I promised that I would only review fixed wheel strollers here because they are real jogging strollers, designed for safe speed which is very important. But, taking into account the current trend to discontinue the best of them (with the Joovy Zoom ATS at the top of the list), I’m forced to turn my gaze to less thrilling strollers… After all, life goes on and we have to jog and stroll somehow!
Mountain Buggy Terrain Review SUMMARY
The Mountain Buggy All Terrain is not that bad. Still, I feel a bit upset that they put a swivel front wheel on this gorgeous stroller. Perhaps they wanted to make it the go-to stroller for everything?
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So, shall we buy it or not?
Well. Buy it for jogging. Buy it for speed walking. Buy it for occasional running. But dedicated marathon runners and rollerbladers – it’s not for us. It’s got loads of fantastic features (starting with an adjustable handle) but will let the ultra-sporty parents down on the tracking front.
a versatile stroller for jogging rather than for handling a bit serious speed
On the other hand, the frame of this stroller is very compact (and much shorter than on the other joggers) which makes it easy to use around the city and on public transport.
The Mountain Buggy All Terrain is car seat compatible, and offers the option of an attachable bassinet to hit the road with your newborn. If you’re still not impressed, a riding board for a second child is available, too.
And still, the versatile strollers suit daily life more than sport usage. If you’re not a dedicated runner, go for it and you’ll be just fine.
Design and Look: Yes, it looks cool and sleek. But a swivel wheel makes some difficulties while running. The design is well thought-out with lots of attention to detail. The Terrain definitely earns its moniker. It’s beautiful and stylish, yet looks quite tough and solid.
Again, why did I decide to review this stroller? It’s because I feel pleased with the ability to lock the front wheel. It locks really differently – it actually screws which is more reliable than the clicks and knobs of the other swivel wheel strollers.
So now let’s take a look at the pros and cons of the Mountain Buggy All-Terrain.
Mountain Buggy Terrain Sports Performance
Includes: Easy Ride, Alignment, Stability, Durability, Handle, Off-road and Safety.
Easy Ride: More like a dream ride, but still with some noticeable tracking issues. The front wheel is 12″ and the rear wheels are 16″. The front wheel locks in place, but has a small amount of wiggle room built in for uneven pavements or grass. Other than some occasional shaking when the front wheel needs a moment to restabilize after a bump, the ride is very smooth.
Still, running with it could be quite difficult because of the wobbly front wheel. In addition, when running at any sort of speed the back wheels do the same. For the price, I would expect the pram to be a bit more rigid. Closer inspection showed that folding it requires the rear side bars to collapse – at high speeds this affects the rear wheels so the whole construction lacks integrity.
Mountain Buggy weights 30 lbs, which is around 4 lbs more than average best jogging stroller’s weight.
The wheels are air-filled tires. The tires grip extremely well and the handling is excellent. You can easily push it with one hand when it is fully loaded.
This is a light-weight, easy to push, versatile stroller – as long as you’re not an avid runner
Alignment: There are quite a few tracking issues in spite of a tracking device that’s supposed to make the stroller go straight. The Mountain Buggy has difficulties tracking straight when the front wheel is locked to the front. It pulls to the side quite a lot. I guess there’s still too much movement in it (even after trying to fix it) so it pulls to one side which doesn’t make it good for jogging.
I’m saying, if there’s any movement when locked, you’ll be correcting it constantly.
So it seems that to minimize this issue, you’d have to either run unlocked (not safe!) or lock the front wheel backwards – and just cross your fingers that it doesn’t pose a flip risk.
Verdict: It’s okay for walking and moderate jogging but less thrilling for running or rollerblading
Maneuverability: It maneuvers well, literally gliding along. The steering is really quick and precise. It handles like a dream, and is very easy to navigate with one hand. Compared to other brands, Mountain Buggies require less force to ‘pop up’ the front wheel thanks to the shorter frame.
Stability: Stable, no risk of tipping.
Durability: You can be incredibly hard on it and it will be just fine. It’s very durable and sturdy. The high grade aluminum frame is strong yet lightweight enough to push and lift. The Mountain Buggy Terrain has 55-pound weight capacity, which is less that the best joggers offer (70-75 lbs)
Off-road: Excellent shock absorbers. This stroller can tackle everything: mud, grass, snow, sand, concrete jungles, steep hills, cattle grids and gravel roads. It’s all good for walking and jogging, but then again the Mountain Buggy Terrain is not a dedicated running pram when it comes to uneven surfaces.
Still, no pram will glide like a dream over the gravel roads
The tires of this stroller have a diagonal cord to better manage shocks. This stroller has higher ground clearance – to get everywhere. You will be able to plow through snowbanks a foot high – if this takes your fancy…
Handle: Adjustable, and very high (at 46″) so good news for taller parents, because they can stand up straight while pushing. It’s easily adjusted from 2.8 – 3.8ft so tall parents are not going to kick the rear frame of the stroller while running.
Safety: It has a hand brake, one-touch parking brakes and a safety leash. The only other thing which I think would make it better is reflective tape of some sort. As this is a “jogging” stroller, it is often used in areas with traffic.
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Mountain Buggy Terrain Engineering Design issues
Front wheel – The claimed ‘precision front wheel adjuster’ is useless, since the front wheel lock mechanism allows the front wheel to flow back and forth anyway. This explain the reports of constant veering of the front wheel. As I keep saying – sporty running parents should choose a fixed front wheel. The reason why I’m reviewing this swivel is because of the very safe screw lock on the front wheel, which excludes the possibility of it unlocking at high speeds.
Bearings – Why aren’t the bearings sealed? Dirt gets into the front wheel as a result – it does not rotate very freely. Check this out:
Mountain Buggy Terrain Real Life Usage:
Child’s comfort, ease of usage, storage space and parents’ extras
Daily usage features outperform the sporty features: it’s a compact and easy-to-navigate stroller with high headroom (but the seat is a bit narrow). The fantastic “follow the sun” canopy and very good shocks make riding very enjoyable.
Child’s comfort: canopy, seat, foot rest, quality of fabrics and suspension
Canopy – large canopy with a flip out extra visor. The canopy detaches and can be moved into any position – “follow the sun” (only the Tike Tech X3 Sports has the same feature). I really love this, especially for hot summer days. A roomy seat (seatback 19″, seat to canopy 23′), and a long leg drop at 9.5″ (only the Joovy Zoom ATS has a longer leg drop)
Seat: 14″ inches wide, which is kind of narrow for older kids. However, the height is nice at 19″ so there’s plenty of head room even for taller kids. It’s much bigger than the BOB or Schwinn Instep Arrow. It also has mesh pockets in the seat for the child.
Foot rest: A nice wide foot rest for the child’s comfort.
Recline: It reclines fully flat.
The advantage of a full recline is that your baby can sleep soundly from a very young age. The disadvantage is that there are two straps to make it recline and it takes two hands to do it. We parents always have busy hands so this means that we can’t adjust it on the go. It’s not a deal-breaker but it would be nice to have a one-hand recline.
Shock absorbers: Very good shock absorbers (some say these are smoother than BOB’s.) I find the suspension wonderful – it takes so much of the impact out when on the go.
Quality: This stroller is well made, with high quality materials – good nylon material, great adjustable seating surface – a gorgeous tough as nails stroller! Some parents complain that the back tire tread wore through to the tube within a year and they had to replace the tires with BMX ones. Still, I must say it’s perfectly acceptable to change the tires once a year – if you run a lot. So no problem here.
Mountain Buggy Terrain
Ease of use – includes Folding, Adjusting and Use of Harnesses.
Fold: It folds pretty easily. It is convenient to fold up and take anywhere. It stands when folded and has a nice automated lock: a ‘click’ lets you know the stroller has automatically locked,
Folding it requires two hands, which is not the most fantastic design.
It does fit into a tiny trunk, but the rear wheels will have to be removed first – luckily, this takes around half a second!
Folded dimensions: 42.5“L x 24.5″W x 15.5″H
Harnesses: Nice harnesses, especially handy for making changes: you don’t have to remove them – just twist and move them higher or lower. The harnesses have a safety feature which doesn’t allow the baby to get loose.
Parent’s extras and storage
Storage: It has a zipper top underneath the basket but no backseat net (which upsets me a little!).
The basket is very good for going on uneven surfaces – it closes for safe-keeping. There’s also good clearance to put bulky stuff in there. It’s very roomy – still not as good as the Jeep or Joovy but you can zip it – and squeeze something in on top of it e.g. an extra blanket or whatever. There is an extra zip pocket for miscellaneous stuff in the basket – very handy indeed. There are extra mesh pockets on the sides of the canopy.
Parents’ extras: Parents’ console: very nice cup holders for two bottles free of charge. Extra mesh pockets on the sides of the canopy.
A riding board for a 2nd child: You can connect a free-rider stroller board to Terrain’s rear axle to accommodate a second child. The free-rider transforms into a kid’s scooter (no tools required!). A very good feature!
Car seat compatibility:
Yes. The Mountain Buggy infant car seat fits perfectly. Also, you can purchase the carrycot (bassinet) which attaches quite nicely to the frame, and allows you to use the Mountain Buggy Terrain even with newborns. This is a tremendous addition which allows your baby to lie flat and face you. It’s a wholly functional travel system. A riding board for the 2nd child can be attached, too. Nice!
Real Life Usage Drawbacks:
When you bring the seat back to the upright position, you have to push the excess fabric behind the seat. I found this a bit annoying. In addition, the handle bar cover doesn’t absorb sweat.
However, my biggest complaint is the recline feature which consists of 2 straps, and takes two hands to do..Ufff
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