Novara Afterburner Single-Speed Trailer Bike

Comments about Novara Afterburner Single-Speed Trailer Bike:

Bought this for my three year old (he was huge for his age) (and helmet/pads) he loves it since he can keep up with us.

I found the quick disconnect to be not so quick. I permanently mounted it to my seat post and replaced the vertical bolt with a quick release pin of the same diameter - now it really is a quick hook-up.

When the kids pedal hard you can definitely feel the bike lurch to the side. I was able to get used to it quickly.

Comments about Novara Afterburner Single-Speed Trailer Bike:

The bike construction quality is good and durable except for the flag pole positioning that get's on my daughters way every time she gets on and off the bike. There are some unpleasent noises while we ride that makes me wondering if the trailer bike is going to hold, but 600 miles later everything looks good.

Comments about Novara Afterburner Single-Speed Trailer Bike:

I am very pleased with this purchase. I wanted to go on longer bike rides with my daughter, but now that she is bigger wanted something different than our bike trailer. After reading some reviews on this trailer bike, I almost purchased the Weehoo i-Go trailer bike, but it was $100 more and thought it wouldn't be much of a step up from a bike trailer since your child would be lounging in a seat and wouldn't have to pay attention to riding. With REI's generous return policy, I decided to buy the Novara Afterburner since I was told I could return it if I didn't like it. I am glad I bought the Novara, since my daughter really likes it and I enjoy riding with her. I do not hear a squeaking sound or have excess play between the parts of the hitch one reviewer stated. It may be that the reviewer's micro torque screws were not tightened to the seat post. The trailer has what looks like a quick disconnect similar to you have on your seat post and wheels, but, the quick disconnect function does not work when you tighten the 4 micro torque screws as recommended, since you manually have to unscrew the micro torque screws to get it off your seat post, unless you entirely remove your seat post and slide it off the bottom of your post. My daughter is not an experienced rider, so it is very noticeable for me when she leans off center quickly. You need to keep both hands on your handlebars at all times, as I lifted one hand to give it a rest and when my daughter leaned it nearly caused me to lose control, but that was a learning experience for me to always keep both hands on your handlebars when pulling a trailer bike - stop to take a drink, rather than trying to get your water bottle when riding.

Comments about Novara Afterburner Single-Speed Trailer Bike:

We purchased this for our 7 year old who is a late bloomer with riding her bike due to fear of taking off the training wheels. She is also too big to fit with her brother in our Burley trailer, so we needed another option for bike rides. This is perfect. On the first try we needed an extra set of hands for her to get on just to feel secure, but after that she did fine on her own. We were able to adjust the tilt of the handlebars to accommodate her height since she is a little older. She can ride easily behind my husband for close to an hour with no problem. He says it is more difficult to pull than a ride-in trailer due to the weight shift of the child, but we are extremely happy with this trail behind bike.

Comments about Novara Afterburner Single-Speed Trailer Bike:

Nice bike and rides well. It's quite heavy for its size.

Service and delivery comments:

Watch out for parts support! I lost the front cap and 5mm bolts somewhere over the course of the winter and REI can't replace them (I called their main number and stopped in a local store). At this point, I either need to creatively find a solution or just stop using the bike. It's a bummer given the cost that they can't provide basic parts.

Comments about Novara Afterburner Single-Speed Trailer Bike:

My family, especially our 5-year-old daughter, has enjoyed this product immensely! She loves riding a "big girl" bike, especially since she doesn't really have to pedal. It's a very nice ride, and we would recommend it to many folks. Our only caveat being that it is slightly cumbersome to attach to the adult's bike. It seems like it should/would be able to simply slip onto the seat pole, but alas, it takes some effort to loosen the clamp completely, hold it in place, line it up, and tighten it onto the bike. We have to have our child (preferably one of the older ones) hold the tandem trailer steady in the hopes of not knocking any of the bikes over while securing the tandem bike.

Comments about Novara Afterburner Single-Speed Trailer Bike:

OK, the headline might be an overstatement. But in one sense it is true. Suddenly we went from a family that can take bike rides around the block to a family that can hit the park and local trails. We gave it to our daughter on her fifth birthday, and she absolutely loves it. We've had no trouble at all. While I don't doubt the problems mentioned in other reviews, some of the trouble may be attributed to the rider. When my daughter is coasting or peddling lightly, the ride is smooth. If she leans into it and pushes hard, she tends to jerk the bike from side to side. This isn't a big problem, but the movement takes a little getting used to. I would disagree with comments about the bike being heavy or overbuilt; it seems about right for the purpose and cost.

Comments about Novara Afterburner Single-Speed Trailer Bike:

My wife and I ride a tandem and I was looking for the next step up for my 5 year old now that he has outgrown his trailer for rides ranging from 8 to 50+ miles. My son had been riding without training wheels for six months when we bought the Afterburner and I found almost any wiggling on the his part is transmitted straight to the pulling bike and our 36# son would push our tandem (with a weight of 300 pounds) all over the road. Putting washers into the sloppy hitch articulation changed things but did not improve them. The smallest movements became an endless cycle of falling left then falling right. I could not relax my upper body when pulling this thing.

I could put up with this when lazily cruising a bike path to pick black berries. In fact, the sloppy out of the box articulation in the hitch is better in this situation because it will allow the Afterburner to lean farther left or right WHERE IT WILL STAY. This is what some reviewers described as the constant pulling to one side.

If that is what you are looking for this is a durable product at a great price, especially on sale as it frequently is. However, if you are hoping to ride your bike, look elsewhere. Just pulling the Afterburner for 45 minutes was exhausting and the thought of fighting it for 3 or 4 hours at a time led us to a Weehoo, a recumbent trailer bike, also carried by REI. They are two or three times the cost of the Afterburner and a little heavier but are safer (they have a seatbelt for when they fall asleep or are watching videos on the iPod), inherently stable and infinitely more satisfying for the pulling rider and the child. My son doesn't like the Afterburner and I hate it but we both love the recumbent.

Comments about Novara Afterburner Single-Speed Trailer Bike:

I started looking into trailer-bikes after pulling my small children in a kid-trailer for over a year. I wanted something with less drag and a smaller footprint on the roads and trails, and a kid-trailer is really rough on the lightest of mountain bike trails too.

In my opinion this trailer-bike is worth the 5 star rating despite it's weight and the 5-10min of minor adjustment it need to be a solid 5-star product. I brought it home to my 3 year old daughters delight. She is at the bottom of its recommended age, but with the seatpost at its absolute bottom, it was prefect. She loves it and always wants to go riding more than ever, despite having here own bike already.

So, when my 6 year old daughter came home and tried it, thats when I knew I had to buy a second trailer-bike. My children could not stop fighting over who got to ride it and turn-taking was not enough, haha. So off to REI and picked up a second bike on their labor day sale, which we attached to my wife's bike, btw.

In short, a trailer-bike really lets a kid connect more with cycling much more than they are able to on their own bike. They get a glimpse of the speeds they are will be able to attain in the future and really enjoy what cycling is about, which a trailer or training wheel equipped cannot provide.

But on the negative side of things, which were all minor to me. Is that it is burly which does make it quite a bit heavy. I seriously think that if this thing fell off my car hitch on the highway if would be fine minus some paint, lol. And second, is that hitch mount needs adjustment, seems like whoever assembles these things leaves them nice and sloppy. To anyone reading this and complains about stability, all that it takes to fix this problem, is a 13mm wrench and a 5mm allen key, a couple of turn and its done.

Comments about Novara Afterburner Single-Speed Trailer Bike:

The hitch set-up is really a pain. Start with it being a heavy bike with no kick stand. Then each time you go for a ride you have to rig-up this hitch onto your bike. Standing there trying to attach it to your own bike that has no kickstand - and both bikes are fumbling about. Why? Well, because the hitch set up is ridiculous. It's not like the "other brand" in which the hitch stays permanently on your bike and then you just slip in the trail a bike and close the pin. With the Novara, the hitch doesn't stay on, you have to rig it up over and over with each ride (fumbling with balancing two bikes at a time each time you do this!) And perhaps that might not be so bad -- except that the hitch system itself is poorly designed making the whole experience so not enjoyable. Then, I tightened the hitch on super tight, nevertheless within 10 minutes of riding, it loosened up. A friend suggested using an old cut piece of tire tube wrapped first around the seat post and attach the hitch around it. That worked!! No slip. But how many of you have a friend who's such a bicycle enthusiast that he has old cut-up pieces of tire tubes sitting around to use in a pinch???!! Bottom line, this set up is a pain, and therefore, not worth it.