Best Bike for Burley Trailer

R0B

Active Member
I need some help. I was able to find a Burly trailer to pull my two kids in however my current workhorse, a Haro Mary SS, isn't super conducive to rides with the trailer longer than 15 minutes. Most of the trails I'd be using the trailer on would be rail trails like the Columbia Trail from High Bridge/Chester areas, or the Randolph trail network in my local area.

I'm thinking of picking up something along the lines of a Timberjack or Straggler - does anyone have experience pulling a trailer? What bike did you use and do you have any pros/cons one way or the other?
 
I need some help. I was able to find a Burly trailer to pull my two kids in however my current workhorse, a Haro Mary SS, isn't super conducive to rides with the trailer longer than 15 minutes. Most of the trails I'd be using the trailer on would be rail trails like the Columbia Trail from High Bridge/Chester areas, or the Randolph trail network in my local area.

I'm thinking of picking up something along the lines of a Timberjack or Straggler - does anyone have experience pulling a trailer? What bike did you use and do you have any pros/cons one way or the other?
Electric bike.

I used to Cannondale Tesoro.

If you might consider it, I have plenty in stock and I can get you a very good price
 
When I pulled my twins I liked my burly Iron Horse SGS DH. Hell onda knees but not enough o’s in smoooth.

edit: I will add that I hacked a triple chainring onto that IH, couldn’t do with the 44tooth.
 
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Electric wasn’t really in my radar, I was hoping to be able to use this as a potential replacement for the Mary as well but didn’t want to mention that in my original post to deter from my interest in what people used specific to the trailer.
 
Anything with gears will be better than the Mary. I pull my kids with my old hardtail and my skinny tire Mr. Pink. I have a steep hill in my hood, going up it with the extra weight isn't that tough for a few laps. On flat land the trailer really isn't noticeable. Keeping it real, going more than a few miles in the trailer w/ the kids didn't happen too often with me. Longer rides would have been nice, but they get bored in there pretty quickly. YMMV there.

The biggest thing to look for is fitment of the burley bracket at the rear wheel. I'm guessing the Mary uses a QR on the rear, whereas most modern bikes will have a though-axle on the rear. Make sure you have the hardware to mount the bracket to a through-axle, and check the fit before you buy.
 
Sounds like a good excuse to upgrade if you want to. But if you're happy with the Mary, you might be able to swap a derailleur hanger on and add gears depending on how much you like to tinker.
 
Sounds like a good excuse to upgrade if you want to. But if you're happy with the Mary, you might be able to swap a derailleur hanger on and add gears depending on how much you like to tinker.
I have considered this but I’d literally need the whole kit, hanger, rear wheel (hub) cassette, gears and at that point I’d rather just get a new bike and keep the Mary a SS.
 
Anything with gears will be better than the Mary. I pull my kids with my old hardtail and my skinny tire Mr. Pink. I have a steep hill in my hood, going up it with the extra weight isn't that tough for a few laps. On flat land the trailer really isn't noticeable. Keeping it real, going more than a few miles in the trailer w/ the kids didn't happen too often with me. Longer rides would have been nice, but they get bored in there pretty quickly. YMMV there.

The biggest thing to look for is fitment of the burley bracket at the rear wheel. I'm guessing the Mary uses a QR on the rear, whereas most modern bikes will have a though-axle on the rear. Make sure you have the hardware to mount the bracket to a through-axle, and check the fit before you buy.
This is good perspective thank you
 
One bike option would be to add a front derailleur with 2-3 speeds and get a bigger cog in the back. Two bike option is limitless but if only for towing I'd get a $100-200 hardtail with gears off FB
 
Electric wasn’t really in my radar, I was hoping to be able to use this as a potential replacement for the Mary as well but didn’t want to mention that in my original post to deter from my interest in what people used specific to the trailer.
If you are going to pull two kids, your experience and theirs will be far better with an ebike. I say this from a place of real experience. I pulled my daughter for well over 2000 miles with an electric bike. My daughter is now 12 and the basis of her love for riding was the countless days that we spent with a trailer followed by a wee-hoo trailer and lastly with a Towwee strap.

Something with solid motor and very good brakes is what i'd suggest.


This is the bike I used with my daughter
 
When I was pulling the Burley trailer I was using a 24” NoMoreA BMX cruiser, admittedly an awkward bike to use. Biggest problem besides the wrong bike is just how much trail debris wound up in the trailer and on my son. My oldest son didn’t care for it, my younger son loved it and still remembers it fondly. Mostly used it on the boardwalk and paved trails, the additional weight wasn’t noticeable unless you were accelerating or going up an incline.

Over the summer I saw on the boardwalk an entire family on one cool rig; mom and dad on a tandem, with two kids on a tandem trail a bike attached to it, with two toddlers in a trailer attached to that.
 
When I was pulling the Burley trailer I was using a 24” NoMoreA BMX cruiser, admittedly an awkward bike to use. Biggest problem besides the wrong bike is just how much trail debris wound up in the trailer and on my son. My oldest son didn’t care for it, my younger son loved it and still remembers it fondly. Mostly used it on the boardwalk and paved trails, the additional weight wasn’t noticeable unless you were accelerating or going up an incline.

Over the summer I saw on the boardwalk an entire family on one cool rig; mom and dad on a tandem, with two kids on a tandem trail a bike attached to it, with two toddlers in a trailer attached to that.
I just to have a similar setup but just a Gary Fisher hardtail with a trail a bike towing the youngest on a trailer. Once I blew up the bottom bracket while pedalling a small hill, so weight will punish some parts of the bike.
 
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