Let’s get this out of the way now, the Burley D’lite bicycle trailer retails at an eye watering £675. That’s an awful lot of money – in fact, more than the bike that was towing it on test was worth!
Being priced towards the top end of the market you’d expect a quality product, luckily, in many aspects the D’lite doesn’t disappoint.
It’s obvious from the off that this trailer is going to last for many, many miles: the material is thick but taught - as are the UV protected windows - and the frame is impeccably constructed but still lightweight – the overall package weighs just 12kg.
But at this price point it’s the thoughtful little touches that really make a product stand out from the crowd.
The Burley has a three-layer front, with a mesh inner for seriously warm days or for when your little one wants to feel the wind (but not the bugs) in their hair, a retractable sunshade which you can slide up and down much like a blind in your house, and an outer, waterproof window with waterproof zips which can be folded and stowed away when not required.
The seats are adjustable for one or two children and also recline. A couple of three-year-olds would be a tight squeeze in the D’lite but unless you have twins this shouldn’t be an issue – if you do happen to have twins and are trying to shoehorn them in then the bowed-out sides should help with shoulder room a little.
The hitching system is predictably easy, and towing feels very stable even over bumpy ground thanks to the three-way adjustable elastomer suspension system.
For super rigorous off-roading you may need to spend a little more on something like the Thule Charriot II which has adjustable leaf spring suspension.
Everywhere you look on the D’lite safety has been taken into consideration, from the dual reflectors front and rear to the reflective strips that adorn every panel of the trailer. Then there’s the roll bar which doubles as the adjustable pushing handle should you want to convert the D’lite to a pushchair.
Storage space is excellent, we easily manage to fit a full day’s worth of gear including lunch, changes of clothes etc. into the luggage area behind the seat. This makes the D’lite a truly practical means of baby and toddler transportation and provides scope to explore the depths of the countryside.
The D’lite goes up and packs down without any dramas using a simple coupling that you pull until it pops into its retainers.
Everything can be stowed together in a reasonably small footprint too: for reference, packed up the D’lite will take up about 2/3rds of the space of the boot of a typical medium sized family hatchback.
