No whining, no tears, and mom gets a workout? Yes, please! My four-year-old son and I just got back from a 15-mile bike ride with the Burley Piccolo, the newest trailercycle from this tried-and-true bike trailer company.
He was so proud of how far we biked, and I was so happy to spend a morning on a bike path listening to his chatter and getting some exercise.
I currently find myself in that time between throwing the kids in the backpack or the bike trailer to get out with them and that elusive dream of a future of hiking and biking together when we can actually get somewhere.
We go on short hikes and short bike rides with lots of snack breaks and treats when we get to a destination.
The Burley Piccolo for All Kids
I am also the mom of two very different kids. My 4-year-old started pedaling last summer, and this spring he became interested in pump tracks and single track trails.
My 6-year-old has some special needs, including a gross motor delay that seems to stem from her visual-motor and vestibular systems.
In other words, getting on and off a bike, balance, moving quickly, not having her feet on the ground: riding a bike is a huge challenge.
She has mastered the balance bike, which she happily rides at her own (very slow) pace, but she flat out refuses to try pedals.
We began looking for a trailercycle as a way to get out with my daughter on a bike, to try to bridge the gap between her preferred speed and her brother’s, and to maybe help her get used to the idea of pedals. What we didn’t realize was that she and her brother were going to fight over who got to ride it!
Why the Burley Piccolo
We decided to try out the Burley Piccolo because of the increased stability of the rack attachment vs the more conventional seat post attachment point.
We found it to be lightweight and stable, and both kids found it to be a comfortable ride. We all love how close we are to each other and how we can pedal together and talk about what we see.
The addition of gears is a great bonus. It allows my son to click through the gears and feel how it makes pedaling harder or easier.
I think this will make the transition to his own bike with gears a lot easier and more intuitive.
The Burley Piccolo for Anxious Kids
It took my daughter a few rides to not be anxious about getting on the Piccolo, and she still won’t let me ride very fast or on gravel or wobble even a little bit, but she will ride on it willingly (especially if there is the promise of ice cream at the end of the ride).
Like most physical challenging activities, while she may fuss about it or yell at me for going over a bump without warning, she gains confidence with every ride that is evident far beyond the bicycle.
It may be a while before she will pedal a bike on her own, but in the meantime we can still get out as a family, which is really the goal anyway.
Setting up the Burley Piccolo
Getting it set up initially takes some time. The stays on the Moose Rack are meant to be cut according to the size and angles of your bike, so it’s actually the rack installation that feels complicated and necessitates some extra time and tools.
Once the rack is on, it’s very easy to attach the actual trailercycle. The other disadvantage of the rack system is that it can limit the bikes to which you can attach the Piccolo, and once you’ve installed the rack on one bike, it doesn’t easily move to another bike.
Therefore, my husband can’t really take a kid for a ride with it unless we get another rack.
Finally, it would be great if the seat went down just another inch or so. My average-sized four-year-old has to reach a bit for the pedals.
What we Love about the Burley Piccolo
This is a really lightweight trailer. The Piccolo weighs 18 pounds, while other brands weigh in at 24 pounds and above.
This one of the pricier trailercycles on the market, likely because of the brand name and the gears, but the name comes with the Burley Standard of testing, safety, a 3-5 year warranty, a spare parts catalog, and re-sale value.
I never think twice about the safety or durability of this trailercycle. We expect the Piccolo to last through both of our kids and then to pass it on to another active family.
Burley Piccolo: The Bottom Line
Pros:
- An awesome trailercycle to help families get out
- Allows a child with special needs to experience cycling and practice pedaling
- Lightweight
- Stable ride
- Comes with 7 speeds to teach gearing and make pedaling more comfortable
- Burley durability and safety
Cons:
- More complicated initial set-up
- You need additional racks to move between bikes
- Seat doesn’t go low enough for shorter or younger kids.
Where to Buy the Burley Piccolo
You can find the Burley Piccolo directly from their site.
This post is a guest-post by Allison Armitage, Amelia’s friend and adventure buddy!
© 2020, Tales of a Mountain Mama. All rights reserved. Republication, in part or entirety, requires a link back to this original post and permission from the author.
I completely agree! The Piccolo is the best. I initially didn’t want to spend the extra money on it, and we got an REI one instead that clamped onto the seat post. But then we went on a 10 day bike camping tour in France and the company gave us the Piccolo for our daughter (with a rack on it too, so she carried some gear also) and I never wanted to use anything else. We ended up buying a second rack so both parents have one – it makes taking the kids to school easier so one parent can drop off and one can pick up.