Emma is an almost 14-year old who has been around bikes and trailers a long as she can remember. From her early years in a Child Carrier, to time spent spinning heartily behind Mom on a “Trail-A-Bike” and over 4 years of sharing a racing road tandem with Dad, Emma knows bikes. And she knows what she likes.

So who better to ask for some first impressions of the Travoy? I asked her to take one out of the box, assemble it by herself and then share her thoughts on it.

Dad: So Emma, how do you see yourself using the Travoy trailer?

Daughter: I’ve always wanted to attach a trailer to my cruiser (Electra step-through), you know, for aesthetics. I think it would look cool. My bike doesn’t have any gears and it has coaster breaks. I could see myself using this trailer to carry all sorts of stuff, especially my saxophone. It’s such a pain to carry to school.

Dad: Well, you assembled the Travoy yourself. On a scale of 1 to 10, how hard was it to put together?

Daughter: 1 or 2. Actually, it was very easy to assemble. I barely had to look at the instructions. The diagrams spoke for themselves. Within 20 minutes or so, I had finished putting it together and figuring out where everything goes.

Dad: So what do you think? Could this trailer work for you?

Daughter: The two compartment areas remind me of the back seat or the trunk of a car. Seriously, how much space do you need if you’re not in the middle of moving? Those two compartment bags are huge! I think I could use them as a backpack or something for school. Unless you need your car to move something really big, why not exercise a little and use a trailer like this one?

So, there we have it. Out of the box and reviewed by Emma, a pretty tough critique of all things “cycling related.” Now if the snow could just melt away, we could hit the road with Travoy and take it out for a serious test run. Stay tuned for part 2 of the review – Smooth Sailing with Travoy on Manitoba’s Spring Roads.

-Brian & Emma Szklarczuk