In Step Quick and EZ Bike Trailer Review

2009 August 13

by Jackie

Yesterday I was bummed because I couldn’t ride because no one was here to watch Hanna. So I decided to get a bike trailer so I could just take her with me, then I can ride whenever the mood strikes me and not just the 1 hour a day when someone else is around here.

I did quite a bit of research looking at different bike trailers seeing what others had to say about them, and comparing price. I am still on a tight budget, so yes, I would have loved to have a Burley Bike trailer I simply can’t afford it right now (another thing to add to the Christmas list.).

I finally decided on the InStep Quick n EZ trailer. It retails at about $119. There is a cheaper InStep Bike trailer, the Take 2, but the reviews on that one were quite poor.

The In Step Quick and Easy Bike trailer claims you don’t need any tools to put it together, and can be done in only a few minutes. I was a little bit skeptical, but here’s our experience.

We easily got it in the trunk, and got it home. YAY ~ that’s a good sign for being able to take it with us. This is what it looked like sitting in the living room beckoning me to put it together with no tools, and no help from hubby.

instepquicknezreview

Getting it out of the box was just about the hardest part! It took some doing, but Hanna and I finally wrangled all the pieces out of the box.

instepquickandEZ

Within 5 minutes we had the thing almost completely put together. It was up and looking good.

instepquicknezsetup

At this point we popped the wheels on. They are sent deflated so we weren’t quite ready to go. The next step was actually getting the trailer attached to my bike.

This includes getting it out the door. Hmm… maybe I shouldn’t have put the wheels on inside. Well it comes with quick release wheels and they are just that. With the pull of a lever you can pull them right off. No problem. We fit out the door quite nicely without the wheels on.

If I had a bike that had a quick release rear wheel this really WOULD have been a no tools job, however, I do not. AND to make matters worse the nut holding my back wheel to the bike was so tight I could not get it off. Halt the project, no bike ride tonight I guess.

instepquicknezreview2

Hubby got home, and untightened the nut, we quite easily slid the coupler onto the bolt and tightened the nut right back up.

Because the trailer attaches this way I think it will fit for almost any bike, any style you can think of, so that is definitely a bonus. If you have more than one bike you will be using with this trailer you can get an additional coupler for just a couple bucks, then it will be easy on easy off for whatever bike you choose.

instepquickez

The next morning we set out on our first ride. I was pretty nervous about pulling this trailer with my daughter inside. I have 1/2 mile of gravel to get to the road, and I’m still a little nervous about falling over while on the gravel, and I really don’t want to take her down with me. This trailer has a special spring where the bike and trailer attaches, so even if you lay your bike down the trailer will remain upright. (much relief there).

We decided to take it for a spin this morning and see how it went. Hanna got her helmet on, grabbed some snacks, a drink, a baby and of course the portable dvd player and was ready to rock and roll.

instepquicknezbiketrailer

When I started going I was pretty nervous it was going to feel like a lot of extra weight back there. However, it didn’t, even on the gravel. Granted once we got to the road it was like buttah! I was really impressed. We ended up going for a little over 5 miles and there were times I had to look back to make sure she was still there.

This is definitely a first impression review ~ we’ve only just put it together and ridden with it once. Overall I’d say I’m pretty happy with it thus far. I will definitely come back and update as we put some more miles on this trailer and let you know how it’s holding up.

Think this is the trailer for you? Read more reviews and grab it from Amazon cheaper than I got it.