My wife and I are going to sell our regular stroller and buy a jogger. It seems like the BOB Ironman and BOB Revolution are the best fixed and swivel wheel strollers around. But which to buy? I would do 8 mile runs with the stroller and my wife would use it to walk around the neighborhood, maybe jog. Has anyone used a swivel stroller for hour-long runs? Does the locking mechanism on the Revolution work okay? Is there a problem that the swivel wheel is smaller than its fixed counterpart?
I have some experience with this because I’ve owned BOTH of these. We bought the Ironman version last Christmas. My wife used to jog with our now 3-year old. It’s a great stroller, but in my opinion, it’s best for jogging, and not so great for other uses because of the fixed wheel. We would go on trips and take it, and be frustrated getting around the airport, or in the mall, or at restaurants, so after owning it all of 3 months, we sold it on eBay and bought the Revolution. We LOVE it. The locking mechanism is great and can be adjusted if the stroller isn’t rolling exactly straight. Unlocking it for your wife’s walks is a simple flick of a little red lever. We take ours everywhere, and don’t even use a normal stroller any more. I bought mine at TinyRide.com by the way. Free shipping and some free “gifts”. I’d suggest buying the little thing that has the drink holders and zip pouch on it.
My wife and I did some crazy research on this and finally decided on the BOB revolution and ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. It doesn’t have a brake but I don’t think we need it. When we want to take our son on the town, just set it to swivel and it is smoother than our normal stroller. When we want to jog, it is sooo smooth and you can adjust the tracking so it is perfect. I can’t think of anything bad about it. I think it is probalby more livable than the BOB SUS stroller (non swivel) and I really can’t say anything bad about it. It’s made great, and I heard the customer service is good.
I used to sell strollers, and in my experience, it has to do with where the swivel mechanism is placed. Interestingly enough, it’s very similar to bikes. The cheap strollers had what would be a 90 degree angle on the “forks” and the better ones were more 70-75 ish or had an offset.
This seems to be the same as bike steering, with the shallower angles making steering more stable and less twitchy.
Not owning a stroller or having children, listen to people who own these, but that’s my take!
I have two jogging strollers, a Babyjogger single and a Kelti double, both have fixed wheels. I cant see a rotatinng wheel being effective, i tried running yesterday with a regular stroller (chasing one kid while rolling the other) and the rotating wheel went haywire while going fast. BTW- Babyjogger roles smoother, Kelti has more features and folds down nicely for travel.
Mostly for those folks who are commenting without ever having seen the article in question, the Bob Revolution wheel locks into place for when you are running but swivels for use when walking.
Now that the issue is behind us, the Revolution all the way, much more useful.
The biggest added bonus of the revolution is that there is an adjustment screw that you can use to adjust the tracking. I tried out a stroller for a week that didn’t track straight, it drove me insane.
We have a revolution and love it, use the hell out of it.
We bought the Bob revolution after a lot of research and love it. It is easy to maneuver around town, the mall, the store, the park, but when it is time to run you lock the from wheel into place and go.
I need underground parking for all the child support vehicles that I own.
We have the single bob ironman and it is great.
Then when we wanted a bike trailer we decided on a double Chariot Cougar. The double Chariot is lighter than the single Bob.
I think the Chariot and Bob products are equally well constructed but the versatilty of the Chariot is awesome. It is not cheap but since you are already focused on the Bob line this is probably within your budget.
I just checked the single Chariot wieght vs. the Bob and it is almost half the wieght. This is possible before adding the front wheel item so it may only be 5lbs. lighter?
The Chariot will convert to a bike trailer, fixed wheel jogger, stroller, rickshaw and I think they have a lunar landing module?