DianaJohnson

We have a Trek Mountain Train that my 4 year old rides and a Burley Solo that my 1 year old rides in. I've been wanting to take the kids out on the trip on the tow path to the park when my husband is working. I'm thinking the best way would be to just attach the Burley to the Mountain Train and pull both. Does anybody know if the classic Burley hitch will work on the Trek? We have a 3rd spare steel hitch for it that I can try to rig up to work somehow also.

I really don't want a double trailer. The 4 year old is constantly in the 1 year olds face making her scream as it is

Cyclist0108

I had both of those, and did that.

It is nearly impossible to deal with except on flat ground, but it looks really cool, as long as you don't have to make a turn with a radius of curvature smaller than a quarter mile. We wound up getting a tandem and putting a trailer behind that.

The best solution, however, is to get the 4 year old on his or her own bike.

snow_echo_NY

i think if you have a 1- and 4- year old you might do better with a child seat for the 1 year old and the trail-a-bike for the 4 year old.
trying to tow two different trailers with one bike (your trek mountain bike) seems cumbersome and also i don't think they're intended to be used side by side or one trailing the other. i would stick to the manufacturer's recommendations here.

i know with the chariot carrier there is something that keeps the trailer attached should the attachment fail. do both trailers have that?

best of luck figuring things out

rfmarotti

I routinely tow a two-kid trailer attached to a trail-a-bike. I have had no problems. Turning radius, as mentioned, is. . . large.

D9110131-B047-4B1F-8609-64B60A95875C.jpg

Chukbacca

I've done it, and short of quick trip on flat terrain to the park, I would avoid it. People do like to point and smile, so I suppose if you're into recieving that...

You might consider getting an inexpensive tandem and towing the Burley. My 4 year old and my 2 year old are perfectly content balancing themselves on the back of the tandem (neither can reach the pedals)

DianaJohnson

I have an iBert also but the 4 year old tends to lean a lot and throw us off balance. I don't feel comfortable have more weight to balance on my handlebars. The Burley has 2 fail safes but I don't see how either could come apart unless it was user error and not hitched correctly.

DianaJohnson

How did you get the trailer to attach?

DianaJohnson

That's all it would really be and I'm used to the pointing and comments. I also have 7 and 9 year old boys riding their own bikes so I get a lot of hands full comments.

The path I would take is straight except for 1 turn, so not bad. True that the 4 year old rarely pedals anyway I'm trying to get him to join in more with me to get him pedaling. He can zip around on a Strider but he's basically outgrown it and not into pedaling. Plus we're trying to keep up with his brothers.

Chukbacca

I dig it.

One other note...do you recall how your core felt when you first started pulling the pedal trailer? My girl had no balance, so I was in a constant state of countering her anti-balance. Your body might remind you that you're doing more than pedaling.

Have fun!

DianaJohnson

90% of the time my husband pulls him and I pull the Burley but he also balances fine when he wants to balance. He's been balancing on his passed down Strider for probably 3 years. He does have a tendency to sing and get excited and start leaning way over. I found myself jerking to get our balance a few times when I took him out last.

The first time I took him out I ended up way behind everyone. I had spurts of easy going then getting winded out of nowhere. I was cursing myself at how horribly I was doing, how out of shape and how much harder it was than I expected. Finally I look back and realize he had been dragging his foot on my rear tire half the time I explained the danger in that and he hasn't done it since. It's much easier when I compare to that ride.

rfmarotti

There's a mounting bracket that's meant to go on the QR of a regular bike. The trail a bike is bolt on, not QR, but I just put the trailer mount under the axle nut. Let me know if that's not clear. I'm not familiar w exactly how the Burley hitch works.

DianaJohnson

That's how the Burley hitch works too. I think I just got it though

We have 3 hitches from 2 different years/molds. I was trying to use the spare one but the diameter was too small for the Mountain Train Axle. After looking at pictures of the hitches I realized our hitch on one of the adult bikes had a larger diameter. Swapped it out and it is larger and will (should) fit the MT axle. I haven't grabbed the tools to put it on so I'm hoping there's enough room to fit it but I'm thinking it will work.

srestrepo

this made me laugh out loud during a meeting. anyway, its true that the the turning radius is excessive and while doable, its not the best solution - it wasn't for me anyway.

try getting one of your kids to ride their own bike.

snow_echo_NY

you could do two trailers which would make for a long train. but you compromise maneuverability and being aware enough of the kids to see if they're OK or need a help (and thus, a stop). i would add visual cues as an absolute minimum such as safety flags for both if you were to pursue this route.

if your issue is balance i would consider or midtail or longtail cargo bike. if you consider this, look at one with a low rear wheel - the xtracycle has a lower rear wheel for their signature cargo bike. (what was the edgerunner) - their joint venture with Tern, called cargo node also comes with smaller rear wheel. yuba came out with something similar (sweet curry). there's the bike friday haul-a-day in which both are 20" wheels.

the lower rear wheel will bring your children lower giving you lower center of gravity and not that tippy feeling you're feeling when the kids throw their weight in the back. Also i would make sure the larger child is on the back ahead of the rear hub (and with you - somewhat in the center of the wheelbase) to increase stability.

or you can just throw that all out the window and go for a trike which will be wider but stable statically. for a dynamically stable trike, you can look at a few out there that are tilting trikes, as most other trikes are dynamically unstable.

DianaJohnson

The good news is that I got them attached just fine... The bad news is that after all of that my 4 year old broke his arm before we could go on a ride.