Customer Reviews

InStep Pathfinder Bike Trailer

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

About me: Okay, I looked around in big box stores and checked reviews here and then bought from a seller on Amazon's marketplace. This is my first trailer bike but I have several bikes and am very comfortable working on them.



My experience with this bike is that the bike is decent enough, but all the comments about the most important part - the connection between the trailer bike and the adult bike are correct -- and you should strongly consider purchasing other bikes until the manufacturer fixes the poorly constructed joint. I've called Instep and they are having me mail back the connection join to evaluate it, but what a pain eh? I was hoping to be riding with my daughter by now. Our maiden voyage was scary and dangerous, despite tightening down all bolts between the seat post and bike.



Here's specifically what's wrong: there are two critical bolts that are slightly too small for the holes they fit in (horizontal and vertical attachments in the connection piece.) I went to the hardware store and couldn't find the fractionally larger bolt that would solve the problem. Instep seems to have cut the holes too large. the result is that there is a millimeter or so play between the bolt and hole in each case which magnifies any shift of weight on the kid's bike into a frightening jarring, shifting motion.



I'll update this if Instep sends back a better connection point. On the phone with them they tried to tell me that I should simply tighten both nuts on these bolts until the unit stops moving in either the side to side or up and down direction. While that might reduce the shifting in the bolt assembly it would remove the purpose of this connection piece, to allow for turns!



My lesson so far has been that it would have been good to buy something like this after a test ride, given the concerns posted about this unit. At this point if we end up with one of the more advanced bikes, I'd still want to have a test ride first!

We love this product.
My daughter is almost 4 & she asks to bike ride all the time now. She loves it & so do we.
The first time we installed this on my bike we did notice the bike trailer feeling a bit wobbly but my husband readjusted the clamp on the adult bike & it eliminated the problem. while riding you might notice the bike leaning slightly, my experience is it's because my daughter is looking backwards, not because of a malfunction. If you can teach your child to not turn to the back & make sure the clamp is perfectly straight on your seat post, you shouldn't have problems with it being wobbly.

I rated 2 stars because the joint from the kid's bike to the parent bike was too lose and the child was almost falling off from the bike. I also contact the company who made this product and they told me that they will send another part that will make the child's bike straight, but I never recived the part. I am very disappointment about because the safety of my kid is first and they didn't help me. I hope that in some future purchase the company can assist me on my needs.

Thank you

I find this trailer to be sturdy in strength, but somewhat wobbly in its performance. Sometimes my son feels unstable
and becomes a bit fearful.

We bought the instep for my 4 year old, first of all it tilts at a very awkward angle and made my son very uncomfortable, but he was still willing to ride it, so we took it for a very slow paced ride. After about 15 minutes of riding the wheel completely siezed and would no longer roll, dragging us to a stop. I had to detach it and walk home carrying the trailer and walking my bike with my four year old walking beside me for several blocks. I was very displeased. The only thing this product is designed to do is roll and it can't even do that! Amazon's reply to my return request was that the problem appears to be widespread and therefore the product cannot be replaced. As if I wanted to get another defective item!

Also I noticed that it does require a whole lot of tightening to prevent the attachement from turning sideways and then my seat post turned as well.

Now after waiting several weeks and returning one already, before, we still are not out riding our bikes like we would like to be doing. So continue your search as we will and steer clear of this product and this brand in particular.

We bought this with to intentions:



1.) To allow our Kindergartner to go out biking with my wife and me on paths and the like





2.) To build the confidence of our older child who was struggling with learning to bike.



The Trailer worked perfectly for both of these purposes. In fact after ONE ride on the trailer my oldest child gain enough confidence in her balance to hop on her bike solo and she has been riding well ever since. This alone was worth the investment for us!



Technically the only problem was the harness occassionally twists my seat slightly to the side, this was solved by extra tightening before each ride. The assembly was easy by biking standards and the trailer is very sturdy too.

As others have mentioned already, I found this thing to be very, very "wobbly".

I never, ever felt comfortable riding with my (almost 4-year-old) son on this thing. It just felt too unstable.

I returned this after only a few days.

My husband and my three year old daughter love using this tag-along. I was a nervous wreck thinking she was too little for it but we put all of her protective gear on her and away she went. She has never fallen off of it once. My husband says sometimes she get a little wobbly in back but she recovers well. She prefers it over her princess bike with training wheels, and as a bonus she isn't complaining in two miles that she can't ride any farther. When they take off on it she still giggles all the way down the driveway. Love it. Can't wait to test it out myself.

You can't go wrong with this product for 50 bucks and free shipping. Our son did find it to be a little wobbly, but no show stopper. If you are looking for a good deal on a decent bike trailer, this is it. If you want top of the line, keep looking.

My daughter loves the ride and i like knowing she is right behind me. This trailer is easy to use and comfortable for her,the only thing it could use is springs or shocks under her seat. This does take a little getting use to as it does slightly swayto the side a little.You also have to be sure that you have leg length as your seat needs to be up a little higher than your normal setting. We enjoy our bike rides even more now that we can travel longer distances (nice that your child helps on those inclines).I recommend this product to parents who enjoy biking and wish they could take there little ones on those longer bike rides.