Amongst trailers which seemed worthwhile, all were priced in the $300-$400 price range but one: a number of new--in the box--"Rhode Gear" trailers were consistently for sale on eBay for about $100 ($130 with shipping).
In 2002, a large number of these trailers could be found for sale on ebay from folks in the Northeast US and Canada. (I bought mine from "hoopup-chicken" on eBay.) After Paul Schulwitz alerted me to the fact that fewer sellers could be found in 2003, I've tried to keep my eye on the number of recent auctions. My last check (May 7, 2005) revealed no recently sold trailers. Last time I checked I'd found 2 used trailers sold in May of 2004 for US $157 and US $143. It looks like other inexpensive trailers are now available, and can probably be converted for pets as easily as the rhode gear deluxe.
I believe the reason for all the Rhode Gear trailers on clearance was because Bell Pro purchased Rhode Gear and must have discontinued Rhode Gear's successful line of trailer products (from what I saw on the web, the practice of buying competitors and eliminating any good competing products is customary for Bell). Anyway, the only problem was that I couldn't find any reviews of trailers and so I couldn't verify if the Rhode Gear trailer was any good or if it would be a lemon. Well, I ended up buying one and it's been working great ever since.
Here is my review of the trailer:
This trailer compares favorably with other quality bicycle child trailers on the market now, and at $160 total cost off eBay, it is a great deal.
a two-wheel, single axle bicycle trailer with child seats, including a jogger/stroller conversion.
Other types of trailers are on the market...alex wetmore put a good description of two-wheel versus one-wheel trailers in his burley nomad review, and he also reviews the BOB Coz trailer.
Important features of the Rhode Gear trailer:
Being bought "new" off eBay, I was a little leery of what I'd get. The trailer arrived as stated: new, in the unopened box. It came with all components (including directions), and was of the quality one would expect from a major, reputable manufacturer. I was happy.
The trailer included:
The hitch appears to be as good as anything available. It attaches to
the chainstay near the rear wheel axle, and I can use it on any of my
bikes, including my recumbent ez racer.
The hitch clamps onto practically any size chainstay (the chainstay on my ezracer is as large as some top tubes) in about 5-10 secs with a plastic knob requiring no tools. There is also a safety strap in case of hitch failure. The hitch has a swivel mechanism that works well. A spring mechanism keeps the hitch in position for easy attaching, and when in use, the hitch can rotate to any orientation. I have verified on several occasions that the trailer will stay secure and upright if the bicycle falls or turns sharply. Flawless operation.
Nit pick
I use the trailer with a recumbent ez-racer, a road bike and a mountain
bike. On my upright bikes my heel occasionally brushes the hitch where
it is attached to the chain stay. On a bike with exceptionally short
chainstays, long crank arms, or perhaps any riders who hold their heels
unusually back and inward while pedaling, this might be a problem.
My chainstay is 17" from the center of the bottom bracket to the rear axle, my cranks are 7.25", and my shoe size is 8.5 (US).
The frame is lightweight, an aluminum alloy, with canvas fabric walls and bottom. The bottom is reinforced with thick nylon straps for bearing weight. By removing the sun/rain cover, the front and back of the trailer can be made open-air, like a convertible with roll-bars, but both sides are permanent clear-plastic windows. This prevents anyone or anything in the trailer from poking out the side into the wheel.
I have not yet used the trailer in rain, but when I do I will amend the review with information on the performance of the attachable cover. (anyone out there have any information on ridinging in wet weather???)
My dog is an 80 lb. collie/shepherd mix. The trailer has no problems carrying her and the trailer fits her well, except it's cramped for her to turn around while in the trailer.
The entire frame can be folded flat (including the hitch arm). The process is pretty convenient, taking me about 1 minute--a hair more if the rain cover was on. When folded, the dimensions are 33" x 33" x 15" (with the wheels inside the folded trailer)
Two 20"x1.75" wheels. 36 spokes, no-name hubs and rims, and "made in china" tires.
As good as any I've seen on trailers, but do note that the quick-release axles/skewers are weird heavy things which means the hubs and skewers are probably nothing standardly available anywhere. The rims/tubes use schrader valves.
Although no component of the wheels are name brands, the stock wheels are probably fine considering there is no braking force on them.
I would not use this trailer primarily as a jogging stroller because of the small (8", I think) front wheel, but the conversion does function. A handlebar attaches to the back of the trailer compartment frame, and the front wheel clips into the front arm of the trailer, requiring under two minutes. Still, this could be a handy feature for in-town stops if taking kids touring.
The stroller handle also has a safety strap to attach to your wrist, so should you trip or something on a hill, the stroller cannot roll away from you out of control.
The trailer can be configured for one child or two children side-by-side, using 5-point harnesses.
This review on the seats was sent in by Dave and his wife from Cleveland, Ohio:
We have a 7 month old grand daughter that we wanted to get out on the trail.
We first bought a Bell Cocoon bike seat and an infant helmet. The unit was
very nicely designed and I felt it would protect her well. It scared the
whatever out of me though. Every time our precious little package moved I
felt the balance of the bike shift. My wife was O.K. with it but I hated it.
Packed it up & returned it to the store.
There is a bike shop that rents trailers & we tried a Burley D-lite. I loved
it. We priced them & I almost fell over. Started checking on e-Bay and
found good used ones were well over $200. Did a search on bike trailers &
your review on the Rhode Gear trailer popped up. Ended up buying one over
e-Bay from Canada. The going rate is now around $110 plus about $30
shipping. Freight from Canada was no problem. Came Purolator Courier. Paid
for the thing via PayPal on a Saturday & it was on our front porch on Friday.
Our grand daughter is a little under 20 pounds. The safety belt system is
great. Holds her very snugly but does not bother her. I have the seat back &
she can see well or sleep comfortably. Due to the design of the safety
belts she seems to be held better in the Rhode Gear than in the Burley. It
is a great way to carry a small child. The Rhode Gear is the deal of the
century in my opinion. There are such minor differences in them that they
are virtually indistinguishable. The Burley has a little tougher material on
the side windows and they are tinted too. For about $250 difference I can
live without tinted windows.
Since I removed the child seats to adapt my trailer for pet transportation, I have no experience using the child seats. The straps for holding children were strong and should be able to hold a child within the frame of the trailer.
When the child seats are in place, there is a nice-sized section of the trailer for storing stuff behind the child seat, big enough for a couple of grocery bags.
Removing the child seats required disassembly and reassembly of one bolt on each side of the trailer. I'm still not sure what strange-sized allen wrench was required--I tried both metric and english sizes and still ended up stripping one of the heads. Anyway, removing the child seats still only took less than 10 minutes without directions.
Especially for larger pets, it is a good idea to lay down a pillow or a cut-to-size piece of wood to prevent claws from wearing down the weight-bearing bottom canvas, and to prevent paw-bearing spots of canvas from wearing against the ground.
Ash likes to lean against the sides of the trailer, and she ended up pushing the canvas sides against the wheels enough that the turning wheels started to wear through the sides. I solved this problem by cutting some old, broken hockey sticks to length and attaching them to the inside of the trailer with "j-hook tape" (i.e. velcro). If I ever need to (maybe to carry kids), I can remove the hockey sticks leaving only the soft side of the velcro in the trailer. For me, hockey sticks were a good choice because composite sticks are lightweight; and discarded, broken sticks are abundant in the garbage at any hockey league. If you don't play hockey yourself, ask someone who does to grab a few sticks for you.
My dog, Ash, loves to ride in the car, but because of the shakiness of the trailer, she was extremely uncomfortable getting into it and staying in it. As far as I could tell, every neuron in her brain, every muscle, hair and claw in her body, and every instant of her conscience was focused on escaping the trailer in full panic from the moment I'd force one paw into the trailer until the moment the bike would fall over and she'd slip out to freedom. There were many frustrations, but I did learn a few tricks that might be useful to other pet-owners:
If you click to see the high-resolution version of the picture of me
riding with Ash, you can barely make out the leash running from the
left of Ash's neck to the bars above her head.
Amongst two-wheel trailers with the flexibility to carry pets and/or cargo, I found the Rhode Gear trailer to be easily the best value available. Certainly all the way up to $400 competitors, I did not find any better child-carrier trailers for this purpose.
I did find a number of inexpensive less-flexible trailers limited by their shape to carrying not much other than children, but I did not investigate them much. Their new price from a retailer compared to the price I paid for my new Rhode Gear trailer from an eBay seller, but for the same price the Rhode Gear is clearly more flexible.
The only reasons I can think one might look elsewhere would be for a more lightweight light-duty cargo trailer or a more heavy-duty cargo trailer.
Bell Sports: 1-800-456-BELL (2355), www.bellsports.com
In the course of my research I came across a number of sites which might be useful to other shoppers...these include other trailers (both competing and different types), reviews, etc. Here they are...
Reviews/info: http://www.bicycletrailers.com/ http://www.outsidemag.com/gear/gearguy/200003/20000326.html http://www.phred.org/~alex/bikes/burleynomad.html http://www.phred.org/~alex/bikes/bobcoz.html http://www.tomswenson.com/bob.htm Other types of trailers: http://www.bikesatwork.com/products/truss_frame_trailer.html http://www.bikefriday.com/BicycleREvolution.cfm http://www.bykaboose.com/trailers/gecko-specs.html Competing trailers: http://www.netkidswear.com/bictrail.html http://stevelarsenswheelworks.com/specials/december.html http://blueskycyclecarts.com/ http://www.lodrag.com/ http://www.cycletote.com/doggytote.html http://www.netkidswear.com/bictrail.html