After some recommendations on child bike trailers. Burley, chariot, halfords, bellelli. Any others? Anyone had a real lemon or one they’d really recommend?

Judging by previous threads on here the general consensus seems to be get a Chariot if you an afford/find one, plenty of enthusiastic Chariot owners on here (including me) will testify to that.

I think they’re relaunching in the U.K. next year but they’re very thin on the ground right now, look for 2nd hand or hang on til Spring maybe.

Croozer and Burley are lower specced but both good options as well if you don’t like the Chariot price tag.

I’ve had a Chariot trailer for 7 years now, and it still has a lot of life left in it. It’s been round many a trail centre, and has done a 8 mile commute twice, or thrice a day for most of its life. Bought ours from http://www.kinetics-online.co.uk/. Not sure if they still sell them, but the guy who has the shop is a regular on here. Bencooper…

The Croozer is brilliant. Ours has done well over a thousand miles and runs just fine still. Very comfy I’m told, and she’s always falling asleep in it, so I guess it is. We’ve done 40 mile rides with it with no problems (except that my legs were pretty tired!). Very good baby sling available for it, so you can use it from six months or earlier. I personally know 2 other people with the same model, and we all recommend it. Runs very smoothly, although obviously you notice it up hills.

Oh, and the beast of a boot – we’ve had full camping gear for the two of us in it.

If you’re not sure if you’re having a second kid, be aware that a single trailer is more convenient because it’s narrower, I’ve got a double and every so often it is a pain when you’re off road, although the massive boot and extra seat for carrying friends is very useful.

The chariot ones are very very much more expensive, and have suspension, but I think not such a big boot judging from the one I saw down the park. The suspension is probably nice if you’re going round Coed y Brenin on it, but I’ve never missed it, and Rose doesn’t seem too shaken about even on quite rocky tracks (and on our road which is massive stone cobbles). Oh, and the chariot can fit skis, whereas the Croozer is only good for running biking and walking.

The Croozer and Chariot and Burley ones have nice comfy looking seats, whereas the really cheap ones have essentially a bench. Friend with a bench seat double trailer says that it leads to argument as they push each other sideways, that might just be his kids, but I’ve not had an argument in our trailer except when they poke each other with sticks.

Joe

Thanks Joe. The croozer does look better value at nearly half the price of a chariot. I just wonder how effective the suspension on the chariot is? And weather its worth the extra money?

I can only echo what joes said about the croozer (double), huge boot, great for shopping trips, woodland adventures, trail centres, trips to the beach, nursery run, impressively weather resistant, very sturdy, brilliant piece of kit but quite wide, suspension would be nice but the chariots are a fair amount more

I think they’re relaunching in the U.K. next year

Ooh – I guess I’d better get rid of ours first, before the s/h prices dip – but it does still get occasional use at the moment even though my littlest has graduated to the back seat of the tandem.

Quite happy we bought a Chariot – but then I have made use of the ski kit a couple of times, the big advantage of which being that it counts as a pushchair when flying, so doesn’t cut into your baggage allowance.

The chariot suspension works brilliantly. It’s kind of like a leaf spring with a bump stop.

Happy chariot owner here but they have changed supplier and have also hit a major problem in that as they can be used as a buggy they have to have a CE certificate for that which they do not have, so at the moment you can’t buy one.

+1 Croozer.

15 months of use and still a cracking piece of kit.

The only other one I would consider is the German model with the proper shock-driven suspension. But it costs IRO £1200 … and I recently met a dad with one at Swinley who admitted the waterproofing was poor due to a stupid piece of engineering design. As capable as it was off-road, it wasn’t worth the money IHO.

Had a spokey joe and it was great, my only recommendation is get one that attaches to the rear axle and not the chainstays.

my only recommendation is get one that attaches to the rear axle and not the chainstays.

Though you can generally retrofit a skewer mount, your advice is correct in that all the best models come with a skewer mount as standard.

Speaking as someone who hates cycling on the road, and as a dad of a nine month old, do you find that drivers recognise that you’re towing a baby / child and give you more space?

I’ve been swithering about buying a trailer for daycare runs and trips around town but the thought of putting my son onto roads shared with bellends terrifies me (I do have a road bike, used infrequently and ran a bike courier company so my road skillz are reasonable but still terrifying!).

That Croozer doesn’t look like it has a flag – are they available?

Speaking as someone who hates cycling on the road, and as a dad of a nine month old, do you find that drivers recognise that you’re towing a baby / child and give you more space?

Yes, definitely. I don’t think I’ve once been cut up when towing. Whether that’s down to drivers recognizing there’s a child inside I don’t know, but whatever it is it works. If only it also worked when my little boy is riding the back of the tandem.

In any case the dangers of road riding are vastly exaggerated – probably not helped by us lot moaning about the times we have been cut up (but not actually hit).

Aracer – thanks for the input. I’ve been lucky – only one direct hit and I was able to land on the bonnet before she stamped on the brakes and sent me hurtling over the roundabout…

But. I’ve also avoided accidents / injury by being nimble – bunnyhopping onto curbs and turning tightly. The standard of driving down here (NE England) is downright scary – cyclists are a target. Maybe I’ll stick to the country park.

Although I’m not sure I’d want to go out on the roads at night or on any dual carriageways but I do find that drivers do give you a lot more room and consideration when you’re towing a trailer, even if it’s only got the recycling in it at the time.

They’re large, brightly colored and quite a rare sight, I suspect it’s the ‘WTF’s that?’ factor as much as anything.

The Chariot suspension’s ace, got the wee man slightly airborne at the FOD back in the spring and he didn’t even wake up. It is a lot of extra money if you’re only doing short rides on smooth surfaces though.

IME drivers treat you as they should normally when towing. Never had a problem (except one woman telling me how irresponsible I was towing children ON A FREAKIN CYCLE PATH)
croozer does come with a flag but I’ve never bothered with it.

Yes, definitely. I don’t think I’ve once been cut up when towing.

Hmmm, I’ve had a couple of close calls, plus being yelled at for my gross irresponsibility.

We have the older Croozer, and it’s brilliant really. A bit of water can get through the bottom if it’s very wet – it’s worth fitting a mudguard with long flap onto your rear wheel. One thing I discovered this year is it can be loaded onto a towbar bike rack when it’s folded up.

Would never ever ride on the roads towing a trailer, pavements or cycle paths only. Have used a rear seat if I have ever taken them on the road, but even then only rarely.

I wanted a croozer but couldn’t track one down in the uk.. I ended up with a great deal on a chariot, but I have to say that the innovation, and to a certain extent the build quality doesn’t seem in any way superior to offerings way down the price scale..

that’s not to say that I’m completely disappointed, just a bit bemused

That Croozer doesn’t look like it has a flag – are they available?

Yes, they do. Haven’t bothered to use it though.

Re riding on roads, I use pavements and BWs wherever possible. Nobody has had a problem with this. Do use roads when necessary but there are some sections I afford entirely, e.g certain roundabouts/filters and extra busy/arterial parts.

One way to get a feel for road riding with a trailer is to do just that but leave the little fella(s) at home. I did that a bit to begin with and did indeed notice people giving me more room. Still won’t take that as gospel though.

Would never ever ride on the roads towing a trailer, pavements or cycle paths only. Have used a rear seat if I have ever taken them on the road

There’s some funny logic there, given my experiences of the difference in car drivers’ attitudes depending on whether I’m towing or have a rear seat – I feel far safer with the trailer. I’ve done lots of riding on the road with it, including on some quite major roads and across major junctions and never felt like there is an issue – admittedly I do choose to use bike paths when they’re convenient, but that’s a combination of getting away from traffic noise and not inconveniencing other road users.

On the flag issue, ours came with one, and I did replace it when it first got broken, but we’ve been without for quite a long time now, and I don’t think it really makes any difference – if they haven’t seen the huge bright trailer they’re not going to spot a little fluttering flag.

We have a Chariot Cougar 2, and its a really nice trailer. Unlike some of the cheapo (Halfords) ones it actually looks and feels like its been built for its intended purpose.

Definitely recommend the suspension, it does work well and for me was really important when the little one was very small to stop his head getting jiggled jarred too much over bumps and roots. The only negative from me is that in summer i think its too hot in there to have the transparent windscreen down over the front, yet bits of dust and dirt off the back wheel can still get through the mesh which can’t be too nice for the passengers. I guess a rear mud guard would fix that though.

Great bit of kit, like anything with bikes, I think you get what you pay for. T

The only way I can see a flag being of use is in very heavy traffic where it’ll stick up above the cars. I don’t purposefully use my trailer in that ind of situation so I don’t, as a rule, bother with the fag.

Speaking as someone who hates cycling on the road, and as a dad of a nine month old, do you find that drivers recognise that you’re towing a baby / child and give you more space?

I’ve been swithering about buying a trailer for daycare runs and trips around town but the thought of putting my son onto roads shared with bellends terrifies me (I do have a road bike, used infrequently and ran a bike courier company so my road skillz are reasonable but still terrifying!).

That Croozer doesn’t look like it has a flag – are they available?

The only problem that I’ve had on the road is that sometimes people are too courteous. I’m always having to wave people past so that they overtake rather than just hang around behind me. It has to be way way safer than with a bike seat for that reason alone.

Seriously, I ride on the Derby -> Matlock section of the A6 quite a lot, it being the only road down our valley, and I have never before seen drivers being quite so polite or careful around a bike.

Croozer comes with a flag, I had ours on when I went to Carsington Water on a pretty much gale force wind (it was rocking the trailer and pushing the steering of the bike to the side), and the flag blew off into the lake, I haven’t got round to replacing it and I don’t see traffic doing anything different.

Oh, and once they get older, and you get your kid and a friend in it, it’s priceless to hear them gossiping away and playing games in it, always cracks me up the rubbish they get talking about.

Our chariot has been great. Very good for getting out and about when we would have otherwise struggled.

However, as above they have had distribution issues in the UK and I now can’t get spares for it. The company has been pretty unhelpful in resolving it. Anyone got a spare axle hitch they want to sell?

Drivers are generally very good but make sure you have a flag and rear light as they are hard to spot otherwise.

Can’t help with a trailer,but if anyone wants a free tow along bike that needs a bit of TLC let me know. There’s an ad for it in the classifieds somewhere if anyone’s interested.

Skewer hitches don’t fit very well on sme dropouts, check your bike before you buy.

In theory the Chariot hitch doesn’t fit the cowled dropout on my Scott Genius – a bit of work with a file (on the hitch, not the dropout!) soon solved that though. I suspect you could probably make it fit most if not all, but still worth checking.

However, as above they have had distribution issues in the UK and I now can’t get spares for it. The company has been pretty unhelpful in resolving it. Anyone got a spare axle hitch they want to sell?

Quick update: Madison got in touch to say they have the hitch and other spares in stock now. Sounds like things are improving.

I’ve a croozer double that needs a good home if anyone is interested.
its old but tidy and in decent condition, Manchester area.

email me if yo want pics and such, I’ll get round to putting in the forsale forum at somepoint.

Very impressed with the quality of the Croozer kid2 here. Though I was a bit surprised by the actual size of it, it’s quite big!