I’ll keep you from reading my rant of why I feel that child bike seats are unsafe and can lead to danger for the child and adult. That will be saved for another day.

Earlier in the summer Burley sent out a D’Lite Child Trailer for review purposes. Walking into the review I knew from my experience in the past with Burley, their trailers and the quality they take around design and development – I would be pleased with the results of their D’Lite trailer. As my children are grown to 10 and 11 years old, I borrowed and stole children of all sizes for the review and testing. At the bottom of this is a ton of photos to hopefully document all the details that the D’Lite has to offer.

My Burley Trailer History

My first experience with Burley outside of selling them was back in 2005. The shop I was managing outside of Boston had a few rental Burley trailers to use on the local rail to trail. During the early spring before our rental period picked up I adopted a puppy. I used a kids trailer with a couple blankets and a short leash to transport my new puppy to the shop and back. She loved it, I loved it and it was perfect. Since then Burley has actually released the Tail Wagon which is a trailer designed for your dog!

My next experience with Burley was as a bike line. My small shop in Charlotte, NC stocked and sold their road line. Beautiful steel bikes, a dying breed. Since then Burley has restructured and really going after the trailer and pull behind niche.

My latest experience was with the Burley Travoy. An urban trailer I reviewed over at Commute By Bike. The review is also reposted on Bike Shop Girl with more photos.

Details of the Burley D’Lite Child Trailer

Rear Window Unzipped

Details pulled right from Burley.com

• Available in Green or Orange
• Replacement covers available in Yellow, Blue or Red
• Bowed-out sides for increased interior width/shoulder room
• Elastomer suspension system
• Exclusive height-adjustable handlebar that doubles as roll bar
• All weather cover with waterproof zippers
• Deluxe reclining padded seats
• Five-point harness and padded shoulder harness
• Removable, washable seat pad and shoulder harness
• Tinted side windows
• Adjustable sunshade
• Parking brake

Key Features

The things I found unique and completely Burley:

• Tinted side windows
• Rear window that zips down for airflow and the child can see around
• Drink and snack holders on both sides the seats
• Reflective piping and logos all around the shell
• Easy to use
• Push button wheels
• Standard 20″ wheels, not the plastic kind
• Did I mention easy to use?
• Adaptable to all types of bikes

My Overall Feelings

The D’Lite delivered as I expected it to. The trailer isn’t the cheapest out there, but if you purchase an accessory kit this could become your do all stroller, running jogger and kid hauler. The ability to completely flatten, pull the wheels off and stow it in the back of your vehicle is irreplaceable for the family on the go. Why not have one killer trailer/stroller/hauler instead of 3 that do 3 different things?

In the end I do believe that trailers are safer, allow you to bring two kids, clothing, and they are tucked behind UV windows, rain fly’s mesh, and a roll bar. 5 point harness system will keep every kid in place. Extra room allows you to put snacks and toys in with them, without the ability of them throwing it overboard.

I hope to explore how parents can get their children interested in riding in the trailer, how to do it safely and tips/ideas of how to get out with your family. In the end it is completely how the parent handles taking the their child, how they encourage healthy living and being outside.

Disclaimer: This product was provided at no charge. I was not paid or bribed for the review and was completely as judgmental as I am with everything else in my life.

To be honest, I’ve never walked into a review for a product so excited, yet so worried about the outcome. Normally, I have a pretty good idea of how I’ll feel about a product – sometimes my decision or opinion will be swayed one way or another based on product durability or features. The Burley Travoy is a unique trailer system, that would either completely sell me on trailers for daily use or leave me hoping for more.

Initial Reactions

When I pulled the Travoy out of the shipping box I was pleasantly surprised in the weight and how small the trailer could pack down into. (Folded size: 21″ x 18″ x 8″) The details of the design are pure Burley – from how easy the handles turned within each tier of the folding system, to how the wheels popped off and even to how the bags or rain fly installed. To see these in action, view the video below.

The plastic wheels and height worried me. Would the system be easy to use on all my bikes, and would I break the plastic wheels on my short off road and gravel excursions??

Riding with the Travoy

The Travoy was tested, maybe too hard at times, on all of my bikes and on many different surfaces. Everything shy of mountain biking this little Travoy saw, and it seemed to do well on all of them. The small 12″ wheels tracked well and the Travoy never seemed to want to pitch over, even on shaky gravel hills. The wheels are even still straight and the tires show only a slight bit of wear.

Every bike I tried the Travoy on, worked well.

• The Trek Madone seen in the video we used a rubber sleeve between the clamp and the carbon as not to scuff or scratch the carbon.
• The closest encounter I had with compatibility issues was with my Salsa Casseroll and rear rack. The arm of the Travoy was very close to touching the rack, and if the bike/trailer ever were on different levels of terrain I’m sure it would of hit.

Accessories for the Travoy

The Burley Travoy comes as a naked system seen here. It comes with two straps, and a carrying bag that doubles as a large bag that goes on the bottom tier. If you want to purchase the Grocery or Transit bags they are additional, but are dual use for in the grocery store (Grocery Bag), or as a messenger bag for your laptop (Transit Bag.)

Overall Impressions of the Travoy

The Burley Travoy is a great commuter or urban cargo system. The upright position of the trailer makes it more viewable for cars and other cyclist. The thought out bag system allows you to commute to work with your laptop, or go grocery shopping with ease.

This system is by far my favorite grocery hauler that I’ve tried. The fact I can take the Travoy in as my shopping cart and dual use the bag system in the grocery store, ring up my groceries and have everything already put in place when I leave the store is AMAZING. Simply hook the trailer on and you are riding off into the sunset.

The trailer due to the 12″ wheels and low clearance isn’t for anyone going off road, and the wheels would even limit me personally for using this for a loaded tour, but for a short stint would work fine.

Pros and Cons of the Burley Travoy

Pros :

• Easy to use
• Upright position for viewing and carrying
• Two wheels for stability
• Weight of system
• Small collapsible system

Cons :

• Small wheels
• Needed additional accessories
• Low clearance

The Burley Travoy will be continued to be tested through the fall. I plan on a short overnight tour (S24O) utilizing it, and other little test. You should see this revisited so keep your eye on the keyword “travoy“.

If you are interested in purchasing a Burley Travoy visit our friends and sponsors at BikeTrailerShop.com.

This product was given to us from Burley at no charge for reviewing. I was not paid or bribed to give this review and it will have my honest opinion or thoughts through out.