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Convertible Child Trailer Reccomendation?

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  1. BenN
    Member

    Our eight month old starts nursery in January, and we find ourselves trying to work out a commute schedule that allows my wife to drop her off before getting the bus, and me to pick her up on the way home on the bike.

    I'm really not keen to have a child seat on my bike constantly for the sake of one five minute journey three days a week, and thought about a trailer - so the question; does anyone know of a single trailer that can be converted to a pushable buggy? Just need enough space for infant + accessories, and preferably not too bulky, so it's not too much hastle for her to push it uphill in the morning.

    Any experiences would be appreciated!

    Posted 11 years ago #

  2. algo
    Member

    Hello,

    I managed to get a second hand chariot buggy which does what you say - some comments on it here:

    http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=10941

    What we do now, which might not help, is that I daughter off with a "wee ride" child seat and leave it at the nursery and my partner then picks her up - either with a buggy which has enough space under it (just) to accommodate the wee ride, or on her bike.

    I don't know what your budget is, but there are a few options for new trailers, but I went for trying to find a good second hand chariot as they are really good quality trailers. If you want to check ours out, you'd be very welcome.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  3. SRD
    Moderator

    Buggy/trailer sounds like a good option, but they're not cheap.

    As Algo says, a front mounted seat could be left at nursery for fairly easy transport home.

    But also, most seats wouldn't need to be on the bike 'all the time'. Hamax seats pop in and out very easily, and co-pilots are only a little more work. (But as you'll see in other threads on this topic, they do limit your pannier carrying capacity).

    Posted 11 years ago #

  4. BenN
    Member

    The issue with the front seat is the one way nature of our proposal - wife walks child there in pushchair before heading directly to work on the bus, and I then have to be able to take whatever she leaves at the nursery home with me on the bike (child included, obviously)

    Posted 11 years ago #

  5. Schemieradge
    Member

    We managed fine with 1 kid and WeeRide Kangaroo bike seat, me doing drop offs and wife doing pickups. You just leave the bar attached to the bike and the seat and come off and on as necessary. It's small enough it's easily carried.

    But since we have 2 kids now we got a Croozer Kid 2 trailer. Not at all cheap but seems very well built and converts to a buggy (though have to say the reviews of it as a buggy aren't that good). But attaching/detaching the tow arm to the trailer I think would be a real pain.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  6. condor2378
    Member

    I did exactly the same as Schemieradge. When it was just 1 kid, used Wee Ride Kangaroo, leave the bar attached and attaching / removing is easy.

    Now that we have 2 (4 y.o. & 2 y.o) I use the Croozer for 2 trailer. Very sturdy with lots of room for bags in the back. I've put a myriad of additional lights on it for the dark mornings / evenings so it can't be missed.

    Posted 11 years ago #

  7. algo
    Member

    @BenN - I probably didn't explain well enough sorry. I detach the bike seat and leave it at nursery, then my partner has a choice of going to pick up our daughter with the bike or the pushchair since it is possible to bring the bike seat bike in the pushchair. As mentioned - the wee ride has a bar which is permanently attached to both bikes, and the seat attaches to that.

    For new trailers there are ones called "Vantly" or "Bluebird" which are much cheaper than Chariot or Croozer and do what you want, e.g.

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Monz-bikekids-trailer-two-Seatsr-aluminum/dp/B002XM0GU2

    Some reports in holland say they are made in the same factories as the new Burley Dee-Lite, but are a fraction of the cost....

    Posted 11 years ago #

  8. LaidBack
    Member

    I was asked about trailers again recently. Someone was interested in the relaunch of Chariot by Thule.

    (Not launched till next year though as the UK safety regs are different from Sweden.)
    Thule Chariot

    These aren't cheap though... (!)
    If you look at the level of accessories and parts it partly explains why. (maybe?)
    Correction. Seems like Amazon listing has a lot of these. I thought they were less common but there is competition!

    Posted 11 years ago #

  9. BenN
    Member

    Encouraged by the cycling with babies thread, I thought it would be good time to update this with the outcome of my research; we ended up buying the Bumper Explorer Solo trailer from Amazon, which has turned out brilliantly. There were a few budget price niggles at first, but I have solved the majority of them, and have posted a full review Here

    Suffice to say that although my wife feels a little silly for 10 minutes in the morning pushing it, my daughter and I both have great fun travelling home together. The plan is to keep using it for another six months or so, and if all is going well with the setup, then we will probably spend a significant amount more on a much better trailer such as a Croozer.

    Posted 10 years ago #

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