A few notes on the setup:

• all alloy tubing 6061 tg
• all 26″ wheels
• 3 foot stance
• some quick release
• flatbed extends for long lumber loads
• movable pivot point for the sweetest sweet spot
• no welds to break
• light n strong
• linkable

What I find personally interesting is, although the photos are almost 30 years old, the bikes and setups really haven’t changed that much. Randall and his wife were riding Fuji s-10s LTD’s with Blackburn and Eclipse bicycle racks. The gold panniers are Kirtland Tour Packs, and the red panniers are by Eclipse. Some of you in the cycling world might be familiar with the name Blackburn. But as Randall pointed out, Kirtland and Eclipse are no longer in production. To bad. They look like they were quality panniers. And to reinforce that, Randall still uses the panniers for bike commuting. Now that’s what I would call getting you money’s worth. I have to comment on the Bell Helmet that Randall’s wife Carol is wearing. Some things have changed in thirty years, and certainly for the better.

Thanks Randall, for taking us back. I wonder how many bike tourist have followed in your footsteps, and taken photos at the same spots along Crater lake and Crescent lake. As the popularity of bike touring grows it is good to see that there are those that have been way ahead of the curve for a long time.

Hi BikeTrailerBlog readers.  It is I, your fearless occasional correspondent from Eugene Oregon, Eric Hanson.  I’m here once again to regale you with some stories about Burley trailers in action.

One of the coolest things about working here at Burley is seeing how passionate so many of our customers are.  People call us every day to tell us how much they love their trailer.  And we’re collecting photos from all over the world.

I was initially going to write about a group of touring cyclists riding across the country in various directions.  Many of them are riding with a Burley Nomad, which they value for its durability and large carrying capacity.  But then I heard on the radio this morning that Paul McCartney is on tour and I started wondering about his method of transportation.

You may remember Sir Paul from the cover of Meet the Beatles, or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (he’s not really dead).  But here at Burley, this is our favorite picture of the man.

That’s right, Sir Paul is riding with his daughter in a Burley D’Lite.  While I feel bad that this poor girl has to grow up in the Hamptons surrounded by paparazzi flashbulbs, I think we can all take comfort in the fact that she’s benefiting from the best, safest and most comfortable bicycle trailer out there.  In fact, it looks like she’s having fun!

There’s a long and growing list of cycling celebrities.  Fellow musician David Byrne may be the most famous, but my personal favorite is Blue II.  Blue is the mascot at Butler University, everybody’s favorite underdog from this year’s NCAA basketball tournament.

And Blue gets around in style.  Check out his ride:

That right there is the Mercedes-Benz of pet carriers, the Burley Tail Wagon.  This is a ride fit for the king of the jungle.  Head on over to BikeTrailerShop.com to check it out.

We’re still looking for our first celebrity sighting with the new Burley Travoy, but I know it’s only a matter of time.  And I should remind you that we’d like to make you a minor internet celebrity.  If you have a Travoy, send us a picture of your trailer carrying something we haven’t seen yet and we’ll send you a t-shirt.  Learn more at blog.burley.com, or post a comment and let us know what you’ve been hauling with a trailer.

We’ve got a few more substantial posts about Burley Trailers planned for the next week or so, so check back in…

Summer is almost here, and I know I’m itching to put lots of miles on my bike for the season.

The Bike Shop Hub makes it easy to enjoy that o’ so fantastic biking weather with a Burley sale, offering high quality Burley products at a discounted price from now until June 7th.  Not only are ALL Burley Trailers 10% off, but when you purchase multiple items, you get an additional 10% off of the accessory items.  Throw in the standard free shipping with purchase of any trailer, and you’ve saved enough to get some additional bike bling, or that upgraded iphone you’ve been eying.

For the Tourer or Commuter

Maybe you have a long tour scheduled this summer, or maybe you gave up your 4-wheeled gas hog for your 2-wheeled work horse.  No matter what the situation, the Burley Cargo Trailers are beefy and reliable for carrying heavy loads, with the advantage of being lightweight as well.  The Nomad is one of our most popular trailers, because of the fact that it is very versatile and easy to use.  It has a large packing enclosure which works great for groceries or for camping gear. It’s easy to add cargo space too with the Burley Nomad Cargo Rack.

Another trailer which warrants many possibilities is the Burley Flatbed.  Since this trailer has a flat bed without an enclosure, it is great for hauling large, oblong items like fishing poles or wood.

Our showcase trailer this season is the well anticipated Burley Travoy Trailer.  This trailer folds like origami paper.  It’s great for people who like to go on self-supported tours overseas.  The trailer collapses to no bigger than a woman’s large hand bag, and quickly unfolds to perform it’s trailering duties.  It’s off the plane, and off you go!

For the Family Biker

Pack up the whole family for fun in the sun with the Burley Child Trailers.  Burley made lots of nice changes for the 2010 model child trailers.  With an height-adjustable handlebar for strolling, a telescoping hitch arm, and sunshades with better coverage, your child will enjoy the adventure as much as you do.

For just biking, the new 2010 model Burley Bee lets you roll with one or two children.  The next step up is the Burley Encore which has a more comfy interior, and multiple Burley Accessory Kit options.  For the best, roll with the Burley D’Lite or the Burley Cub.  These trailers have all of the most plush features and details, including suspension for dampening bumps on those gravely trails.

Only need to carry one tot around?  The 2010 Burley Solo is made for just that.  A versatile trailer, compatible with all of the Burley Accessory Kits, you can pretty much walk, roll, or ski over any  terrain.  For a deeper discount, you can check out the 2009 Burley Solo ST.  This trailer comes with a Burley Stroller Kit, and is on clearance to make room for the new model.

For the Animal Lover

Want to bring you favorite pet along for the ride?  The Burley Tail Wagon lets you tour with your special Fido (or even Feline I suppose!).  This trailer has great venting, and the equivalent of rolling down a window to let your doggie stick his head out and enjoy the weather.  The Accessory options for this trailer like the Critter Compartment, which puts a barrier between your pet and cargo, and the Trailer Kickstand, make it easier to carry your gear and pet gear.

There’s a little something for everyone at the Bike Shop Hub, so come along and join the ride!

From around the web:

Everyone has been reviewing the new Burely Travoy including Commute by Bike, Bike Portland, Bike Hugger, and an Interbike Cycling Video preview from Utility Cycling.

Over at Bike Shop Hub, we’ve been posting pictures of our progress on the Wandertec BONGO Bike Cargo Trailer.  Casey posted about his work on a longer hitch arm for the BONGO.  Casey was testing out spar varnish on some loadbeds for the BONGO.  And I snapped a photo of these 3 BONGOs that Casey setup to be used for an Earth Day Garbage cleanup event.

A few other bike trailer related came up at  the Bike Shop Hub blog.  While in New York City I caught this dude rolling through the city with what appears to be a DIY bike cargo trailer packed up with painter supplies.  Megan wrote a great story about biking to work with her daughter Neva in a bike child trailer.  Adam had an interesting take on Tout Terrain’s “Hardcore” MTB SingleTrailer.  And Casey posted up a post of an article with some very old photos of bike trailers.

WE NEED YOUR INPUT! Here at the Bike Trailer Blog we are going in a new direction with the blog, driven by your photos and stories of your bike trailers and experiences  and our excitement of our development of the Wandertec BONGO Bike Cargo Trailer and a range of BONGO trailer accessories designed to set it up to suit any need.

We greatly encourage user feed back from products purchased from our sites, Bike Trailer Shop, Bike Bag Shop and Bike Kid Shop. We are also very interested in any cool DIY bike trailers or bike trailer accessory setups that someone has designed on their own.  This blog is about sharing the fun and creativity of customizing and using your own bike trailer and to develop a forum to help spread ideas and resources.

Even if its just a few photos, please send them to us.  We also welcome long drawn out stories and gigs of pictures as well and everything in between.  Our philosophy is not just to create products  to sell, but to develop them in conjunction with the needs of those who are interested in customizable products.  So help us out and send us stories and feedback about your uses, ideas and developments.  We are always trying to think up new cool things, but we need your help.

Check out some just a few of our contributions and photos from our adventurous readers, Alan’s Grocery Getter, Home Made Cargo Trailer, and Bikes and Beers.

Please go to our Bike Trailer Photo Submission Page to submit your photos and stories.

For those of you who don’t know RAGBRAI is a benefit ride across the state of Iowa in the middle of July.  Now I’m sure your asking yourself who would want to ride across Iowa in the middle of the summer, well there’s about 10,000 people that would have an answer for you.  Actually RAGBRAI might be the largest organized bicycle ride in the country.  Imagine a rolling pedal powered party slowly and sometimes slightly intoxicated moving through the heart land and that’s RAGBRAI.

Keeping with the philosophy of RAGBRAI, Steve and his friends contacted Jay, who contributed to a previous Bike Trailer blog post back in March 2009 telling us about his Swiss made Zem four-person bike, and Steve asked if he could borrow it for RAGBRAI.  You’ve gotta love the cycling community.

Now someone might call the people of RAGBRAI a little nuts, but I think fruity is a better word to use and Steve and his friends have taken the fruitiness to the max, literally. Team Banana split,  Chiquita, or Bananasrus I’m not quite sure, but either way they look awesome in their banana suits.  Anyone that wears a banana suit while riding across Iowa in the summer time deserves major props. I wonder if they ate bananas the hole time they were riding?

Here is a link to more banana bike craziness:  http://bananasrus.com/photos.htm

Which brings me to the topic of the day: waterproof panniers.  Waterproof panniers need little explanation.  Have you elected to use panniers for your next bike tour or utility cycling expedition?  Do you live in or plan to travel to a place where heavy rain, sleet, or snow is a possibility?  Do you need or want something to keep your gear dry (first and foremost), but also clean and safe?  In that case, we definitely recommend waterproof front and waterproof rear panniers over standard panniers, which often utilize a rain cover, but still do not quite compare to the level of water protection afforded by official waterproof bags.

Waterproof panniers may cost slightly more than standard panniers on average, but the cost is worth saving the hassle of having soggy gear.  In many cases, the closure of a waterproof pannier is of the roll-top or fold-over variety, in order to prevent leakage through zipper seams.  Most waterproof panniers are made from special, durable fabric and coated with water-resistant thermoplastics.  The seams on waterproof panniers are also welded and heavy-duty in order to keep that pesky water out!

Fine, fine, I understand you want some proof (no pun intended).  We recently had a customer share his experience using the Ortlieb Back Roller Classics and Front Roller Classics.  This is what he had to say:

The attached photo was taken near the end of my first trip with the new Ortlieb Roller Classics.  I traveled nearly 250 miles from Rochester, NY, to Delta, Ontario Canada.  The route took me along the shores of Lake Ontario with a ferry ride from Cape Vincent, NY, to Wolfe Island, Ontario Province, and another ferry ride from Wolfe Island to Kingston, Ontario.  I encountered two days of rain with the second day of the trip offering wind gusts of over 60 MPH with the rain.  I finally ended the day at 4:30 after 9 hours of walking the bike more than riding due to the wind sheer along Lake Ontario.  Long story short, not a drop of moisture entered my bags despite the driving rains.  Count me as one very happy user of the Ortlieb Bags.

I must say, I am quite impressed.  No, not with the bags, I already knew they would keep his gear dry (though they are impressive, nonetheless).  I am impressed with this rider’s fortitude to continue his trip for 9 hours in the driving wind and rain.  Wow!  Needless to say, waterproof panniers are definitely the way to go for wet weather conditions.  After all, who doesn’t want to be able to change into a set of nice warm, clean, dry clothes after a wet ride?

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