Originally Posted by
Bekologist
my opinion wasn't 'uninformed' i don't own one but had inspected one and tried one out and saw one put thru the test at the bike shop i worked at.
I've also put in some time as a field tester of outdoor equipment. And pretty realistic about how gear gets put thru the paces on a bike tour, I've been bike touring since the mid 1980's.
When the Burley Travois was introduced at the bike shop i worked at and having tested it out and had it on loan being put thru the paces by the shop guys, found it to be fragile in construction, with suspect plastic clicking mechanisms, not built to withstand heavy duty use. also, the weight is distributed high away from the wheels, making the travois not the most stable.
Glad you've got it to work so well for your needs, traceyge. it sounds like you used it on your first bike tour ever.
Bekologist, the original Travoy did have issues. The latest version of the Travoy solved these issues by making the plastic clicking mechanisms MORE robust. It's more difficult now to fold the stool and the base in without some effort and a few times I forced folding it thinking it would break, it did not. Secondly, I totally disagree with you about the Travoy being the most unstable being weight up high away from the wheel as I have toured with other big name trailers in the past for years too and I found the BOB is the one being the most unstable of the lot when loaded pretty top heavy. The Travoy is actually one of the most stable trailers being that it has 2 wheels. The only concern I have is the trailer tipping over to its side because of the height. However, I had never been able to do this at all unless I intentionally had one of the wheels hit a high curb on the sidewalk. Personally, I'm still evaluating the durability of this trailer, but so far it has performed beyond my expectation and the folding aspect is a plus for me. At least the Travoy beats the Leggero Max which was an expensive European experiment P.O.S!