Trailer Wheel alignment

[PrettyboyTim]

I have a child trailer for my bike, and I'm wondering how important the alignment between the trailer and the bike is?

I noticed yesterday that once hitched to the back of the bike, the rear wheel is about 4-5 inches to the right of the centreline of the trailer, and I'm wondering how much of an impact that has on the running of the trailer? I'd have thought that it would be better for the pull from the bike to pass through the mid-point between the two wheels...

The trailer is very much like the one sold on this website, although I actually got mine from eBay.

 

[TimO]

I would guess that in this situation the forces on the wheels would cause the trailer to move at a slight angle, but this probably depends more on where the trailer is pulled rather than the bike wheel per se. ie if the hitch point is directly between the trailer wheels it'll probably be OK.

The downside is going to be (i) harder work pulling the trailer and (ii) greater wear on the tyre.

Anyway who actually has a two wheeled trailer care to comment on this? My trailer is only single wheeled, so it's pretty damned essential that it is in line with the bike wheel!