Review of a fully loaded Monogo Trailer

Several people have asked me what the maximum weight the Monogo can carry and how the Monogo handles when fully loaded. I don't know the answer to the first question (nor I guess the second) but decided to find out how it handled with (what I think) is a lot of weight.

By way of history, when I brought the Monogo home from Quebec, I took almost all the gear I had with me (estimate about 20-25 lbs) and put it in the trailer so it wouldn't "hop" around. All the way home, about 300 miles on highway and 100 miles on back roads, I never felt a thing. I had to keep looking to make sure the trailer hadn't fallen off. 

A couple of the emails I received mentioned the riders were both aggressive sport riders and married (the latter I take to mean they would be carrying a lot of stuff when the wife came. I'm married too so, I know what they mean. A hair dryer is a necessity. That's fine, as long as my wife comes along, I'll carry whatever makes her happy.)  Anyway, I knew people were looking to carry a lot of weight so to answer their questions and my own curiosity, I took the Monogo on a Costco run.

On the way, the trailer was completely empty and while I thought it would "hop" around, it really didn't. It was well behaved and I didn't know it was there at all.  So, an empty Monogo or a partially loaded Monogo handles quite well.

At Costco I picked up a 40 lb bag of dog food, a 12 pack of oil (about 30 lbs) and met a friend who loaned me his tent and a couple of other items. The trailer was really packed and I estimate it had about 75 lbs in it. The Monogo has the wheel about 3/43 of the way back so, you are really forced to put most of the load in the front of the trailer. I had to take the oil out of the carton in order to fit all 12 containers in.

  Here's a photo of the loaded trailer.

I always keep my scooter's shocks on the stiffest setting so, there was no adjustment I could make for the load. I saddled up and pulled out.

As I pulled out, I could feel the load in the trailer. Nothing bad, I just now knew it was there. I rode through some side streets and off toward home, being sure to head for the curvy roads.  Mind you, these aren't the "twisties" my friends love to ride but they are some pretty curvy roads. As I rounded some curves I thought I was feeling something in the back and then at one especially tight curve the rear tire sort of slid a bit. I thought maybe I had  ridden on a piece of gravel and then slipped off of it. Nothing major but I definitely knew the trailer was there. This continued through several curves and the best way I can describe the feeling is - imagine your tires were very low (they weren't, I checked) and every time you went around a curve your rear tire "flexed" and you had a sort of a "mushy" feel in the curves. That's the way the trailer made the bike ride. 

As the road continued the curves gave way to some nice "S" curves and that's when the fun began. The first part of the "S" I could feel the trailer as before but as I completed the second part of the "S" and straightened up, the trailer began oscillating. Again, nothing major but a definite feeling of the trailer swinging back and forth behind me. Giving the scoot some throttle straightened the trailer out so, it wasn't as if there was a loss of control but, the trailer was definitely swinging back and forth through the "S" curves. I've ridden a bit on gravel and dirt roads so the mushy rear end didn't scare me but if you were a "street only" rider, you might find the feeling unnerving until you got used to it.

So, for those of you who told me you have "aggressive" riding styles and were looking for a trailer that wouldn't hinder your ride, I don't think this would be the one for you. However, if you have a more "relaxed" riding style (as I do) and are looking for a trailer to run the interstates and then leave the trailer at a campground, this might be a good inexpensive trailer to get.  Or, if you are willing to ride conservatively when you are pulling the trailer and are willing to put up with a "wiggly rear end"  and are looking to buy cheap, this might be a great deal for you. 

A final note, if you look at the photo above you'll see the 40lbs of dog food are all in the front of the trailer, so, the trailer is definitely not balanced front to back. Since the wheel comes up into the trailer (it's covered) about 3/4 of the way back, there would really be no way to evenly load the trailer unless you put very heavy small items in back and lighter, bulkier items in front. I haven't tried that yet, nor have I tried running the trailer with lighter loads, say 50lbs of gear. I'll be doing that soon and let you know how that works. out. It may be the trailer will behave better when more evenly loaded but, due to the physical layout of the trailer, I think it most likely it will usually be heavy front end loaded.

Ride Safe

DOC