Overview
The WeeHoo IGO Turbo is a hybrid child carrier that attaches to a bike for kids that have outgrown or lost interest with the typical bike carrier and aren’t yet ready to take their own two wheeler or a sit-up tow behind bike on the trail. We were sent a WeeHoo IGO Turbo to test out with our 4 year old, and not to give anything away too early but both mom and dad enjoyed it as much as the kids. While we were sent the product for review, it in no way influenced our comments or opinion of the bike trailer.
We are avid mountain bikers and found it hard to always find a sitter for the kids while when we wanted to go on a ride. Traditional kid carriers are wide and don’t fit well on single track mountain bike trails. Our interest was peaked when we saw the versatility of the Weehoo Turbo could be used around the neighborhood, roads, parkways, off road, and even single track. Now mom and dad can have fun, but we were concerned how the kids would like the bumpy ride. More on that later.
Anyone looking to free them self and their family from the couch, looking for something with a little more adventure than just riding around the neighborhood streets should consider looking at the Weehoo different child carriers. The price tag migh seem a little high, but for the amount we used it, it’s easily justified with the fun and amount of use you can get out of it. Additionally, it’s usable for kids ages 3 to 7, there are plenty of years to enjoy the IGO Turbo. It’s a very valid option for parents who just don’t want to give up their biking programs, or just hate leaving their kids out of the adventure.
We tried the Weehoo on just about every location around Utah that we could, from river parkways, paved trails, dirt roads, single track mountain bike trails, even some flow trails that our daughter called the “roller coaster trails”. I was a little timid at first with the feeling of an in-tow recumbent bike being hauled behind, but after you get use to the initial sway of the WeeHoo, and remembering to take turns a little wider, there was nothing holding us back from riding our favorite mountain biking trails… well except that they were a little harder to pedal up. More on this later too.
Unboxing
The Weehoo arrived in a large odd shaped box. It was about 4 feet by 2 feet by 7 inches. The complicated bike parts like the chain and pedals are already assembled. However, the seat and panniers need assembling and attaching to the bike. Additionally, there is an arm that connects the bike quick connect from the rear of the seat to the WeeHoo that needs attaching. This piece is removable.
Parts and Assembly
The assembly of the WeeHoo was very straight forward. Be sure to get the all the “required tools” to make your life a little easier. We actually had our daughter help with the assembly to help build up anticipation for the first ride. It is a little awkward to balance the parts while putting them together so having some extra hands to help is a good idea.
With tools and box opened, it took a total of about 30 minutes to assemble the WeeHoo. Some of the fittings are very tight, for example the removable arm that connects the WeeHoo to the seatpost is very tight and took some additional time to get the female connection over the male.
The only real difficulty was trying to get the plastic blocks that hold the bike seat in place around the chain cover and the seat over the top of them to hold them in place. Other than that it was easy going.
Attach to Bike
Attaching the WeeHoo to a bike is done by choosing the closest collar to match your seat post diameter. We unfortunately have an odd size seatpost (30.0 mm) which is in-between two seatpost sizes so there is more than expected play from the collar, but nothing that worried us, or caused any problems.
It’s worth noting that we have another bike that has a RockShox Stealth dropper seatpost. It has a hydraulic cable that runs from the bottom of the seat post through the frame to the handle bars. Without disconnecting the hydraulic cable there would have been no way to attach the bike to this seat post.
We also do not recommend connecting the WeeHoo to a carbon fiber seat post, the stress is too much and wear signs began to show after the first ride. The main bike we use the WeeHoo with has a Thompson seatpost which are some of the strongest on the market. And while we typically have to run the seatpost very high, we didn’t have any issues with the bracking leaving wear marks, or working it’s way up and down the seat post.
The easiest way to attach the WeeHoo to the bike was to put the WeeHoo arm and rear bike tire between your leg. Facing the front of the bike, you can easily lift up the arm and drop it on to the mounting bracket while balancing both the bike and the WeeHoo. The quick release pin was a bit tight the first few times we used it, but after 3 or 4 uses the bracket connects much easier and the pin slides in and out much smoother.
Pulling and Peddling
Pulling the WeeHoo IGO has a little different feel to it. The tow-able goes from side to side as your pedal. When trying to stand up to pedal to get up a hill the side to side motion is increased. For normal pedaling and even general off road pedaling it’s easy to adapt to pulling the trailer, even for a somewhat inexperienced biker.
The child has the option to pedal or not when they are being pulled. Their feet are attached to the pedals with little bungee straps, but a free wheel allows them assist in pedaling, or just rest their feet on the pedals.
When starting off, it takes a little extra effort to get your bike and the WeeHoo moving, having the child in tow help pedal helps to get moving. Also when a hill is approaching we often yelled back to our little one to help pedal, which surprisingly helped a little when going up an incline.
Fitting for kids and adjustment
When your child first gets on the WeeHoo, there are some necessary adjustments that need to be made. First the seat to pedal adjustment needs to be made, the child should sit comfortably and not have their knees bent too much, or have to extend too far to reach the pedals.
Next, the pedal straps and heel adjustments need to be made to hold the child’s feet from falling off onto the ground when in tow. This is done with a simple Velcro strap and a bungee around the heel of the shoe. There is a red tab on the bungee to easily pull on and off the heel. We would highly recommend your child wear some
WeeHoo Uses
Here is a video we made from a few of our favorite places we took the WeeHoo, a few night time rides, parkways along the river, and waterfalls!
Street rides
We found that the WeeHoo iGo is great for taking off right from our home. While it is portable and the top arm section that connect to the seat post of the bike is removable for portability, it’s still very odd shaped to fit in a car or SUV. It fits fine in the back of a small size pickup truck but takes up the bed from corner to corner with the arm on.
With the safety flag attached to the back, we found it quickly becoming our favorite form of transportation. We used it to run many errands around the neighborhood and to the store. As well as on longer rides when Dad felt like he needed to get a bit more exercise.
Family rides
We also used the towable on many family rides. It was great to help the endurance of our little one. Normally she wouldn’t last much more than a mile on her little peddal bike. With the WeeHoo we were able to ride for a couple hours before she was ready to go home.
Other we talked to with more kids found it great to extend their family rides as well. The kids like to take turns and switch bikes during the ride.
Off Road
Our initial interest in the WeeHoo iGo Turbo was for it’s off road and single track capabilities. Our 4 year old loves being in the mountains and trying her best at mountain biking, but it often left Dad unfulfilled at the end of the ride. We can now take her pedal bike as well as the Turbo and spend a couple hours up in the mountains, leaving the entire family satiated.
Mountain Biking with Kids
One thing we noticed was how much our daughter’s confidence grew after she had seen a trail on the WeeHoo and then returning on her bike. She also learned about picking a less bumpy line through rocks. When to start pedalling hard to get up a hill, and balance around corners.
Pro’s and Cons
Pro’s
If you have kept reading this far, you can likely tell that we are definitely huge fans of the WeeHoo after the few months of use. It was what Dad really was looking for, he loves spending time with his daughter, but also mountain biking.
Kid confidence
After our daughter learned to ride a bike, she was great to go on short rides around the street but lacked confidence when the street gutter was steep, or had a big dip. She would often get off her bike and push it up and over the difficult sections. After a few weeks of rides in the WeeHoo she realized that she could easily make it through these seemingly difficult sections round the neighborhood.
When we had her on a true mountain bike trail, she soon wanted to go as fast on her bike as we had gone with the WeeHoo and had to slow her down at times reminding her that Mom or Dad was not there to control the speed and slow her down before turns or technical sections.
Build Quality
The overall build quality of the WeeHoo turbo was very well. It is obvious that safety was taken into consideration during the design of the product. More on safety later. The welds were strong, the tubing was a high gauge steel. We rode this thing hard, and pounded it through rock gardens, hills, dust, roads, and never had an issue with any of the quality.
While we have not had any issues with the product in the past few months, we think the first issues would be with the material of the seat and panniers. They are constructed of a nylon material, with transporting and storing in the garage and being bumped around this would be the first part to wear, especially on the front of the seat where the child’s legs rub.
Storage
The storage is more than enough for daily ride. With two panniers on the rear tire, two pouches on the side of the seat, and a large net pouch on the back of the chair. They were usually more than enough to hold anything we were taking on a ride. They were usually filled with a couple water bottles, snacks, jackets, and a couple of princess dolls. There are also two cup or snack holders on either side of the seat. Lastly, there is a small net compartment on the back of the seat that is good for holding small books, a single water bottle.
Safety
One of the things we loved about the WeeHoo was the safety on the bike. The first safety feature we noticed was the chain cover. It completely covers the top and bottom of the chain keeping it from ever touching your child.
Secondly, you will notice pedal straps and heel hooks to keep the child’s feet on the pedals. These worked very well even on very rough trails while our child was pedaling. It’s also worth pointing out that the heel hoops need to be properly adjusted. We did have one time when our daughter was wearing a different set of shoes that fit a lot different and we did not adjust the straps. Her foot slipped out of the velcro strap and hit the ground. She didn’t loose a toe, but it did require a stop and some comfort time to calm her down.
Handles on the side of the chair are great when going over rough sections or making a lot of turns when the Turbo is swaying from side to side.
Lastly, there is a lightweight harness in the chair. I’m not sure if this would help or hurt the child in the event of an bike accident.
Cons
Comfort
Our biggest complaint because it was the biggest complaint from our child was that the seat was uncomfortable on long rides, and especially off road. When we were riding on single track we would pack the seat with a couple pieces of open cell foam to soften the rough rocks and bumps that were encountered. It would be nice if there was more padding included with the original seat, or if an accessory seat pad was available. When riding on smooth streets the padding wasn’t as necessary, and we usually just stored it in the side panniers.
Seat tube mount
As we mentioned before, we had an odd seat tube size that was in-between the provided collar, we wish that there were additional sizes of seat tube collars to fit more sizes. Because the seat collar was too big, it caused excessive sway and rocking side to side when pedaling.
Switchbacks
Another issue when riding single track mountain biking trails is just how long the IGO Turbo is. There are often tight switch back, or narrow sections where it’s impossible to turn around with the WeeHoo Turbo attached to a bike. We can’t really fault WeeHoo, this is just something we have to live with.
Fender
When we received the WeeHoo Turbo IGOthe fender we received was cracked down the middle. It was still usable, and got us through until WeeHoo responded and quickly sent a new fender out for our testing. While they might have sent this fender so quickly because they knew we were reviewing one of their products, we must say WeeHoo as a company was great to work with. And questions or concerns we had they responded immediately, and I can’t see them treating their customers any differently.
While the new fender stayed in place much better than the broken one, there still were some issues with dust and rocks being directed right back to the passenger. I would like to see a stronger and larger fender on the bike in the future.
Dusty
As mentioned above, the dust became a large problem with our daughter on long rides we would cover her in sunscreen which is like a magnet for dirt. We think a larger fender might help with this, but it might just be part of the fun of riding around in the dirt.
Secondly, we are very particular about maintenance and cleaning of our mountain and road bikes. The WeeHoo Turbo doesn’t lend itself well to being cleaned or maintained. Because the chain is completely covered for safety reasons it’s not easy to clean or lubricate.
There are also a lot of small areas and the seat and panniers all collect a lot of dust. It’s hard to wash this off, we found just a blasting it with the garden hose was about the best we could do.
Other Models
Weehoo offers a wide variety of products for carting kids around behind bikes.
- WeeGo: a traditional child carrier for one or two kids that can also be used as a stroller
- WeeHoo IGO Two: Like the IGO Turbo but has room for an additional non pedaling child on the back.
- WeeHoo IGO Blast: Also like the IGO Turbo but without pedals for a child to assist in pedaling. The blast is typically for smaller kids.
- WeeHoo IGO Venture: is similar to the Turbo but has much larger panniers on the back of the trailer.
- WeeHoo IGO Cargo: Not recommended to haul your kids around on this. But if you are looking to haul anything behind your bike it uses the same principle as the other IGO products. Also with a cargo net to stabilize
- WeeHoo IGO Balance bike: While not a towable, it’s falls in line with the child cycling development
Accessories
There are a handful of accessories that are useful with the IGO Suite. Replacements collars, Kickstands, Sun and Rain covers as well as replacement panniers, flags, seats, fenders, and pedals.
Sun Shade
We also tried out the Sunshade, installation was a bit of a pain to get the bolts from behind the seats through the frame, but once they were through it was easy to install and remove as needed.
Rain Cover
The rain cover has been a great addition for colder days, not so much for the rain.
Conclusion
Overall, we had a lot of fun testing and reviewing the WeeHoo IGO Turbo. It’s a great option of a quality built product. It’s an ideal option for kids transitioning from a pull behind trailer to riding the trails on bike. It also gives some relief to those parents that are a little obsessed with the trails and can’t seem to give them up during parenting time. On longer rides we have often missed our little one, feeling that we were missing out on time spent with her. And finally we had a way that she could come with us.
We rode the WeeHoo in just about every environment you could imagine, except maybe snow. We found ourself wanting to bring it with us whenever we went out just incase we wanted to go for a ride.
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