1 Part 1 of 3 United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Technology & Development Program 2300 Recreation April 1998 9823-2812-MTDC Brian Vachowski, Project Leader7E72A47–Accessories for Transporting Trail Maintenance Tools Mountain Bike Accessories for Trail Work Mountain Bike Accessories for Trail Work
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USDA Forest Service Mountain Bike Accessories for Trail Work
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8/8/2019 USDA Forest Service Mountain Bike Accessories for Trail Work
The Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, has developed this information for the guidance of its employees, its contractors, and its cooperating Federal and State agencies, an
is not responsible for the interpretation or use of this information by anyone except its own employees. The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the information an
convenience of the reader, and does not constitute an endorsement by the Department of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in its programs on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, and marital or familia
status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication of program information (braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) shoul
contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice or TDD). To file a complaint, write the Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250, or call 1-800-245
6340 (voice) or (202) 720-1127 (TDD). USDA is an equal employment opportunity employer.
8/8/2019 USDA Forest Service Mountain Bike Accessories for Trail Work
ountain bikes. You find them onnonwilderness trails everywhere.
Continual improvements inbicycle suspensions, brakes, structuralmaterials, and other key componentsallow mountain bikers to travel faster,farther, and with greater ease anddependability than ever before.
It should come as no surprise thatmountain bike enthusiasts who alsomaintain trails have seen the benefitsof using mountain bikes for trail work.This case study shows how the Sew-ard Ranger District on the ChugachNational Forest uses mountain bikes.In addition, it describes how the Mis-soula Technology and DevelopmentCenter (MTDC) worked with the Districttrail crew to develop a bicycle-mountedchain saw carrier and evaluate severalsingle-wheeled bicycle cargo trailers.
8/8/2019 USDA Forest Service Mountain Bike Accessories for Trail Work
e don’t want to turn trail mainte-nance into another Extreme
Sport. Picture it. Barely-in-con-trol cyclists careening down mountaintrails, chain saws in tow, grinningfiendishly as hikers scatter like terrifiedsheep at their approach.
To the contrary, we want to show youhow members of one trail crew foundthat using mountain bikes for loggingout some pretty tough trails allowedthem to double their production withouttaking extraordinary risks.
The Seward trail crew has used moun-tain bikes since about 1989, but hasincreased the use of bikes markedlyduring the past 4 years. Currently, theDistrict fields three, two-person biketeams to log out trails at the beginningof the summer season.
Irene Lindquist reports: Our number
one savings utilizing mountain bike
travel has been time. Running a close
second is a lack of wear and tear on
the employees’ backs, knees, and feet.
The savings of time not only benefits the Forest Service by allowing time saved
to be used on bridge and tread mainte-
nance, it allows the recreating public to
experience a less frustrating hike, bike,
or horseback ride on our trails.d
Mountain bikes improve dramaticallyevery year. In 1997, the District hadsix bikes:
• Two Novara Arribas without shocks,purchased in 1990
• Two Trek 970’s with front shocks,purchased in 1994
• Two Specialized Rock Hopperswith front shocks, purchased in1995.
Front shocks are a prerequisite forany new bicycles purchased.
The Seward District’s mountain bikesare used hard and require constantmaintenance and repair. Brake pads, inparticular, need to be replaced weekly,or even more often when bike trailersare used. The District expects to spendabout $150 in parts for each bike peryear, not counting the labor to installthe parts.
The Seward trail crew is experiencedCrews use loaded mountain bikes on
single-track trails considered moderateto difficult for ordinary mountain biking.Their use as described in this reportrepresents difficult conditions andheavy wear. The scabbard and trailersdescribed in this report make moresense and would be safer on easiertrails.
On the Seward Ranger District, moun-tain bikes work best for logging outtrails early in the summer. A two-person crew typically can log out 8miles (12.8 km) in a 12-hour day.Crews have logged out as much as11 miles (17.6 km) of trail in a singleday. This is about twice as much trailas a hiking crew can log out in a day.Being able to return to the trailheadfairly quickly often eliminates the needfor camping out. That means crewsdon’t have to carry camping gear andfood in addition to their equipment.
Mountain bikes have also proveninvaluable for trail contract inspectionIrene Lindquist rode 20 miles (32 km)
to check a contractor, then rode out,all in a single day. Hiking 40 miles (64km) would have taken her 3 days.
8/8/2019 USDA Forest Service Mountain Bike Accessories for Trail Work
iding a mountain bicycle on anytrail takes considerable skill. The
rider needs to be in good physicalcondition. Controlling a heavily loadedbike on rough mountain trails requiresmuch more—exceptional skill, endur-ance, strength, and experience. Makesure your crew has plenty of experi-ence riding mountain bikes beforeloading one up with a chain saw orattaching a trailer.
Look at your own situation carefullybefore committing to a bike-mounted
trail crew. This is not an easy decision.The easier the trail, the more mountainbikes make sense. Mountain bikesand other mechanical devices are notpermitted in designated wilderness.
In Appendix A, we’ve enclosed two jobhazard analyses prepared by the Sew-
ard Ranger District, one for using themountain bikes and the other for usingmountain bike trailers. Tailor youranalyses to the local conditions andhazards—you might have cactus tocontend with instead of bears.
8/8/2019 USDA Forest Service Mountain Bike Accessories for Trail Work
rene Lindquist also wanted MTDC toinvestigate panniers that would hold
10 to 15 pounds of equipment: “Wehave tried several good-quality pan-niers and have had problems with theattachment system keeping the pan-niers on the bike racks. Because weare riding on trails which are notalways smooth and have lots of bumps,our panniers have bounced free fromthe racks, and have blown seams.”
MTDC chose not to evaluate panniersbecause so many good ones are
available. Basically, you get what youpay for with panniers. Generally, themost expensive bags are the strongest.Pay particular attention to the weightof the fabric, quality of stitching, andreinforcement. PVC-coated fabricslook especially strong and weatherresistant. Bags with some sort of lock-
ing clip or clasp instead of open clipsprevent the panniers from bouncing
off the racks.
Quality retail and catalog supplierscarry a good selection of panniers thatshould meet your needs.
8/8/2019 USDA Forest Service Mountain Bike Accessories for Trail Work
issoula smokejumper Keith Wolf-erman designed and fabricated
the simple, yet effective chainsaw carrier that MTDC sent to Alaskafor testing (Figure 2). He built it to fit aStihl 036 with 20-inch (508-mm) bar,a fairly large saw. If you decide youwant some of these, build them to fitthe saws you will be carrying. We donot recommend carrying saws largerthan the one we tested. The smaller thesaw, the easier it will be to transport.
The rack is simple. Three layers of1 ⁄
2-inch (12.7-mm), closed-cell foam
were glued together with spray adhe-sive and topped by a 1 ⁄
16-inch (1.6-mm)
sheet of aluminum. The rackfits snugly on top of thebike rack as a cushionfor the saw’s power head(Figure 3).
The side scabbard was fab-ricated from two pieces ofinexpensive, high-density1 ⁄
8-inch (3.2-mm) polyethy-
lene plastic, with a 3 ⁄ 8-inch
(9.5-mm) spacer between
the pieces. The Seward trailcrew found that the sawteeth chewed through thesoft polyethylene, and theyrecommended that theinside of the top of the scab-bard be lined with 1 ⁄
16-inch
(1.6-mm) aluminum, foldedback over the top of thescabbard. Perhaps the teethcould be shielded fromdirect contact with the poly-ethylene by a tight-fitting
rubber or plastic guard thatcould be slipped over theteeth before the bar wasplaced in the scabbard. We don’t haveall the details yet on the best fix forthis problem.
We selected the heavy-duty BlackburnExpedition EX-1+ rear cargo rack asa mount for the chain saw scabbard.We also tried the heavy-duty BurleyMoose Rack, available from that
company’s dealers on special order.Both worked equally well. The Seward
trail crew also used the carrier with theless expensive Blackburn Mountain-eering rack. It worked fine, too.
We designed our prototype to bepermanently mounted to the rack(Figure 4). This was a mistake,because the trail crew sometimesneeded to remove the chain sawcarrier without taking the rack off. Allthe fasteners on the cargo rack hadbeen treated with Loctite to keep themfrom loosening. Future versions of thechain saw carrier need to featurebendable hook attachments rather
than solid loop attachments to holdboth the power head cushion and side
scabbard to the cargo rack.
So long as the saw was nearly all thatwas being carried, it could be carriedsafely, despite its high center of gravityand its weight on the back of the bike(Figure 5).
The bike’s front shocks limit the abilityto carry offsetting weight up front.Front cargo racks and shocks are notcompatible. A second bike is neededto transport safety gear like chain sawchaps, first aid kit, gas, oil, personalprotective equipment, saw kit, radio,bike tool kit, ax, water filter, personalgear, water, and food. Each bikecarries at least 30 pounds (13.5 kg).Needless to say, use the smallest sawthat will meet your needs.
Figure 3—The power head cushion topped with sheet aluminumneeds to be high enough so that the saw dogs clear the sidescabbard. The height will vary with different brands of saws.
Figure 2—MTDC’s prototype chain saw
carrier consists of a power head cushionand side scabbard.
8/8/2019 USDA Forest Service Mountain Bike Accessories for Trail Work
Figure 6—The B.O.B. trailer rides close to the ground and can be used with an optional cargo bag.
BB
icycle racks will only carry somuch gear. We decided to evalu-
ate single-wheeled cargo trailersas an alternative. Several double-wheeled trailers on the market mightbe suitable for old roadbeds and widetrails. We limited our evaluation tosingle-wheeled trailers because wewere dealing with single-track trailson the Seward Ranger District.
Three single-wheeled trailers—theB.O.B. Yak, the B.O.B. Coz, and theWheele Pac Dog—are commerciallyavailable. Two others were prototypesthat used a Burley Design Cooperativehitch system that mounts to this com-pany’s sturdy Moose Rack cargocarrier.
Some characteristics were common toall of the trailers. When trailers wereloaded with 30 to 70 pounds (13.5 to31.5 kg), all trailers and rack combina-tions hurt bicycle performance. Thebikes were light in the front end, eventhough handlebar packs were some-times used to help offset rear weight.When cyclists hit a root while climbing,
the front tire often lifted or did a“wheelie.” Steering was somewhatshaky most of the time. The extraweight pushed the bike down hills,testing brakes to their limits. Extrabrake pads are essential. Poor tracking
around curves limits the safe usageof the trailers on narrow, winding trails.Only expert riders should use trailerson steeper, single-track trails.
The Seward trail crew evaluators sug-gested that trailer brakes, not offered
on any of the trailers, would be animprovement.
B.O.B. Yak Trailer
The B.O.B. Yak trailer (Figure 6) seemsto be the most prevalent single-wheeled trailer being used by trailcrews. Its features include an optional5700-cubic-inch (94-L) Cordura cargobag, chrome-moly steel frame, and16-inch (406-mm) wheel. The bag willcarry 70 pounds (31.5 kg). Its cargospace is 25 inches long, 16 incheswide, and 18 inches high (640 by 400by 450 mm). Total weight (includingthe bag) is about 14 pounds (6.3 kg).
The B.O.B. Yak attaches to the hub ofthe rear wheel by means of a specialquick-release skewer. With the specialquick release left in place, the trailercan be attached or detached inseconds. The Seward trail crew foundthis to be the most stable connection to
the bike with heavy loads. This traileralso rode the lowest to the ground. Itcarried handtools, chain saw, and daygear very well. Because its pivotingradius is limited, the B.O.B. Yak wasthe most difficult trailer to turn in tightspots.
The B.O.B. Yak has been in production
for about 4 years. We have heard
reports of welds breaking that attachthe metal screen to the frame, andalso two reports of the vertical pivotrod bending or breaking (Figure 7).The manufacturer has since beefedup the diameter of the pivot rod andnuts, and suggests that tightening thepivot rod nuts properly and sealingthem with Loctite would eliminate thisproblem.
The International Mountain BicyclingAssociation (IMBA) has a 1994 memo-randum of understanding with theUSDA Forest Service to work coopera-tively on mountain bicycling programsof mutual interest at national, regional,and local levels. Kurt Loheit, who isassociated with IMBA, has designeda handtool holder that fits the B.O.B.Yak trailer (Figure 8). Kurt has sharedhis carrier plans with us. They areincluded in Appendix B.
The suggested 1998 retail price forthe B.O.B. Yak is $229, or $259 withthe fitted Yak Sak cargo bag.
8/8/2019 USDA Forest Service Mountain Bike Accessories for Trail Work
Figure 7—The pivot rod (under his thumb) bent on this B.O.B. Yak. On new models, the manu-facturer is using a larger diameter rod and the pivot rod nut is sealed with Loctite to keep itfrom loosening.
Figure 8—Kurt Loheit’s tool holder for the B.O.B. Yak trailer is made of 5 ⁄ 8-inch (16-mm) polyethy-
New for 1998 is the B.O.B. Coz (shortfor Coz mopolitan) cargo trailer. Thissingle-wheeled trailer attaches to thebike in a manner similar to that usedby the B.O.B. Yak, and features a15.5-gallon (58.9-L) Rubbermaid lock-able plastic box. Rubbermaid’s larger
25.5-gallon (96.9-L) container will alsofit the frame. The trailer weighs 20pounds (9 kg)—more than the B.O.B.Yak—but is rated to carry only 50pounds (22.5 kg), compared to 70pounds (32 kg) for the Yak. It was notavailable when we were doing ourtesting. The suggested retail price forthe B.O.B. Coz is $199.95.
Wheele Pac Dog Trailer
The Wheele Pac Dog trailer (Figure 9)is manufactured and distributed byInnovation Sports, Inc. It weighs about12 pounds (5.4 kg) with the cargo bagincluded. It is 6 feet, 4 inches (1.9 m)long, and can carry up to 60 pounds(27 kg).
The Wheele Pac Dog carries loads ina cargo bag suspended from its alumi-num frame. The trailer attaches to theseatpost (Figure 10). This attachment,in the opinion of our evaluators, was
the least stable setup for heavy loads.
Seward trail crew evaluators liked thePac Dog’s light weight and the easewith which gear could be loaded in theback without the need for extra strap-ping and bungee cords. It carried daygear, handtools, and chain saw verywell.
Because it is so long, the Wheele PacDog tracks wide around curves. Onnarrow trails, the trailer tends to go offthe trail on curves, carrying the bike
and rider with it. Riders need todismount before going around sharpcorners, or should not use the traileron such trails. The trailer probablywas not designed for use on narrow,curvy trails.
The suggested 1998 retail price for theWheele Pac Dog is $259, includingthe cargo bag.
Burley Design Cooper-ative’s Prototype
We liked the sturdy looks of BurleyDesign Cooperative’s unique hitch andpivot system and the Moose Rack, sowe decided to have MTDC’s shopbuild a prototype trailer featuring them.
8/8/2019 USDA Forest Service Mountain Bike Accessories for Trail Work
Figure 9—The Wheele Pac Dog weighed less than the other trailers. The adjustable compart-ments in the bag provided versatility, and the outside side pockets were convenient.
Figure 10—The Wheele Pac Dog is long and tracks wide around curves, a disadvantage.
Trailers
Burley also shipped one of its own prototypes directly to the Seward Ranger
District for testing.
Like a fifth-wheel trailer, the Burleyhitch and pivot system attaches to thebike by clamping to the top of theMoose Rack, a TIG-welded chrome-moly steel rack that also accepts pan-niers (Figure 11). This hitch proved tobe very sturdy, locking solidly to therack. Play in the hitch’s internal pivoting
mechanisms on both prototypesallowed the loaded trailers to wobbleslightly from side-to-side, even thoughthe hitches were tightly fastened. TheBurley product development managersaid there should be no play in thehitch if it was adjusted properly. At thetime of this discussion, we no longerhad the hitches to see if adjusting
them would have made a difference.
Burley’s prototype was heavier thanmost of the other trailers, about 16pounds (7.2 kg). Because it is a propri-etary design and not yet in production,we are not showing a photo of it.
The prototype held up well in the Sew-ard trail crew’s evaluation. If Burleycontinues to develop it, the trailershould offer another good choice for asingle-wheeled trailer.
The trailer designed by MTDC was notsatisfactory (Figures 12 and 13). Westarted out with the Burley Hitch andMoose Rack, and a stripped downversion of Burley’s Piccolo trailercycle,a heavy-duty, chrome-moly unitintended as a trailercycle for a child
to ride tandem behind Mom or Dad.So far so good. We went wrong byloading on heavy steel side supports,two fabric ATV bags for cargo, andATV gun racks to carry a shovel andPulaski. We even installed brakes,responding to suggestions that theywould be useful. When all was said
8/8/2019 USDA Forest Service Mountain Bike Accessories for Trail Work
ation. Other mountain bike trailersand racks are available and may beequally suitable. The listing below does
not constitute an official endorsementby the USDA Forest Service.
Blackburn RacksBlackburn DesignsRoute 136 EastRantoul, IL 61866Ph: 800-456-2355
B.O.B. Yak and Coz TrailersB.O.B.3641 Sacramento Drive #3San Luis Obispo, CA 93401Ph: (805) 541-2554 or 800-893-2447E-mail: [email protected] site: http://www.callamer.com/bobinc
Burley Piccolo and Moose RackBurley Design Cooperative4020 Stewart RoadEugene, OR 97402Ph: (541) 687-1644 or 800-311-5294Fax: (541) 687-0436E-mail: [email protected]
Wheele Pac DogInnovation Spor ts, Inc.7 ChryslerIrvine, CA 92618Ph: 800-222-4284
Hand drill with No. 8 clearance drill, and No. 8 tap drill bits
Assembly:
• Side and elevation drawings of the trailer and assembled tool holder are shown in Drawing A.
• Start by fabricating the tool holder plates (Drawings B and C). The widths may vary from trailer to trailer, so all parts
should be fitted before the final assembly.• Cut the aluminum C-channel into the specified lengths.
• Attach the C-channel to the plates using the self-tapping screws.• Drill the clearance holes for the screws going into the C-channel that will hold the angle brackets to the tool plates.
Use the No. 8 tap drill and drill only 1 ⁄ 8- to 1 ⁄
4-inch deep.
• Attach the angle brackets to the C-channel using the No. 8 bolts and lock nuts.
• Once the tool holders are assembled, fit them onto the trailer. Place a Mcleod in the holders to adjust the front
holder so that the Mcleod tines straddle the trailer frame. (The rear holder sits all the way to the back of the trailer.)
• Now mark the C-channel for the location of the cable clamps.
• Attach the clamps around the trailer frame and screw them into the tool holder.• Attach the angle brackets to the trailer, inserting the No. 8 bolts through the brackets and the mesh bottom of the
trailer. Use the large-diameter washers with lock nuts.• Now the tools can be placed in their slots and secured with the 4-point bungee supplied with the trailer.
8/8/2019 USDA Forest Service Mountain Bike Accessories for Trail Work