[workbike] BROX pull handle / maintaining traction on hills

Hi All, 
the BROX pull handle is more or less an accessory to legalize moving the
BROX through pedestrian areas because - depending on local rights - one
is not allowed to ride a (bi-)cycle there. I do not have this handle for
two reasons: First: It is better to have the BROX in front where you see
it (pushing it). Steering by pushing either at one side or the other.
Disadvantage: no brake! (Would be possible to install one though.)
Pulling it you can't see what's happening behind, but you would have a
brake handle with it. Second: Because it is possible to ride as slow as
required without wobbeling around one can ride slow very safe! I had no
(legal or other) problems. People accept my BROX riding slow more than
any ridden bicyle in pedestrian areas (in Cologne). 

I have a SACHS 3x7 hubgear and two 'chainwheels' in front (excuse me I
do not know the proper english term) which equals 42(!) gears in total
(which overlap of course). In case I could not ride up a steep hill I
would not have a chance, neither to pull nor to push it up. But there
has never (!) occured a situation (yet) where I would not have been able
to ride up (even more than 20% (1:5) with trailer. (There are some gears
below 1:1.)
Because you can go as slow as you want on a quadracycle or tricycle you
can infact 'pump' the vehicle up the steepest ascent avoidind the dead
point (when the pedals are at the point where you don't put power in /
one leg fully stretched), by drawing the brake at that stage, put the
pedals right (backwards) and release the brake(s) while pedaling close
to dead point again and draw the brake(s) again. (If not understoud I
might try again to explain this in this foreign language of English.)
One problem with derraileurs is that one has to change to a low gear in
advance because one cannot change to another gear when standing or
rolling backwards. Therefore I am still dreaming of a Rohloff 14 speed
hub (which I cannot efford at the moment). With a hub gear box you can
choose whatever gear you want whenever you want! 
Using a trailer it needs to have load on the rear wheels of the BROX to
maintain traction. It does not really help to load the trailer out of
ballance because this does harm either to the connector or to the
structure of the trailer. (I ruined one). Since I have the BROX I pull
(heavy) trailers whith the BROX only. Heavy trailers pulled by bicycles
should have some kind of brakes because if the situation makes you leave
the seat you are about to loose control and the trailer pushes you and
your bike into rolling traffic or so. 
Since I ride the BROX I don't like to haul more then 80kilos on BIcycle
without trailer but upto 300kilos (maybe more) with BROX and trailer
(payload excl. vehicles)
By the way: Riding a BROX without body (like taxi or courier) there is
so little weight on the rear wheels that the wheels tend to slip even on
dry road! 
Depending on what I find to read next time - more next time. 
All the best 

Stephan Thonett 

RadLast Fahrrad-Last-Kurier
Bismarckstr. 64
D 50672 Koeln (Cologne)
Germany

+49 221 510 66 85 (tel./fax.(day!)/answ.)
+49 177 510 66 85 ("cyclephone" with SMS) 

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