I'm considering buying a cycle trailer for Jnr FD.
What is the trailer of choice, and what should I be looking out for? I'm not decided on whether to buy brand new or second hand.
I would most likely be having to tow it with my Gary Fisher Cake which has carbon seat stays would this be a problem?
http://fisherbikes.com/bike/archivemodel/139
Ta
Its been covered a few times on here fella.
My twopenneth: ahem.... you gets what you pays for. I had a Burley for my pair. But Croozer seem to be equally as highly rated. The Burley was really well made, light and most importantly comfortable for the nippers. Look out for them on the classifieds here (where mine came from) and fleabay.
The advantage of the Burley in your case, is that the trailer hitch attaches to a QR, hence you can run it on pretty much anything
Chariot is the best you can buy. I attach mine to my carbon road bike and have no problems.
sorry forgot to do a search will do so, any other advice greatfully accepted tho!
How compact do they fold? ie enough to get in the boot of a car?
Yep - what he said, you get what you pay for. Top end are probably Chariot, we've got a CX1 which has been going strong for 5+ years now. Lightweight, folds easily, suspension, properly weather proof. They also mount on a QR.
If you're fixing to a particular bike then it's worth having a good look at the non-drive side dropout, as that's there the actualy attachement bit will be. Some mounts (such as the Chariot one) need a fairly large flat area around the QR, some (like Burley) don't. So cowled dropouts can be a bit of a problem sometimes.
I've used all sort sof bikes to pull it with no ill effects witnessed (included carbon stayed full susser). The loads shouldn't really be massive compared to those from regular riding.
Chariot easily folds to fit in the boot of a car, although it'd fill a small boot. If we take it on holiday then it's bikes on a towbar rack and trailer in a roofbox to leave the boot free for all the other crap 
okay so at the other end of the scale here. i used a halfords one, light weight, folds almost flat and sub £100, my littlun loved it, admitedly, they do sit quite upright in it when small but for the money cant fault it! used to take her around the woods and down to the beach or round the local loop quite often,
only really notice it when starting from a stop or oin a hill, otherwise just glides along!, great fun!
can cause a little more wear to drive train due to extra weight when littluns in it!
Chariot especially if your going to use it offroad. Although they can still roll. /ahem/
We got the slightly cheaper Cougar 1 as it's lighter than the CX.
Brake attachement for use as a walker is very useful if you walk in hills but it sounds like your coming late to this so may be less useful.
We are looking to use on mainly firetracks/canal towpaths, definately not on road..
looks like we need to start saving our pennys and looking on the classifieds for 2nd ones.
Having just done a bit of thread searching people are undecided whether suspension is needed or not.
Junior FD is just under 1 year old if that makes any odds...
Chariot ftw. The only one with decent suspension I think, which is very much worth it. For stony sections of cyclepaths it's fantastic, esp if you go faster. Amazed at how comfortable a sleeping Lil Grips is over rough ground. The reason we went for suspension was that we wanted to use it early on - first outing was 6 weeks but that was a veeery tentative thing. 4-6 months she had a few more.
Also the Cougar (2 in our case) is an excellent pushchair, beating the doodoo out of any other in terms of ease of pushing. There are bigger ones (Corsair..?) that are better trailers but not good pushchairs, and bigger.
There's a QR mount for the Chariot but also available is a chainstay clamp which may be of use.
It folds flat - wide but thin. It covers the boot of the Prius but you can still put lots of stuff on top of it.
Whether you need sus depend on what you're riding over and how fast you're riding over it
It's certainly been good for us, allowing fast fireroad riding, including the usual rocks and pot holes whilst not even waking the little one. We started at 5 months, with an extra baby support harness in there too. Tyre size is important too, if you've got 20" wheels then there's a wide whoice of fat BMX rubber to choose from.
As Tom said, Chariot with a third wheel is fantastic for walking and running with. We've used it loads over very rough ground, for getting around ski resorts - the only restriction is the width really. Amazing maneuverable for something that looks so big.
Obviously if the "cockpit" is really comfy for the child you can get away with rougher stuff. And comfy cockpit and good harness systems can indeed make the occasional (ahem) roll barely noticeable
Offroad suspension is a must IMO.
BUT if your just doing smooth fireroads it'll be fine. Roads are fine too
Without suspension the trailer will get pinged off every rock/root and tip over.
+1 for tyre upgrade with slime and about 8psi
From birth we used the bed attachment for walking then moved into the harness with head supports once old enough. Now just in the base seat.
Not had masses of use in the first year riding but plenty of walking. Hopefully more riding this year.
We have a Chariot Cougar 2 that our kids have almost grown out of. I bought it off here last year, it's in excellent condition and hasn't seem much use. Would be looking for no less that £400. Let me know if you're interested...
Cheers,
Nick
nick[at]nickbarnett[dot]com
BTW, based SW London, but travel a bit!
BUT if your just doing smooth fireroads it'll be fine
In theory but at least round my way it's amazing how rough fire roads and paths can be in places, when you've got a baby on board.
35psi in my Chariot tyres.
Just sold ours on here, was bought from Germany via Ebay. Very light, <9kg. Cost about £80 shipped. Frame clamp was rubbish so I made a better one to go on a qr. Used it for about 3yrs, commuting year round. Fantastic investment. Loved using ours with my old steel road bike. Sad to see it go, but a 3 & 5 yr old dont half take some hauling up hills. 
Look for an alloy frame, as a steel framed one is going to be pretty heavy. Hardly noticed ours once rolling. (When they were younger obviously).
Burley & Chariot are fantastic but out of our price range.
Was very happy with ours.
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