Bicycle trailers for children should not be dangerous. This one from Berlin Brands Group is.

Like everyone else posting personal stuff here on LinkedIn, I don’t like to do this sort of thing normally. And, genuinely, I don’t.

But here’s the thing. There is a company in Berlin that is now knowingly selling items dangerous to children and who is refusing to deal with the problem.

The company is @Berlin Brands. (I’ve tagged them here so they know I’m coming for them. Hey, guys. Welcome. Take a seat.)

Back in March, I bought a trailer through Amazon. It is, to date, my fourth trailer after the ones we used from Thule (great products by the way) reached a point after six years when the repairs would cost more than the trailers.

Since I have only a year left of riding with a trailer, I opted to go for a different, cheaper brand. Which I how I bought this trailer by Klarfit from Berlin Brands Group.

And it was fine for the first two months. Not great, but fine.

But then a nut got loosened. And when that happened, I mean that it became loose after about seven weeks of normal riding around the city. I only noticed when I went to get the trailer and found the bolt it secured halfway out of the arm that attaches the trailer to my bike.

It was then I noticed that this nut secured EVERY failsafe option on the trailer arm.

A word about trailer arms. In order not to become detached, there are generally several failsafes. The trailer is coupled to the bike (failsafe #1), after which a strap goes from the arm around the frame of the bike (failsafe #2) and back to the arm.

But, as you can see from the video and pictures below, every failsafe is attached to that single nut and bolt on the trailer, sold by Berlin Brands Group, that came loose after less than two months of normal riding around a city. No big hills, no bumps, no offroad. Just mostly riding on road and gravel, through parks.

And on roads.

Once the nut fell off my trailer, the bolt was not far behind. When I found it, it was already nearly out. A half-inch more and the whole thing would have become detached.

I don’t need to write here how dangerous it is, although I’ve tried to explain several times to both Amazon and Berlin Brands Group (Hi there, CEO Peter Chaljawski and CMO Thomas Stanzl. Welcome. Take a seat). But this nut, which came loose and fell off in around seven weeks of normal riding, is the only thing attaching this trailer arm to a bike.

Like most genetically lazy people, I often ride fast because I’m late. So my nightmare would be this trailer detaching while I’m on a busy road, child in back.

That’s dangerous. Common sense says that.

So I contacted Amazon and said the trailer was dangerous. I even left a review, with pictures, of how it had fallen apart so quickly.

Amazon said a refund would there in two or three days.

Then, Berlin Brands Group contacted me. And said they would repair it, but not give a refund.

Why? Because it had not fallen apart within thirty days. Because I did not see the design flaw before then.

They can take the trailer back and do whatever the hell they want. But I won’t be accepting it. Even the money now is a moot point. I don’t expect to see the nearly €300 back. I just want Berlin Brands Group to know that it is now public that the trailer is dangerous.

In the meantime, I just spent €600 on another new trailer, this time by Croozer. And, so far, this one has been great.

I don’t feel like I’m putting a child in danger when I use it. And while that should be a given, recent circumstances dictate otherwise.?