(This is Part Three in a series; here are parts One and Two.)

Okay, if you’ve been following along and joining in on my Saturday-morning cycling discussions, you’ve heard me discuss bike commuting, bike errand-running, bike safety, and other things. But there’s probably one thing you’ve no doubt been thinking: "Yeah, this is all nice – but can you actually haul things on a bike? Substantial things?"

Sure you can! You don’t even have to be a super-stud to do it. Follow me past the jump and I’ll explain.

You’ve probably noticed the little Burley trailers, designed to carry around your small offspring when they’re too young for a Trail-a-Bike, in use around town and even on the open road or bike trail. What you may not realize is that Burley makes trailers for cargo and even pet use in addition to child transport. They even have a flatbed trailer, if that’s what you need. Most Burley trailers are rated to carry up to one hundred pounds in comfort and safety; the exceptions are the two pet trailers, which are rated up to seventy-five pounds. And they’re all easily and quickly collapsible for easy storage when not in use.

As impressive as they are, the Burley trailers aren’t close to being the haulage champs. There are lots of trailers out there, many homemade, many commercial, that can haul lots more. Bikes At Work of Ames, Iowa makes a variety of heavy-duty bike trailers that haul anything from ladders to luggage to lumber; they built the custom-made trailers used by Minneapolis company Peace Coffee to pull 400-pound loads of coffee beans around the Twin Cities. (Bikes At Work got their start as a pedicab and bike-delivery service, and have literally written the book on how to go about earning money hauling stuff with your bike.) Tony’s Trailers of Vancouver even sells kayak trailers. No, I’m not kidding. (That’s by no means the weirdest trailer Tony Hoar sells: Check out his Nomad trailer, which converts when unloaded into a tent with cot. Yes, folks, this is the ultimate bike trailer for campers! Yeah, it’s a bit pricey at $825 Canadian ($784 US), but that price includes a trailer, tent and cot!)

Even if you’re hauling less than Herculean-sized loads, a bike trailer still might be preferable to on-the-bike panniers (or on-the-bod backpacks or messenger bags). For one thing, your legs can can haul more than they can carry; for another, the trailer has a more stable, less jarring ride — which means that even your eggs arrive home intact, even on longish trips.

Of course, there’s a contingent of people who think that bike trailers are evil, wicked, mean, and nasty – mainly those folk who’ve dealt with the older, clunkier form of trailer. These are the people who like the Xtracycle, and they tout the belief that lengthening the bike is safer for all concerned than hooking something up to it, when transporting large loads (or small passengers) is a concern. It looks ugly as all get out, but it’s popular, as the comments thread for this Grist column discussing Xtracycle-type long bikes indicates. (It can even haul kayaks.)

So, if you’d like to try bike camping, or want to haul the toddlers around, or need something to tow those long two-by-fours that you can’t fit in the car trunk, consider the bike trailer or the Xtracycle. You might be pleasantly surprised at what you and they can do!