To pannier or to trailer?, that is the question

There are many equipment choices involved in a bike trip (not the least of which is the bike...), but one of the biggest ones I needed to make was whether to use a trailer (see picture at left) or a rack + panniers.

As I see it, there are some definite advantages to each.

The advantages of the trailer:

1. 1) The trailer is more stable. Instead of having most of the weight on the bike on a rear rack and over the rear wheel, the weight is distributed between the rear wheel and a new third wheel (the trailer's). When riding uphill and out of the saddle on panniers, there's definitely more side-to-side sway on the rear of the bike.
2. Less pressure on the rear wheel, which presumably decreases the chance of flatting the rear wheel or breaking a spoke.
3. The ability to take all gear off of the bike (and into one's camping area, hotel, etc) all in one go. One can just use one large duffel bag on a trailer and quickly and easily detach the entire trailer from the bike.

Advantages of panniers:

1. Packing/travelling on other means of transportation. I will need to pack up my bike and load-carrying system several times during the trip: each time I check my luggage (in Seattle, New Zealand, and Australia), and any time I board a bus (which I expect I will do at least once during the trip). One extra level of complication is that I fly into and out of different cities in New Zealand. When I fly out of Christchurch, I'm planning on picking up a bike box from a bike shop there; finding a way of packing and carrying a trailer on the plane will likely result in extra cost and hassle.

2. Simplicity. Racks and panniers are very simple and common in bike shops around the world. As Kelly and I discovered in Maui (and Seattle), BOB trailers aren't nearly as common and have special parts that cannot easily be fabricated from parts found at a hardware store. For example, in Maui, when we realized that Kelly did not have his special BOB skewer (longer than normal), we tried to build something that would work from parts at Home Depot. It did hold up for about 10 miles of load-carrying, but ended up giving up, biking back to town, and renting a jeep to haul our gear.

3. Weight. Every extra pound is noticeable when heading up those steep mountain passes, and a trailer weighs an order of magnitude more than a rack (13.5 pounds for the trailer, according to the manufacturer's website).

4. Quiet. I gave the BOB a test-haul just to see how it felt to ride (and indeed, the stability was nice), but for the love of Pete, it would not stop rattling. There was just a little bit of play between the skewer and the trailer, which was enough to cause endless noise. And if there's one thing I can't stand, it's a travel companion who just won't. shut. up. ; )

5. I've used them before. I used panniers for my bike trips in Oregon, Vermont, Colorado, and the United Kingdom and never had any problems.

So, after some hemming and hawing, I've decided to go the pannier route. But thanks to Kelly H. for lending me his BOB so I could test it out. (Kelly is a big fan of the BOB!) Perhaps for the next trip I take that doesn't require air travel, I'll use a BOB.