[EHCRain]

Is there a way to tow my mountain bike behind my road bike for riding to and from trails?

I was thinking that a rear rack with bedhead from yakima might work but im worried about keeping the towed bike upright.

Has anyone here done something similar?
any advice would be great!

 

[komekomegaijin]

Other than putting the mtb on a trailer I don't think it'd be easy.
If you had a shortish trailer with as low a bed as possible and had a way to secure the front wheel of the mtb to the trailer bed you could run a rope or something from each end of the handle bar down to the trailer to keep it upright. That should allow the rear of the mtb to pivot side to side but I'm not sure how it'd go with the bending up and down between the trailer and mtb. Sounds like a lot of hassle though and I wouldn't like to do it to my bike!

 

[WolfmansBrother8]

I tried the rear rack with a fork mount. The torque was just to much. There are another ideas out there. If you scroll down, or maybe on the next page, there is a thread about this with other ideas.

 

[Hippienflipflops]

buy a burley nomad trailer, get the metal rack for it, get a bike tray (like for your car rack) load that baby up and your cruisin

 

[Schmucker]

I've done it. It's pretty easy if you have any decent fabrication skills. I did mine without any welding.

The towing bike: Old Raleigh CX Dash (38c tires) with a Surly Nice Rack.
The towed: ~20lb rigid SS 29er

Remove the front wheel and lash it the the main triangle. I use velcro straps. The next part is making a mount. Most people make the mistake of trying to use a standard axle holder for a roof rake or something. You're making a trailer that happens to be a bike, it needs to be able to pivot. Use an old front hub instead. Now all three wheels can go up and down with the road. Next thing is mounting the hub. Mount the hub at approximately the same height as it would be if the bike had the normal front wheel on it. I used two chunks of flat stock and 4 p-clamps per side to mount the stock to the rack at ~40 degree angle downward to the rear. Then I put two full thread bolts through at the end that hangs past the rear wheel and used two U-bolts to secure the front hub to it. The last important element is a bungie cord that goes around the handlebars of the towed bike and around the rack or some element of the towing bike. This keeps the bike upright in sharp corners and adds stability to the entire system. Without it the towed bike will bounce and wobble a lot more. Also, when turning the rear wheel swings in and if it swings far enough, the fork can pivot down and drop, leading to you dragging a bike instead of towing it.

 

[EHCRain]

wouldnt the fork holder allow for up and down movement of the towed bike behind the towing bike and the steering of the fork allow for side to side behind the towing bike?

 

[sanjuro]

There was an article in Dirt Rag a few months ago about a Surly Big Dummy built for the Xtracycle with a bike rack. Take a look for it.

 

[sfuller]

Here's what two of my friends did:

https://flic.kr/p/2730113170 - This is a Bob with a sawn off channel of a roof rack.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bUmzekaE9oc/SOGT7pn9xHI/AAAAAAAAEfE/JOgq6bGcx7A/s1600-h/sept08+146.jpg - Extra cycle with a 49cc motor and a roof rack channel on one side

 

[ong]

I tow bikes on my Xtracycle pretty regularly -- just stick the front wheel of the towed bike in one of the side pouches, cinch it down, and ride away. The bike angles through turns but tends to right itself pretty nicely. Wonder if you could adapt a pannier to hold the front wheel?

On a practical note, I would think riding your be-knobbied mountain bike on pavement would be a lot easier than towing your mountain bike behind your road bike. I do some pretty long road rides to trailheads on my big fat dual-suspension bike. It's not real fun, but you get there eventually!

If you really hate riding knobbies on asphalt, you could always do like the old British racers did and carry a spare set of wheels!

 

[Schmucker]

I ride SS and have a ways to go to get to the trailhead. It's more pleasant, but not necessarily faster. It is fun to rip it past a roadie in a climb while riding a full touring bike towing another bike.

 

[wheelbender6]

I rigged the second bike to a burley trailer sucessfully.

 

[MABman]

From the Surly Blog.

Cargo bikes provide all kinds of options to a cage.

 

[MABman]

Here's what two of my friends did:

https://flic.kr/p/2730113170 - This is a Bob with a sawn off channel of a roof rack.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bUmzekaE9oc/SOGT7pn9xHI/AAAAAAAAEfE/JOgq6bGcx7A/s1600-h/sept08+146.jpg - Extra cycle with a 49cc motor and a roof rack channel on one side

Nice ride, FYO that is actually a 35cc motor, but plenty enough to help propel that setup down and up the road.

 

[Caffeine Powered]

Somewhere, maybe in a past issue of DirtRag, I saw a Surly Big Dummy (aka Lamont) with a Yakima SRL mount carrying a road bike. I don't see why you couldn't carry a MTB though. So let's see, that's a thou or two depending on parts for a SBD so you can carry a perfectly good bike to the trails.

Whatever you want to do.

 

[MABman]

Why be a dummy when ute can have this for less: http://www.konaworld.com/09_ute_u.cfm

And remember you are replacing a car/truck ride to a ride with a ride and also show up at the trailhead all warmed up so it is a win win situation. For long distance to the trailhead do the motor assist thing cause it will get you there plenty fast so you can't use the old "I haven't got the time" excuse. And Ute with an aftermarket motor assist would cost around $1600 or so. Kona has an electric version due out in 2010 but will be more like 2k due to the higher cost of electric in general.

 

[Tweezak]

If you really hate riding knobbies on asphalt, you could always do like the old British racers did and carry a spare set of wheels!

Here's a working link.

https://davesbikeblog.squarespace.com/storage/wheel-carrier.jpg

 

[Schmucker]

Here's some pics

 

[cazloco]

I rigged the second bike to a burley trailer sucessfully.

Hmm. I work at Burley and built a trailer called the "pit trailer" to carry a bike, an extra wheel set, tools, canopy, camp chair and a cooler. What's the use going to a cx race without shade, a chair and beer?

Caz

 

[rodar y rodar]

Cazaloco, how do you mount/attach the bike?

Schmucker, I like your set-up. Nice and simple, looks like it ought to do a fine job.