Mark Stone

I'm thinking of adding a cargo trailer and am interested in the Travoy. Link here. Does anyone have any experience with this or any recommendations? I like that it disconnects easily and becomes a cart, so when I go shopping it looks ideal. Thoughts?

blakcloud

Great trailer and I recommend it without hesitation. For what I need a trailer for it works perfectly. The other utility trailer I owned was the Yak BOB and though nice was a pain with the specialized quick release and one wheel etc. I have also owned two other brands of kids trailers that were great when my children were little but a little wide when used as cargo trailer.

First the attachment mechanism is so simple and yet works so well. Easy on, easy off. The attachment is very flexible. I flipped the trailer once, but this was 100% my fault. Coming down a hill, jumped off a curb, took a sharp right and the trailer flipped. I rode it out until I could stop, the trailer stayed attached and the mount did not break. Right sided the trailer and rode off. If you don't do anything stupid like I did, the trailer is quite stable.

As you said it is easy on and easy off and this helps facilitate the trailer as a shopping cart. I use this trailer about 50% as a shopping cart. For anybody that has used a bundle buggy and if you are moderate height, the bundle buggy hits the back of your feet because the handle is not long enough. The Burley has great long handle that keeps the trailer far back from you.

The bags that I chose were the market bags and they work great, again for what I use it for. I have used it on my commute a few times when I have to take a lot of clothes into work etc but my main use is weekend stuff with my wife.

My favorite part of this trailer is the fold. It is so compact and fits into it's own bag. I live in a condo and space can be tight so this feature of folding makes it worth the money.

What I don't like, and not because it has given me any trouble are the wheels, which are made of plastic. Though they are functional, they just look cheap and they don't seem to hold air very well and with the weird shaped valve it is awkward to fill the tires.

Small complaint, nothing is perfect. If I lost the trailer, I would buy the same one again. Again, it has to fit your needs depending on what you carry. For me it is mostly food and for that it works great.

Do a search on this site and you will find other reviews. Hope that helps.

Mark Stone

Thanks blakcloud for the excellent review . . .

WonderMonkey

I love my travoy and did a review of it that gets about 10 hits a day from the "out there world". Here is a post which has all the parts of it.

https://www.280dude.com/2013/04/24/oobe-burley-travoy/

fietsbob

Burly's Flat Bed is in my house, but , yes if you want to lock up the bike , then walk around with the trailer

those Travoys are OK.

off the bike it's like a Fridge Dolly .. just a lightweight load, folding one, with pneumatic tires.


shopping I just use my Ortlieb Panniers ,

one store knocks off a nickel for every bag of groceries they dont have to supply that bag.

Leisesturm

6c per bag at mine. The dry sak of the BOB Yak is ginormous. Most checkers automatically give me five bag credits without asking. Some when asked will give at least three. Some when asked will angrily just give one since it is, after all just one bag, albeit very, very large. When I use the self-checkout it asks how many bags for credit, but a human operator has to come over and authorize it,$50d so to my mind it invalidates the whole point of using the automated kiosk. So I don't bother. Between the stingy clerks and the many many times the credits go unclaimed because the dry bag is stowed under the shopping trolley while checking out... oh $50 bucks easy in unclaimed credit over 6 years.

H

Leisesturm

I don't know... I'm just not sold. I may have a bias. We use a BOB Yak. Why does a Travoy cost so much? As a previous poster already noted, its just a small appliance hand-cart (or large luggage roller) and those can be had for ~$50. A BOB Yak is pretty expensive too and recent copies of it sell for less than $80 (with stuff sack!) vs. $300 for the genuine article, but I digress. At least a Yak puts the load down low and it is hard to argue that it is a LOT more aerodynamic than a Travoy. And please do not dismiss the importance of aero. ALL your work on a bike is caused by the air molecules piling up in front of you as you move forward. ALL. Anything you can do to reduce the drag of air resistance becomes extra speed or endurance. Can you really say you don't need another few mph? Using a Travoy as a shopping trolley is also a massive fail. It is not self stable like a real shopping trolley. It falls right down to the ground when you let the handle go. With any significant load in it... you're not going to like the handling. If it had some kind of waist or shoulder harness so you could pull it behind you while walking... I thought I saw such a thing once and I have called every outdoor outfitter in existence asking them if such a thing exists and to a one they say "no, but go ahead and invent it, it sounds like something we would sell if we had any". FWIW.

H

fietsbob

I see the self check out scheme , as a job eliminator, at my neighbor's expense, so I Never use It.


BTW the Travoy, as I see it would let you use your Back Country back pack
touring on the bike to near the trail head then hiking off into the woods, and peak bagging.

my 2nd trailer bought, is a carry freedom city https://www.carryfreedom.com/city.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELYblfA9JqE

Leisesturm

I actually agree! Still... ... I am but flesh... when I want to get out of there and the lines are backed up (because they laid off four checkers when the self-checks came in) OR when I have just a few items... ad hoc civil resistance is fine in principle but short on effectiveness. If we really want to see things change we will have to actually support the Occupy Wall Street program next time, when they reboot the server.

H

noglider 

Wow, that's brilliant. I've been using kiddie trailers for cargo for years and never saw the point of this kind of trailer. But now that I'm in the city, I wish I had one. Maybe I'll buy one or make one.

Giant Doofus

That's cool! I didn't see a price list anywhere. How much do these cost?

I was just thinking the same thing. I'm sort of torn between the Travoy and the Carry Freedom one Fietsbob posted. Not something I'm going to do right away, but I can actually see how useful these could be, especially for quick grocery trips and other errands.

fietsbob

I think I paid some what less than about $400, though the AZ dealer couldn't afford
the new Minimum batch order, to restock,

so you need to get it shipped from UK, a direct import now . the company is in Scotland.

one reviewer says "£350 in the UK", but the review, online, is 10 years old by now.

https://www.velovision.com/showStory.php?storynum=1226

WonderMonkey

Another review of the Travoy: https://pathlesspedaled.com/2012/11/r...yptic-trailer/

I own a Travoy and like it. I also like the looks of that Carry Freedom as well. The difference for me was the fact that the Travoy attached to my seat column and therefore took what little weight was on the tongue and distributed it to both wheels. With one that attached to the back it puts all weight (that is on the tongue) to the rear wheel. A negative of the Travoy is that it makes having a bag on your rear rack difficult.

Since the Travoy is closer to the bike it also tracks a bit better than your normal pull-behind. That may not be an issue for you.

Mark Stone

Did you actually use a Travoy?

urbanescapee

Have one, use it, love it. Yes, it's basically a hand truck. But it's one that attaches quickly and easily to your bicycle and that has nice baggage options to make it more versatile. It also folds down quite small, which is very important for those of us who don't live in mansions. It's less stable than a traditional flat-bed type cargo trailer but the benefits of convenience and versatility far out weight that one small issue. Aside from going up/down curbs and hills, you'll hardly notice it's there; unlike heavily laden panniers on a rear rack. I've also had a B.O.B., those are great too, but in my opinion, are better suited for bike camping/touring than for daily or occasional use for errands. The best thing about the Travoy is that you can easily take it with you when you get off the bike, it's designed for it. The B.O.B. and most other trailers are incredibly inconvenient to move around off the bike when loaded.

Eric S.

For quite awhile I thought a hand-truck style bike trailer would be great and - ta-da - Burley made one. When I first discovered it the price was too much, but I caught it for $200 and free shipping on Amazon in December 2011.

As far as the wheels, Walmart sells the proper size tubes, but without the angled valve. I keep a Topeak right-angle adapter with me. I've only had one flat, and it was a full-on blowout that came out of nowhere. I thought someone fired a .22 rifle at me! I replaced both tires and have had no further issues.

You also mentioned tipping over - that has happened to me many times. It's easy to ride too fast with this, and in Las Vegas we have "braille" lane markers. Hit a couple of those too fast and the trailer will begin rocking and capsize.

Londonsworld 

Just picked up a Travoy and its great! Already completed two grocery trips and once to the farmers mkt.

WonderMonkey

I have one. Did an unboxing and a few other articles for it.

https://bucketofhenry.wordpress.com/...burley-travoy/

Bobby Boy

Mark Stone -

I have been using a Burley Travoy for a couple of years now - mainly for around town errands and shopping. It is a great little trailer. You barely know it is behind you when riding to and from the store, and it does a pretty good job as a shopping cart while in the store.

The Travoy's storage bag attaches to the trailer and can be used to store groceries, etc. However, the storage bag has no structure. When used in the lower position of the trailer, the wheels will rub on the bag and quickly create a hole in the bag. Being the frugal guy that I am (my wife says "cheap"), I was reluctant to spend $100+ for all the custom add on bags. Instead, I bought a $10 plastic file storage box from Office Max. I attach this plastic box using bungee cords to the lower position on the trailer between the wheels. And I then moved the Travoy storage bag to the upper position on the trailer. This lower box / upper bag combo makes for a pretty good errand runner.

phughes

You guys are responding to a four year old thread. I think Mark probably already bought a trailer, or did something else by now.

Bobby Boy

Haha. Caught by the old stale thread bug. Hope he's been enjoying a Travoy trailer for the last 4 years.

phughes

Well, it was current when you posted since two others posted before you.

Ghazmh

I grocery shop for a family of four using a burly nomad with the cargo rack and a walled basket attached to the rack. It's empty weight is 25lbs with a 6' Kryptonite cable looped through the internal frame of the trailer. The other end goes my U lock. It tows easily and the weight is low. I was considering a Wike cargo trailer which looks sturdier but kinda ugly. If that matters.