[mountainbiker9109]

Hi, im the president of the UConn cycling team and we are looking into purchasing a team enclosed trailer to help better bring our bikes and gear to our races. I am looking for any and all suggestions anyone has on to what the best set-up would be for organizing/storing the bikes in the trailer. Any pics of your set-ups or others would be great! Im currently looking at an 8' by 18-20' enclosed trailer. Any brands people have good experience with? We are looking into storing as many bikes as possible. Ideally we would like to carry around 15 or so. These are going to be dh bikes, xc bikes, and road bikes depending upon the race. Therefore we would like to leave the wheels on because of thru axles and such.
Thanks

 

[pimpbot]

We have....

Hi, im the president of the UConn cycling team and we are looking into purchasing a team enclosed trailer to help better bring our bikes and gear to our races. I am looking for any and all suggestions anyone has on to what the best set-up would be for organizing/storing the bikes in the trailer. Any pics of your set-ups or others would be great! Im currently looking at an 8' by 18-20' enclosed trailer. Any brands people have good experience with? We are looking into storing as many bikes as possible. Ideally we would like to carry around 15 or so. These are going to be dh bikes, xc bikes, and road bikes depending upon the race. Therefore we would like to leave the wheels on because of thru axles and such.
Thanks

A CargoWagon trailer at work that is well built. IIRC, the company that makes it is Wells Cargo. We don't use it for cycling, but it seems to be the kind of thing you are looking for. Walk in height, about 14' length inside, IIRC. They probably make longer ones as well.

It has brakes, and can be pulled behind a regular V8 powered kind of SUV.

Anyway, its been flawless for us.

 

[mtbikerTi]

I have towed Haulmark trailers across the US multiple times over all sorts of terrain and they have held up well.

We have 3 trailers, two 7' x 16' and one 7' x 14', all tandem axles with brakes, and they are usually at GVW. There are probably 500,000 miles between the three.

A few recommendations:

Get a weight distributing hitch. It makes it easier on the tow vehicle. You'd probably be
ok towing a trailer of bikes with an f-250 or similar without a hitch, but it's nice even
then.

BRAKE CONTROLLER!
Make sure your tow vehicle has a brake controller and know how to set it up. Most of
the time you can get away without trailer brakes, but when you need them you need
them. A brake controller can mean the difference between an accident and arriving
safely.

Spare tire/wheel.
Get two. If they are mounted outside lock them up somehow. Avoid Goodyear
Marathon trailer tires. Make sure you have a jack and lug wrench.

Sway control.
A larger trailer, especially lightly loaded, in high winds can be a handful. A sway
control will help keep things under control. Our trailers feel rock solid even at 80
mph with 40 mph side gusts.

 

[FastZR1]

I've owned Pace enclosed trailers. They are well built and you can find many different sizes and options.
mtbikerTi makes very good points and I agree with his recommendations. You will probably be fine with 3500# axles on the trailer with bicycles inside. If you wanted a trailer for a car then I would want 5000# axles for the extra capacity.
What kind of tow vehicle will be used. This will ultimately determine the size of the trailer you can safely tow or stop.