Trailer

burley-coho
Burley Coho. Did I mention the kickstand?

After looking at the options, it seemed there were only two worth considering: The BOB Ibex and the Burley Coho. I settled on the Burley. It seems sturdy, and has some nice features. But really it was the kickstand that sold me. A few years ago I rode a short tour on a road bike hauling a BOB trailer, and came to hate laying everything over whenever I stopped. The kickstand is just a sweet feature.

That being said, the Burley is not a bargain. It is expensive ($450), sure, but that’s only the starting cost. To make it work with my bike I had to buy a separate thru axle ($65); and to make it work off-road, I had to purchase the wider (3″) wheel (another $90), bringing the price to $600. A respectable company would offer these options when you purchase: but added to the insult of paying substantially extra to make the trailer usable, I get the insult of having a useless axle and wheel to deal with.

But wait, it gets worse. Even at the ridiculous price of $90, the back rim is not tubeless ready. Why any company would sell a trailer touted as cross-country equipment and not make the wheel tubeless-ready seems disingenuous. To compensate, I injected Finish Line sealant into the tube and lined the tire with Mr. Tuffys. So far, so good.

And as if that weren’t weak enough on Burley’s part, by far the biggest shortcoming of the trailer is the shock. It is an outright POS. Burley should be embarrassed to put this thing on the trailer. It is useless: the cheapest steel coil made with no dampening and virtually no adjustment. It’s the cheap-ass kind of spring you find on a $100 “mountain bike” at a big-box store. The trailer is rated to haul 70 pounds, and the spring’s range seems to run, I’d guess, between 65 and 70 pounds.

Let’s stop and think about that for a minute: who is going to haul 70 pounds of gear in a trailer on a cross-county bike ride? I’m guessing nobody. I weighed my gear at 30 pounds, and that’s a pretty taxing load. But rather than use a functional shock, one designed for the kinds of loads riders will actually be hauling, I’m guessing that, like the shitty wheels, Burley decided to cut this corner as well to keep the price within some kind of ballpark range, even though these shortcuts become shortcomings which really undercut the utility of their product.

After an extensive internet search, I finally tracked down an air shock that would fit the trailer. I could only buy it through eBay, and I had to retrofit the air fitting to make that work in the setup. So for around an additional $100, I finally have a functional shock.

Don’t get me wrong: I stand by my decision to haul a trailer, and fully expect it will work well. I am just not very happy with Burley’s corporate philosophy.

Category: Bike Setup