I can haul a lot of stuff on my cargo bikes (one front bucket style, one midtail; both electric), but I'm always interested in ways to haul even more when necessary.

In particular, I'm curious about how I might be able to haul the front-loader home with the midtail, should the front-loader break down somewhere. Currently, we'd need to go rent a truck or call a tow truck to get that bike home. (It is 100 pounds, and not going to fit in our car!)

Here are some options for cargo trailers for bikes that I've considered. None of these are affiliate links or benefit me in any way.

# Burley Flatbed

The cheapest item on my list, the Burley Flatbed is $300 at time of writing. It can carry up to 100 pounds and has two wheels. At 32 inches long though (82 centimeters), it's not going to help much with the bucket bike.

# Bikes at Work

A company from Ames, Iowa (practically local!!) called Bikes at Work makes some trailers that are much longer.

These trailers include:

  • 32 inch model for $1200
  • 64 inch model for $1450
  • 96 inch model for $1700.

The frames of each trailer is modular, so you can shorten it, or purchase an extension kit later if you get a smaller one but realize you need 96 inches of space later. Or, you can make your 96 inch trailer into a 32 inch or 64 inch bed by taking out parts! They each are advertised as supporting 300 pound loads.

Shipping to my location in Nebraska was under $100 for the 64" -

This video I was sent on Mastodon shows someone hauling an Urban Arrow on one of their 64" long, Wide models.

This person had a 96AWD for a while and hauled many things. More photos.

This person suggests increasing stability for carrying a box bike, but has carried many other heavy & unwieldy things successfully.

This person's bike co-op uses one.

# Surly Bill Trailer

The Surly Bill Trailer comes in at $815, with two wheels, a 63" x 24" cargo area, and a 300 pound weight limit. This looks like a really nice option.

EXCEPT maybe the hitch won't work with my Tern bike? I don't know all the words here, but this Q&A answer seems like no.

I'm sorry to say but our trailer hitch is not compatible with thru axles. The mounting options include a 135 - 141 mm QR with our axle, our axle nuts that bolt directly to our dedicated dropouts such as the Troll, Ogre and ECR, or could also be used with a bolt-on / solid axle hub.

A mastodon user points out the Surly trailers are sold without a hitch, and the hitch assembly (an additional $325) is perhaps less universal than the Bikes at Work hitches.

# Carla Cargo

These Main Carla Cargo page trailers are the priciest at $4,000 USD from a random US seller I found! But, they have their own brake system for extra safety, and you can even get a motorized one to take some of the load off whatever bike you're pulling with. The loading area is 64 inches long. They offer a hitch adapter made specifically for Tern bikes - nice. The load limit is a bit more than others we've seen with the others here, at 440 pounds.

The Carla Cargo trailers have 3 wheels - you can unhitch and use the trailer as a hand truck, then hitch back up and go home. That's neat!

Here's some photos of Tern HSDs in NYC towing Carla trailers, operated by Dutch Express.

# What am I missing?

Know any big trailers I should know about that aren't listed here? Give me a shout on Mastodon or however else you usually contact me & let me know!



Webmentions: 7 Likes

6 Replies

dr2chase dr2chase

@cassey saw three HSDs towing Carlas last time I was in NYC. Looks like they get a little use. The operator is Dutch Express. source

Trouble Trouble

@cassey I hadn't considered "towing my (9 ft!?) urban arrow to a repair shop. I just assumed I would have to fix it myself at home. I originally got it home in a friend's F150 with an aluminum loading ramp so I could push it up (unpowered). IIRC I parked... source

Trouble Trouble

@cassey someone on a #bikenite thread about 3 weeks ago posted a trailer with long oval slots in the bed that worked to tow multiple diamond frames (regular bicycles). I no longer recall the make, sorry. bikenite source

Cassey Lottman Cassey Lottman

@kg6gfq good to know, updated the post with the hitch info for Surly! source

Cassey Lottman Cassey Lottman

@dr2chase ooh nice! Added a link to your post to mine. source

Nelson Chu Pavlosky Nelson Chu Pavlosky

@cassey I love my Carla Cargo! I moved house entirely by cargo bike, with the help of that trailer. I chose it partly because of: - The brake system, I moved to a hilly area - It has a special trailer hitch to integrate it with my Tern GSD:... source

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