After seeing few threads about child trailers came to conclusion that my little one is old enough (8months) now and should be welcomed to Ministry of Cycling etc.

Looked into few trailers and came to conclusion that Croozer is good but is quite big chunky and expensive. We live in flat so space is at premium. But the likes of Bellelli and Burley (with hard plastic bottom/more durable than cheaper ones with canvas) aren’t too bad for what I am after. E-bay has got some attractive deals on those.

So, if you’re not mean and had one of those please share experience?

What should I look out for or maybe some aspect of child’s bike trailers am missing?

croozer folds flatish.

Croozer is an off road buggy as well as an urban one as well as a trailer.

This evening, I rode to the pub with sprocket in the trailer, mrs S went for a run and met us there. I fancied staying for an extra pint so she ran home across the common (off road) with sprocket in the converted trailer. frickin’ AWESOME!

We’re actually on or second as our first was nicked in June, in France.

Our first was used for 4 years on Sprocket Jr and done many, many miles.

Its the best thing as a family that weve owned that enables us to hold on to the freedom and adventure we had before little poo pants arrived.

I would give up one of my bikes before I gave up the trailer. Other trailers would work, but IMO the croozer has been faultless.

Some pics

[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Xgl_4i3E3RM/TgjnsATve-I/AAAAAAAAAA0/UIY_I7tl-8M/s400/IMG_7620.JPG[/img]

big question, do you want a double or a single 😉

I’v got a trek GoBug for sale, used it for 3 years and its fab. My 6 year old is too big for it now and my 3 year old wants to be on the seat at the back of mummy bike.

Its a great design trailer with windcover and rain cover.

Whatever i would recommend them as i have never had any issues other than 1 puncture!!

We got a £55 one off ebay and it has been great I have no complaints. It is used most days to go to nursery & now school a couple of miles away for a couple of years now. It doesn’t fit cowled dropouts only flat ones. There is probably an adapter out there but my wife is happy towing the trailer 😉

EDIT: I see they are £68 now that’s inflation for you

Wow that croozer is awesome, but if bought one would have to ask to store it at friends house.
Trek GoBug looks like biggest beast of them all, read about it on bikeradar review.

As new babies and new parents get frustrated, managed to fall down on one of the forest walks” and flipped baggy as a result (little one wasnt hurt/harness and all that you see). Have found out so many more nice things about myself from furious wife, think it’s time to get trailer and at least mock some form of MTBing and exercise.

What’s the score with normal vs off road trailers, surely cheaper mentioned trailers don’t fall apart on XC trails or roads?

Single buggy surely isnt that better than double me thinks so larger one with more cargo is the way forward.

Got the double croozer and it’s brill. Gets used every weekend at the moment for daddys big adventure in the green buggy. Sometimes running, mostly on the bike though

I wanted suspension for a younger kid, so Chariot was the only option. Best thing ever. Also folds flat and converts into the best pushchair you’ll ever use without the big arm sticking out of the front.

Got a Chariot Cougar 2 for sale, at £250.

Single buggy surely isnt that better than double me thinks so larger one with more cargo is the way forward

Depends what you’re doing with it – for a lot of my riding a single is miles better than a double as I wouldn’t fit a double through the gaps. If you’re only putting one kid in it, then unless you need the extra luggage space for a world tour, getting a double for more cargo space is a really bad idea IMHO – I’ve happily camped with a single trailer without even needing panniers.

Simple question: do any of you use your trailers on any road sections? Can’t say I’ve seen anyone doing this before, but also haven’t seen many people using them off-road either.

We live in the sticks with no pavements for miles so I’m loathe to put SM jnr at risk on the road.

lots on road. youd be surprised how much space cars give you towing a lil’un. Theyre not all murdering car-owning bastards. At least not round these parts.

I had the same one as stoner, and can echo his thoughts. It folds flat you know?

lots on road. youd be surprised how much space cars give you towing a lil’un. Theyre not all murdering car-owning bastards. At least not round these parts.

+1 (including the “not round these parts” bit – I don’t live far away from Stoner!) I’ve hardly used mine off-road, it gets used for transporting kids around to nursery, tumble tots etc. and as mentioned above touring on the road.

If your looking for a single seat then the gobug is not the one.

Its fine for kids from 1 year to about 5.

Its probably the safest one around with a great roll bar and very well made.

Been reading this with interest but has anyone got any cheaper options/recommendations around 100-150?
🙂

Thanx all for your kind replies. Interesting to hear all those experiences.

Vinnyeh YGM.

I don’t use mine on roads hardly at all. People do give you tons of space as long as they see you….. and we all know drivers are always looking where they are going all the time, and always see cyclists.. right?

What makes me nervous is that it’s wider – on most roads round here if a driver fails to see you and move out there’s probably still just enough room to fit a cyclist in. Not so with a trailer. And if someone knocks me off I go rolling onto the ground; if someone hits a trailer I reckon it’s likely to go under the wheels of an SUV or a truck.

But most people on here disagree with me, we’ve done this to death before.

Smoggy buy second hand.

Most trailers are not used that much and have plenty of life in them.

I’m with MG on this, i.e. roads just don’t feel safe regardless of how much room drivers might give us. Couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to the little monkey as a result of such faith.

Which leads me to asking “Just how much abuse can these things take off-road?” Sure, fire roads and flattish bits of singletrack might well be fine, but how much can you push these things on the swoopy + rollercoaster stuff?

EDIT: SM jnr has just turned one ITMAD

We took our new Bellelli Taxi trailer out for the first time yesterday (after buying it off seanodav on here: cheers sean!)

Impressions: seemed very stable and the little one seemed perfectly comfortable (and v excited). We were just riding on rough tarmac or grit paths to the pub and back – nothing too adventurous.

My mate had his little girl in the Halfords-own single seat one. The Bellelli definitely seemed better made (more solid construction, plastic base, bigger windows, larger wheels) and it has a pocket on the back that is big enough for a nappy bag, jackets etc.

But being a 2up meant we did struggle to get it through some kissing gates (shouldn’t all gates on a bridleway be passable to a cart??) but we never had to unhitch it.

Definitely a success for us.

Only downside, as someone mentioned, was that the mount doesn’t work with cowled dropouts so my wife had to do all the towing. If anyone knows of an adapter I’d be interested.

how much can you push these things on the swoopy + rollercoaster stuff?

I wouldn’t be looking to take it down the Nevis Range DH course! 😉
Your kid is loosely held by a standard 5-point harness, but there is nothing for them to hold onto if it was proper rough and I think they’d get thrown around far too much. There is no suspension in the Bellelli one and they are sat right over the axle.

Nice rhythmy swoopy stuff would probably be fine (we did a little) but you need to be aware of the extra width and the extra weight behind you when you are braking down a hill.

shouldn’t all gates on a bridleway be passable to a cart??

No – carts don’t have a ROW on a BW – only on a BOAT (or maybe a RUPP).

What does the hitch (and your dropouts) look like? The one for our Chariot didn’t fit the dropouts on my Genius, but I filed it down a bit round the edge so that it does – though some dropouts do seem to have a much tighter cowl then mine.

Your kid is loosely held by a standard 5-point harness, but there is nothing for them to hold onto if it was proper rough and I think they’d get thrown around far too much

I’d not use the term “loosely” personally – like many on here I’ve tipped my trailer over, and little one was held hanging in space by the harness. Of course my Cougar does have suspension, but it’s not that brilliant, so little one does still get bounced around a bit, but the only real issue is whether they’re got the strength in their neck muscles to hold their head – hence why it’s advisable to take it easy when they’re really little, and maybe get one of the toddler inserts which supports their head (come to think of it, ours is now outgrown, so may be for sale).

Nothing new to add other than they are great! Out every weekend with mine now, was at Llandegla yesterday. I do use it on the road, but only the very quiet rural ones round my folks.

No – carts don’t have a ROW on a BW – only on a BOAT (or maybe a RUPP).

Fair enough? What about horses – how are the supposed to get through kissing gates? Or do the horsey community have access to keys to open the padlocks on the full size gates next to them?

What does the hitch (and your dropouts) look like? The one for our Chariot didn’t fit the dropouts on my Genius, but I filed it down a bit round the edge so that it does

The hitch is basically a flat steel plate with a bar coming off it at 45-degrees. It’s just the little black bit at the end on the photo above.

My dropouts are fairly tight cowls – just slightly bigger than a QR head (it’s an old Rock Lobster 853 frame if that helps) – so I’d be worried about filing down the mount plate by that much.

I guess the other option is a thick washer to space it out – but I think that would then put a lot of force on the QR rod itself which might not be ideal!

I’d not use the term “loosely” personally – like many on here I’ve tipped my trailer over, and little one was held hanging in space by the harness.

Yeah, I just meant that the straps (on ours) don’t keep them pressed down into the seat so they can be bumped around quite a bit if it is too rough.

We’ve recently bought a Croozer – cost about £200 from fleabay. I’m really impressed with it – it’s easy to attach to the bike, folds down for transporting in the car, feels stable, and is solidly connstructed. But it is pretty heavy.

Miss R is 15 weeks old – and seems just fine in it. We bought the Weber baby seat, which keeps her nice and secure.

The one for our Chariot didn’t fit the dropouts on my Genius, but I filed it down a bit round the edge so that it does

Similar here, I drilled mine so a Maxle would fit through it. Not easy as it’s stainless, had to use a massive pillar drill at work.

but how much can you push these things on the swoopy + rollercoaster stuff

quite a bit. I’ve got a Chariot 2 and the main limiting factor is the width of the trail. I’ve taken it round the berms and rolled over the (admittedly lame) dirt jumps at Bedgebury. It’ll happily go up/down kerbs (and similar size trail features).
Although note:
1) The Chariot does have suspension
2) Watch your speed on non-bermed corners as you dont want to roll the trailer over.

All,
Had an interesting discussion about trailers last week – the conclusion of which was its pretty hard to justify the cost of a top-end trailer unless you do actually use it regularly. It comes down to personal financial situation I guess. I think I do have a point to make – which that for occassional use an 85 ish quid one from Halfords would be fine. Or even cheaper from usual second hand merchants.

Popstar – my honest advice would be.

1. Try before you buy. some little ones detest being in trailers. Nowt wrong with them, they just don’t like it. Hire one for a day or borrow and see how you get on. I have a friend who after 6 weeks trying can *just* get his daughter to sit in the trailer for 5 mins and be lead around the garden before exploding in angst and tears…

2. Think about your (honest) intended use. Are you actually going to do a year long Josie Dew style adventure? Or the odd summer sunday afternoon?

3. do factor in where you live – if you’re in a flat then a lightweight folding single trailer might be more appropriate than a big dedicated offroader. If you never use something because its too much faff to get out of the cupboard then its just a waste of money (and space).

4. I’m a daily (and weekends) user of a Burley Solo with a canvas base which is super light and easy to man (or woman) handle. Honest review – very well built, great materials (uv tinted windows – trailer schnizzle!). Flag attached is crap and seems to get wobbly with age. Really stable and whilst I have tipped it over this was down to some spectacular stupidy on my behalf. Amazingly daughter didn’t wake up despite being upside down 🙂

HTH

TM

p.s. waves at t_i_m

Simple question: do any of you use your trailers on any road sections? Can’t say I’ve seen anyone doing this before, but also haven’t seen many people using them off-road either.

I’ve got a croozer double. Like people say it folds flat, but you’re right it is a quite large object still. The handle and bike hitch both come off though, which makes it smaller.

I’ve done hundreds of miles with the croozer, both on and off road. On road mainly I stick to smaller roads, although I have done some riding along bits of the A6 in Derbyshire, where it is single carriageway with a very wide lane either side. That was fine too. People give you so much space, it is so much more visible than a bike, so I have no worries at all riding it on the road (and my wife doesn’t either). I wouldn’t ride it on big dual carriageways, same as I wouldn’t choose to ride a bike on them, but I’d ride most places I’d choose to ride a road bike normally.

Off road, you have to go slowly on very bumpy sections, and on rocky sections you have to be careful not to bottom out the trailer. It is also hard to drag through wide muddy stream crossings sometimes. It’s fine on swooshy stuff and anything that is hard packed mud as opposed to rocks, or smaller loose rocks. A single trailer would be much better off road than a double though, the width of the double is annoying on narrow tracks. Oh and narrow gates and stiles will be the bane of your existence – especially if the darned baby is asleep at the point you have to lift baby + trailer over a stile! Off road I tend to stick to routes I know, so I don’t get caught up on stiles etc., or to obvious things like old railways, sustrans routes etc.

My top trailer tip is to put slime in the tyres if you ride off road – you’ll inevitably stick the side wheels of the trailer over some brambles or something, and slime works really well in the low pressure trailer wheels (and you’re hardly worrying about the weight penalty!)

Also – I have to repost the pics below of my trip couple of weeks back:

Full story here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150381323769388.408411.635999387&l=07049df796&type=1

1. Try before you buy. some little ones detest being in trailers. Nowt wrong with them, they just don’t like it. Hire one for a day or borrow and see how you get on. I have a friend who after 6 weeks trying can *just* get his daughter to sit in the trailer for 5 mins and be lead around the garden before exploding in angst and tears…

My top tip on this is that when you first start, go just before they need a nap. I did that, and she learnt that it was a comfy place to sleep, before she learnt that it was a nice place to go places in. Nowadays she hassles me if I get a bike or the trailer out and gets herself in, so I guess she likes it!

Having said that, I had an advantage on this one because a)she was only 6 months old or so, and b)I was looking after her lots of the time, so I got tons of trailer time in early.

My top tip on this is that when you first start, go just before they need a nap. I did that, and she learnt that it was a comfy place to sleep, before she learnt that it was a nice place to go places in. Nowadays she hassles me if I get a bike or the trailer out and gets herself in, so I guess she likes it!

+1 for that joemarshall. Getting them to sleep in the trailer is crucial – I’d start with nice smooth tracks rather than rocky to help this at first. Also +1 on the lots of use. Use the trailer little and often and it just becomes part of life rather than a special thing to be worried about.

TM

2) Watch your speed on non-bermed corners as you dont want to roll the trailer over.

Defo this. My mate has a Tout Terrian with a single rear wheelt hat avoids this, but is VERY expensive.

joe: can you be my dad – that looks awesome 😀

Getting them to sleep in the trailer is crucial – I’d start with nice smooth tracks rather than rocky to help this at first

Probably helped that our one is a little older (18 months) but she sat herself in it before I’d even put the wheels on 😀

The hitch is basically a flat steel plate with a bar coming off it at 45-degrees. It’s just the little black bit at the end on the photo above.

Ah – probably couldn’t get that to work with my dropouts as the angle is all wrong. ISTR Chariot or Croozer sold a chainstay mounting hitch as an accessory, though last time I tried searching I couldn’t find it (and I’m not motivated enough to spend much time on the search 😉 )

the conclusion of which was its pretty hard to justify the cost of a top-end trailer unless you do actually use it regularly. It comes down to personal financial situation I guess

Justify? Next thing you’ll be asking weekend warriors to justify owning a multi-thousand pound mountain bike! Of course like anything, if you only use it rarely then the cost per use is high, but then the more expensive ones are nicer (means your little one is more likely to want to go for a ride), and they retain their value quite well at resale time.

Don’t do huge mileage with mine, but it does get used – right now a couple of times a week on the school/nursery run, which is saving me a quid or so in fuel a week, and have also used it to go camping. I think I mentioned already that I’m really glad we got a single, as otherwise the width restrictions etc. would be a real pain (instead of just a slight one – I feel your pain, GrahamS, though I don’t have kissing gates).

You just need to get them trained properly – when I open the garage my little one will go and climb in the trailer and ask to go for a ride.

Watch your speed on non-bermed corners as you dont want to roll the trailer over.

…and be careful about riding too fast over roots. Don’t ask me how I know!

ARacer, apparently the chainstay tow hitch is discontinued (it didnt work with disks anyway i dont think). The green-machine at Llandegla yesterday.

ISTR Chariot or Croozer sold a chainstay mounting hitch as an accessory, though last time I tried searching I couldn’t find it

Yeah I’m sort of surprised that the existing mount just comes off the QR skewer rather than chainstays or something. It seems like a lot of sheering force to place on a metal rod that was only intended for tension.

Anyone had any problems with QR skewers snapping? Are you running “extra strong” skewers or am I worrying about nothing?

I know what your saying about the shear. Its the one thing I’m always checking, that the tow hitch is clamped tight against the chain stay. Obviously any play or slackness there wouldn’t help.

I’ve never had or heard of any problems though, although mine is on to a Maxle so is a bit beefier.

Anyone had any problems with QR skewers snapping? Are you running “extra strong” skewers or am I worrying about nothing?

I’d not run an ultra-light skewer, but otherwise I don’t think it’s a big deal. The towing load is a lot less than the load on your axle due to your weight which is supported by the axle. In any case, it’s unlikely there is much shear load on the skewer – most if not all of the force should be transmitted by the friction between the hitch and the dropout.

The towing load is a lot less than the load on your axle due to your weight which is supported by the axle.

Yeah but all that force is on the axle – not the QR skewer.
The hitch mounts off the QR skewer, not the axle.

most if not all of the force should be transmitted by the friction between the hitch and the dropout

Yeah I guess as long as it is nice and tight that probably works. I’m mainly thinking if you snag the trailer on something then that sudden stop is a lot of force transmitted through a relatively small metal rod.

I once snapped the head off a cheap QR myself by doing it up far too tight, so it can happen.