>>993037Not the guy you're replying to, but I've been strongly considering a trailer after doing a tour with a guy who had BOB Yak trailer (I had panniers).
Pros of the trailer:
>More aerodynamicWe had high headwinds; trailer guy was effortlessly outpacing me on the flats and simply ran away going downhill. Panniers are giant air brakes.
>Can park the bike upright, anywhereI'm perfectly happy to lean my bike up against something when I'm going out for a spin. But that's harder to do when your bike is heavily loaded, especially when you're trying to monkey with your bags at the same time. Most kickstands don't do a great job either when you have +50lbs of gear on the bike. But with the trailer, you simply place the trailer 90 degrees to the bike, and everything stays upright effortlessly.
>Low CGNothing's up high on your bike; nothing changes how it leans in and out of turns or how the front end steers. This is less of a concern on a bike with geo intended for touring... My bike handles fine with a heavy load on it, but I took a spin on the bike with the trailer, and it was *impressively* nimble.
Cons of a trailer:
>HeavyProbably an extra 10 lbs vs the mass of racks and bags to pack an equivalent amount of cargo directly on the bike
>Easy to overpackBig platform. Big pack. You need a lot of self-discipline to avoid overpacking if you don't actually need to bring 70+ lbs of gear.
Between the extra weight of the trailer and the fact that he'd overpacked, I outpaced trailer guy up the hills despite him being a slightly stronger cyclist.
>More things to break, different sized wheelIf you're not going far, a patchkit is all you need. If you're doing a real tour, in escalating order of necessity and self sufficiency: Different tube, different spokes, different tire, different hub service tools.
