Review - ETC Burro Cargo Trailer

[DropperPost]

I suspect this isn't the type of product that people on this forum are likely to be buying, but I'm posting this here in the hope that potential buyers of these things might come across this via a Google search, as I couldn't find any user reviews when I searched.

You'll find this trailer for sale on several online bike shops, here's one example: https://www.afan.wales/accessories/bike ... lack__2109

There have recently been a very large number of these sold at auctions of bankrupt bike supplier stock, so these will start to trickle through onto Marketplace, eBay and Gumtree from people like me who bought them. So for anyone thinking of buying one, here's all you need to know:

1. Don't buy one if you want to actually use it as a bike trailer. The design and construction of the tow hitch and bike-attachment are so bad that this is a genuinely dangerous product. Specifically: the tow hitch mechanism is made from soft galvanised steel, using extremely poor-quality nuts and bolts (threads will tear easily) and has a fundamental design flaw which means the entire assembly just folds up when you try to bolt it tightly to your seat-post. I have worked out a fix for this design flaw, but the weakness of the rest of the towing mechanism means that I've decided to err on the safe side and not attempt to use it as a trailer. One way or another, the trailer will break loose of the tow-hitch very quickly, which wouldn't be fun in traffic. Other tricks the trailer has in store for you are overturning whilst you're riding along, and the stand scraping on the floor whilst riding because the tow-bar geometry means it is in a near-upright position whilst attached to your bike.
2. Having done some stress (and impact!) tests, I'd say the design and construction of the trailer itself is pretty good. I'm therefore happy with my purchase as I really only wanted something to pull heavy kit by hand. The wheels, tyres, bearings, axles and geometry all go together to make a rugged, stable hand-cart which copes really well with rough ground and obstacles.
3. The 46 litre hold-all also seems okay. I've only done a few tests with it, but the material appears to be tough, and the seams are double-stitched. Time could prove me wrong on this though.

[Bloke Afloat]

Hi

Many thanks for this review. How's the trolley been surviving? We're looking for a hand pulled shopping trolley to replace our Andersen as some scrote stole one of our wheels from on our narrowboat, just one mind! Go figure . The cost of replacing the wheel is ridiculous so we're considering something like this. Any further feedback is welcomed.

Regards
Richard

[Bloke Afloat]

Oh and the key question that I forgot, are the wheels removable for storage?

Richard

[DevonDamo]

...How's the trolley been surviving?...

Me and a friend used them to cart our stuff into Glastonbury festival last month, and they performed so well that we even went up to strangers and got them to have a go at pulling our massively-overladen trolleys to admire how smoothly and easily they ran. As you'd expect, people were initially dubious about this, but once they'd had a go, this was overtaken by amazement at how easy it was to pull a vast load of beer and camping equipment over rough ground. I kid you not.

Yes, the wheels come off, but they're held in place by friction, so you have to turn the trolley on its side, stand on the bottom wheel and pull up hard on the top wheel to get it to pop off.

So long as you're not planning to use these as bike trailers, then I'd have no hesitation in recommending them. Awesome bits of kit.

[Bloke Afloat]

Wowsers, thanks for the speedy response!

It sounds like a really great trolley and goes right to the top of my list, well just below the Andersen that is. The only downsides are that we need to be able to easily remove the wheels after each use, there ain't a lot of spare space on a narrowboat, and the load capacity. The Andersen has a 50kg limit! Not that I'd test that but we do sometimes need to go to 25-30kg when carrying water along the towpath. One other downside is that the Andersen not only folds flat but also the handle folds down, although I'm sure we'd cope without that.

We're secretly hoping that we'll see the missing wheel floating in the river and avoid having to shell out on this at all . Either way it'll have to wait until the car is fixed as it just failed Mot ugh!

Thanks for your help on this, we really appreciate it. We'll report back once we've made our decision/purchase.

Regards
Richard

[DevonDamo]

...The only downsides are that we need to be able to easily remove the wheels after each use, there ain't a lot of spare space on a narrowboat, and the load capacity

In terms of stowage: the bottom platform and the stand fold up against the main frame to make it fairly flat. It does come with a big curved arm to attach it to a bike, so you'd need to drill through a couple of (fairly soft) pop rivets to remove that. In terms of load capacity, the large-diameter aluminium tubular frame gives the impression that it's very strong indeed. I would estimate I had maybe 30kg on it, and it felt like it could take lots more. The only question mark would be the wheels (plastic) and axles, but you'd hope they'd be pretty durable as it was supposedly designed to be towed behind a bike at speed.

But hope you find the missing wheel for your existing trolley. You'd have had a field day searching for a replacement at Glastonbury: the main routes in/out were a bit like a Ukrainian battlefield: destroyed trolleys every 5 yards.

[Bloke Afloat]

I chuckled heartily at your Glasto comment . I know where to look for our next missing wheel then!

Richard