*Best* child trailer

On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 10:02:20 +0000, dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers

Quoted message said:

Off to see my niece, her partner and their offspring - a baby
tomorrow. They want to know about experiences of taking a small baby
in a cycle trailer. What's the best trailer for the purpose? How
manouvreable is it? How to fit the child in the trailer? How secure is
the child. This is for cycling in London - Islington to City & back.

Any advice gratefully received.

Have you checked Myra VanInwegen's web pages?
http://www.myra-simon.com/bike/index.html

Mike

dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers said:

Greetings.

Off to see my niece, her partner and their offspring - a baby tomorrow. They
want to know about experiences of taking a small baby in a cycle trailer.
What's the best trailer for the purpose? How manouvreable is it? How to fit the
child in the trailer? How secure is the child. This is for cycling in London -
Islington to City & back.

Without any reservation at all I would recommend the Burley range.
http://www.burley.com/

Having brought 4 children into cycling I'm not sure what we would have
done without our Burley d'Lite.
Three of our children were in the traler from six-weeks old.
We used a carrycot (from Mothercare) strapped into the trailer into
which the tiddler was placed; strapped in with a harness. Once they were
a little stronger the carrycot was replaced with a lightweight car-seat,
again securely strapped in.
Next stage of course was the use of the trailer in its 'true' form.
We used it for ten years pulling it behind a variety of bikes and
tandems, and through many European countries, usually camping.
The children remained in it until around 3-4 when they transferred to
kidiecranks on the tandems/tandem trike.

Handling was superb, with the effect on the bike (other than weight)
being negligible.
In addition it had a good luggage area behind the internal seat
partition into which all manner of items could be placed from nappies to
camping equipment.
And above all the children loved it.

Of course it needs care when riding in traffic, as although very
manoevrable you do need to take a wider line when overtaking parked
vehicles and the like, but one major benefit was the amount of care and
space other road users gave us, with close overtaking a rarity. Other
vehicles would just wait behind then pass giving plenty of space, and
often with a friendly wave.

Parking was easy as the completely flexible hitch enabled the towing
machine to be leant at any angle to the trailer - it could even be laid
flat on the ground if required - ideal for when in a park for a picnic.

When not in use it simply packed flat and was kept in the meter cupboard
in the hall.

They are a bit pricey, but IMO worth it for the quality, but Bridge Bike
Hire on the Camel Trail uses them a lot and occasionally has used models
for sale, as does the related uktrailerco (latter's website not too good
so best phone)

http://www.cornwall-online.co.uk/bridgebikehire/Welcome.html
http://www.uktrailerco.co.uk/

Our trailer almost became part of our family and it was a very sad day
when we sold it - but they also hold their value :-)

John B

On 25 Sep 2004 10:02:20 GMT, [email hidden]

(dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers) said:

Greetings.

Off to see my niece, her partner and their offspring - a baby tomorrow. They
want to know about experiences of taking a small baby in a cycle trailer.
What's the best trailer for the purpose? How manouvreable is it? How to fit the
child in the trailer? How secure is the child. This is for cycling in London -
Islington to City & back.

Any advice gratefully received.

Cheers, helen s

I have the Burley D'lite and it's excellent.[1] I can't answer for how
good they might be for a "small baby" as it is large enough for two
much bigger children.

In terms of child retention; it uses a set of seat belts. Pretty
foolproof and rather unnecessary, really.

Loads of space; two up front and a 'boot' behind that can carry just
about anything you can imagine you just might possibly need on a
picnic at the beach.

Hardly noticable when cycling - with the exception of the shouts of
"Faster! Faster!"

[1] It's also surplus to requirements right now so if anyone in the
South wants to buy a well used but good-ish nick child trailer, make
me an offer.

On 25/9/04 8:59 pm, in article [email hidden],

Not Responding said:

On 25 Sep 2004 10:02:20 GMT, [email hidden]

(dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers) said:

Greetings.

Off to see my niece, her partner and their offspring - a baby tomorrow. They
want to know about experiences of taking a small baby in a cycle trailer.
What's the best trailer for the purpose? How manouvreable is it? How to fit
the
child in the trailer? How secure is the child. This is for cycling in London
-
Islington to City & back.

Any advice gratefully received.

Cheers, helen s

I have the Burley D'lite and it's excellent.[1] I can't answer for how
good they might be for a "small baby" as it is large enough for two
much bigger children.

In terms of child retention; it uses a set of seat belts. Pretty
foolproof and rather unnecessary, really.

Loads of space; two up front and a 'boot' behind that can carry just
about anything you can imagine you just might possibly need on a
picnic at the beach.

Hardly noticable when cycling - with the exception of the shouts of
"Faster! Faster!"

[1] It's also surplus to requirements right now so if anyone in the
South wants to buy a well used but good-ish nick child trailer, make
me an offer.

I have a Winther Dolphin, bought because I wanted a solid floor. It is now
showing it's seven years of abuse. The newer design mods are improvements
over my model.

It is great. The wheels are angled in, the hitch is solid and dependable and
it will take a huge amount of stuff (rated 60kg at 30km/h). I bolted (via
some cut up bits of carrymat) a cut down child seat for the youngest from
about 6 months. Before that I had used it a couple of times with the carry
cot. I also fitted curtains as sun shades.

Great in the rain, great in the winter, great in the sun. Not cheap, but it
will last.

And no trouble with traffic either.

...d

In message <[email hidden]>,
dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers <[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Greetings.

Off to see my niece, her partner and their offspring - a baby tomorrow. They
want to know about experiences of taking a small baby in a cycle trailer.
What's the best trailer for the purpose? How manouvreable is it? How to fit the
child in the trailer? How secure is the child. This is for cycling in London -
Islington to City & back.

I'm not sure there is a 'best', but there are plenty of good ones about.
Others have recommended Burley, which are of course very good. I bought
a Chariot trailer, I think it is equally good, though with slight
differences, but basically the same thing.

The trailer is very sturdy - aluminium frame, 'cloth' body that is very
hard wearing, good rain cover and mesh cover. The child is held in by a
'5 point ' fixing belt arrangement (similar to a baby seat, though
simpler as the loads are less). They can't get out or move around, in
the unlikely event of the trailer toppling over they would be quite
safe. My daughter insisted I tip the trailer over onto it's side (not
moving!) while strapped in, so I can confirm this !:-)

For carrying a baby (say less than a year) you can either strap in a
baby car seat, or get specific baby seats for them (see a recent thread
I started on carrying a baby and a toddler in one for details of the
Chariot options)

The trailers are very stable, and don't really don't affect the handling
of the bike at all (obviously it takes more effort to brake etc.), even
if the bike was to fall over, or whatever, the trailer is unaffected. I
paid more for the Weber hitch option on mine - which is useful if you
have multiple bikes, want to sue them with things lie hub brakes, though
I think the newer chariot trailers have a better design of hitch)

I've used mine for transport around Leeds, as well as longer journeys.
You always get plenty of space from cars etc. and I would not worry at
all about taking it in heavy traffic

If they don't want to spend the amount that the ones such as Burley,
Chariot, Winther etc. cost then there are cheaper options, which while
lacking some refinements are perfectly good.
--
Chris French, Leeds

Helen,

See my post on the cargo trialer I'm selling. With the lockable lid it
should be quite soundproof with the niece inside

Pete

dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers said:

Greetings.

Off to see my niece, her partner and their offspring - a baby tomorrow. They
want to know about experiences of taking a small baby in a cycle trailer.
What's the best trailer for the purpose? How manouvreable is it? How to fit the
child in the trailer? How secure is the child. This is for cycling in London -
Islington to City & back.

Any advice gratefully received.

Cheers, helen s

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Quoted message said:

Helen,

See my post on the cargo trialer I'm selling. With the lockable lid it
should be quite soundproof with the niece inside

Pete

Thanks Pete ;-)

Cheers, helen s

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to get correct one remove fame & fortune
h*$el*$$e*nd**$o$ts**i*$*$m*m$o*n*s@$*a$o*l.c**$om$

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[email hidden] (dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Greetings.

Off to see my niece, her partner and their offspring - a baby tomorrow. They
want to know about experiences of taking a small baby in a cycle trailer.
What's the best trailer for the purpose? How manouvreable is it? How to fit the
child in the trailer? How secure is the child. This is for cycling in London -
Islington to City & back.

Any advice gratefully received.

The absolute best I've ever seen is the Weber Ritschie (see
http://www.bikeshop2000.de/Kinderanhanger/Weber/weber.html) - thats
from the people who make the Weber coupling, baby seat, roofs, etc.
The base is made from 3-ply honeycomb ally, it comes with suspension
as standard, and optionally, disc brakes, so called run-out brakes,
that slow the trailer if it tries to catch up with the tractor unit.
It's by no means cheap, though, prob. 1000 euro with extras.

I've used a Swiss Legerro Classico for daily commuting for three
years, and it has been excellent. It also has an ally base, but no
suspension or brakes. A bit cheaper though.