Anyone cycle with a toddler in a trailer?

[bearhug]

Our DS has outgrown his bobike mini front seat, and we are now looking at buying a trailer. I'd be really interested in other people's experiences, in particular: which trailers are best? And how long does a lively toddler tolorate sitting in one? Any particular scare stories or great experiences?

We have got a rear mounted seatm, but our feet are getting in eachother's way.

i have a double one very similar to the halfords one its great have a rear seat aswell dd 4 goes in the trailer and ds 3 in the seat will be trying them together this year should be iinteresting to see how long they can go befor trying to kill each other. Dd loves the trailer she has her juice, food a toy or two she's even been known to draw in the back well worth the money. In my experience tho the ones with the plastic bottoms are good but ALOT heavier i went for a good solid frame with a very heavy protective cloth bottom with plastic inbetween the layers iyswim?

Thanks for sharing your positive experience! I suppose I am just worried that he may object being so low down after having such a great view from the front of the bike for so long.

My DD went in the trailer up until this summer - she's 5. Always loved being in it, when she was a toddler the motion of it would always send her to sleep. I made sure head and neck always supported in this case. As mothersmilk said making sure DD had drink, snacks, books etc.

We would go out for longish rides on holidays scheduling stops for getting out and moving around/wee etc
We go out regularly in good weather with groups of friends who also have trailers - it's like a convoy and we get a lot of attention in a good way.
making sure roads you travel on are not too busy and make sure you can be seen, we have one of those big luminous flags on the trailer. Ours is also a one with a canvas floor, we bought it second hand and it's had good use. Worth checking ebay or local papers. The other thing is maybe visiting a good bike shop as they may let you have a trial. Our first experience was to borrow a friends or you could hire one to see if your DC's like it
Happy cycling!

DS is 2.5 and has been going out in a trailer since he was 1. Loves it. We have a Burley one, bought second hand from Ebay cos they cost a fortune new. It is old but light, well made, sturdy and easy to manouvre. Ali frame with nylon/canvas cover. It is a double but does not feel off balance with just DS in. I barely notice that it is there. I also have a big orange flag.

DS loves going in it and has a tolerance of about an hour.

If you go to a forestry centre with bike hire - somewhere liek Sherwood Pines - you can hire one and see how you get one.

A word of advice, before you buy check that the trailer fits on your bike properly. DH and I both have disc brakes and these got in the way of the trailer clamp, so we had to buy a pricey attachment.

bikerunski, thats good advice about checking trailer fits your bike, ours didn't fit DH's bike only mine...extra work for me!!

thanks so much for your responses. My DP is concerned we wouldn't be able to get the bike-trailer combo round those obstacles to bile paths? The slalom type ones, kissing gates etc? Do you need a RADAR key?

All the gates we have come across on bike paths have been OK for us to get bike and trailer through, although we have to get off and walk. Seems a bit pointless if they are inaccessible to some bike users. Don't know what a Radar key is.

We have a double bike trailer for our 2 youngest and it's great. They seem happy enough in there, don't fight and often go off to sleep! We put cycle helmets on them for safety, which I thought would bother them but they don't.

It's great as it means we can have long cycle rides and if our older kids are out for the day, we can even have uninterupted adult conversation at the same time!

We were on a tight budget so went for a brand new but cheap (ish) one which is quite heavy. It's fine but perhaps a second hand more expensive one (iyswim?) would have been a better with hindsight.