I’m an enormous hiker and love the outside. Earlier than my husband and I had our firstborn seven months in the past, we frequently road-tripped to nationwide parks—Yellowstone, Zion, you title it. Evidently, I’m past excited to get out and about with the infant this summer time.
{Photograph}: Tyler Shane
In my day-to-day, my child and I take walks across the neighborhood in a stroller/car-seat combo (see our information to The Greatest Strollers). There are plenty of perks to it, nevertheless it’s not precisely the smoothest journey. As we roll over pebbles and sidewalk cracks, the impression sends my babe’s chubby cheeks bouncing. That’s why I’ve been loving the Thule Chariot Cross 2.
Constructed to deal with the outside, Thule’s sturdy and environment friendly Swedish design makes for a {smooth} journey, it doesn’t matter what sort of floor you’re on. But it surely’s not only for strolling. With the straightforward insertion of a hitch arm, the Chariot hooks as much as your bike and turns into a smooth-wheelin’ buggy. I couldn’t imagine how mild and straightforward to navigate the Cross 2 was as a stroller and bike trailer. For energetic households like mine, the Cross 2 makes journey extra accessible and manageable.
Observe: You should buy the Cross 2 in a jogging bundle or with an add-on cross-country ski package. Kansas Metropolis isn’t precisely famend for its cross-country ski trails, and I choose biking to jogging, so I examined the Cross 2 by strolling and biking.
Strolling and Off-Roading
You possibly can nonetheless purchase the unique Chariot Cross, however the Cross 2 incorporates user-friendly upgrades, together with an up to date cargo bag, improved folding hinge mechanism, new hitch attachment with one-handed operation, and a better transition between bike and stroller.
It took me about 15 to twenty minutes to arrange the Cross 2. As a result of Thule is a Swedish firm, a lot of the directions got within the type of photos, which may really feel a bit of imprecise. It’s manageable, nonetheless.
Straight away, as I strolled round my neighborhood, I used to be impressed with how straightforward the Cross 2 was to maneuver, regardless of being pretty massive and hulking in any other case (simply over 3 ft in top and width). It has an aerodynamic design that enables for loads of legroom for the kiddo, and it’s outfitted with two 20-inch again wheels which can be sturdy sufficient to navigate tough terrain. The 2 entrance wheels are smaller, about 8 inches in diameter, and with the tug of a lever may be flipped up when transitioning to bike mode. (I dive extra into bike mode under.) As I went for a stroll with the babe in my older neighborhood, cracked sidewalks and awkward bumps within the highway had been all of a sudden manageable with the Thule. I rapidly discovered myself off-roading at parks and thru fields.