# Burley Piccolo (or Kazoo) vs. everything else?



## farley (Feb 17, 2004)

I'm wondering if any of you have experience with the Burley Piccolo or Kazoo and can comment on how it compares to other Tag-Alongs, Trail-A-Bikes, Halfwheelers or what have you.

I've got a Trek Mountain Train that I've been using with my 5 year old and I don't really like it. There's too much play in the hitch and it never really feels stable to me. I also have an 80' era tandem that I've been trying to get a kid-back kit to work with, but I never quite seem to get all the kinks worked out. 

I'm becoming increasingly intrigued by the Brown Cycles KidzTandem, but before I part with that much money, I want to make sure I've considered all the options. 

I really like the idea of a trailer bike, if the attachment between bikes was more precise and secure, but all of them that attach to the seatpost seems to be variations on the same thing, and they all seem kind of half-assed. The Burley system stands out, but I've never seen one in real life, so I'm wondering if it's better or just different.

Any experience?


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## itsdoable (Jan 6, 2004)

The only trail-a-bike / tag-along that comes close the the Burly is the Tout Terrain, but it's $$$! 
(https://www.tout-terrain.de/2/products/trailer---kids-bikes/streamliner/index.html)

I have a re-labelled Giant trail-a-bike, and it's fine around town as long as you keep on top of the play in the universal joint. We have a Piccolo from ~18 years ago, and it rides way better, but it is currently being used buy someone else (probably the 5th person that's used it!).

However:









I prefer the tandem in general, it is more stable and manoeuvres better on trails. I have not tried the Kidz Tandem, but I prefer the Kiddie seat conversion - kids are only on the trail-a-bike for a year or 2. My SO prefers using the cheap trail-a-bike around town & to school, it's easier to park & load, and she's not worried about leaving it around (school, grocery store, market, etc...)


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## Scoobytao (Mar 19, 2011)

We used a Burley Picolo to do a 100+ mile bike camping trip in Alaska on a pretty rough dirt road and some short trails. We could load heavy panniers on the steel "Moose" rack and even had a rack on the rear of the Picolo with overloaded panniers. 

The Picolo worked great, tracks with confidence and never developed any slop in the linkage to the main bike. I actually preferred it to a tandem because it keeps the kids weight lower as they lean to the side to look at stuff and talk to their brother, etc. Because it is lower, it is easier for the child to mount and dismount too. Unlike on a tandem, the kid does not need to have the same 70-90 rpm cadence you will be maintaining. I kind of let my son save his strength so he was fresh when I needed help on the hills. 

At other times I also pulled a kid trailer behind the Picolo, and so long as it was not SEVERELY steep down hill, it would work great, but make sure more weight is on the Picolo then the trailer. If regularly hauling a trailer, a tandem probably is preferable.

In short, I highly recommend the Picolo! Get the geared version. The kid's pedalling effort really can help and it is a great way for them to learn to shift before cutting them loose.


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## itsdoable (Jan 6, 2004)

Scoobytao said:


> The Picolo worked great, tracks with confidence and never developed any slop in the linkage to the main bike. I actually preferred it to a tandem because it keeps the kids weight lower as they lean to the side to look at stuff and talk to their brother, etc. Because it is lower, it is easier for the child to mount and dismount too. Unlike on a tandem, the kid does not need to have the same 70-90 rpm cadence you will be maintaining. I kind of let my son save his strength so he was fresh when I needed help on the hills.


The tandem pictured above has independent pedalling, kid pedals only when they want to (not necessarily a good thing). Infact, I have the gear ratios set up higher for the stoker so they don't have to my 70~90rpm. I found the tandem more stable then a trail-a-bike when the kid leans side to side, making it much easier to control.

With a trail-a-bike, the front wheel lifts on steep climbs unless I really shift my weight far forward.



Scoobytao said:


> In short, I highly recommend the Picolo! Get the geared version. The kid's pedalling effort really can help and it is a great way for them to learn to shift before cutting them loose.


We had the 6-speed SRAM shifter on the Piccolo, and found most kids did not have the hand strength to shift it, so it stayed in one gear most of the time. But I single speed most of the time, so I don't have any issues letting them spin one gear.


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## Scoobytao (Mar 19, 2011)

Everything has tradeoffs . You can buy a burley piccolo for the cost of just the SS couplers necessary to make the tandem a manageable size to transport somwhere. Both my sons managed to shift and even if that were a problem the same technique of equipping the captain with a removable shift lever for the stoker is a simple fix.
The reall nice thing though, was that by giving my sons instruction on when to shiift and then having them do it, meant it was easy for him to transition to using his bike. They are 9 and 11 now and can negotiate pretty challenging and steep singletrack.


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## farley (Feb 17, 2004)

I did end up getting a Piccolo--we've been riding it for a few months now and I have to say I've had zero complaints. It's easy to hitch up. It feels solid and stable. My daughter seems comfortable on it. The sticker shocker faded pretty quickly and now I feel like it was a worthwhile purchase. 

It's a shame they're not making these any more.


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## Plum (Sep 14, 2004)

farley said:


> It's a shame they're not making these any more.


They're in the catalog, burley told me they'd be available again, late this year (November?).

We picked up a used one for my 4 yo, she likes it a ton. I need to get a rack modified to fit the back of my dummy, but for now my wife is using it on her bike. The attachment is the best I've seen.

Plum


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## RLKester (Apr 5, 2012)

Own one, bought it used after trying the seatpost models. Needless to say it is remarkably stable, pulls easily, handles great in all kinds of situations and is a superb platform to teach the kids how to manage gears and traffic. 
Nothing replaces the actual Doing of road riding. Stop signs & lights, road shoulder riding, Traffic "talk" (Clear back, traffic up, hand signaling, left turns, rest stops) outside of the general freedom a Burley Piccolo it gives the road safety training was the most valuable. 
Kids have out grown it now so we are on to the 24" wheel Road bikes. Want to buy it?


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## BrenEv (Apr 6, 2012)

*Piccolo*



RLKester said:


> Own one, bought it used after trying the seatpost models. Needless to say it is remarkably stable, pulls easily, handles great in all kinds of situations and is a superb platform to teach the kids how to manage gears and traffic.
> Nothing replaces the actual Doing of road riding. Stop signs & lights, road shoulder riding, Traffic "talk" (Clear back, traffic up, hand signaling, left turns, rest stops) outside of the general freedom a Burley Piccolo it gives the road safety training was the most valuable.
> Kids have out grown it now so we are on to the 24" wheel Road bikes. Want to buy it?


I'm really interested! Where are you located?


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## Michael Moule (Feb 13, 2014)

I agree with all who recommend the Burley Piccolo. I've been using one with my son for a while, but he is outgrowing it. If anyone is interested, I'm selling mine, listed on Craigslist:
Burley Piccolo trailercycle - with custom add-ons


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## seat_boy (May 16, 2006)

I wrote this short comparison of a Picolo vs. a Giant trail-a-bike shortly after getting my Picolo, and my opinion really hasn't changed:

Bikes and Playgrounds: Soma Double Cross Family Truckster Review

Summary: it's nice, but not head and shoulders above the Giant (especially after I tightened up the Giant's U joint with some milk jug shims).


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