Kids Trailer....any recomendations?

alan dav said:

Hi all, looking to buy a childs trailer for two under fives.

Not sure whether to go for thr raliegh one or there is another type that can
be used as a stroller when required.

If anyone has experience with these things and could offer some advice then
please do.

What is your budget?
How much do you intend to use it?

If it is for the occasional trip round the park, almost anything will
do.

If you are using it for day in, day out then get something solid and
robust. I have a Winther Dolphin that was bought in 1997 and used daily
for around 5 years. It is now gathering dust in the garage when not on
loan to various colleagues. It is excellent in all respects bar
compactness when folded and price. Apart from that it has a hard shell
floor, 'aero' shape that is easy to pull, suspension, good quality
wheels, excellent hitch/kickstand (and a weber version is also
available which should be even better). It will happily cope with as
much shopping as you'd otherwise take on a pram and is dead easy to
push - a bit big in some shops though. We didn't have a pushchair, just
used the trailer.

We paid about 500GBP for it and really reckon to have got our money's
worth. The design has improved since we bought ours - some of the
minor niggles have been resolved.
http://www.winther-bikes.com/pages/dolphin.php New ones run at about
850 euro.

Others will have other experiences. I have only met one other owner in
UK and they went for it after trying many different models.

You are welcome to pop by Dundee and try it out if you wish.. It could
do with a new cover but is serviceable if a bit tatty.

...d

alan dav said:

Hi all, looking to buy a childs trailer for two under fives.

The last couple of issues of VeloVision (http://www.velovision.co.uk)
have had trailer reviews you may wish to peruse. If you're down in
Dundee you could have a butchers at my copies.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

alan dav said:

Hi all, looking to buy a childs trailer for two under fives.

Not sure whether to go for thr raliegh one or there is another type that can
be used as a stroller when required.

If anyone has experience with these things and could offer some advice then
please do.

Regards Alan in Arbroath

Have a read of:
http://www.camcycle.org.uk/newsletters/42/article19.html
and:
http://www.camcycle.org.uk/resources/advice/trailers.html

and D.Tek are at:

"D.TEK
FREEPOST
Little Thetford
Ely
Cambridgeshire CB6 1BR

by telephone on 0800 834 105 or 01353 648 177 (or 07071 CYCLES) and by
Fax on 01353 648 777. The first two have answering machines on them, but
Kevin normally gets back fairly fast.

They specialise in child trailers (and other trailers), recumbents, and
cycle solutions for disabled and partially disabled people. They
normally have between 14 and 20 different models of child trailer in
stock, with costs from £170 (second hand) to £600 (rather expensive!).
They also rent, and when selling a trailer will allow one to treat the
first month as rental so one can check the trailer out. Oh, and Kevin
does `tickets' for a "play with recumbents" afternoon - I've got one for
my birthday...

Beware that their opening hours may be somewhat erratic, so telephone
first before visiting."

Jim Chisholm

alan dav said:

Hi all, looking to buy a childs trailer for two under fives.

Not sure whether to go for thr raliegh one or there is another type that can
be used as a stroller when required.

If anyone has experience with these things and could offer some advice then
please do.

Regards Alan in Arbroath

I've been very pleased with my Burley D-Lite the last couple of years.
Definitely big enough for two children upto four or five.

Build quality is aimed at the everyday use end of the market and is
apparent in the pricing.

I did run into trouble when the hitch that slots in between seat and
chain stays ran afoul of my rear discs on my new bike. Fixed it by
investing in an alternate hitch they have available that is simply a
replacement skewer.

Iain Norman said:

alan dav said:

Hi all, looking to buy a childs trailer for two under fives.

I've been very pleased with my Burley D-Lite the last couple of years.
Definitely big enough for two children upto four or five.

Oh and yes it's got a stroller kit.

I've even used it for the odd compost trip to homebase and once even a
garden bench 🙂

Iain Norman said:

I've even used it for the odd compost trip to homebase and once even a
garden bench 🙂

So it's just a lightweight trailer then ;-)

Before I built Worf I have used the Dolphin for full family shops, bags
of cement, Hiking trips (with various items such as skis, backpacks and
an air rifle in it (didn't get cut up at all by the traffic). Stability
is fantastic.

Silliest one was a small child, two pairs of skis, a pulk and the
single speed bike mentioned here before.

...d

alan dav said:

Hi all, looking to buy a childs trailer for two under fives.

Not sure whether to go for thr raliegh one or there is another type that can
be used as a stroller when required.

If anyone has experience with these things and could offer some advice then
please do.

Regards Alan in Arbroath

I've got a Raleigh one. Somehow I managed to bend the overhead support
part of the frame (roll bar?) when folding it. Raleigh's customer
support was useless in helping me source a replacement. Despite the
fact that someone in China must have a box of these parts knocking about
somewhere, Raleigh are unable to help.

Apparently, nobody has ever asked for a spare one before, therefore it
isn't on their official list of spare parts, therefore they are unable
to supply me with one. And they never phoned me back when they said
they would. Useless twunts.

Despite all this, it's been a good trailer, folds very flat, and has
seen a lot of use. It's not as heavy duty as a Burley, but was fit for
purpose.

But beware the useless twunts at Raleigh, should you need their help.

Peter Clinch said:

alan dav said:

Hi all, looking to buy a childs trailer for two under fives.

The last couple of issues of VeloVision (http://www.velovision.co.uk)
have had trailer reviews you may wish to peruse. If you're down in
Dundee you could have a butchers at my copies.

It's our Chariot Cougar in the second of those two issues.

The bearings in the wheels seem to have worn very quickly
unfortunately -- I soaked them in oil when I discovered they were
getting a little stuff, but was too late to save them. Perhaps my
fault for not oiling them earlier? A trip to the LBS to discover
whether they're cartridge bearings that can be easily replaced or
whether a wheel rebuild with a new hub is now in order.

No complaints otherwise -- apart from the price! If it could be
shipped from Canada cheaply then you'd be much better off buying them
abroad; it'd be about 100 pounds cheaper even after adding import duty
and VAT onto the price...

I've just replaced the tyres with Schwalbe Marathons which should be a
bit more puncture resistant than the ones which came with the trailer.

Sadly Velovision didn't review the Winther Dolphin, which is expensive
but supposedly the highest quality child trailer around.

Phil

--
http://www.kantaka.co.uk/ .oOo. public key: http://www.kantaka.co.uk/gpg.txt

Phil Armstrong said:

Sadly Velovision didn't review the Winther Dolphin, which is expensive
but supposedly the highest quality child trailer around.

If they want a long term test - 9 years is possibly OK.

I have a Dolphin and it is excellent. That will possibly soon be had as
another of my colleagues has taken it away to try with a view to
purchase. (The second hand price for a tatty but still very workable
Dolphin is easily up there with a new budget child trailer)

And the bearings are still fine, probably due to being sealed. I don't
think I have ever lubricated them in 9 years.. As far as trailers go,
it really is the Rolls Royceof trailers but still with room for
improvement. Fortunately the construction (solid ABS Plastic floorpan
and seat) lends itself to simple modification (adding baby seats etc
which I bodged and now come as a standard accessory).

If you want a trailer that you can use with your kids and grandkids,
then the Dolphin would be the one to go for.

...d

Russell Fulker said:

alan dav said:

Hi all, looking to buy a childs trailer for two under fives.

Not sure whether to go for thr raliegh one or there is another type
that can
be used as a stroller when required.

If anyone has experience with these things and could offer some advice
then
please do.

Regards Alan in Arbroath

Depends a bit on how far under 5 they are. However, are you sure a
double tag along would not be a better idea. The only double one worth
buying is a pashley U+2 (and they are not particularly cheap). However,
we have 6yrs old, 5 yrs old and a 3 yr old and any combination of them
seem to work well on the U+2. When we had a trailer they used to get
bored, argue, fight etc. With a U+2 they can also help pedal. However,
the following quote from my daughter suggests that this is more
theoretical: "We only pedal down hill and when people are watching!"

Gordon