18 Month Road Test

Our 18 month road test of the Solo included places like the carriage trails of Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine and the Withlacoochee State Trail in northern Florida as well as outings around New York and New England.

Pros
Transportable: Breaking down the Solo takes just a few seconds. The Solo packs down to a very small footprint when the wheels are off and takes up very little of car trunk space. For local excursions since the the Solo has 16" wheels as opposed to 20", we can leave the wheels on and still slip it in the trunk, so getting the Solo to the park or local rec trail is a 10 second job. Its light weight also saves your back while loading and unloading.

Child Comfort: The Solo is so comfortable for our child that he asks to get in it; if the Solo is out our he will climb in it. We had an issue with the straps chaffing our child when he was under 18 months of age, but as he grew the problem went away. Straps don't chafe or bind and the seat is supportive. See Cons for Air Flow Issue.

Road Manners: The Solo had the best road manners of any trailer we have ever tested (that is why we bought it); owning one only reinforced our decision as the Solo tracked great and we never felt afraid that it would tip. The light weight and low drag also contributed to the road manners as the Solo was nimble no matter how many bottles of water, books and food were piled in the back.

Cons
Air Flow Issue: We found the trailer to be hot while we were in Florida. There are only two avenues for air flow: the front mesh and the back mesh. On hot days we felt this was not sufficient. The side windows need to have vents to increase the air flow. The mesh cannot be too low as to allow fingers to be able to escape, 2 locations would work: the upper 1/3 of the window or the top rear. By adding more windows you would be cutting down on the cold weather capability of the trailer but more parents ride in the Summer than in the Winter. Also, the new vents could have zippers to open and close as needed.

Growth/Stain on Seat Cushion: The first year we put a type of cotton padding on the harness straps to stop chaffing, those pads got went and were left for two days on the seat pad; since then we have had a growth of some sort where the wet pads were left. A full day of direct Summer sunlight did not eliminate the stain. Is is possible the growth is gone but the fabric is just stained but it does seem to oscillate its form on the seat.

Hitch Tongue Rattles: The apparatus that makes up the secondary hitch, or the safety hitch, (the hitch in case of failure of the main hitch) rattled and squeaked during riding and became a real pain on non-paved roads. We stopped the rattling by tightly tying a plastic bag around the hardware and that stopped the metal on metal movement. Burley should add a few plastic washers or buffers to stop the rattle.

Broken Snap: This occurred during our first year of service so it may be covered by the warranty - tune in for an update on that. We were surpised when the snap broke but we were biking in Acadia National Park where there is a great deal of dust from the trails so dust may have limited the lifespan. Unfortunately this snap is one of 4 that fastens the fly so we were unable to fully close the fly (see top photo); the snap also serves to close the rear so we now have to be aware of the possibility of small items falling out through the gap. Since Burley lists snaps as one of the most prominent replacement parts they must be aware that snaps break. We think a better solution than replacing snaps is to do away with the rear snaps and come up with a solution similar to what is employed on the the front of the fly; the front is secured in an ingenious way that uses stretchable O rings that are placed over a fixed spot; very easy to open and close and virtually bombproof.
Snap Update: We called Burley's customer service and were sent a free snap replacement kit. It took 20 minutes to install the new snaps and the new snaps work great. We were very pleased.

18 months later we are still satisfied with our trailer but we think Burley could add three features that would improve the Solo significantly.

1. Replace 2 Rear Snaps on Fly with Pull and Hold O Rings Used on Fly Front
2. Add mesh on top of Side Windows to Increase Air Flow
3. Add Rubber Washers to Stop Tongue Rattle