Trailers for children

[Mars]

My son is 5yo and has literally (this past weekend) just started cycling (I'm so proud). He loves it so much I'm going to find somewhere to go cycling with him where he can go a little way into the woods. Sutton Park (North Brum) looks appropriate because it's completely traffic free these days.

My daughter is only just 2yo and is probably a good year or more away from a balance bike. I'd like to take her with me too this year but I don't like those seats you fix to the bike behind the seat. I have read up on what people are looking for in terms of trailers here but not all questions have been answered. I wonder if you'd comment on the following please:

1. Single or twin seater? I will only want to put my daughter in there (no other kids). We'll carry picnics in whatever space is left but is a double worthwhile? Width = more stable but slightly heavier? I currently favour single, for all the "lightweight and narrow" reasons.
2. Ali or steel frame? Is the extra price of ali worth the minimal weight saving? I read it was about 1.5Kg over a steel framed trailer.
3. Brand? Are they all pretty much the same or are there advantages of the branded ones? It must fold for transport in the car but I would assume they all do. I would also prefer that there was some sort of hard base, to stop any sticks (or whatever) from puncturing the trailer-floor from below, whilst we're moving along.
4. Helmet space. It seems (from another thread I read) that the seat back doesn't afford room for the child to wear a helmet. In truth, we'll only be moving slowly (I'm not that fit and I'll be pacing with my boy) but I take their safety quite seriously.

Any other advice welcomed. Thanks.

[captainzep]

Mars said:

My daughter is only just 2yo and is probably a good year or more away from a balance bike. I'd like to take her with me too this year but I don't like those seats you fix to the bike behind the seat.

Good on you for involving the kids.

I'm no expert and to be honest the ferrying of kids is mainly done by Mrs Zep during the day. But we've got on well with this sort of thing, (I can't remember the exact make and model we bought).

The little one is sort of cradled which feels better on roads and your centre of gravity feels more natural -not quite as top heavy and 'lurchy' compared with rear mounted seats.

Quick to take off your bike and I presume takes up less space in the shed if thats an issue.

[SystemParanoia]

from 1 yr onwards, i towed the kids around in one of those halfrauds trailer things, seats 2, and a decent size boot for goodies.

i never did do the bike attached to seat post thing ( mainly because i had twins )

but once i taught them how to ride, ive been building up their strength with rides down the trails in the park, getting them ready to tackle cannock chase lol.

will be 5 this year and theyll be going soon yippe cant wait.

and then the next step is the DH sections

[Coco H]

I have a Burley (?) trailer. I am not keen on them - simply as trailers are so low down and not that visible to cars. So I am very careful as to when I where I use mine

But I have a four year old who can cycle a few miles on the road (no stabilisers) and the two year old goes in a seat on the back of my bike and the baby in his car seat in the trailer. My trailer has bars outside the wheels to make it wider - we got it second hand

[Mr Will]

We got given a cheap two seater when my daughter was born and have used it loads.

She loves it, has no problems with her wearing a helmet inside it and there is plenty of space in the "boot" for junk.

Despite being a little bulky, we can get it in and out of the deer gates in bushy/richmond park without unhitching it and although it's not light it rolls pretty freely so doesn't slow me down anywhere near as much as I expected. It also folds flat if you ever need to transport it by car.

Cars also seem to give it a lot of time and space, which they don't always seem to do to people with baby-seats on the back.

gets a big from me

[Mars]

Thanks everyone. It seems (from your comments) that brand isn't as important as I feared. I will look for a "reasonable" single seater on Ebay I think.

Coco H said:

I have a Burley (?) trailer. I am not keen on them - simply as trailers are so low down and not that visible to cars. So I am very careful as to when I where I use mine

I couldn't agree more. I don't intend to take this onto the roads. Sutton Park is a car-free zone these days. I believe Rutland Water is too. We also have a couple of local parks we can lap but they're quite small (1 mile circumference) so limited in appeal.

Coco H said:

But I have a four year old who can cycle a few miles on the road (no stabilisers) and the two year old goes in a seat on the back of my bike and the baby in his car seat in the trailer. My trailer has bars outside the wheels to make it wider - we got it second hand

I like those bars to protect the wheels from bumps, and to give the trailer occupant a bit of side-impact protection.

I'm not keen on the baby seats on the back of the bike though. I worry that I'll swing my leg to get off the bike and roundhouse kick my little girl. I also worry that she has further to fall in the event of any accident. A trailer seems the most protective environment for her.

My 5yo isn't ready to ride on the road but I think a little digging around will provide me with a wealth of info about places we can go to explore where cars aren't welcome.

Thanks.

[Mars]

captainzep said:

I'm no expert and to be honest the ferrying of kids is mainly done by Mrs Zep during the day. But we've got on well with this sort of thing, (I can't remember the exact make and model we bought).

The little one is sort of cradled which feels better on roads and your centre of gravity feels more natural -not quite as top heavy and 'lurchy' compared with rear mounted seats.

Quick to take off your bike and I presume takes up less space in the shed if thats an issue.

I like that, I must admit. I'm sure my little girl would love that too. Great vantage point for them.

[captainzep]

I'm not knocking the trailers of course. They were great to punt the squids around at Centre Parcs when I had a go. But we have to use the road a fair amount and those front mounted seats just 'feel right' with the little one's back just below your chest. As with many 'universal' fitting accessories you need to check whether the thing really does fit your bike and that you can still ride comfortably.

[Mars]

Yes, if I were constrained to ride on the roads, I wouldn't consider a trailer. Children are too exposed back there.

Having said that, have you ever seen the Chariot Sidecarrier? It's amazing - amazingly simple really, but what an invention. Have a look at the video here:

http://www.chariotcarriers.com/english/html/sideca...

Unfortuntely it's only available with the Sidecarrier on the RHS, so no use in our market. I'd have bought one when my son was little if they'd have offered a LHS version.

[Mr Will]

Having used one on the road, I actually think the trailers are not as bad as you'd expect. They make you a damn site more visible than an normal bike and drivers give them a lot of time and space.

They also have a built in "rollcage" of metal bars and zero distance to fall should the bike towing them go over for any reason.

I'd go as far as to say they are safer than the bike mounted seats.

[DrMekon]

Because my missus can't drive (5 failed tests) and is a keen cyclist, we've had all manner of kiddy carrying stuff. We've had/got

Croozer 737 trailer (sold on, missus petrified in traffic)
Weeride midmounted seat (sold on, awful effect on CoG)
De Fietsfabriek 995 bakfiets (sold on because had another bakfiets)
Bakfiets.nl Cargobike bakfiets (best all round kiddy carrying bike IMO)
Halfords two-seater trailer (sold on after one off-road ride because it was junk)
Madsen kg271 cargobike longbike
Chariot Cougar 2
Trailgator tag-along

Also tried

Winter Kangaroo trike
Gazelle Cabby bakfiets
Onderwater family tandem
Burrows 8-freight longbike
Zigo leader pramformer
Taga pramformer
Christiania trike
Bakfiets.nl cargotrike

Trailers are useful if you live in the middle of nowhere. If you want to go offroad, or have a baby, I'd go for a Chariot CTS as they have suspension. The difference between it and the Croozer is huge - babies get thrown about in unsuspended ones. However, they are big money. IME. The Croozer range are really well built but weigh a ton. I don't trust the build of the cheap ones I've seen. Two seaters don't feel noticeably more stable to me, but they do completely block cyclepaths and are difficult to get through small gaps. The croozer has a huge boot. So does the Chariot, but it's a dumb design with a small opening.

If you do get a Croozer or a Chariot, choose the Weber coupling attachment with the stand. We didn't either time we could have, and I regret it.

[mybrainhurts]

When I take over, trailers will be banned from the roads...

And anyone who's used one will be up for child abuse...

Carry on....

[Mars]

mybrainhurts said:

When I take over, trailers will be banned from the roads...

And anyone who's used one will be up for child abuse...

Carry on....

Not sure who that was aimed at, but it was very helpful. Thanks.

[Mars]

DrMekon said:

Trailers are useful if you live in the middle of nowhere. If you want to go offroad, or have a baby, I'd go for a Chariot CTS as they have suspension.

Seen a few with sus. My daughter's not really a baby (2yo) even though she's **my** baby. Still, I like the idea of it to help soak up the trail.

DrMekon said:

The difference between it and the Croozer is huge - babies get thrown about in unsuspended ones. However, they are big money. IME. The Croozer range are really well built but weigh a ton.

Ah, not good for me then. I'm not terribly fit (yet) so need every assistance I can get.

DrMekon said:

I don't trust the build of the cheap ones I've seen.

This is specifically something I am interested in. I guess you always get what you pay for but I suspected a cheap one would either fall apart as you use it, or weigh a ton.

DrMekon said:

Two seaters don't feel noticeably more stable to me, but they do completely block cyclepaths and are difficult to get through small gaps.

Never thought of it blocking a cycle path but if they're no more stable then there's no point in additional weight or causing other people hassle.

DrMekon said:

The croozer has a huge boot. So does the Chariot, but it's a dumb design with a small opening.

I'll only use it to carry a picnic. I could probably do that in a saddle bag.

DrMekon said:

If you do get a Croozer or a Chariot, choose the Weber coupling attachment with the stand. We didn't either time we could have, and I regret it.

Thanks. I'll look into that. And thanks for the comprehensive help.

[Mars]

Bidding for a Chariot single seater on Ebay. Not sure how high I'll go but on one hand there aren't many for sale, but on the other I'm not desperate for one, so I will see how far it goes and if it goes too high I'll wait until the next one.

[DrMekon]

Locally and on bike forums, I see them go for £250 ish. We paid £250 and got an extra coupling thrown in. We've had to buy a new rubber section that covers the ball joint, but it was less than £20.

FWIW, I don't think you can go wrong with a Chariot Cougar if you pay about that. You'll be able to get rid of it on ebay for similar money when you are done with it.

[Mars]

I've lost out on Ebay a number of times to bidders vying for the Chariots, so while I was contemplating what to do next, a friend came up with the offer of his unbranded one. I went round after tea to have a look. It's a double, so bigger than I need but it was a lot lighter than I was expecting, so I think I can manage it.

I asked the price.

Nothing.

No price. He wanted to give it to me. He said it's because I've helped him out with his Caterham in the past, but even so... I did that because I love Caterhams and enjoy the camaraderie.

The trailer's utterly brilliant, packs down flat and rolls really well. I can't wait to show it to my daughter (she was in bed when I got home). She'll be so excited.

Test drive on Sunday.



^^^ Yes I realise you've all seen these hundreds of times before but pics tell stories better than words.

[Kieran]

I was in a similar position a few months back and went along a similar thought process. After being disappointed with the build of the Halfords' models I narrowed it down to the Croozer Kid 1 or 2, the Chariot models were just too expensive to justify the use. Like you I watched and bid on Ebay but the final prices seemed to end up near 2/3 of the full price and so I ended up buying a new Croozer Kid 2. Used it a few times and very happy with it; over engineered, well designed and I would recommend it without hesitation. I went for the 2 seater as the price differential was slim, it is more stable, has more space for 'stuff' and we can carry a friends little one on a ride. Not the cheapest option but with Ebay prices so strong I guess the residuals will be healthy.

[Mars]

Test drove it this evening. My 2yo daughter is managable, even up the incline of our road. My 5yo boy isn't. I am a weakling and I'm not posting a picture of it.

[mybrainhurts]

I find it hard to believe that anybody thinks it in order to expose their young to traffic like this.