Spring is nearly here + my daughter is 1 year old this week = I need a child bike trailer!

…but there’s hardly any buying advice on the tinterweb. Can anyone on STW help?

I intend to use this trailer for commuting (13 miles total each day) + some firetrack riding. Giving my daughter a stable, comfortable ride is very important. Suspension is therefore a prerequiste.

These are the only 2 single child trailers, with suspension that I’m considering at the moment:

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.Burley-Solo-Child-Trailer_35616.htm

http://www.fairweathercycles.co.uk/child-bike-trailers/chariot-cougar-1-bike-trailer.html

……but they’re bloody expensive.

I have 2 questions:
1) Can anyone recommend any other trailers that fit the bill? (…cheaper if possible!)
2) Has anyone owned one of the above trailers + can offer me any pros/cons?
[eg, disc brake compatibility issues, etc]

Thanks for your time

You don’t need suspension. Seriously. I have a burley bee, had the wee one in it from about 13 months, and she loves it. I just ran the tyres quite soft at first, plenty of give in them then. this will knock a good 200 quid off the price of the solo.

My wee one is 4 now, and still loves it!. It always amazed me that I’d be riding along, bumping up and down kerbs, and rattling along rough tracks, and turn round – sleeping!. They can sleep anywhere.

As for compatabilty, I’ve had it behind the Soul, CycloX bike and my SS, and no issues.

We’ve got a Chariot CX1 which is the same as the Cougar but with a hand brake for using it while running.

It is brilliant and Dr_Bakes jnr seems to love it, even when we did the Great Glen Way over two days. Suspension probably isn’t necessary but it certainly improves the ride and probably makes it easier to tow if you are riding rough stuff. It copes admirably with roots, pot holes and kerbs. They are superbly deisgned and even fold up pretty small.

However, we bought ours second hand and I’d expect to recoup a fair bit of that when we sell it on. I believe there are retailers in europe via ebay that can save a fair bit on the UK RRP depending on the exchange rates.

I would echo not needing suspension. As it happens I have a croozer for sale with a couple of spare bike attachments so you can easily change bikes, a toddler harness, 3 wheeled stroller conversion its a bit like this only its 3 years old so its an older version.
Email in profile.

I say you need suspension!

Rather coincidentally, I’ve got a Cougar2, but the seat is configurable for single occupant, that I was planning on selling when the weather gets warmer… 🙂

The Burley Solo’s are bloody expansive but you get’s what you pays for. They weigh next to nothing – important if you’re doing distance and they’re just really really well made.

My little’un absolutely loved it. A quality bit of kit.

Oh and the Burley mounts onto e special rear skewer so no issues with disc brakes etc either

Chariot Cougar – yes it’s expensive but you may have paid just as much for a travel system and the latter is far less fun. My wee one gets taken to Nursery in the Chariot and she loves it. I use the third wheel option and the damn thing glides along without any fuss. The hook up system is really simple. It attaches via an extra long quick release which is supplied with it. The only hassle you may encounter is with cowled dropouts where a large washer spacer may be required.

In use, it’s kept the wee one dry even in monsoon conditions and was easy to push through some fairly deep snow back in December.

I reckon it’s the best accessory I’ve ever bought for the bike.

Getting them second hand is a total trauma. I’d make Vinneyeh an offer and save the hassle.

Cheers

Sanny

Hi All,
Thank you for your contributions.

The suspension issue is a tricky one. I had however resolved (in my mind) that I want suspension*. This situation has not changed.

Vinnyeh: If you do decide to sell your CC2, perhaps you could drop me a line with pics/condition (Emeither in Profile).

…in other news, I spotted this last night:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003TKNVFE/ref=s9_simh_gw_p200_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0644R1XQJ09DTKQ23W24&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

…could it be too good to be true?!

*I’ve sat on the floor in the back of too many uplift vans to know that mitigating bumps with just your backside is hardwork. I appreciate that a steel framed trailer running low pressure will certainly take the edge off of any bumps, but I could do without the the drag caused by low pressure tyres tbh!

I have to agree that suspension is better to have especially if you want to do some off-roading with the trailer. These trailers can tip over quite easily if you are not being careful and I find suspension minimizes this risk.

We’ve had the Chariot Cougar II for quite a number of years and it has been in use alot transporting my three kids about and in fact it is about to be dragged out of the garage this spring again for the imminent arrival of number four! It’s expensive but it’s very durable and they keep their price if you want to sell it later. In fact the CX version has become the must have accessory for all the young hip mums to wheel their pride and joy around the city in, even if they don’t have a bike!

grazzer, I’ll try and sort out some pics for you tomorrow, and think of a price.

That one on Amazon seems to push all the buttons, but the price does seem quite amazing.

Cheers Vinnyeh.

Although I must say there’s no hurry.
Please don’t put yourself out to get me the info tomorrow…or this month for that matter.
I’m not likely to be in a position to buy a trailer until March + I’m going to look into the amazon jobby a bit more before I make a decision.
Thanks for the offer though.

I can imagine the CX attracting the interest of the chelsea tractor brigade [shakes head].

EN-71 is for Toys, don’t know if it can really extend for childs bike trailer.
At the end of the day, you pay for what you get.

Chariot Cougar for sale in next month, seats one. I have all the attachements i.e to turn into a pushchair.

Mail me if interested Cira £200.

Am based in the Midlands if you want a look first hand? Can sort photos for you, sale is for mid march to re-coup some cash from a pugsley purchase and and adams tag along.

I must admit that i thought the suspension was a bit of a gimmick, but i have a chariot and have used it on the southdowns and in the new forest regulary,it seems to be very effective.

That amazon joobie is teh same as the ones on Ebay, for about £70 iirc

The only hassle you may encounter is with cowled dropouts where a large washer spacer may be required

I’ve got cowled dropouts on my Scott Genius, and just filed down the hitch bracket to fit.

Another vote for suspension and a Cougar – even on road, following behind you can see how much work the suspension is doing.

I have a Burley Solo that I bought off Ebay about 2 or 2.5 years ago. Its cost me around £200 second hand which I considered to be quite a lot. However, it is fantastic. My daughter is now 4 and a bit and she still loves it, however, she is getting a bit tall for it with her helmet on in there (are they supposed to wear helmets in a trailor?).

I think I need a new bar and QR connector, and I have noticed a slight squeek in one of the wheels, but other than that, its very well made. It gets left outside in the garden day in, day out, and it still looks pretty good.

Grazzer1

1) Can anyone recommend any other trailers that fit the bill? (…cheaper if possible!)
2) Has anyone owned one of the above trailers + can offer me any pros/cons?
[eg, disc brake compatibility issues, etc]

1. Just got a Burley Solo and its truly lovely. Yes, you get what you pay for. Tight tolerances, excellent build quality, light and easy to use. Note it does NOT have suspension, even though the blurb might say so. (not suspension in the sense of the elastomer bumpers that the twin trailers have).
One ride done (on/offroad) and all good. Sleep took place almost instantly after lunch so comfort very good.

No disc brake issues. parking brake agricultural but effective and light

We looked at the chariot but felt it was just that little bit more expensive. I also did a search on this forum and found pics of some loon hurtling around a trail centre with a Burley solo, so clearly they are capable of bumpy stuff (obviously if the child will tolerate it!)

If you’re looking on using a trailer everyday, look at other dull things too – we have a side passageway that’s narrow and we needed a teeny weeny trailer. If this isn’t a restriction, then do look at the double trailers as junior gets more space and they aren’t that much dearer (e.g. the DLite)

enjoy – they are great things 🙂

TM

I PROMISE you that there is a MASSIVE difference between the cheaper, and the more expensive options. Not just in overall build quality and design, but also in really important factor that are overlooked i.e. the seats!
We’ve got a Croozer for 2, which doesn’t have suspension, but has 20″ wheels and rolls over gravel/roots etc fine.
A friend has the cheaper (amazon/eBay) one, and although I can’t comment on the ride, I would say that comparing the seats (layout/design/belts), there is a chasm of difference!
Our seats are like ‘bucket seats’, with proper padded 5 point harnesses, suspended in a fancy way. For the second child (for which we do not yet have!), the seat design in ours will keep the two apart perfectly.
The cheaper option is literally like a ‘park bench’ – floor and back type affair. He says the children slide into one another (he has 2) they are cramped, and the belts are simply webbing strapping, no padding.

If I were on a budget, I’d compromise on the suspension, but not the other factors mentioned above… (BTW, we were on a budget!)

DrP

are they supposed to wear helmets in a trailor?

Mine never have – though they always wear a helmet on a bike seat or riding a bike (as we’ve got a single trailer, the arrival of #2 meant #1 moved to a bike seat, though I’m expecting him to do most of his bicycle transport on the back of the tandem this year – the single trailer is a lot less hassle for all the width restrictions on my routes). Given a 5 point harness and a trailer roll cage, in any incident catastrophic enough for them to hit their heads on something it’s doubtful a helmet would do much good. Meanwhile a helmet would force their head forwards causing neck problems. Far better not to wear a helmet in a bike trailer IMHO.

Never put lids on our two. Tipped the head forward too much, & they are (should) be held in with a 5-point harness in case the trailer goes over. Ours did once, little one just dangling there, not a scratch. I got ours from Germany, via Ebay. Is very light, made from alloy tubing. It has given sterling service. It had 20″ wheels. Avoid anything smaller, bigger wheels roll better over bumps. I always fancied putting some 26″ on ours, but it would have ridden too high. 🙂
If you get a 20″ wheel trailer, just buy some nice big BMX ramp / flatland tyres & run them about 20psi. Thats all the suspension they need. 13 miles a day is a lot though. We used to do about 7. I really miss towing our two. They’re 5 & 3 now, & a hefty weight to haul around. I really wanted to make an Xtracycle but they love to ride their own bikes to school now. 😐

We ran a Croozer trailer for 4 years and deliberately chose it over a Burley or Chariot.

The main reasons were:-

Lower c of g. Seats are much lower down than anything else – well below the axle centreline (I know people that have flipped single seat Burleys).

Full bucket seats with good simple harness – we hired a number of Burleys and had problems with kids slumping on the bench seats.

Good build quality and quick fold (equal quality to Burley etc) for a better price (but a bit heavier). I’d also say forget about trailer weight – it is insignificant compared to weight of 1 or 2 growing kids and luggage (once 2 kids were toddlers we ended up with about 50kg of payload + trailer – 2kg extra on the trailer is of no significance)

Huge “boot” (some chariots hardly have any luggage space). You will be surprised how much stuff you carry (we even carried a 12″ wheel kids bike!)

Suspension is dependent on the child – eldest whinged about bumps, youngest couldn’t care less. I’d go for good seats and huge Schwalbe big apple tyres run soft.

The suspension on offer in most trailers is almost useless (too stiff and short travel). The only trailer with proper suspension is over £1000! Google Tout Terrain Singletrailer…..

I Have the older version of that Amazon one, bought 2nd hand, and in the limited time i`ve used it, it has been fine, Little one fell asleep in there quite content even down some fairly rooty rutted tracks at Centreparks the other week.
Width takes some getting used to and the seating arrangement isnt as good as some, It really needs a Foam wedge seat making to stop her sliding down, but there were no complaints.
A set of Fatter tyres run at lower pressures is next on the list, along with the aforementioned foam seat…
Mine is the earlier clamp on type rather than QR Skewer mounting and I still managed to fit it to the seat stay on the Blue Pig ok. a new arm with the later QR Fitting would make it easier and give me a bit more heel room though.
HTH
Dom

Crikey you’re a helpful bunch aren’t you!!!

Nice to hear that it’s possible to fit meaty bmx tyres on 20″ trailers. I had wondered if there would be sufficient clearance.

twiglet_monster: It’s interesting that you say the burley doesn’t have suspension. Perhaps the elastomers are affected by the [cold] temperature? If the elastomers fitted on the burley are anything like the elastomers fitted on sus forks used in the late 90’s, they’ll start to soften up when the weather gets a bit warmer.

There really is a lot to consider isn’t there. I seem to remember that researching travel systems last year presented a similar headache. Still better that I have the headache than my daughter!

Travis: Good safety standards knowledge!

Mantastic: YGM 🙂

http://www.tout-terrain.de/cms/front_content.php?idcatart=24&start=2 Wow!

Handy thread! I have a 15 month old who I was itching to get out on the bike last year but thought he might be a little young. He now has an 8 week old little brother who will be wanting a ride at some point soon (not that soon before I get flamed!) so a double trailer could be perfect. I was going to post a wanted ad but may not need to now.

vinnyeh – If the OP doesn’t go for your Croozer 2 let me know? Email in profile. Is it one of these?

vinnyeh is selling a Cougar 2 not a Croozer 2
(I believe):
http://www.varuste.net/en/tuotetiedot2.asp?_prodid=31261&nimi=Chariot+CTS+Cougar+2

I’m after a single CT ultimately so I’m happy to give way to you re 1st dibs tonyd.
Go nuts innit 😉

Duh, was just re-reading my post and saw I got the wrong one.

Cool, thanks grazzer!

vinnyeh – would mail you but you have an empty profile, give me a yell if you want to sell?

Huge “boot” (some chariots hardly have any luggage space). You will be surprised how much stuff you carry (we even carried a 12″ wheel kids bike!)

Have carried a 14″ bike in the Cougar’s boot, so maybe it’s not quite as bad as you think.

The suspension on offer in most trailers is almost useless (too stiff and short travel). The only trailer with proper suspension is over £1000! Google Tout Terrain Singletrailer…..

A Chariot Cougar clearly isn’t “most trailers”. Suspension is adjustable, and by means of leaf springs – I’d guess 2-3″ of travel, and as mentioned before, if you follow the trailer on road you can see it working.

Quite easy to carry plenty on the back of a Chariot, you just have to think outside the boot a bit:

Use our every day to run boy to nursery and back. Can’t comment on other options but seeing as ours has been outside whatever the weather it still looks in pretty good nick.

Sorry if I upset the Chariot owners before (was in work at 6am so a bit brain dead when I posted).

All bike trailers are a good thing – and the Chariots are very nice!

We did however make 2 x 200 mile round trips to Cycle heaven in York before choosing the Croozer (they also had Chariots in stock for direct comparison). And my comments about the Chariot boot and suspension were also made by A to B magazine when they tested an early one (I guess they might have softened the springs on more recent models).

My version of meaningful suspension would be the air / oil shock on the singletrailer rather than an undamped leaf spring (but unfortunately you have to pay for it). I also made a special kiddy seat bike for off road use with long wheelbase and 5″ of travel…… 🙂

Awesome thread – I was about to start one exactly like this!

A couple more questions:
– does the trailer have to be attached to a hardtail? (not sure if the pivots etc on a full susser would be too happy about pulling a trailer)
– any opinions of whether its best to plump for a 2 seater trailer or a one seater trailer and a normal bike mounted childseat? (assuming approx 2 years diff between the kids)

thanks

Our 2 seater croozer is 20cm wider than the single would be, but at 90cm it’s pretty wide. We just have one kid in there, and to be honest I wish I went for the single croozer..oh well!
If I had a second (which I suppose I’ll aim for again in a few years), I think it’d be better to have them both in the trailer. So there you go – trailer!
My reasoning – I like the way to handling isn’t affected (apart from the weight) as it pivots around the axle, not high up like tagalongs.

As for full sus bikes, it’d work, but it will try to lengthen the chainstay, so whichever way the axle path travels (squat/extend), that’ll happen.

DrP

does the trailer have to be attached to a hardtail? (not sure if the pivots etc on a full susser would be too happy about pulling a trailer)

Nope – have pulled ours quite a bit with my Scott Genius full-sus (the one I mention up there having cowled dropouts). That’s a 4-bar, but the trailer doesn’t really have much impact on the suspension and vice versa. With a rear wheel hitch point it’s not doing anything to lengthen the chainstay, as the towing force is directly in line with the rear wheel ground contact point, hence simply increasing the effort required as if you were riding up a bit of a hill. No extra force at all going through the pivots.

any opinions of whether its best to plump for a 2 seater trailer or a one seater trailer and a normal bike mounted childseat? (assuming approx 2 years diff between the kids

Depends – we went for a single seater as we hadn’t actually envisaged 2 at the time, but as mentioned above I’m actually very happy with that choice. Whilst it would have been nice to have 2 in the trailer together, that wouldn’t have actually lasted long, as our older one now wants to ride the back of the tandem, not in the trailer. Meanwhile it worked just fine having him on a bike seat with the little one in the trailer whilst that lasted – with the advantage of being able to make it through all the narrow gaps found on bike paths round here.

twiglet_monster: It’s interesting that you say the burley doesn’t have suspension. Perhaps the elastomers are affected by the [cold] temperature? If the elastomers fitted on the burley are anything like the elastomers fitted on sus forks used in the late 90’s, they’ll start to soften up when the weather gets a bit warmer.

Our Burley solo doesn’t have elastomers at all. i.e. they aren’t fitted and the wheels fit straight to the frame. Burleys info isn’t right (just a copy and paste from the Dlite I think) and that website Tredz is just a copy too. I did try another Burley (The Encore double trailer I think) that had the elastomers. Seemed fine but probably only needed if you have a bump sensitive child…

Oh and if you want a look at a Burley solo and you’re in/visiting Surrey then drop me a line – email in profile

TM

Hi,

I have a wanted ad up looking for a chariot cougar 2, chariot captain, burley cub or croozer 2, so if anybody is selling theirs, I’d be keen to buy as soon as. I currently have a very cheap second hand trailer and it has been brilliant, I have had my wee one out in it in a car seat from about 6 months, even made some ski runners for it when we had lots of snow. He is now just about a year and I am now looking to do a bit more off road and head off for a wee bit of touring and I would like something better for him to sit in when we are out and about. Please email me if you have one for sale, email on profile. Cheers. Nancy,

Hi Nancy,
have sent you an email. I have just posted an ad selling a Croozer double with all accessories.
Denni