Charriot thingies

gsd
gsd Posts: 114
edited July 2010 in Family & kids cycling forum
Hello,

I'm sure this has been asked before, so please feel free to direct me to an old thread.

Basically I'm now a Dad (hurray!) and would love to take my little boy out for a spin. I'm looking for a tow-along trailor type thing (charriot?). I undertand that the little man might not be old enough for a while (he's three months at the moment) but I thought I'd do some research early just in case!

Any recommendations or advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
Scott

Comments

  • baudman
    baudman Posts: 757
    Congrats.

    Chariot is a great brand. (We had a Croozer - good, but heavy).

    The general minimum age you see stated is 12 months. I'm not gonna disagree with that, altho our little one took small trips (2miles) from about 8m.

    In any case, it gives you some time to pick up one cheap on fleaBay ;)
    Commute - MASI Souville3 | Road/CX - MASI Speciale CX | Family - 80s ugly | Utility - Cargobike
  • gsd
    gsd Posts: 114
    Thanks for the advice - are there any other brands?
  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    if you want to go offroad i wouldn't really consider anything other than a chariot tbh. Really well made bits of kit and lovely to tow.
    Neeermad
    Carbon 456
    456 lefty
    Pompino
    White Inbred
  • shaun2845
    shaun2845 Posts: 1
    Hi
    Just sold our beloved Charriot Cheetah on ebay.
    Chariot are without doubt the best bike trailer on the market in terms of design and funtionality.
    Had ours for just over three years, rode all the Green and Blue 7 staines trails without any problems with our 12 month old in tow(he loved it).
    Paid £360 new got £260 back on ebay
  • lucullus
    lucullus Posts: 20
    We've got a 2-seat Croozer, and are very happy with it - robust, folds down flat, low centre of gravity for the little one (second one just arrived ...) and rides well.

    Used it - on the pavement - from about six months with our first daughter, and just finding out about seat adapters that allow you to put a tiny one in. I've not used the Chariot but, as you can see, they also have their adherents. We didn't look at them because although £420 buys you a Croozer, that's all in, inclyuding the jogging and pram attachments, whereas most Chariot options seemed to be a lot more.
  • PeeDee
    PeeDee Posts: 88
    My vote for Chariot too. I think we had a Cheetah, it outlasted both of our kids and now we have passed on to another family and it is still in use. Took some reall punishment off-road and on.

    I'm sure that Isobel was much less than 12 months old when she first used it. Our child seat for the car fitted into the Chariot perftectly, you would think they had been designed to fit.

    http://www.drurys2.org/family/viewImage ... ntrail.jpg

    http://www.drurys2.org/family/viewImage ... ddybel.jpg
  • Cleat Eastwood
    Cleat Eastwood Posts: 7,508
    I saw some in formby cycles just this week. Heres the link

    http://www.formbycycles.co.uk/category/379/Avenir
    The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns
    momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.
  • bumpitybump
    bumpitybump Posts: 76
    Cycle trailers are great fun. We took both of our young kiddies out way before the minimum recommended age by lashing a car seat into the bike trailer. Oldest one now 4 and we still use the trailer as although the oldest can ride a bike he isn't safe on busy roads but in the trailer I can drag him along on busy roads in relative safety.

    We got a second hand Burley off ebay, paid about £105 for it, it takes two kiddies ( or one car seat ), has space for a large picnic basket in the back.

    With both kiddies in it I'm now dragging along over 40kg which means its great exercise as well. Works best towing behind a mountain bike because of the very low gearing which you will need going up hill!

    Highly recommend getting one.
    exercise.png
    FCN = 8
  • doddythecyclist
    doddythecyclist Posts: 1
    I agree With the last post that by fitting a car seat to the trailer you can take the kids out much younger than 12 months.
    With our son I think he was 5 to 6 months when we first took him out.

    The only problem with a car seat is that you can only fit one child in!.
    When my daughter arrived we found 2 things that enabled us to keep the nursery run on the bike
    Firstly we found the ZIGO http://www.myzigo.com/ which is an awsome bit of kit, just pricey and not without its drawbacks..
    Secondly we found an infant sling for a trailer http://www.chariot.de/en/models/accessories/

    Using this sling we took our daughter out in the zigo from 1 month old.
    Now the Zigo is different to a trailer because you can see the child, but you can certainly take children out in trailers way before 12 months.
    In certain countries (not UK) it is illegal to take an infant under 12 months on the bike, hence the limitation stated by manufacturers.
    as for make of trailer I would say that any thing with 20" wheels is ok.
  • ashbyalien
    ashbyalien Posts: 609
    Hey,

    I have a croozer kid for 1. My little girl is nine months old now, she's been going in the trailer for about 2 months or so. We wanted to wait before she could hold her head well before doing light off road.

    A friend has a chariot and it does seem really well made, but, is pricy new.

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