A great family fun activity is bicycle riding. There is nothing like feeling the breeze of a warm spring day as you peddle down through your favorite riding spot. Besides bicycling being a fun activity, it is also a good way to incorporate and encourage exercise and fitness. Since there is so much bustle about staying fit and being active, there are numerous products on the market that help parents maintain an active lifestyle even after they become parents. So, if bike riding is a family fun activity in your household, then a must have item is a bike trailer.
A bike trailer is a wheeled cart that can be attached to the rear axle or frame of a bicycle for the intended purpose of holding and hauling a small child during a bike ride. The wheeled frame of the cart has seating that is normally inside a durable fabric tent-like compartment made of, so the child can ride in comfort shielded from the sun and other elements of weather. Bike trailers are regulated and specified for use with a child between the ages of one and six years of age, and should not be used with small infants. Keeping with bicycle safety rules, the child riding in the bike trailer should also wear a bike helmet. Bike trailers are considered to be safer than rear-mounted and forwarded mounted bike seats, because bike trailers ride low to the ground.
What to Look for
When shopping for a bike trailer, you want to make sure you can see the trailer in full assembled form. This way you can test it for durability and make sure it is safe. Keep in mind your own bike and whether or not the potential bike trailer you are interested in will be able to be mounted properly to your bike. Make sure the bike trailer comes with all the assembly pieces and mounts. In your search for the right bike trailer, you may come across trailers that use the chain stay hitches or seat post hitches. Chain stay hitches tend to affect bike handling less than the seat post hitches, but ultimately while testing the bike trailer, you want to make sure any trailer you choose will handle well. According to the League of American Bicyclists, a quality trailer design will have a ball and socket joint where the bicycle meets the trailer, which will help prevent the trailer from tipping on the unfortunate chance that the bike does.
While looking over the potential bike trailer you are thinking about purchasing, look and see if there will be a possibility that your child will be able to come into contact with the wheels, because this could lead to injury. Make sure the trailer has a low center of gravity and whether the child is shielded from debris like sand and rocks that may fly up during the bike ride. Look carefully at the hitch and hitch bars to make sure they are designed strong and sturdy.
Most bike trailers have a weight specification of up to 100 lbs. and you should weight test it before buying. The trailer itself should be sturdily constructed, while the interior should be comfortable for your child. Good features to have are tinted windows in on the enclosure to help shield the sun, easy zipping and unzipping and have good ventilation. The wheels on the trailer should be wide, and remember, bike trailers are designed to be used as "off-road vehicles," meaning you should use them on bike paths, at parks and on smooth trails where you do not have to compete with other motor vehicles.
Look for a bike trailer that has a five-point harness feature and a roll bar. Also, if you have more than one child that is in the age range for safe use of a bike trailer, you will want to make sure the interior can safely and comfortably hold both children, keeping in mind the weight limit for the specific bike trailer you buy. Brightly colored bike trailers will make it easier for others to see, and for the occasions you are biking near motor vehicles this will come in handy, but you will also want to invest in a 3 to 7 foot high bicycle flag.
Common Pitfalls
A bike trailer can be an unnecessary extra expense. So, make sure you will be getting a lot of use out of it, because you can invest in a front mounted bike seat for less the cost and have just as much fun if you are an occasional bike rider. If you are planning to use the bike trailer for more than one child, make sure to put the heavier child on the side of the trailer where the hitch extends out. This will help minimize the potential for the heavier child landing on the smaller one should the trailer topple. Because of the wide construction of bike trailers, they can get stuck on bushes, and not handle abrupt turns well.
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