Originally Posted by
CliffordK
I've wondered about the effectiveness of an Afterburner... which seems to be more often than not out of steam.
Like one of these?
Novara Afterburner
Not sure if you meant out of steam or out of stock. My daughter does seem out of steam sometimes.
As far as effectiveness, I can definitely feel when she's pedaling. Sometimes I implore he to help a bit more on the hills. So, yes, I'm certainly getting some assistance. Other times, it seems like she's "soft pedaling" but it's really not an issue once we're up to speed.
I shopped around a while before settling on the Piccolo. A couple reason's I really like it: First, it has gears. Gears are good. Second, it's considerably lightter than most other trailer bikes I found (though, in hindsight, some of that weight savings is mitigated by the heavy rack, but I'd have wanted to add a rack anyway). I looked around for a couple months before one popped up on CL for $50. It's the type of thing kids grow out of, so used ones do appear for sale periodically if you're vigilant.
Originally Posted by
HardyWeinberg
Depends on the kid. My son was (and remains) a total slacker, but was easier to pull on trail-a-bike than trailer. My daughter was (and remains) a maniac and would push me through stop signs and red lights when I was trying to slow down for them...
Ha! True that. My daughter also has some ill-timed accelerations. She also keeps requesting her own brakes, but I fear she'll secretly use them when we're going up hills.
