Earlier this year, I purchased an InStep Sierra Double Bicycle Trailer to bring my toddler along as I biked errands around town and to bring on camping trips and day biking trips. While there are a few improvements that can be made, I feel that overall the InStep Sierra Double Bicycle Trailer is a great value and I would recommend others to consider this trailer if they are in the market for one.
One of the things about this bike trailer that I absolutely love is how easy it is to attach and remove the trailer from my bike. The trailer itself comes with a coupler attachment to permanently install to your bike (additional ones can be purchased very inexpensively). Once the coupler is installed, it takes seconds to attach the trailer to the bike. This has been valuable to me because I store my bike on a hook in my garage and the trailer in the shed.
Other great things about this bike trailer are that it has a real seat (not a canvass hammock like many others in the same price range) with a three point buckle harness (not a hook harness). Both of these features make riding in this trailer very comfortable for my daughter. Also, even though this trailer seats two children, the straps are designed so they can easily be adjusted to seat a child safely in the middle.
The InStep Sierra Double Bicycle Trailer rides very smooth on pavement and dirt paths and doesn’t cause much of a drag on my bike. There is a small storage compartment in back and two pouches in the main compartment for the child to store a small book or toy. Other features include a clear plastic cover for wet or cool weather or a mesh cover for warm days.
One of the downsides of the InStep Sierra Double Bicycle Trailer is that the front wheel attachment that is designed to convert the bike trailer to a jogging stroller doesn’t really work for me. It’s too far out and often flips the wrong direction, getting stuck. Since I’m not using this trailer to train for a triathlon with my daughter in tow, this hasn’t been much of an issue. Biking to a store and then adding the wheel to stroll my daughter in works just fine. The handle is very sturdy and comfortable to push along. It’s also easy to put on and take off, but I leave it on all the time.
As far as assembling the bike trailer, my husband and I had the trailer out of the box and attached to my bike in less than a half of an hour and most of that time was spent referring to the manual to make sure we were setting everything up correctly for the sake of our child’s safety.
Note: As of July 2012, the InStep Sierra Double Bicycle Trailer was priced at $124.33 on Amazon.
