Wow, a trailer that I can use to tow my child on my favourite trails? Yes please! There are a lot of kids trailers on the market but the slim Singletrailer has suspension and only one wheel. Designed this way, it promises to perform well even when used on narrow paths and singletrack. The Tout Terrain is designed to safely carry children from 3 months to 5 years old and a maximum weight of 25 kg, including a roll bar and five-point belt. The trailer itself weighs a good 10 kg and costs € 1,390, excluding the hitch which you have to buy separately.
You can get an overview of the 11 exciting concepts here: kids bike buyer’s guide – 11 exciting concepts at a glance
Wow, a trailer that I can use to tow my child on my favourite trails? Yes please! There are a lot of kid’s bike trailers on the market but the slim Singletrailer has suspension and only one wheel. Designed this way, it promises to perform well even when used on narrow paths and singletrack. The Tout Terrain is designed to safely carry children from 3 months to 5 years old and a maximum weight of 25 kg, including a roll bar and five-point belt. The trailer itself weighs a good 10 kg and costs € 1,390, excluding the hitch which you have to buy separately.
Before you can get going with the slim kid’s bike trailer, you’ll first have to attach it to the bike via the hitch. The hitch gets attached to the seat post of the bike you’re pulling with and the trailer gets attached to the hitch by means of a quick-release mechanism and a safety pin. The additional safety wire rattled around loudly and left unsightly scratches on the frame after just a few meters. It also came dangerously close to the moving parts of our bike’s rear suspension and can get caught in them during compression and rebound. Unfortunately, the quick-release mechanism that centres the trailer also has its faults. Thanks to the safety bolt, the trailer can’t unintentionally come loose, but no matter how tight we closed the quick-release, the hitch kept on twisting so that the trailer rolled behind us in an inclined position. This needs to be fixed.
A completely different problem is that the Singletrailer doesn’t work well with full-suspension bikes! The trailer’s arm contacted the rear wheel of our full-suspension test bike just when testing it in the car park. As such, we could only start our test ride in earnest after locking out the shock to avoid damaging the trailer or bike. Operating the Singletrailer’s kickstand is also tricky. If your cargo or child’s feet press against it from above, you’ll no longer be able to fold it in or out by foot. In that case, you have to hold the bike with one hand and reach down to the stand with the other, leaving your chocolate ice cream to melt and run down your forearm. Tout Terrain are aware of this problem and plan to install a solid base plate in the future so that the stand can’t get obstructed.
The Singletrailer performs well on narrow, off-road paths. Its suspension responds excellently and your child glides over the trail like on a magic carpet! But things shouldn’t get too wild with the trailer. To not to tip over, the Tout Terrain supports itself on the bike that’s towing it. The lateral forces that occur when rolling over inclined obstacles are clearly noticeable on the handlebar, depending on the weight of the child. And because the wheel of the Tout Terrain is more than a meter behind, there’s a bit of a delay when hitting obstacles, catching you off-guard. As such, navigating through tight, off-road trails isn’t that easy, especially when you’ve got trees standing close together. Depending on your personal preferences, you might have to give your favourite trails a wide berth. To be honest, you wouldn’t want to ride there with your kid in the trailer anyway. Ultimately, trailers just aren’t made for trails ( unless you’re Danny MacAskill).
The ingenious locking mechanism can only be opened by pressing and turning at the same time.
The stand keeping trailer and bike upright is very wobbly and it isn’t safe for kids to get in and out of without an adult holding it. If your bike’s handlebar rotates, the whole thing can quickly get off balance.
The struts offer additional protection for your child in case of a crash. The inside of the trailer is also nicely protected from the elements.
There are just a few positions in which you can securely close the quick-release lever, occasionally even triggering the locking button of the pin. You’ve always got to pay attention when closing it. In addition, the safety wire just dangles there, rattling against the frame and potentially scratching it.
You should be especially careful with the quick-release for the shock. If it is closed vertically, it gets in the way of the shock.
The concept of an all-terrain kid’s bike trailer is great and makes the Singletrailer a shredder amongst trailers. However, for us to be fully convinced of its performance, the expensive Tout Terrain would require better hardware and work with full-suspension bikes. The noticeable tilting makes it difficult to hold your line in technical terrain. That said, we wouldn’t want to put our little passengers through that anyway.
Tops
- allows you to ride narrow paths
- suspension works very effectively
Flops
- the load affects the bike's steering
- trailer hitch twists
- the kickstand is difficult to operate by foot
- rear quick-release lever can interfere with the shock
Find more information here: tout-terrain.de
11 exciting concepts at a glance
You can get an overview of this comparison test here: kids bike buyer’s guide – 11 exciting concepts at a glance.
All kids bikes in this group test: Tout Terrain Singletrailer Trailer | Shotgun Pro MTB child seat (Click for review) | Leg&go balance bike (Click for review) | Mondraker Grommy-E-balance bike (Click for review) | Early Rider Hellion 16-kids bike (Click for review) | Woom OFF 5- / OFF AIR 5 kids bike(Click for review) | Woom UP 5 kids ebike (Click for review) | Ben-E-Bike TWENTYFOUR-SIX E-POWER FS kids mountain bike (Click for review) | SCOTT Ransom 600 kids mountain bike (Click for review) | VPACE MORITZ26 kids mountain bike (Click for review) | YT JEFFSY PRIMUS 24 kids mountain bike (Click for review)
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Words: Moritz Geisreiter, Peter Walker, Felix Stix Photos: Peter Walker, Daniel Geiger
