Child trailers....whaddya think??

[marcusl]

Hi,
I was just wondering if anyone has any experience they can share riding with a twin child trailer (not a trailer bike)?
I've found a few that are available on the internet (Burley, KoolStride/Stop, Pacific, Phillips and Trek have some but they're just rebadged Burleys - according to the guys at Clarence St) Any other brands to look out for? Considerations (price, weight (light = $$$), material, harnesses, hitching method, ability to conert to a stroller (not essential however)) Any others? I'm leaning towards the pacific which is available on deanwoods.com.au for $399 at the moment - for price, conversion kit being included, bit weighty though (not a problem considering how slow i ride anyway) Does anyone in Sydney carry a range of these?(asking a lot i know - but i really like to compare side by side)
Obviously i'll take some for a test spin to guage my own reaction to dragging around what could potentially be an extra 65kg (45kg capacity + up to 20kg for the trailer itself - man that's a scary thought!!) AND to make sure my little girl likes it....shouldn't be a problem - she absolutely loved the seat we had. We both really miss our rides together - ever since my (t)rusty old steed packed it in and I upgraded to a bike with disk brakes (which prevent the rack from mounting)
Are they really useful for anything more than bike paths? With the addition of a another mouth to feed I'll eventually be riding with two and would like to get the missis into some touring holidays.....(hmmm around Australia, harvest hopping, WWOOFing)
Is tipping a real problem if you ride carefully? what about in traffic??
I've read the recent post on bike trailers that some people touched upon these things....can anyone elaborate?
What I suppose I'm really looking for is of peoples stories using these things....

thanks in advance
marcus

 

[marcusl]

Originally posted by marcusl
Hi,
I was just wondering if anyone has any experience they can share riding with a twin child trailer (not a trailer bike)?
I've found a few that are available on the internet (Burley, KoolStride/Stop, Pacific, Phillips and Trek have some but they're just rebadged Burleys - according to the guys at Clarence St) Any other brands to look out for? Considerations (price, weight (light = $$$), material, harnesses, hitching method, ability to conert to a stroller (not essential however)) Any others? I'm leaning towards the pacific which is available on deanwoods.com.au for $399 at the moment - for price, conversion kit being included, bit weighty though (not a problem considering how slow i ride anyway) Does anyone in Sydney carry a range of these?(asking a lot i know - but i really like to compare side by side)
Obviously i'll take some for a test spin to guage my own reaction to dragging around what could potentially be an extra 65kg (45kg capacity + up to 20kg for the trailer itself - man that's a scary thought!!) AND to make sure my little girl likes it....shouldn't be a problem - she absolutely loved the seat we had. We both really miss our rides together - ever since my (t)rusty old steed packed it in and I upgraded to a bike with disk brakes (which prevent the rack from mounting)
Are they really useful for anything more than bike paths? With the addition of a another mouth to feed I'll eventually be riding with two and would like to get the missis into some touring holidays.....(hmmm around Australia, harvest hopping, WWOOFing)
Is tipping a real problem if you ride carefully? what about in traffic??
I've read the recent post on bike trailers that some people touched upon these things....can anyone elaborate?
What I suppose I'm really looking for is of peoples stories using these things....

thanks in advance
marcus

ooops sorry for the double post....stupid slow computer (and operator)

 

[Gags]

"marcusl" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> marcusl wrote:
> > Hi, I was just wondering if anyone has any experience
> > they can share riding with a twin child trailer (not a
> > trailer bike)? I've found a
few
> > that are available on the internet (Burley,
> > KoolStride/Stop, Pacific, Phillips and Trek have some
> > but they're just rebadged Burleys - according to the
> > guys at Clarence St) Any other brands to look out
for?
> > Considerations (price, weight (light = $$$), material,
> > harnesses, hitching method, ability to conert to a
> > stroller (not essential however)) Any others? I'm
> > leaning towards the pacific which is
available
> > on deanwoods.com.au for $399 at the moment - for
> > price, conversion kit being included, bit weighty
> > though (not a problem considering how slow
i
> > ride anyway) Does anyone in Sydney carry a range of
> > these?(asking a
lot
> > i know - but i really like to compare side by side)
> > Obviously i'll
take
> > some for a test spin to guage my own reaction to
> > dragging around what could potentially be an extra
> > 65kg (45kg capacity + up to 20kg for the trailer
> > itself - man that's a scary thought!!) AND to make
> > sure my little girl likes it....shouldn't be a problem
> > - she absolutely loved the seat we had. We both really
> > miss our rides together - ever since
my
> > (t)rusty old steed packed it in and I upgraded to a
> > bike with disk brakes (which prevent the rack from
> > mounting) Are they really useful
for
> > anything more than bike paths? With the addition of a
> > another mouth to feed I'll eventually be riding with
> > two and would like to get the
missis
> > into some touring holidays.....(hmmm around Australia,
> > harvest
hopping,
> > WWOOFing) Is tipping a real problem if you ride
> > carefully? what about
in
> > traffic?? I've read the recent post on bike trailers
> > that some people touched upon these things....can
> > anyone elaborate? What I suppose I'm really looking
> > for is of peoples stories using these things....
> > thanks in advance marcus
>
>
>
> ooops sorry for the double post....stupid slow computer
> (and operator)
>
Marcus,

I had one of these when I was in Canberra and we got heaps
of use out of it. Canberra was an ideal location for it due
to the number of bikepaths and I used to stick to bikepaths
and backstreets. I can't remember the brand of the one that
I had but I had no problems with it in the three or so years
that I had it (bought it when my eldest was 1 and could sit
upright on his own for decent periods of time)

My kids loved it and would quite happily sit in it together
for rides of up to 90 minutes or so. They would actually
fall asleep in there quite regularly after the first 15
minutes or so of riding (due to rythmic motion I guess). I
could go out with the kids and I would get a good workout,
the kids would have a sleep, and the missus would get some
time to herself.

I used to attach it to my mountain bike that was fitted with
slicks and I was able to cruise around for a 90 or so minute
ride and achieve average speeds in the vicinity of 22 to 24
km/h. I started to really notice the weight of it as the
kids got bigger (one was 4 and the other 3 when they finally
grew out of it), especially up steep hills when I used to
have to grab the granny cog and spin my way up at a pretty
slow pace. It also dragged quite a bit when going into any
sort of headwind. I found that if I tried to get out of the
seat to climb, it made the trailer rock pretty violently and
so I would concentrate on keeping a smooth pedalling action.

Once mine was fitted it didn't really affect the handling of
the bike apart from taking longer to stop and feeling harder
to pedal. You soon get a feel for the width of the trailer
although I did have a couple of close calls with bike path
bollards in my early days with it. The trailer could handle
some minor off road and dirt roads as long as I took it easy
to avoid bouncing the kids around too much. I also found
that it was possible to go up and down gutters without too
much problem as long as I went slowly (almost stopping as
the wheel dropped) and "rolled" up or down the vertical part
of the gutter.

As an investment it was great....we paid about $400 for it
new and sold it after three years of constant use for $250.
It created a great family activity as we would quite often
put the kids and a picnic in the trailer, the wife would get
on her mountain bike, and we would ride at an easy pace
about 8km to a local park that had a huge playground (At
Gungahlin for those who know Canberra) for a play/picnic.
The kids would have a great time and would generally sleep
the whole way back.

Recommendations:

1. Invest in a couple of correctly fitting helmets for
the kids and always ensure that they wear them.

2. Buy a spare tube for the trailer if you are going on
rides of decent length.

3. The elastic stretch thingos with toys on them that fit
across a pram can be strung across the inside of the
trailer to keep kids amused.

4. Get one that has both a flyscreen and a clear plastic
flap at the front so that on hot days the kids get
some airflow and on cold days they can keep warm(this
may be a standard feature but I am not sure)

5. If the kids are still in nappies, put in a plastic bag
with a couple of spares, wet ones, powder, etc so that
the kids won't have to sit in their own filth for too
long (On one of my early trips I had to ring the
wife and get her to come in the car as my boy had
strained one that reached his shoulder blades out of
the top of his nappy - glad both the kids are past
that stage now!!!)

 

[marcusl]

Thanks heaps for the reply - just the kind of info i was looking for

......(bought it when my eldest was 1 and could sit
upright on his own for decent periods of time)

My kids loved it and would quite happily sit in it together
for rides of up to 90 minutes or so. They would actually
fall asleep in there quite regularly after the first 15
minutes or so of riding (due to rythmic motion I guess). I
could go out with the kids and I would get a good workout,
the kids would have a sleep, and the missus would get some
time to herself.

I think thats why my missus is actually keen to purchase one.....usually takes a bit more cajolling, hinting and blantant begging to get her to consider new bike type purchases (actually she's not that bad - but that's what it feels like sometimes....)
Mine are 3 yo and 3 months old...so one might not get too much use out of it? - going by what you say....will have to see when we test drive how much space she has.....

As an investment it was great....we paid about $400 for it
new and sold it after three years of constant use for $250.
It created a great family activity as we would quite often
put the kids and a picnic in the trailer, the wife would get
on her mountain bike, and we would ride at an easy pace
about 8km to a local park that had a huge playground (At
Gungahlin for those who know Canberra) for a play/picnic.
The kids would have a great time and would generally sleep
the whole way back..

yeh I've noticed that second hand ones seem to be up there is price....not bad when you consider it cost you $50 per year....

5. If the kids are still in nappies, put in a plastic bag
with a couple of spares, wet ones, powder, etc so that
the kids won't have to sit in their own filth for too
long (On one of my early trips I had to ring the
wife and get her to come in the car as my boy had
strained one that reached his shoulder blades out of
the top of his nappy - glad both the kids are past
that stage now!!!)

So you made your wife come out and change the nappy??!! Man I know I wouldn't get away with that !!!

Thanks for the tips!! It was a great help - I'm almost definite that it's what i want...but it's always good to hear others experiences

 

[Kingsley]

On Thu, 20 May 2004 21:10:47 +1000, Gags wrote:

> (On one of my early trips I had to ring the wife and get
> her to come in the car as my boy had strained one that
> reached his shoulder blades out of the top of his nappy -
> glad both the kids are past that stage now!!!)

Heh... It's not a complete family outing without a poo-
crisis!


The Trek trailer has a 'boot', we chuck the whole nappy
bag in there.

-kt

 

[Kingsley]

On Wed, 19 May 2004 02:00:25 +0000, marcusl wrote:

> marcusl wrote:
> > Hi, I was just wondering if anyone has any experience
> > they can share riding with a twin child trailer (not a
> > trailer bike)?

Yeah, me.

> > I've found a few that are available on the internet
> > (Burley, KoolStride/Stop, Pacific, Phillips and Trek
> > have some but they're just rebadged Burleys
> > - according to the guys at Clarence St)

I read somewhere that Trek licenced it from the Canadian
'Chariot' brand. While the staff at Clarence St are very
good, IMHO they don't know a whole lot about their trailers.

> > bit weighty though (not a problem considering how slow
> > i ride anyway)

No it's not too much of a problem - on the flat You hit
that hill... you'll feel it damn quick. They also have a
huge frontal area, tail-winds are a new experience. A
heavy 'straight from The Netherlands' head-wind will just
about kill you.

> > Does anyone in Sydney carry a range of these?(asking a
> > lot i know - but i really like to compare side by
> > side) Obviously i'll take some for a test spin to
> > guage my own reaction to dragging around what could
> > potentially be an extra 65kg

Rod Martin in (west) Gosford had a few brands on the floor
last time I looked. Burley and a Pacific IIRC

Lately I've been riding with the trailer connected to the
trailer-bike connected to my single. Now that's damn heavy,
but corners quite well, perhaps even better than the tandem.

If you wanna come for a test ride, give be a call 0419 621
568 But we live up at the bottom of Lake Macquarie, about
2-hours north.

> > [disc brakes] (which prevent the rack from mounting)

And perhaps the trailer tow-hitch - check before you buy,

> > Are they really useful for anything more than bike
> > paths?

We've towed two kids in it for > 2000k touring, will be
taking it again next year for 1500k (ish) tour. It's ok on
anything up to quite bumpy roads - and only 'cause the kids
get shaken up a bit too much.

If you're going off-road, best get a _good_ rear mud guard
perhaps with a flap. Otherwise anything you ride through
will end up on your trailer and/or kids.

> > WWOOFing

WOOFing ?

> > Is tipping a real problem if you ride carefully?

If you're riding carefully, I'd say it'd never happen.

I've tipped it (a) riding very non-carefully, and (b) when
the trailer was empty. I clipped the ramp-part of a gutter
at high speed with one wheel.

-kt