to follow some off-road routes due to anti-cycling barriers.

Panniers.
Less room equals less possible weight carried.
The extra weight on the back wheel means you'll less likely to suffer from wheel slip going up loose/wet/muddy slopes.
The downside is the higher you pack the load, the higher the CoG of the trike becomes and the most unstable it will be on fast downhill corners.

 

[Mini58]

I'm disabled so I cannot pack my kit to its smallest volume.
So for ease of use, I've always used a trailer.
With a bent trike a single wheel Bob Yak type trailer is not advised due to the forces on the frame trying to tip you up.
So I use the frame of a large Carry Freedom trailer with around a 100 liter aluminium box bolted to it, which adds around an extra 10 Kg to the total load.
The extra volume is its main advantage.
Plus I think it makes the trike look bigger from behind and it doesn't affect the handling.
It's main downside is it makes it a lot harder/impossible to follow some off-road routes due to anti-cycling barriers.

Panniers.
Less room equals less possible weight carried.
The extra weight on the back wheel means you'll less likely to suffer from wheel slip going up loose/wet/muddy slopes.
The downside is the higher you pack the load, the higher the CoG of the trike becomes and the most unstable it will be on fast downhill corners.

Thank you for your reply: hi Tigerbiten: it is Alan here I use Mini58 as there was something about not using your own name on this site but hey: Alan58/Mini58 all the same to me. It was going out with you that put the idea in my head just getting opinions from other site users. So now you know it is me what do you think? Thanks again

 

[Tigerbiten]

You'll find that every extra 10 Kg of luggage will slow you down by approximately 1 mph.
The aerodynamics of my trailer also slow me down by around 1 mph.
So on tour, I'll do roughly 10 mph on the flat, 1,000' climbing every 40-50 miles.
I'll slow down another 2 mph in rolling terrain, roughly 1,000' for every 20-25 miles covered.
In hilly terrain 1,000' climbing every 10 miles, I can drop below 6 mph average speed.

I use a trailer because it easier for me just to pack the side pods and trailer vs trying to pack side pods and panniers.
With my ultra low sub-10" first gear, the extra weight of the trailer doesn't make that much difference, I can climb hills with the same effort just a little slower.
Also the trailer has a 20 watt solar panel on it. This keeps all my electronics charged via an E-Werks up even when wild camping.

Luck .........

 

[Mini58]

You'll find that every extra 10 Kg of luggage will slow you down by approximately 1 mph.
The aerodynamics of my trailer also slow me down by around 1 mph.
So on tour, I'll do roughly 10 mph on the flat, 1,000' climbing every 40-50 miles.
I'll slow down another 2 mph in rolling terrain, roughly 1,000' for every 20-25 miles covered.
In hilly terrain 1,000' climbing every 10 miles, I can drop below 6 mph average speed.

I use a trailer because it easier for me just to pack the side pods and trailer vs trying to pack side pods and panniers.
With my ultra low sub-10" first gear, the extra weight of the trailer doesn't make that much difference, I can climb hills with the same effort just a little slower.
Also the trailer has a 20 watt solar panel on it. This keeps all my electronics charged via an E-Werks up even when wild camping.

Luck .........

Thanks again really informative: gives me the detail I was looking for.