Revolution trailer bike?

Brendan Halpin said:

Any opinions on the Edinburgh bike coop own-brand trailer bike, the
"Revolution Glider '08 Tandem Trailer"?

It seems like good value (£89, and the pound is weak against the euro at
the moment) and EBC brand has credibility. Experiences?

I notice that, like most trailerbikes, it mounts to the seatpost of the
towing bike. I would insist on rack mounting, for extra stability.

I believe the only rack mounting trailerbikes are the Islabikes (which
my daughter has been using for the last two years and which my son is
now using, and which curiously doesn't seem to be listed at
http://www.islabikes.co.uk/range_page.html at present) or the Burley
Piccolo. Both are significantly more expensive than the EBC model to
buy new - my Islabikes was second-hand.

Better still (if the child has their own bike) is the FollowMe Tandem,
which I'm currently using to tow my daughter:
http://www.followme-tandem.com/
http://www.velorution.biz/?page_id=1322

Again it's a lot more expensive than the EBC trailerbike, but it's worth it.

--
Danny Colyer <http://www.redpedals.co.uk>
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
"The plural of anecdote is not data" - Frank Kotsonis

Danny Colyer said:

I notice that, like most trailerbikes, it mounts to the seatpost of
the towing bike. I would insist on rack mounting, for extra
stability.

Does it make that much difference? I've no experience of trailers, but
I'd imagine the shorter distance from child to joint is more important
than the height of the attachment.

Quoted message said:

Better still (if the child has their own bike) is the FollowMe
Tandem, which I'm currently using to tow my daughter:
http://www.followme-tandem.com/
http://www.velorution.biz/?page_id=1322

An interesting design.

Brendan
--
Brendan Halpin, Department of Sociology, University of Limerick, Ireland
Tel: w +353-61-213147 f +353-61-202569 h +353-61-338562; Room F2-025 x 3147
[email hidden] http://www.ul.ie/sociology/brendan.halpin.html

Brendan Halpin said:

Danny Colyer said:

I notice that, like most trailerbikes, it mounts to the seatpost of
the towing bike. I would insist on rack mounting, for extra
stability.

Does it make that much difference? I've no experience of trailers, but
I'd imagine the shorter distance from child to joint is more important
than the height of the attachment.

So I understand. The rack mount means that the pivot point of the
trailer/bike combination is above the pivot point of the bike - the
contact patch of the rear tyre. This makes cornering more stable and
therefore easier.

--

Tim

I understand very little of what's being discussed
but for some reason it's fascinating.

(Jon Thompson, urs)

Tim Hall said:

Brendan Halpin said:

Danny Colyer said:

I notice that, like most trailerbikes, it mounts to the seatpost of
the towing bike. I would insist on rack mounting, for extra
stability.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Does it make that much difference? I've no experience of trailers, but
I'd imagine the shorter distance from child to joint is more important
than the height of the attachment.

So I understand. The rack mount means that the pivot point of the
trailer/bike combination is above the pivot point of the bike - the
contact patch of the rear tyre. This makes cornering more stable and
therefore easier.

What Tim said.

I think that every article I've read about cycling with children has, if
it has gone into any detail on trailerbikes, recommended rack mounting
partly for this reason. Also, rack mounting trailerbikes are less
likely to end up leaning to one side while riding along (a commonly
observed problem with seatpost mounting, particularly with single-bolt
hitches).

I actually have no experience of towing a trailerbike - while the wife's
been towing a trailerbike for the last two years, I've been towing a
trailer. Watching trailerbikes from behind, however, it's noticeable
that the rack-mounted ones give a much better ride simply because they
don't lean when they're not supposed to.

The FollowMe (which I've so far done about 20 miles with in total) is
very stable.

--
Danny Colyer <http://www.redpedals.co.uk>
Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often
"The plural of anecdote is not data" - Frank Kotsonis

In article said:

Brendan Halpin said:

Danny Colyer said:

I notice that, like most trailerbikes, it mounts to the seatpost of
the towing bike. I would insist on rack mounting, for extra
stability.

Does it make that much difference? I've no experience of trailers, but
I'd imagine the shorter distance from child to joint is more important
than the height of the attachment.

So I understand. The rack mount means that the pivot point of the
trailer/bike combination is above the pivot point of the bike - the
contact patch of the rear tyre. This makes cornering more stable and
therefore easier.

Yes. I tried three (through D.Tek), one with pivot at the seatpost,
one with seatpost clamp but a universal joint some way back along
towards the rear axle, and one with rack mounted pivot directly above
the rear axle. We went for the intermediate one because it handled
nearly as well as the rack mount and was a lot cheaper, but it was
noticeably better than the seatpost pivot.

There are also trailerbikes which mount at the rear of a rack, allowing
use of a childseat as well. A co-worker has one, and it works for him.