Seems to me that the bicycle wheels would be better than wheelbarrow wheels. Thier larger diameter would handle rough roads better and should be able to support 100 lbs. each as you will not be traveling at high speed with that much load.
Seems that the bike should have a shift kit to take advantage of the gearing.
Welcome aboard comrad!
Hi,
The bicycle trailer wheels were only 20 inches, pretty good size for a bike trailer. The wheel barrow wheels are 16 inches, fatties with flat proof properties. The very thickness of the tire would serve as a good cushion from the destructive stones in the road. This road had plenty of stones from 2 to 6 inches in diameter, sometimes so well camoflauged laying in that sand that you dont see them in time. There are lots of boulders visible, just barely sticking out of the road. Sometimes these stones are hidden in deep puddles that cover the entire road. It's a rainforest there after all, raining about 70 - 80% of the time in autumn. I can say that the motor really liked those moist foggy evenings and the purr of the motor tempted me to experience high speeds on those old abandoned roads =-) A great adrenaline overdrive dodging disaster second per second)))
So, when my wheels were done in, I was doing about 2mph going through a puddle. The two boulders that my wheels were squeezed between, were not steep, they were with very slight slopes coming out of the ground, and I'd still swear if I didnt know better that the wheels would have just rolled over them. I studied them after the puddle dried, as I was stranded there for quite a while until I found a nice fellow in the village that was also from Moscow and he agreed to take some of my stuff back for me. Yeah, so what happened was the wheels, with about 200 lbs in the trailer just started following the outline of those two boulders they were between instead of rolling over them.
The big wheel barrow wheels with solid steel rims are the only way to go for extreme off road. I will admit that the wheels would have to be installed in a way that would allow a kind of portal axle configuration. So using a single steel rod axle would be out. Thats okay though, because it would be easier and better to make the wheels independent from each other on springs for best performance.
You can see in the photos, my original baggage rack design. After bringing the trailer back from Moscow with me on my return trip and then promptly killing it, I reinstalled the failed baggage rack just to be able to carry something at all. Now I know well that its better not to load the bike but to pull with it. Like I said, I could have done 35mph with that trailer or any other. Even with my 35 tooth rear sprocket and all stock engine, it accelerated quickly and with ease at 200 pound load and might well pull 400. But when you put 50 lbs on that baggage rack and another 50 pounds on your back and the road is sand and stones, things get nasty ;-)
