My daughter is 8 months and I've been keeping an eye out for child trailers....had thought I'd wait til next Spring because of the cost of the damn things....$400 for a Burley ? :eek: Yeah I know, I'm sure they're wonderful but.....this is our last child and I don't want to have another expensive toy sitting around once she's too old to ride in it.
I came across the Nashbar Kid Karriage and @ $89.00 I'd be willing to spring for it immediately.....
However, it would be nice to hear from some folks who have had experience with this particular item from Nashbar. Nashbar gets trashed alot on these forums for some items of poor quality but I don't think that you can just make a blanket statement and say all they're stuff is garbage......can you ? :rolleyes:
Here's a link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000AE5KVA/sr=1-9/qid=1123447712/ref=sr_1_9/104-8564653-5639913?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=3403281&s=sporting-goods&v=glance
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated...but please don't reply with, "I wouldn't buy anything from Nashbar...". :p
Thanks !!
Joe
slooney
08-09-05, 07:04 AM
Hey Joe-
I can't speak on the Nashbar product directly, as our trailer is a Bell. But it appears from the construction that they are similar products (maybe even from the same facility) as many things like this are these days.
My impressions-
As a casual-use conveyance these work pretty well. Quality isn't top notch, but for the somwhat short term (4 years, max) it's probably fairly good. We've used ours for rides up to 14 miles on packed gravel, and it worked fine. We use iit mostly for shorter rides (our school commute is 3 miles) and it sees quite a lot of daily use that way.
The construction is OK. Pretty much everything has performed as expected with one exception- the floor is made from a heavier cordura (nylon pack cloth) that has worn through due to bottoming out while riding over "mountable curbs." I'm replacing that with a galvanized metal panel that will give us a hard floor.
Weight bias is an issue. I put ours on it's side taking a corner too quickly (that is, sharply at a moderate speed) with my son in the back. He was fine, the 5 point harness and the main frame/roll cage did their jobs, but boy, did I learn to take corners more slowly. Since adding my daughter to the ride (who is half of my son's weight at 23#) four months ago we've had none of this problem. Just be aware of the potential. Balance the load if you can by putting all of the ancillary weight on the other side of the trailer and keeping it there. It may also be possible to set the harness up to put her in the center of the trailer, and in retrospect I'd say this effort (figuring it out, setting it up) would be worth it.
Routine maintenance goes a long way. Nearly all of the metal on metal connections are made with bolts and nylock nuts, and while these prevent some vibration induced loosening, they still creep loose over time and need periodic tightening. Also, the rubber coating on the clamp connector (attaches to the left chainstay) has disintegrated, leaving a metal-on-paint contact point. I've wrapped the chainstay in innertube rubber that I zipped-tied on (get the marine versions of zip ties that have UV protection, as the others quickly degrade and crack off) to address this problem.
We've many, many miles on ours, and it's been really nice to have. We still use it four times a week, for the school commmute, and while it's getting a little cramped for two it still works fine. We'll keep it up until the kids tell me that that it's no longer working for them, or we come up to the interior volume or weight limits. Would I appreciate a higher build quality product. Yup. Would I be willing to pay $400 for a nicer unit, knowing what I know now about this trailer? Only if I were sure I sould be putting many, many more miles on it.
JoeOxfordCT
08-09-05, 07:18 AM
Thanks Slooney,
I appreciate your taking the time to write back in such detail. While I wouldn't be using trailer as often as you do I will probably riding longer distances (10-30 miles) when I do take it out. I will definitely have to learn about taking corners carefully.....I know I take them fast on my own. :rolleyes:
Joe
slooney
08-09-05, 07:26 AM
Thanks Slooney,
I appreciate your taking the time to write back in such detail. While I wouldn't be using trailer as often as you do I will probably riding longer distances (10-30 miles) when I do take it out. I will definitely have to learn about taking corners carefully.....I know I take them fast on my own. :rolleyes:
Joe
My pleasure. Have fun.
Steve
JoeOxfordCT
08-09-05, 07:30 AM
Oh ! I forgot to ask, what are you pulling your trailer with ?
I ride a MTB with 100psi slicks so I have plenty of gearing for pulling a trailer I would think.
Plenty of hills here in CT !! :p
My pleasure. Have fun.
Steve
slooney
08-09-05, 05:10 PM
Oh ! I forgot to ask, what are you pulling your trailer with ?
I ride a MTB with 100psi slicks so I have plenty of gearing for pulling a trailer I would think.
Plenty of hills here in CT !! :p
About the same- I've a '91 Trek "Singletrack" that used to be my commuter bike while in school. I put semi-slicks on it (80 psi) and the requisite grocery bag carriers. It's geared higher than my trail bike, which suits the road, multi-use trail, and gravel path duty it mostly sees, and the granny gear helps when pulling 68#'s of kids and the trailer weight (what, 10 #'s?) uphill. I'm not proud, and the triple gives my knees a break.