Strollers for a bike snob dad to be?

[shiftpgdn]

I'm not sure how many of you folks are parents but does anyone have any stroller makes or models they can recommend? I've been shopping with the wife and all of the strollers we have looked at are absolute garbage. Every single stroller I have examined has welds that look like mutant caterpillars, extraordinarily rough bearings, cheap and awful plastic everywhere, and of course the absolutely crap plastic wheels. We've even gone and looked at the "high-end" stroller stores and everything there was terrible and would probably be failed by the quality control team who work on department store bikes. How do they get away with charging $400-900+ USD for gas pipe steel contraptions that weigh 30+ lbs?

Am I going to have to have a bespoke stroller built or am I just being overly critical?

[airedale]

We got a bugaboo chameleon. It's worked out really well for us. Our first is now four and our second is one so it's copped quite a work out. Best part is it breaks down into two pieces thus making for a lighter and smaller load to pack in the car - weight is important particularly after c section.

Kids have both slept comfortably in it. It moves well and the material can be stripped down and machine washed.

Enjoy the ride!

[cs124]

We've been through a few strollers (and literally thousands of km walking and running) with our 2 kids.

I found the ideal combination is get 2 strollers.
We spent maybe 150 bucks on a light, easy folding strollers that can go into the car. This one will get the most (ab)use and will predominantly be used for shopping mall trips. In our case we got 2 and had one in each car. Swallow was the brand. Can't remember the model but it was nothing special. Certainly not as nice as a Bugaboo.

The second stroller was a high performance running thing like this. I'm not sure of the exact make and model because we inherited it from a friend but it looked almost exactly the same as this one. Great fun. These ones don't fold down as nicely as shopping type strollers so keep that in mind if you want to take it in the car.

The big, fancy "baby buggy" was too heavy, had too many attachments and hardly got used.

[roseyscot]

i generally agree that the strollers i've seen are covered in plastic, ugly welds, and heavy. but, once you've been using one for 6+ months you'll realize what a rough handling and life they experience. our primary stroller is the uppababy brand. made in MA i believe. not the lightest, but it is durable. think of your stroller as akin to that commuter/rain/fendered bike. it's gonna get thrown into the car, banged into walls, puked on, etc.

[Badonkadonk]

a lot of the super high end strollers (bugaboo, stokke, whatever) look cool in the store and probably last forever but i found them heavy and big for everyday use

my wife and i went for a bit of a hybrid - we have a citymini that is robust enough to roll on long walks, but fold-y and simple enough to throw in the car. but we also have a cheapie maclaren that stays in the car

[G-reg]

Long time lurker here, finally with something to add. Like has been said already, get a "nice" umbrella for traveling and the mall. We've been abusing a 100ish$ McClaren for a few years now and would recommend it.

And for everything else get a Bob Revolution. It's a bit of a tank and spendy, but totally worth it. There's a attachment for infant seats that works with Graco / Britax / and a few others so you can get a new Dude/Dudette from car to stroller without taking them out of the seat. Push a cheap umbrella stroller through a gravel parking lot, snow, grass, etc. and then push the bob through that kind of terrain.... You'll be sold.

[Brandon White]

We used an Orbit. It was pretty awesome functionally, but damn heavy. We sold it after 6 months and went with a Kooper (I think) - although it was a little big for him at the time. If we have another we'll probably go with Stokke or Bugaboo.

[Zimmermanbicycle]

very happy with our BOB,don't care what the welds look like and neither does the kid.
-Eric,Tamara and Otto

[Nathanrtaylor]

I bought my wife an Uppababy Vista for Valentine's Day. She (We) are due in May with our first and she's really excited about this stroller.

Once it makes sense I will add a bike trailer of some kind as well. That will basically be my version of the stroller.

[scrubadub]

A mother of three once told me that there is no optimal stroller situation, and that you will end up buying way too many of them.

When our daughter was born, we bought the cheap Graco plastic stroller unit that combines with a Graco car seat. We took it traveling internationally and it did pretty well with the abuse. But it was a pain to carry both parts around, and the wheels are starting to go. We are expecting our second child and it's almost certainly going in the trash bin after that.

Our day-to-day stroller is a Mountain Buggy. We liked the simple and very sturdy design along with the air-filled (vs solid rubber) tires as it seems to smooth out the ride quite a bit. The fact that the 6'+ salesman climbed on top of it in the store and it hardly flexed was definitely a selling point. It doesn't fold down that small but it's not bad, not too bad to bring on the T or bus, etc. During the winter, we've been using it with their rain cover and our daughter seems to be pretty warm and comfy every day. We thought she would like near horizontal reclining feature but in reality we hardly ever use it. I've seen other parents running with it, and while it's not bad, it's nowhere as nice as the Chariot (see below).

We also bought a Chariot Cheetah 1 awhile back on sale and got the jogging attachment. At first, we hardly used it because it's big and bulky, and my daughter hates being cooped up on runs with me. However, the few times we did go running, I've found it much better than the Mountain Buggy. It works pretty well off-road too. We also didn't get the bike attachment because she prefers to the Bobike Mini seat instead. But recently, she has started preferring to go out in the Chariot because I think it's more spacious and more comfortable for her.

We're now getting ready to buy our third stroller, probably the lightest McLaren with minimalist features, so that we can have something to bring on our trips. Our friends have one and swear by it for travel (but not really for anything else).

[j44ke]

There are frame builders out there who have had kids. I am just wondering why there isn't a Zanc-o-buggy.

First few months all they need is a picnic basket. Worked for Moses. The goal is just to keep the head attached to the body until they are old enough to knock themselves out on the corner of the coffee table. In other words, they grow out of everything way too quickly to get super stressed about quality. My buddy and his wife bought used strollers from wealthy parents in Brooklyn and rarely even paid $50%. Buggerdoodlewhateversomething. No one wants a used stroller because they are afraid of snide remarks in the playground and germs leftover from someone else's toddler. Their kid did just fine.

[lavi]

Long time lurker here, finally with something to add. Like has been said already, get a "nice" umbrella for traveling and the mall. We've been abusing a 100ish$ McClaren for a few years now and would recommend it.

And for everything else get a Bob Revolution. It's a bit of a tank and spendy, but totally worth it. There's a attachment for infant seats that works with Graco / Britax / and a few others so you can get a new Dude/Dudette from car to stroller without taking them out of the seat. Push a cheap umbrella stroller through a gravel parking lot, snow, grass, etc. and then push the bob through that kind of terrain.... You'll be sold.

Exactly. This is what we have/had.

The McClaren for pushing in the grocery store. The Bob Revolution (don't buy the running only/fixed wheel one) for everything else. We have the single and double Bob. They hold their resale very well. My wife is a runner and loved those damn contraptions. IMO, the Bob's are the best. Super easy to use (fold up, pick up, unfold), have good accessories (baby seat, console for holding shit, warm lamby insert, rain cover). The wheels all have quick releases for easy packing into a jammed car. Can't be beat.

Look at CL. You ought to find them for half of retail. Don't worry, those stupid things cannot be in bad condition.

[Mabouya]

the air-filled (vs solid rubber) tires as it seems to smooth out the ride quite a bit.

Clincher or tubular? ;)

[scrubadub]

Clincher or tubular? ;)

Both the Mountain Buggy and Chariot are clinchers... I wonder if I can get some FMBs or Dugast in that size...

[Plum]

If you've got the luxury of using it from the house, directly out of the garage, get a chariot with the stroller wheels. Rolls very well, doesn't feel like junk and useable behind the bike as well. Slings and supports for little kids available, good coverage from weather, suspension, etc.

Not ideal for throwing into the car, can be a hassle in tight spaces, but a far nicer unit than most strollers. We also used combi branded collapsible strollers for travel, hooking in the car seats, but they are kinda like settling for the lesser of evils. Convenient for throwing in the car and folds relatively easily, but low push bars, crappy castors and rough rolling wheels. Better than some of the cheaper gracos, smaller footprint as well, but for actual 'strolling', the chariot is way ahead. Bonus is that the castor wheels are always on the chariot, so we tow it to where we're going, flip the castors down and get to it.

Plum

[Human Epic Jolt]

I'm not sure how many of you folks are parents but does anyone have any stroller makes or models they can recommend? I've been shopping with the wife and all of the strollers we have looked at are absolute garbage. Every single stroller I have examined has welds that look like mutant caterpillars, extraordinarily rough bearings, cheap and awful plastic everywhere, and of course the absolutely crap plastic wheels. We've even gone and looked at the "high-end" stroller stores and everything there was terrible and would probably be failed by the quality control team who work on department store bikes. How do they get away with charging $400-900+ USD for gas pipe steel contraptions that weigh 30+ lbs?

Am I going to have to have a bespoke stroller built or am I just being overly critical?

those stokke thinks are hilarious.

the twin GTs with two rear wheels and one at the front work. i had nothing to do with it but they work.
the rake or trail or whatever seems pretty spot on. it also planes well.

most of the wheels are total shite. regardless of brand. its important to get something that can be folded up aggressively without some plastic shict breaking.

ideally press a button and shake the thing and it should half close by itself, at least so far as to be obvious what should be done next. it should also not get stuck in mud etc.

also. brake mechanisms vary. if it looks like you will destroy it, you undoubtedly will.

[AJPM44]

Just get a bob stroller. I beat the hell outta mine (stroller, not the kid...much). Who gives a shit about how a weld looks when you haven't had more than four hours of continuous sleep in months. Throw the kid in it, get outside,pretend that you still live a normal life, and check out all the MILFs walking their kids. Brakes for strollers are stupid, I can guarantee you aren't running fast enough to need to slow the damn thing down with a brake instead of just slowing your pace. If you park it on a hill with the kid, the brakes will work, if not, you own a bike so tighten it up or throw a rock under the tire to hold it in place. Find one on craigslist and don't worry any more about it. Also, I do recommend a drink (read: beer) holder on it. You can put your phone in one, and a beer in the other for when you go for a nice stroll in the summer. Have fun.

[pdmtong]

we ended up buying 2. one was a lightweight foldable one...it was 7#'s and cost $200-something. the other was a BOB. pushing a kid on 5" wheels on a non-smooth surface will rattle the H out of them. enter the BOB. Get the one with the swivel front wheel. Buy good stuff and you can unload it for at least 50% on local CL. I did that with the potery barn table/chairs, strollers, car seats, booster seats, high chairs, etc. one kid family here. doing the same with all her bikes. madz has owned somethign like 14 to date and I am up $500 all together...burley trailer, alley cat, 12", 16" 20", 24", road, mtb....etc. now she fits a small womens mtb and is on a 48cm road. time flies. take lots of pics....

[Thanasi]

we ended up buying 2. one was a lightweight foldable one...it was 7#'s and cost $200-something. the other was a BOB. pushing a kid on 5" wheels on a non-smooth surface will rattle the H out of them. enter the BOB. Get the one with the swivel front wheel. Buy good stuff and you can unload it for at least 50% on local CL. I did that with the potery barn table/chairs, strollers, car seats, booster seats, high chairs, etc. one kid family here. doing the same with all her bikes. madz has owned somethign like 14 to date and I am up $500 all together...burley trailer, alley cat, 12", 16" 20", 24", road, mtb....etc. now she fits a small womens mtb and is on a 48cm road. time flies. take lots of pics....

We did the same thing. We bought a Bob for the dirt road/trails and a good "umbrella" stroller for the good roads and travelling. You will find that the umbrella strollers are very versatile and can go almost anywhere. Ours made it through some very bumpy cobble street in europe(pave stroller?).

The real challenge arises, which I am going through now, when your child turns 2 and you want to go riding with them. I'm torn between getting a Chariot and attaching it to the back of a cross bike or buying an expensive cargo bike where he would sit in the front and get a great view. Any ideas regarding this?

[mschol17]

We have a BOB and a MacLaren. We had a cheapo umbrella stroller but my wife hated it, and we spent the money on the MacLaren.

When the kid is still in a car seat all the time, get a snap-and-go. Cheap and great to have in the infant stage.