Pusher trailer stability / handling

[Dankoozy]

I have never used one just wondering how they handle, do you have to be fierce careful that they dont jack knife and send you flying onto the concrete going around a bend?

 

[Fabian]

For me it's a safety issue. With a centre mount engine design, like the Chinese 2-stroke bicycle engine, you can quickly grab the choke lever and kill the engine if the killer switch happens to fail. This is an important point if the throttle slide sticks or the throttle cable jambs inside the cable housing.

With a push trailer, the results could be nasty if the throttle sticks in the wide open position and the bike and trailer jack knife in a big way.

 

[allkimike]

I have built three of these push trailers. All of them have a 4 stroke Harbor freight engine. The last one has the 79 cc engine and I couldn't be happier. This engine has more then enough power and is very reliable. All of my builds are on Delta recumbent trikes. The last one with the 79 cc is on a sun trike USX3 which I bought for $500. This trike is made for a pusher trailer. It has excellent brake and the handling is great.

As far as the safety and handling on all of my pushers they all do great in fact I think they handle better with the pusher then with out it. Mine are set up with a kill switch close at hand but I have never had a problem with the engine running away. My gearing is set up with the governor and top out at 22 mph. It will pull most hill at that speed. I really like these things. Mike

I have never used one just wondering how they handle, do you have to be fierce careful that they dont jack knife and send you flying onto the concrete going around a bend?

 

[Poo Poo De Doo]

I have never used one just wondering how they handle, do you have to be fierce careful that they dont jack knife and send you flying onto the concrete going around a bend?

I think that is a relative statement....

I think at low to modest power levels, on a poorly tuned stationary engine or motorised bicycle engine, the point is kind of irrelevant.

But on a BIG (ger) engine, with stacks of power, and a throttle that snaps from idle to flat out in 1/2 a second as in a worst case kind of way like a 125cc - 500cc 2 stroke racing motorcyle engine, I think you could be very correct on the issue.

But the bog stock small plodder engine - not likely.