There are times when a bicycle is perfectly capable of replacing the car, right up until you start loading up your ride.
A couple of panniers cope with groceries. A rack can take a bag. Bikepacking luggage deals admirably with a weekend away. Then somebody asks you to bring a toolbox, collect compost from the garden centre, move a crate of equipment between buildings, carry camping gear for the family, take a paddleboard to the beach, or shift something that is simply the wrong shape for a bicycle.
Then a cargo bike trailer starts to make a great deal of sense.
Carry Freedom approaches the challenge differently from many enclosed cargo trailers. Instead of deciding what you are going to carry before designing the trailer around it, they started with a simple load platform and lets you decide what goes on top.
A box today, camping equipment tomorrow, timber at the weekend.
It is a very practical philosophy, and one of the reasons the Carry Freedom range has developed such a loyal following among cyclists who value the versatility & freedom hence the name.
You can browse the complete Carry Freedom collection at Hitch A Bike.
Who are Carry Freedom?
Carry Freedom was founded in 2003 by mechanical engineer Nick Lobnitz, whose approach has always been centred around simple, adaptable engineering. The company describes its aim in equally straightforward terms, making it easier for people to transport things using pedal power.
That principle is easy to dismiss as marketing until you start considering the journeys a trailer can replace.
Driving half a mile because you need three bags of compost can seem slightly ridiculous when the bicycle could tow them.
The same applies to moving tools across an estate, taking equipment between workshops, collecting stock locally, carrying recycling, transporting sports kit, heading to an allotment, or taking everything needed for a family picnic.
Carry Freedom trailers are deliberately simple enough to move between those jobs. Again, we love the name, it's 100% true, Carry Freedom!
The best known example is the Y trailer, a flat load platform available in several sizes. Carry Freedom describes it as one of the world's biggest selling load trailers, and its own examples range from supermarket shopping to long distance travel and surfing.
A specialist trailer designed around one container can be excellent when you always carry that container.
A flat platform is useful when you have no idea what next Tuesday is going to involve.
The Carry Freedom Y, flat load bed
The Y is the trailer that defines Carry Freedom.
The principle is almost suspiciously straightforward.
You get a strong frame, two wheels, a flat load bed and plenty of opportunity to secure whatever you need to transport.
There is no fixed cargo compartment dictating the size of the load.
That means you can mount a storage box, strap down crates, secure bags, carry camping kit, transport tools, move gardening supplies or accommodate irregularly shaped equipment.
Carry Freedom has refined the current Y design with improved attachment points, quieter tow bar construction, a grippy load surface and IGUS wheel axle bearings intended to reduce noise and isolate the axle from the frame.
The Hitch A Bike range currently includes three Y sizes.
Carry Freedom Y Small
The Carry Freedom Y Small has a load platform measuring 580 by 380 mm and a rated carrying capacity of 45 kg.
It is the model we would look at first for cyclists who want useful carrying capacity without turning every journey into a logistics operation.
Its smaller footprint makes it particularly well suited to normal urban riding, shopping runs, local errands, commuting with equipment and journeys where the trailer may need to pass through gates, paths or narrower entrances.
Cycling UK recently tested cargo trailers and highlighted the Y Small as one of its favourite general purpose models. The review praised its build quality, robust construction and adaptability, while also noting how useful its relatively narrow width is when manoeuvring it through real spaces such as workshops and back gardens.
A trailer may be beautifully engineered, but if getting it through your side gate involves a three point turn, enthusiasm tends to fade.
For allotment users, photographers, mobile tradespeople, gardeners, market traders and anyone regularly moving modest loads locally, the Small is probably the natural starting point.
Carry Freedom Y Large
The Carry Freedom Y Large expands the platform to 700 by 500 mm and raises the carrying capacity substantially, up to 90 kg.
That extra space changes the sort of work the trailer can realistically do.
Garden centre trips become easier.
Bulkier camping equipment becomes less of a puzzle.
Large storage crates, toolboxes and containers fit more naturally on the deck.
If you work between multiple nearby locations, perhaps on an estate, farm, campsite, school, university campus, marina or workshop complex, the Large can effectively become the bicycle equivalent of a small utility trolley.
You can load equipment at one end, cycle it across the site and unload without firing up a van for a journey shorter than the queue at the coffee machine.
Carry Freedom also offers an adjustable hand cart accessory for the Y. This allows the trailer to be pulled on foot while keeping the load platform level, and it can remain attached when you return to cycling.
Hitch A Bike stocks the Carry Freedom Hand Cart Handle, which is useful for work sites, events, markets and locations where you may cycle part of the journey and walk the trailer the rest.
Carry Freedom Y X Large
Then there is the Y X Large.
The Carry Freedom Y X Large provides a 900 by 600 mm load area and carries up to 90 kg.
This is not the one we would choose for popping out for a loaf of bread.
Unless you have very ambitious plans for the bakery.
It is ideal for larger equipment cases, bulky gardening supplies, event kit, sizeable camping loads or commercial equipment.
The X Large weighs 10 kg, with 20 inch wheels and a 90 kg payload. The Large shares the 90 kg capacity, while the Small carries 45 kg.
For people considering a cargo bike primarily because they regularly move awkward equipment, a large trailer behind an existing bicycle can also be an interesting alternative. The bicycle remains a normal bike when the trailer is removed. That flexibility is easy to underestimate.
Carry Freedom LEAF, for cyclists short on storage space
Not everyone wants a permanent flat bed trailer sitting in the shed, hallway or workshop.
The Carry Freedom LEAF folding cargo trailer folds.us. Plus it connects to your bike's set post instead of the rear axle.
The LEAF is designed specifically around shopping, travel and urban use. Its load area is approximately 600 by 435 by 300 mm, the payload is 45 kg, and the trailer uses 16 inch wheels. When folded it is approximately 60 by 46 cm.
For someone living in a flat, travelling by train with a bicycle, storing equipment in a small hallway or keeping the trailer in a campervan, that folding design can be more important than maximum cargo capacity.
The LEAF also works particularly well for ordinary shopping.
A crate, bag or suitcase can sit within the load area and be strapped securely in place. Carry Freedom even designed the dimensions around recognisable everyday loads, including drinks crates and airline sized luggage.
If the Y is the adaptable work platform, the LEAF is the tidier everyday solution.
From work trailer to weekend trailer
One of the features we love about the brand is that the distinction between work and leisure becomes rather blurred.
The same Y trailer carrying tools on Friday can be loaded with tents and sleeping bags on Saturday morning.
Bikepacking.com includes the Carry Freedom Y Small in its guide to bikepacking trailers and notes that an earlier version proved extremely robust during both travel in the Indian Himalaya and car free living in the UK. The review particularly praises the straightforward build and long term durability.
For road based touring, forest roads, campsite approaches and family cycle holidays, a two wheel trailer can make packing considerably easier.
Instead of playing luggage Tetris across four different bicycle bags, the bulky items can simply travel behind you.
Tents.
Sleeping mats.
Cooking equipment.
Beach gear.
Children's wetsuits.
Picnic chairs.
Food.
The inevitable enormous bag containing all the things everybody insisted they definitely needed.
It is worth being realistic about terrain. These trailers are cargo tools, not downhill mountain bike trailers. One long term user discussing rough mountain touring found the Y durable but unsuitable for aggressive rocky descents. If that is more of what you are after, read out BOB cargo bike packing guide.
Carrying the awkward things
The Carry Freedom Y Surf is designed to help carry long equipment such as surfboards, paddleboards, kayaks, ladders and similarly awkward loads.
There is also the Carry Freedom Looong Arm 2.0 for extending the trailer arrangement when particularly long cargo needs to be accommodated.
Carry Freedom's accessory guidance includes tow arm extensions for loads up to roughly 1.8 metres and 2.5 metres, while its longest arrangement is intended for exceptionally long loads.
That opens up unusual journeys.
A surfboard to the beach.
A kayak to the water.
Timber between workshop and site.
A ladder across an estate.
Event signage.
Long garden tools.
Even cellos.
Which Carry Freedom trailer should you choose?
If your priority is manoeuvrability and everyday carrying, start with the Y Small.
If you regularly carry larger crates, equipment or heavier working loads, look at the Y Large.
If the load itself is physically large, the Y X Large gives you considerably more deck space.
If home storage matters as much as cargo capacity, the LEAF deserves serious consideration.
And if your definition of normal luggage includes surfboards, ladders, kayaks or equipment that extends well beyond an ordinary trailer deck, the Y accessories are where Carry Freedom becomes unusually useful.
The important question is not simply, how much does it carry?
Ask what you actually want to transport, where you will ride, where you will store the trailer and whether you need to use it on foot as well as behind the bicycle.
That usually makes the right model fairly obvious.
Carry Freedom and electric bikes
If you plan to tow a Carry Freedom trailer with an electric bike, rear axle and hitch compatibility needs checking rather than assuming that every bicycle uses the same arrangement. Hitch A Bike can help identify the correct setup from your bike model and rear axle details.
Use our Will It Fit My Bike compatibility service before ordering if you are unsure.
Why Carry Freedom makes sense
The appeal of Carry Freedom is not complicated.
These trailers turn an ordinary bicycle into something considerably more useful.
Not permanently.
Not with a specialist cargo bike that you have to store every day.
Just when you need it.
You can explore the full Carry Freedom range at Hitch A Bike.