News and Stuff

Recently it was discovered that the ball on a different hitch device used on 24 CycleTote trailers could be broken off under certain conditions.  We reported this defect to the Consumer Products Safety Commission and were advised that, based upon the information available, they did not believe the nature and degree of the risk of injury necessitated action by the Commission under Section 15 of the CPSA.

 With a new and improved hitch device, we replaced each of those that were defective.  This new hitch has now been universally adopted.  It differs from the old (including the 24 that were found to be defective and all others used on CycleTote trailers in the past 10 years) in that the two parts of the hitch (receptacle and ball) were separate on the old and they are together on the new.  With the old hitch a retention slide was pulled back and the receptacle (located on the front of the trailer tongue) was placed on the ball (located on the seat post connection).  With the new the receptacle is permanently connected to the ball and stud.  The seat post connection now has a hole where the ball  used to be.  To connect the trailer to the bike the stud (now at the front of the tongue) is to be inserted in the hole in the seat post connection and secured with a lock washer and large hand knob.

Old	New

The advantage of the new hitch is that there is less likelihood that the hitch should ever loosen or rattle.  The disadvantage is that it takes a bit longer to attach the new hitch than it did the old.  The safety strap remains as a fail-safe to assure that the trailer always stays connected to the bike. 

We  encourage any CycleTote owner with a hitch that is worn or loose, to send it in for replacement.  This applies also to a worn safety strap.  Both will be covered under the Lifetime Frame Warranty and replaced free of charge.