Carriers (and bikes) suitable for heavy loads

[Andy Day]

I've got no recommendations here, this is more by way of an observation, although more experienced ebikers than me may want to give their sixpenn'orth.

I've found that lateral, ie sideways stiffness is of great importance, if the carrier can move sideways it seems to begin to oscillate out of sync with the bike and induce weaving. Another factor is height, the higher it is the worse the wobble. Thirdly is the position of the load relative to the rear wheel spindle, if the bulk of the weight is behind the spindle then any wobble is magnified by the pendulum effect of this weight.

Obviously the steering characteristics of the bike frame and forks in the form of rake and trail have an influence, and some framesets may be better than others, but that isn't the sort of info we normally have access to.

Finally, the other feature to bear in mind is the position of the bulk of the weight of an ebike, the battery. If this is in the centre of the bikes frame, between the riders legs, good. Behind the rider, bad. There is a relationship between the mass in front of the rider and the mass behind, in terms of the forward weight damping the movement of the rearward weight.

 

[flecc]

A very good summary Andy, exactly matching my experience with years of heavy load carrying and towing. The lateral frame stiffness you highlight first I'd also put around the top, and it was a failing on the Lafree, otherwise a good towing bike.

I unusually use a centre rear towball for trailer towing in car fashion, taking advantage of the counterbalancing of the battery etc on my bikes, an arrangement I prefer for it's trailer tracking accuracy. Links:

Towlink

Trailers

Q bike luggage carrying
.

 

[john]

I use a Madison rack. This is advertised as "Narrow top and wide base design offering the ultimate triangulation stability unmatched by other designs". This seems to work well and is rated for 30kg.

 

[MaryinScotland]

If your battery is behind the rider, which I agree isn't ideal, then it helps the balance if the motor is a front hub. Rear battery + rear hub puts altogether too much weight at the back.

 

[flecc]

Rear battery + rear hub puts altogether too much weight at the back.

Though it's good for heavy trailer towing Mary. A heavily loaded trailer can easily take control of the light rear of a bike, and having it firmly anchored by weight is much safer. Virtually all my Q bike's weight is around the back wheel area and it has superb trailer control downhill at speed, much more stable than the Lafree was with it's evenly distributed centre weight.

Since it's also good at high speed solo, I don't see rear weight as too much of a problem, excessive front weight being far worse for handling. A front wheel-motor bike with front panniers can feel like a ship in distress.
.
.