Child Bike Trailers in the city

[jrenaut]

I’ve been pulling my two around in a Burley D’Lite that I bought used from some friends. No shocks, but the kids mostly don’t seem to mind bumps. They’re 2 and 4, and have been riding in the trailer for about a year. You can get a connector for your bike that attaches through the rear axle, so you can pull it with nearly any bike. Whether you can do that single speed is up to you. On flat surfaces the trailer isn’t bad, though it gets heavy really fast going uphill. Once you’re moving on a flat surface you’ll barely notice it behind you.

The 15th St cycletrack is wide enough, though you have to take the sidewalk at the White House security – the bollards in the street by I St are too close together. I haven’t tried L St, but I’m pretty sure the bollards at the end of each block are too narrow for a trailer (at least for my double).

I find that I get a lot more room from cars when I’m pulling the trailer. I also tend to ride more conservatively, and will go further out of the way to find a bike lane.

[Bilsko]

@UrbanEngineer 42988 wrote:

I’ve been riding around these parts for 5+ years on single speed road and cross bikes. Now, with a new addition to the family, these single speedsters won’t work for riding while pulling a child bike trailer.

Any suggestions on what bikes are best for riding the DC area while pulling a child bike trailer?

I’ve been pulling my daughter around with my Surly Disc Trucker (from Bicycle Space) for about 7 mo. now and have been very pleased with the bike. It probably has about 200 trailer miles and another 3,000 commuting/weekend miles on it. Having the disc brakes for a bit more stopping heft is nice, but probably not entirely necessary if you’re looking to save some money.
@UrbanEngineer 42988 wrote:

Any suggestions on trailers? I’ll need one with shocks…It’s a fragile baby.

Don’t know who makes trailers with full shocks. I use the single Chariot Cougar (middle of the line Chariot trailer) – it has adjustable suspension that you soften/stiffen as the child gets older. I looked at the Burley trailers too, but my sense was that the build quality on the Chariot was a little better – and I was more impressed by the ball+cup mechanism for attaching to the rear wheel than the Burley. With the Chariot, its a full swivel path – ie. the bike can be laying completely on its side and the trailer remains upright – the Burley’s hitch mechanism was more limited in movement.
@UrbanEngineer 42988 wrote:

Any suggestions on riding through the city with one of these trailers? Do the bike lanes and cycletracks provide sufficient width for a child bike trailer? Not sure where my daily commutes with the child bike trailer will be heading, but I see myself taking 15th and L street cycletracks often, as well as doing some rides around hains point with the little guy.

I’ve done a mix of road and sidewalk riding – benefit of a single trailer is that its a bit more narrow than the doubles so there are a few more places accessible. I haven’t tried the cycletracks and not sure about maneuvering in and out of flex bollards with the trailer. Riding down on the Mall has been good – including a couple laps at HP for the WABA Women-in-Cycling ride on Dec. 23 – the CCT is fine when not too crowded.

[dasgeh]

I know you asked specifically about trailers, but… are you sure that’s what you want in the city? Depending on the age of your kid, there are lots of options. We put our daughter on a BoBike Mini (a front seat) starting when she was about 9 months. Now that we have #2, we got a Weehoo iGo, which #1 LOVES, even though #2 isn’t old enough for the bike yet. We did a lot of research before buying. Most of the good info is from Europe. The general thought is that the front seats are better than back and/or trailers because you can see the kid, interact, etc. so you are surprised by any shifts in weight. And your arms are around the kid in the case of a sideways fall. The downside is that it doesn’t work with all bikes, but it’s great with a “dutch style” (i.e. upright) bike. It doesn’t change bike handling a lot — if anything the added weight makes it more stable at slower speeds.

We like the iGo over a trailer because it can be used as the kids grow, and is higher off the ground, so hopefully easier to see than a trailer.

[thecyclingeconomist]

The Chariot Cougar 1 is the best trailer out there. I’m not sure about it being mid-level (it’s second from the top of all the Chariots, and demands a hefty $500 if you buy new), but it’s worth it. I tested all the major trailers out there, and the versatility (this is a stroller, jogger, cross-country-ski trailer and bike All-in-one), and build quality were simply superior.

Insofar as pulling your baby… I sure hope you wait until your baby’s able to hold its head up, AND you can properly fit a helmet on. The research shows that most severe infant injuries on bicycles happen during accidents with trailers, but it’s not the reason that most think. It’s the fact that parents put their kids in trailers without helmets (due to a false sense of security), so if something happens, they aren’t protected. It is not because there are a higher frequency of accidents with trailers (those are actually less per mile ridden.)

Anyway, I pull my kiddos using my 29er, but any geared setup should be fine for pulling a trailer around. Make sure you plan your routes. It’s a different game now.

God bless and safe cycling!
Pictures are of our Cougar 2 (wider version), but our second addition to the family is only 7 weeks, so he’s not accompanying his sister yet.

[vvill]

I’d agree it’s worth considering a bike seat. I bought a trailer first and a front bike seat later. My older kid was fine in the trailer but visibility, interaction, etc. for him was certainly limited. My daughter has never been in there and has so far always been in the front bike seat and she loves it. The only things about the bike seat model I have that I don’t like – harder to pedal normally (unless you have a bigger frame with a generous headtube, I guess), and the way the toptube mount works, it gets in the way of your hamstrings on your downstroke even if you don’t have the seat mounted. The safety harness isn’t the best although looking at the current iteration they’ve improved it since I bought my model.

Also, there is virtually no protection from the weather elements whereas a trailer can give you that. But I do prefer the closeness and portability of the seat, whereas now the trailer seems distant and less safe from harm.

I have a flat bar 700c hybrid I use for the front bike seat or trailer and a 26″ MTB I use for the trailer. The hybrid has since become my SS commuter so when the weather warms up again I’ll probably put the bike seat on my CX bike.

[thecyclingeconomist]

Another option is a sidecar. I loved our Chariot Sidecar… only on the used market though in the US. Here’s the link to buy new, but I don’t know how shipping would work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrJHyISAjUg

[Author]

Posts