touring, bob trailers and the ottrott st...

[spiderman]

my wife and i are thinking about doing the great lakes
bike route from manitowoc to the u.p. and ludington
then back to our car on the ferry.
rather than get touring bikes
my wife bought me a bob trailer to haul our gear...
...anyone want to join us
or have positive experience to share
with this touring method??

[scrooge]

Works great--my wife and I did that a couple of years ago (but started in Grand Rapids and Road up to Ludington, Ferry across, aroundt the UP and back down to GR). We each used a trailer and were easily able to carry our gear (we camped)--in fact, if anything we had too much room and caved to the temptation to carry a lot of stuff we didn't need. If you do the hotel route, I'd think you could easily get by with one trailer (this past year we did a tour around Lake Erie on our tandem and had no problems with a BOB and two panniers).

[Ken Robb]

This can also be done with one of the larger Carradice or Rivendell saddlebags attached to your regular bikes, I think.

[Ginger]

I haven't toured with it yet, but I have the old bob that uses a big tupperware container on top (no...seriously...) for grocery getting and runs to the farmer's market. I'm really beginning to like the trailer better than panniers. Ride with some weight in your trailer a few times and see what you think.

You don't need a kickstand once you learn the jack knife parking position. It looks painful, but it works fine. (I wouldn't do that with fancy wheels though...for some unreasonable reason of my own device.)

Keep me posted on your trip, if the stars align it may be fun to join you for a bit!

Mary Ann

[Brian Smith]

I haven't toured with it yet, but I have the old bob that uses a big tupperware container on top (no...seriously...) for grocery getting and runs to the farmer's market. I'm really beginning to like the trailer better than panniers. Ride with some weight in your trailer a few times and see what you think.

You don't need a kickstand once you learn the jack knife parking position. It looks painful, but it works fine. (I wouldn't do that with fancy wheels though...for some unreasonable reason of my own device.)

Keep me posted on your trip, if the stars align it may be fun to join you for a bit!

Mary Ann

Wasn't it Rubbermaid? Wasn't it the model that disassembled and could also be itself completely contained and stored within the Rubbermaid container? I wanted one of those...

On touring with a Bob trailer...when I rode the Blue Ridge Parkway with mine, I felt like it turned riding into a struggle. I was carrying too much, for sure, but ascending wasn't the biggest problem, that was just working hard and having to be smooth to not flex the frame like mad. The struggle was descents that had me becoming more cautious than I enjoy.

I probably would have benefitted from more time with a trailer before the touring.

[Sheldon4209]

My wife and I rode around Lake Michigan on a Co-Motion tandem. We stayed in motels and used rear panniers. It was a great trip, I would like to do it again sometime. You can read about our trip here:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=lt&doc_id=1875&v=lo

If you have questions pm me.

Sheldon

[Ginger]

Wasn't it Rubbermaid? Wasn't it the model that disassembled and could also be itself completely contained and stored within the Rubbermaid container? I wanted one of those...

Yeah! It IS rubbermaid...I didn't know about the storing it inside the box. I'll have to look into that. I take it you got over your desire for one of those?

[spiderman]

we do the trip...
i hope we can say (to quote your son, i believe):
"That's great. It's quite an accomplishment."
i really like the shot of the tandem drowned rats!
strong work
you and your wife are a great inspiration to us.
thanks
your post/link is beyond what i was hoping for!

[scrooge]

Wasn't it Rubbermaid? Wasn't it the model that disassembled and could also be itself completely contained and stored within the Rubbermaid container? I wanted one of those...

On touring with a Bob trailer...when I rode the Blue Ridge Parkway with mine, I felt like it turned riding into a struggle. I was carrying too much, for sure, but ascending wasn't the biggest problem, that was just working hard and having to be smooth to not flex the frame like mad. The struggle was descents that had me becoming more cautious than I enjoy.

I probably would have benefitted from more time with a trailer before the touring.

I'm not a very discerning rider but:
maybe part of that is the style of riding folks do with bobs? If you ride very relaxed (as many of us are prone to do on tours (or maybe I should speak for myself)) would that be as big of a problem? Also, a ride around Lake MI will be quite flat (relatively speaking--some nice gradual hills, but not as many that you'd need to grind up). Do you think those factors would make a difference?

[timto]

I do a yearly ride with my wife - we hotel it and one bob is plenty (no panniers) for all our riding gear and relaxing clothes (1 pair). We bring alot of riding clothes because it's a late spring ride in the rockies and weather is variable.

I've learned to pack less over the years and it makes a difference climbing for sure.

I run my bob on my mtb with slicks due to the hilly terrain (some 12 mile climbs) and needing a triple but it leads me to my comment on MTB vs ROAD bikes...the MTB with slicks puts the center of the hub (where the bob mounts) much closer to the ground than a road wheel. This has an effect on the behaviour of the bob as it changes the relationship of the bob pivot angle to the bike.

I tried the bob on a road bike once - the bob was jacked higher as a result of the taller mount of the road wheel and found it was MUCH more nervous handling. This I discern to not be as much of a function as the road bike geo differing from the mtb but due to changing the steering of the bob and it's higher center of gravity.

On a MTB with slicks I LOVE descending on the bob - I fly down hills and handling is very solid but the opposite was true of the bob on a road bike.

Just my observation as a multi time short-tour BOB user.

TIm

[Brian Smith]

I'm not a very discerning rider but:
maybe part of that is the style of riding folks do with bobs? If you ride very relaxed (as many of us are prone to do on tours (or maybe I should speak for myself)) would that be as big of a problem? Also, a ride around Lake MI will be quite flat (relatively speaking--some nice gradual hills, but not as many that you'd need to grind up). Do you think those factors would make a difference?


I am a touring novice, for sure.
Riding relaxed is something I do only occasionally, perhaps on the way home from work, or somthing like that, or out with the s-o.
I'm sure the problem was more my approach to the whole endeavor than the equipment, as is often the case with cycling and equipment.
I'm not used to a bike as being a "way to be in a place" rather than a tour being a "way to be on a bike" yet. I'm as of yet gestalt-locked in that regard I suppose.

Ginger - I used to live more "on the bike" in an urban area, and a trailer would have seen a lot more use with me then than now. As a person who has more bikes than applications, however, a trailer would not be out of place for me, though the last time I considered it I was leaning more toward an Xtracycle conversion. 50 pounds of "tongue weight" due to a trailer shoots your bunnyhops and manuals all to hell anyway, so a few feet of chainstay length wouldn't be that much different of a sacrifice. :)

[Ken Robb]

take a look at bikefriday and their trailer/shipping container combo. Perfect for your trip and an excuse for a new and different bike.

[velodadi]

Count me in!

If you can set some dates I would love to ride along. I live in Grand Rapids.

I have a Bruce Gordon touring bike ( 80's vintage ) with the Bob Beckman panniers. I haven' t toured in the midwest yet, but I have the itch to in 2007. Loaded panniers can sure bog you down, so I have always been interested in the BOB trailer.

How does any human being NOT bring too much stuff on a bike tour? Especially touring around one of our Great Lakes?

V