trailer – Hermit's Woodshed

Surly Bill Trailer

We recently ordered and built a Surly Bikes cargo trailer for a customer. This one is the so called Bill trailer. The shorter Surly trailer is the Ted. In typical Surly fashion these trailers are way better than they need to be. The beds and the hitch are made mainly of TIG welded 4130 ChroMoly steel. 304 stainless steel hardware is used where appropriate.

Surly cargo trailer — There are two sealed cartridge bearings on each wheel.

The trailers and the hitch are sold separately. The hitch will work with almost any bike by simply replacing the stock quick release skewer or thread on nuts with Surly’s proprietary parts. Surly’s own Ogre and Troll bike frames have a threaded hole in the rear dropout made to accept a 10×1 threaded bolt and the Surly hitch mount nuts. The hitch and yoke assembly retails for $299.00. The Bill trailer retails for $750.00 and the Ted goes for $650.00

The Surly crew cultivates an impression of being a bunch of beer swilling louts and rad bro’s, but their engineers are top notch and these guys obviously ride bikes…a lot. And they actually use what they sell. It’s surprising to me and it bugs me when some manufacturers bring bikes or parts to market and the bike or part does not work as expected or advertised because of a minor, or not so minor, design flaw which could have been flagged and worked out if the the item had been ridden and used before being marketed. Here’s what makes me think these trailers were used in the real world before being sold:

You see the bent piece of flat steel bolted to the frame and to the end of the wheel guard mount? I couldn’t figure out what that was for. It obviously is not structural. Then I took the trailer for a spin and when I was rolling it back in through the front door the piece of flat steel hit the door jamb and neatly kept the wheel from smacking into it which would have resulted in a jolt. I’m guessing that actually happened the first time someone took one of these out.

Surly cargo trailer yoke and hitch — The articulating arm and adjustable sleeve at the trailer attachment make it possible to get the trailer level on any bike.

Surly cargo trailer hitch/yoke connection — A compound knuckle joint connects the hitch to the yoke.

Surly cargo trailer hitch attachment — The fingers on the ends of the hitch are troughed to cradle the sealed bearing which is part of the attachment nut secured to the bike. The needle thumb screw holds it in place.

These trailers obviously are not suitable for bike touring and that is not the intention. But on the days when we miss the UPS driver and my Bob Yak is overloaded with boxes to ship I think one of these would be nice. The customer who bought this trailer is a carpenter. It would be fantastic to see him going down the road with an air compressor and a dozen two-by-fours strapped onto the the deck. Made for people who are serious about Using (with a capital U) their bicycles, these trailers are designed and made to last for a very long time.

The Pilgrim And The Ogre

God’s first language is Silence. Everything else is a translation.
–Thomas Keating

The Bike Hermit’s alter-ego has been alive to witness April 17 fifty eight times as of today. In recognition a ceremonial excursion into the high desert has been planned. He will be taking Chief on a ride to Celebration Park south of Kuna tonight and then on to Swan Falls Dam on the Snake River before returning on Thursday. The chance of rain tonight and tomorrow is ever increasing and so the plan will have contingencies. There are less than 20 miles to cover between the two stopovers and so it should be workable even with the rain, although the preferred route along the Snake River to Swan Falls may not be passable if it rains too much, in which case an alternate route is available (at least I’m pretty sure there has to be a pub nearby).

loaded touring bike — Chief is chompin' at the bit.

Earlier, Travis came in to pick up his new Bob Yak trailer. His Surly Ogre frame is spaced for 135mm hubs, the ‘dropouts’ are just like Troll’s…rear load horizontals with a derailleur hanger, slotted disc brake mounts, M10 x 1mm threaded holes for mounting Surly Bill & Ted trailer-connecting hardware (or B.O.B. Nutz), and a dedicated anchoring point for a Rohloff OEM2 axle plate.

The right rear dropout on the Surly Ogre with a cut off section of solid steel axle inserted into the threaded trailer attachment hole

The Bob Nutz attached to the threaded axle bit.

Bob Yak trailer attachment — Here is the Bob trailer attached to the Bob Nutz

The threaded holes in the dropouts will also accept the proprietary anchors for Surly’s own trailers, the Ted and the Bill. Like everything Surly these details are well thought out and very functional, which seems as though it should be easy to do but Surly is the only company that consistently gets it right i.m.h.o.