Customer Reviews

Morgan Cycle Shadow Aluminum Trailer Bike

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

Bike arrived with a dent in the fender from the rack being packed on top of it. The hitch to the adult bike has multiple hinges. No matter how much we adjusted the hitch, the bike leaned to the right significantly where our child could barely stay on the seat. It also rode out the the left behind the adult bike. We are returning the product. Very diappointed.

This thing was a total waste of money. I wish I would've returned it but by the box got destroyed and it seemed like too much of a hassle. I kept thinking I could solve the problem of the crappy hitch and the subsequent instability, or that my kid would grow into it and get better at balancing but neither ever happened. Instead, my son was so insecure on it that he hardly ever wanted to ride and has gotten turned off to biking altogether! I got sucked in by the rack on the back, thinking it would help us carry stuff to the beach after we gave up the trailer but adding weight to the back makes the wobbly hitch issue even worse. Terrible quality for the money.

The hitch quality is poor. Despite being made of overly thick and heavy steel, it does not keep the trailer upright securely. The amount of wobble will scare any young child as soon as they get on. There was duct tape on the hitch parts, a lame attempt to reduce the slop. I spent many hours studying and experimenting and was eventually able to solve this problem with some precision machining. Details on that below. I have numerous other minor complaints. The axle is not long enough to attach both the fender and the rack. I opted to discard the fender. My child complained that the seat is too hard. The cranks are too long. The gearing is too low/slow. The inner tube arrived punctured.

On the plus side, this trailer bike is very lightweight. After solving the hitch problem, my child loves it. Even with my hitch solution, riding is a challenge compared to a two-wheel trailer. It takes some arm strength and concentration to hold it steady, especially at low speed.

Here is how I solved the hitch problem. Basically, the parts do not fit tightly enough and the holes are all too big for the bolts. There are four bolts. The instructions offer an alternate configuration that uses only three bolts, claiming more stability, but it is a joke as it does not allow the hitch to pivot up and down, and reduces the wobble by only a quarter. (1) The bolt farthest forward is the quick release type that is typically used to hold a seat post. I discarded it in favor of a larger diameter 3/8in quick release pin from Home Depot. The Home Depot pin is not threaded, it is just a straight rod with a spring clip. I drilled the hole larger to 3/8in for this pin. The new pin fits very tight, and needs to be persuaded in and out. However, it is maybe even faster to remove and insert than the original, not needing to be threaded every time. I also inserted a shim I made from roofing sheet metal (Home Depot again) that reduced the free play even further. (2) There are two bolts going through yokes and a section of square tube that are the horizontal and vertical pivots forming a U joint. I inserted greased washers carefully sized to shim the parts so they all fit snug. Then I tightened these bolts very tight to keep the parts from flexing and twisting. The grease allows them to pivot, even under pressure. (3) The 4th bolt, farthest to the rear, holds the hitch to the trailer frame. The alignment of this joint is critical to keep the trailer perfectly upright, so I first clamped both the towing bike frame and the trailer frame upright and checked with a level to get them perfectly plumb and therefore aligned to each other. I drilled the hole larger to 3/8in and used a 3/8in bolt, which fits more snugly than the original. After I was satisfied with the alignment, I used JB Weld epoxy to permanently fix them. With all this work, there is still a bit of flex in the hitch, but it is acceptable to me now.