[itsdoable]

We've tried a few child trailers so far, and most work fine on road or suitably wide bike paths and trails, but on anything that was slightly "off-road", they tended to be awkward and provide a rough ride, even the suspension versions. We were looking at several years of not being able to ride singletrack together unless we hired a babysitter (which isn't a bad idea). I was considering getting someone to build me a custom child trailer, similar to the BOB YAK with better suspension, and around the same time I came across the Tout-Terrain SingleTrailer, an expensive German device that was pretty close to what I was looking for. The short story is, after thought, options, the fact that our currency was suddenly doing better than the distributor's, we bought one.

Well, we had the first ride with the trailer this weekend, it's probably the first time in almost a year that I have been able to ride with my SO on singletrack.

The trailer is very smooth, you really don't feel it at all except for the extra weight climbing. Other trailers I have tried, make themselves known by the way they affect the handling of the bike, you usually feel them kicking you or pulling back and forth on the bike. With this one, you almost don't feel a thing. Even going through ditches or over small logs, you don't really feel the trailer wheel at all. Pretty impressive. Guess you do get something for the extra $...

This is the only Child trailer that you can do real single track with, there just is not enough room for a 2-wheeled trailer on most of these trails, and in the winter you cannot keep the trailer wheels on the firm pack (the snow version of the "blue groove"). It works like a BOB trailer, only this one is a lot smoother, and you can safely put your kid in it.

The suspension works very well, it definitely make a difference on the bumpy frozen trails, going off the curb (or back onto the curb), the trailer body really floats over the roughness - our daughter really seems pretty happy in there. So far so good.

Obviously this is not for everybody. Unless you want to ride narrow/rough trails, you are probably wasting your money on this thing. But for those who do, there is nothing else available, but fortunately this one works, and works well.

Construction wise, the trailer is a welded CroMoly frame, with a 200mm travel swingarm and a 20" wheel. QR's on the wheel & swingarm shock allow it to fold away, and QR on the tow arm allow that to fold into the trailer for transport. Cartridge bearings (8 in all) are at all the pivots. Finish (weld, paint, sewing) is excellent. There is a built in kickstand that works. It's also light, once folded up, its easy to pick up (lighter than most strollers I've seen).

If there was a trailer section in the MTBR reviews, I would rate this at 5 chilli's. As for value for money, that depends on how much you like to ride trails with you SO...

 

[sgltrak]

That is great. Nice review. I wish there was something like that when my kids were small. Our Burley saw way more singletrack and abuse than it deserved.

 

[STinGa]

ouch

Ouch ... heart attack ... sticker shock at google the stop.

STinGa

 

[STinGa]

ouch

Goofy work computer and its double post.

 

[itsdoable]

Follow-up

4 rides in the last 2 weeks and all I can say is, it works very well. There are no other trailers that I have seen or used, that I could pull with my daughter, through real singletrack, and at the speeds that this one does. You can ride through most of the rough stuff at a decent pace. Which means you can keep up with a group ride.

There are limits

Logs up to ~6" were fine, larger ones were difficult - an 18"er (with transitions filled with smaller logs and twigs) got me hung up - the towing arm hangs up on your rear wheel, locking youre rear wheel and lifting the trailer comes off the ground (This log was doable on a BOB).

The trailer tracks far inboard on switchbacks (much more than the BOB's), you have to give trees a wide birth. On a inside switchback with a ravine, the trailer dropped right into the gap - but of course it came right out on the other side.

Re: Sticker Shock - ya, we had to think about it a bit. We figured it cost about 100~150 babysitter sessions, which is about 2X ~ 3x a week for a year. Last year we rode ~5x/week, so if we can do a fraction of that, we'll be doing OK.

 

[ziggurat44]

that is pretty cool
like sgltrak, our burley saw way more trail than it was ever intended for, it survived though and now is used to pull the dog around on road rides.
our kids have all graduated to their own bikes and ride the singletrack quite nicely - though sometimes my youngest daughter (7) opts for the tag-a-long

glad to see you can ride as a family. doing it now ensures many years of enjoyment together to come

 

[mappable]

how much did the singletrack cost?

Lately, i've been getting more miles pulling either the burley or an adams trail-a-bike.

Found this action video of the Singletrack trailer on youtube.

 

[berrywise]

how much did the singletrack cost?

Lately, i've been getting more miles pulling either the burley or an adams trail-a-bike.

Found this action video of the Singletrack trailer on youtube.

From their website looks just shy of 2500 us dollars.

 

[glenzx]

That is the most beautiful kid-trailer set-up I've seen - ever.

I thought the $600 ± spent on our Chariot rig was well worth it, but am a long ways away from being able to afford THAT! Indeed, at $2500 it's well worth it, but damn. I just don't make that sort of cash. Hell - I can barely scrape up the $500 for some drivetrain replacement parts this winter!

 

[itsdoable]

One more set of pictures,

Mom is happy... (looks like ice, but it isn't - just snow packed almost as hard as ice...)

Sleeping infant....

 

[norm]

I know this is an old post, but that is about the coolest child carrier ive seen. I was checking different child carriers and came across this and was amazed. The youtube vid seems to show how easy it handles and soaks up the terrain. The best part is when your child grows up, you can throw a cooler of beer in there for after a singletrack ride. Not cheap money wise, but it looks like it has alot of other values that money cant buy.

Also, the last pic is great.

 

[GT554]

Are there any dealers in the US? I'm very interested:thumbsup:

 

[ryball]

Peter White - http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/tout-terrain.asp

 

[Tyler Kiefer]

?

I love technical single tracks, I love my daughter more. Is it a good idea to ride aggressively
with a small child connected to you. It looks like it would work great, It's just not a good idea to use it. I hope you don't unintentionally harm your kid.

 

[wankel]

I love technical single tracks, I love my daughter more. Is it a good idea to ride aggressively
with a small child connected to you. It looks like it would work great, It's just not a good idea to use it. I hope you don't unintentionally harm your kid.

How is this any more dangerous than strapping your kid in the car and driving down the highway? It's not like you are going to be hucking off ladder bridges and taking dirt jumps with the thing.

 

[wankel]

I love technical single tracks, I love my daughter more. Is it a good idea to ride aggressively
with a small child connected to you. It looks like it would work great, It's just not a good idea to use it. I hope you don't unintentionally harm your kid.

How is this any more dangerous than strapping your kid in the car and driving down the highway? It's not like you are going to be hucking off ladder bridges and taking dirt jumps with the thing.

 

[Tjaard]

I just got one as well. Same story as the OP.

I work when my wife is home and vice a versa. We only have a few evenings home together so that makes it hard to ride at all, and certainly never together. Baby sitters don't come with you on vacation either (except sometimes Grandma and Grandpa) and my wife doens't get to spend much time with our daughter, so she doesn't want to go off biking anyway. It is a lot of money, but then again, how many people on here are riding a $2550 + bike? They don't mind spending that to be able to ride, even though they have cheaper options. Here I spend this and get to ride, no other options out there.

The ride is indeed much smoother, less jerky than with our Chariot. It is great to lean into turns, much nicer for the passenger to!

My tire never hits the pulling arm, but that might be because I ride an XL (but it is a 29er) On my wife's M sized 26er I did get the tire contacting the pull arm. On my bike (29er full suspension) I hit the front of the trailer with my rear tire in those 'trailer up-bike down circumstances'.

Biggest problem is riding over a single log ( not much clearance under the trailer) or between two rocks.

The trailer is quite light and very well made. The universall hitch even has sealed bearings in each joint!

I used carbon grip paste on our seatposts and the hitches to keep them from twisting without tightening them very much.

As far as the safety remark my by someone up there:
Yes of course don't ride gnarly trails where you could fall off the edge, don't ride agressive rocky drop offs but for the rest, just being able to ride some moderate singletrack again is wonderful, and probably safer than in the Chariot on the road. And definitely don't ride off road with a little baby who's neck is not strong and whose head is heavy, wait till their a bit older.

 

[itsdoable]

I love technical single tracks, I love my daughter more. Is it a good idea to ride aggressively with a small child connected to you. It looks like it would work great, It's just not a good idea to use it. I hope you don't unintentionally harm your kid.

My kid is quite capable of unintensionally hurting herself without my help.

One rides within thier abilities. What is risky to some people, is like crossing the street for someone else, which is also not without risk. Parents are quite concious of the risks they take when they have kids, no part of life is without risk. Generally people will not spend the $ on something like this unless they plan to use it.

To add to the previous review - the trailer sucks on wheelie drops. But that should have been obvious. It's OK if you roll down front wheel first. A skid plate would be good for logs bigger than ~8".

Some well known single track that this trailer has performed well on: DSF & Pisgah (NC), Tsali left & right loops (NC), Fort Mt (Ga), Bush Creek (Tn). And pretty much all our local singletrack except the hike-a-bikes, or those with logs larger than 12" on them (because I have to get off and lift the trailer over...).

Recent local rides: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=529079

Tjaard: I'll have to try the carbon paste.

 

[Tyler Kiefer]

It is built for performance riding and would encourage me to take risks that would not be appropriate for the passenger who has no control over a high risk situation. It seems inappropriate. I use a trailer with my daughter all the time, I think this crosses the line of common sense.

 

[itsdoable]

It is built for performance riding and would encourage me to take risks that would not be appropriate for the passenger....

Obviously this trailer is not appropriate for you.

Not every one gets encouraged to take risks due to the presence of a performance vehicle when the situation calls for restraint.

However, take an old logging road, rocky and bumpy, but wide (for bikes). You can cruise along at a regular speed since the trailer suspension provides and extremely smooth ride, not so with a chariot. On narrow smooth singletrack, you can simply ride them - and as the others in the previous linked thread have discovered, chariots tip over easily. Even on our local doubletrack, there are a lot of roots & rough spots where you have to slow down to a crawl with a chariot, but not so with the singletrailer. But that is the "performance" that this trailer was designed for. I can actually keep up with a regular group ride with this trailer.

Other observations for the review: we have 2 regular weekly rides, a fast one and a social one. I can easily keep up with the socal ride, the fast ride requires all my cardio. However, I can usually only do half the ride with the group, then I have to stop an let my daughter out to run around a bit, as she only tollerates ~ 1 hour in the trailer at a time. After all, it's not fair that I get all the exercise and she doesn't. So I still don't get to ride with my SO that much...