pedal trailers
 

my wife wants to get one to mount behind her trek hybrid

we have three young girls (age 4-8) and she wants it to be able to take one of them along. a regular pull trailer is too boring for them...thus the interest in the pedal variety

are those contraptions fun to ride with both for both the child and the parent??

how stable are they??? especially for the 4 year old

Not an answer, but another question. I am considering bying a pair of these for my 4 year-old twins. The Trek Mountain Train is significantly cheaper then the Adams Trail-a-Bike. Any opinions on the difference?

Also, and most importantly, what does everybody think about the derailleur option. The derailleur adds alot to the cost, but does it really get used by a 5 or 6 or 7 year-old?

bandaidman,

Our 6 yo daughter was nervous on the trailer bike at first, but after a couple of rides she loved it. Our 4 yo son didn't have second thoughts and took right to it. You may want to either get a mirror to watch them (our boy does stuff like puts his feet on the handlebars, hops off before we stop, etc..) or alternate taking turns at the front so you can observe the kids behavior. Also, we bought cheap bike computers and mounted these to each trailer bike to give them something to do and talk about.

pucci,

Some will say you get what you pay for, but regardless I have been very pleased with our Trek Mtn Trains (we have two). We bought these a little over a year ago and use them about once a month on average and they are holding up fine.

I have this one
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...670757629&rd=1
that my 5 yr old nephew has been riding and he loves it. He's very secure on it. The hardest thing for me is maintaining stability when he moves around, but you get used to it pretty quickly. He gets a kick out of pushing me when I'm coasting.

It's also great for your legs...takes a bit more pushing! My one concern with using it has been the stress on the seat stem. I haven't had any problems, but it does worry me a little.

It's like deja vu in here.

I run a rental concession, and I've had Trek Mountian Trains and Adams Tral-A-Bikes. The Treks have a flaw with the hitch and how it yaws. The hitch attaches to the seat post but the attachment point is the side to side pivot. When you make a sharp turn, the trailercycler leans quite a bit, enough to where it will scare kids. The Adams uses a universal joint, and won't lean in sharp turns.

Another difference, both now use binder bolts for the seat adjustments, but the Adams can be converted to a quick release easier then the Trek. As bandaidman's wife has three children she may want to tow, this would be helpful.

They are a great way to ride with young children. My son was 3 when he first started riding on one. He out grew it at around 7. Probably could have squeezed one more year out of it. They are a great way to teach kids how to ride in traffic. I would go with a single speed model. I see no point in having gears on them.

got a folding adams trail-a-bike

all three girls love it...so does my wife ...the oldest 2 can actually push my wife and her bike for short distances under just their power

it is well made. the hitch is much superior to the trek design. its a little persickity to connect up to the mount but overall its great

I have rented a trek for 8 hours, a adams for 20 hours, each 1-4 hours at a time. and now own a Kent co-pilot. Cheap mistake. Go with the adams, I can't speak for the instep pathfinder, but the adams seems to track better, but with rentals sometimes the person ataching it to your bicycle has a bearing on quality of ride & towability.

I have the hardest time convincing my boss the time it takes to properly adjust the hitch location on a trailercycle is very important. If the hitch isn't all the way down to the seat tube, the center of gravity gets out of wack and the child may fall off the back of the attachment!