Weehoo Bike Trailer Review – Is it Good For Single Track Mountain Biking?
Long story short: It is terrible for off-road and single track. Don’t buy it if that is your goal. It is fine for smooth trails without a lot of curves, and road riding.
Long story: We have a 1.5 year old boy and want to take him bike riding. I’ve been taking him along in a backpack since he was about 6 months old, and he keeps getting heavier and adding more strain to my back. Lexi researched tag along bikes, and decided to get the Weehoo Bike Trailer ($400 from REI), primarily for riding single track off-road because it had good reviews.
The Problems
Dropper Seat Post Issues. First off, the thing doesn’t work with dropper seat posts. The adapter slips over the seat post tube, and you have to completely remove your dropper seat post line to attach it. I didn’t want to do this, and machined my own adapter that allows me to easily remove it.
In the photo below, you can see the included adapter in my hand, and the adapter that I machined attached to my bike’s seat post (below the dropper portion):
The dropper wasn’t really an issue, as I could solve that problem and it was fun to make the part on my CNC machine.
Too Bumpy. I took our son on a rather mild single track called “EMT” in the Santa Cruz mountains. It has some small rocks, and lots of small roots to ride over. He hated the bumpiness, and started to get really fussy. I had to go incredibly slow over any type of bump to keep him happy. The Weehoo really needs some sort of shock to be usable off-road with a small child.
Seat Back and Helmet. My son is short, and his head is below the seat back. His helmet kept getting pushed forward over his forehead and towards his eyes, making him unhappy.
Turns. Cornering made me nervous. I would have to turn really wide to avoid clipping turns, especially on switchbacks. I was also constantly nervous that I would hit some side obstacle when doing a slight turn. This is due to the long wheelbase and the pivot behind the bike. I’m not sure how to solve this type of problem; maybe a fixed rear child carrier would not have these issues as badly, but I don’t know because the wheelbase would still be really long.
Rear Tire Hitting. My rear tire would hit the main shaft on any sort of mild bump that caused my shock to compress. There isn’t enough clearance given that it is on the bottom of my low seat post of my small frame mountain bike with 27.5″ tires. I could probably solve this by forcing the adapter to be higher on the drop seat post portion. I temporarily addressed it by locking my rear shock.
Bottom Clearance Issues. The bottom of the trailer below the pedals sticks down too low, and I would bottom out over roots going downhill. I had to lift it off at one point. This probably is because I have a small frame mountain bike with a low attachment point.
Noise. Damn the thing is noisy! The chain on it hits the chain guard and makes a ton of noise when on rough terrain. It is annoying.
I love your CNC’d part. What would it cost to have you make me one? This article is very helpful.
Hi John – Honestly, it wouldn’t be worth it to pay for the CNC time and materials; the cost would be crazy (probably $300 if I were to toss out a rough number). It is probably cheaper to buy a new wee hoo that has the right attachment.
You should find a way to mass produce this since Weehoo won’t!
It would probably be cost prohibitive.
I’ve got a weehoo, they make dropper post attachments for a ton of their models. They also recommend your child be over the age of 2 or atleast 36 inches- which the article states the child is 1.5 years old. Might explain why they were flipping around a bit…
Hi Rick – they did not make a dropper post attachment for any of their models back when i posted this in Feb 2020. They did say they were working on future ones, so that might have changed by now. Yup, my boy was small back then and less than what they recommended; however, that wasn’t why he was flipping around a lot — it is simply that the trailer can’t handle bumps very well without a shock. So, I stand by my analysis of it…their trailers are sucky for single track; fine for fire roads.
Have you found anything better for single track?
I started carrying him in a baby backpack; that works pretty well, and I can do small drops. It gets more difficult as he gets bigger and older and puts a lot of strain on my hips; I just consider it a challenge!
Which backpack?
I think it as an Osprey hiking backpack.
Hi Corbin,
I have the double weehoo and the weehoo blast, the nice part about the blast is that it is much lighter and has a lot more clearance under the foot rests. I have a large hardtail, so only rarely do I have the tire hitting the tube problem. I have added a seat cushion and wider tire for the bumps. My kids still enjoy it at 5 years old.
Best of luck,
Adam
Cool! Now my boy is 3 years old, and we got one of the little mid-seats that sits between my seat and the handlebar. It works pretty well, and we can go on twisty trails that would otherwise have issues with the trailer. I’m hoping he’ll move onto his own bike in the next year or so!
Hi Do you still happen to have that attachment that you made?
I emailed Omero – I don’t have the adapter anymore; I gave it away (or sold it), I can’t quite remember.