Forum menu
Afternoon all
It's a long story but after only having a Chariot 2 for a short while, I'm thinking of getting another Chariot buggy / trailer and I'm after opinions on whether to get a single or double.
Pros and cons as I see them are:
Double:
- Room for a second child or a friends. However our daughter is 19 months now, with no brother or sister on the horizon just yet so she will be about 3 years old before she will have a sibling to share it with. We have a few friends with similar aged children and I've got a brother / sister in law with an 2 month old baby, but I don't seem myself riding with them much if at all. It would be useful to have a double for off road walking with my inlaws though
- There is more room for toys / my daughter
- It's possibly more stable as it's got a wider (by 12cm, making a total width of 82cm) wheelbase
- If (when?) we have a second child, I won't need to replace it with a double so that would save a bit
Cons:
- It's wide - whilst storage at home isn't an issue, it needs most of the boot in my car (it won't fit in my wife's boot / car at all). I doubt it will fit through most doors either, making the cycling somewhere and then using it as a buggy inside idea more tricky to pull off. I'd also feel a bit self conscious using it as a buggy when shopping for example as it's a bit OTT in terms of size (we live in London and everywhere seems pretty crowded)
- It's a bit of a challenge to get through width restrictions when cycling etc
- I doubt it would fit on some singletrack / (walking) foot paths
A fairly common approach seems to be to buy a single and then sell it on if / when a double is needed but that's going to cost a bit more.
So, for those of you with a single or a double, how have you found living with it and what age ranges have you had comfortably in a double?
Cheers, smurf
I had a double Chariot for about 4 years and sold it not long ago. Brilliant piece of kit, never had a problem storing it, but didn't take it in the car too much. Wheels popped off in seconds. Width was never really a problem on or off road. It got a lot more use as a buggy - it was superb at this. I think my oldest was about 5 when she started to get embarassed about going to school in it! Then younger one found a large spider in it one day and then she refused to get in it again. >>Sold!!
Thanks for the views xander. No issues with spiders here yet!
smurf
Had this same issue. Went for a double in the end.
The single is quite narrow and we found it restricted the number of toys etc our son could have. Also meant we couldn't carry friends of his from nursery if we offered to pick them up. He probably sleeps better in it as well as we often give him a pillow to lean on when asleep which wouldn't fit in the single!!
If you plan to do a lot of riding off-road then the single does handle better mind!
Oh, and if you get the double it makes a better trailer for carrying beer back from the offy!!
Chris
Another vote for the double here. I have managed to squeeze it up and down quite a few narrow trails and it is great as a buggy for my three and one year old's. The only issue I have with it, is it is too wide for a couple of the gates on one of my local loops (oh and I managed to roll it when my eldest was seven months old)
Thanks for the comments guys
smurf