| Kathy, I have no experience with one but have a friend who uses one often.
Dec employee. Greg McConnell. Don't know his node, but he's on the ELF
database.
I saw an Eclipse last summer and spoke with the user. He compared the trailer
to the Cannondale. Connects to the rear axel vs the top of the seat tube.
That makes for better cornering.
Passenger faces front. That makes it more comfortable for long tours, seeing
things the right way, you know. Also makes tghe passenger easily viewed from
the riding position.
A transparent screen in front of the passenger makes it comfortable in
chilly winds and keeps out road dust, etc.
There was also a very large "trunk behind the passenger's seat. Looked as
large as two big panniers.
Finally, the passenger sits down below the axel rather than on top. That
makes for a more comfortable ride(?) and is supposed to be better for
maintenance and safety.
The person I spoke with writes the tool column for Bicycling mag, and
lives and works in Brookline. He didn't know where they are being sold
around here. His was bought in Brookline. I'm sure Eclipse can tell you
who's selling them around here.
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| Thanks for the tip, Gary. I talked to Greg and here's what he said: He's
got a Cannondale bugger. He has 2 kids who are almost 2 and 4 years old.
He finds the bugger real easy to pull, but this year he and his wife are
thinking about buying another bugger so they can each pull one kid. His
younger one wears a helmet, the older one doesn't like to wear it.
The bugger is not much wider than the bike itself. He feels there is almost
no possibility of the bugger going over in case of a crash.
He uses pillows to soften the bumps.
He started using the bugger when his older child was 1 1/2 years old. He
feels that any younger than this would be a real problem - the child needs
to be in a sitting position and be able to hold his/her head up.
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| I had some experience with a bugger a number of years ago. I suspect the
designs *may* have changed significantly. The type I used had the single
point of attachment to the seat post. The main thing I felt was that
when braking, the bugger wanted to keep going - with the seat post
attachment this means that it feels a bit like someone is picking up your
bike by the saddle and pushing you forward. It generally feels a bit
awkward, but then so do panniers. You get accustomed to the "shove" when
braking fairly soon, I guess.
We took the thing on an overnght camping trip once (about 100 mi. r.t.)
to haul our goodies. We found that in a strong head- or cross-wind, the
thing is really a bear. If you have aerodynamic cranks and brake levers,
this will definitely compensate for them!
ken
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