Biking with kids

[dcv]

@jrenaut 14273 wrote:

I’m looking down the road a few years, and I know there’s going to be a time when the kids are too big for the trailer (they already complain a bit when they’re both in there, much happier when it’s just one of them) but too small to ride city streets on their own.

This family tandem is AWESOME. It’s a little pricey, however.

Does anyone have suggestions/experience biking with kids who are too big for a trailer?

We tried a trail-a-bike, rented one from a bike store. it’s essentially half a bike, clamps onto your seat post. I thought it felt weird trying to keep balance with our son shifting his weight back & forth. You can only do one child per bike though.

[FFX_Hinterlands]

The obvious choice is a longtail like an Big Dummy, Sun Atlas Cargo, Yuba Mundo or Xtracycle. Two kids can sit on the back. For short-tailed bikes with a sturdy rack you can use a Bobike Jr. Seat for 5-10 year olds (http://clevercycles.com/blog/products/accessories/child-seats/rear-mounted-child-seats/#_) . Once they hit about 7-9 they could be riding a geared bicycle and keeping up with you.
Bikes at Vienna has a Sun Atlas Cargo and a Yuba, I think. They used to have a family Tandem laying around at one time.

[eminva]

When my son was about 5 to 7, we had a Burley Piccolo. I researched trailer cycles and this model was acknowledged to be superior because the hitch joins on to a rack rather than your seatpost. This eliminates balance problems, no matter how much your kid is swinging around, and believe me, my son did plenty of that. It is also an extremely sturdy, well made piece of equipment with seven gears the kid can experiment with. The down side is that it is expensive and you need to buy the proprietary rack. I never had any problem mounting panniers on the rack with or without the trailer cycle attached, though. Also, I got mine used on Craigslist for a fraction of the price of new. It held up well and we sold it on Craigslist when he outgrew it. Our range with the Piccolo was similar to what I could do on my own. This gave him more range because he was also learning to ride his own bike at the time and didn’t have a lot of stamina. We lived in DC then and I would drop him off at school on the Piccolo (leaving the Piccolo locked up there) and then ride on to work. I had no fear in traffic with it.

I would take exception to FFX_Hinterlands comment that kids can keep up with their parents by about 7-9 — my kid is 11 and still goes quite a bit slower than my preferred speed. Or, maybe he just prefers to enjoy the scenery at a slower speed than me. But it does require one to calibrate their ambitions a bit.

Good luck! Enjoy the next stage!

Liz

[FFX_Hinterlands]

Liz, yes I meant they can keep up for casual rides to the store or around the neighborhood. This doesn’t say much for my typical riding speed, either.

[mstone]

We got a weehoo (http://www.weehoobicycletrailer.com/) and really love it. The 2 year old can just get strapped in and come along for the ride, or I can put the 5 or 7 year old in and do a long ride on the W&OD. When we go out as a family the older ones can do 8-10 miles, but taking them on a solo trip in the trailer lets them pedal with a lot more range (upwards of 20 miles). It’s not light (I think it weighs more than my bike), and you can feel the extra weight on the hills. Once they’re big enough to pedal you can definitely tell when they’re pedaling and when they’re just watching the scenery. It comes with panniers so you can stuff things way down low in the back. I haven’t seen anything else that can be used with such a wide range of ages; the recumbent design can be used with kids not ready to balance, but the pedals let older kids participate without getting bored. It’s got a low center of gravity so it’s fairly stable. My only regret is that we didn’t discover it earlier.

This, of course, is not helpful for putting 2 kids on one bike. I don’t know of a good solution for that since the end of the pashley u+2. You can try to get one of those second hand, but they’re like hen’s teeth.

There’s http://www.trail-a-bike.com/products/trail-a-bikes/folder-tandem/ but you reportedly need to be fairly solid to keep it stable with that long a train hanging from the seat.

Another option is an ordinary tandem bike with a single trailer on the back. At least one has to be pretty big for that to work.

[jrenaut]

The weehoo looks awesome.

[dasgeh]

As the mom to a 15 mo. old (and very happy BoBike Mini owner), I’m loving this thread. Just wanted to make sure everyone here knows about the idea floated on another thread to have a family bike show-and-tell at one of the bike events in the Spring/Summer. The plan was to set up a place where family-cyclists could bring their family bikes to show others their set up. I’m hoping we’ll be able to have it at Clarendon Cup. I’m also hoping someone will show up with a bakfiets or similar…

[jrenaut]

Todo list:

1. Convince my wife $3000 for the Onderwater Family Tandem is not unreasonable (compared to a new car?)
2. Buy a bigger place with room for an Onderwater Family Tandem
3. Find $3000
4. Attend family bike show-and-tell

[off2ride]

I think for bigger kids, bicycle manufacturers should modernize the Rickshaw. Runflat tires, GPS, Leather seats and of course good dependable 3 wheel disc brakes. Gotta stop that thing somehow. Esp with a full load. Or maybe add on an electric motor just in case the pilot bonks.

[DaveK]

BicycleSpace has a few longtails out on the floor and if anyone knew where to get a bakfiets or similar front-loaded cargo/kid hauler it would be them.

[Meganomics]

Hey, everyone– re: dasgeh‘s post above, I wanted to let you all know that Kidical Mass DC, which I help to organize, is working with WABA and DC Safe Routes to School to host a similar event in DC on Saturday, April 21st. We’re still nailing down a few details, but you can read more about it here. I know it might be a stretch for people to come from Arlington, but we’d love to have you! The event will include classes on basic street riding skills, a more advanced class on group riding and organizing biketrains, a show-and-tell from area biking parents, and some demonstration family biking equipment from local shops.

If you have questions or suggestions or are interested in coming, you can e-mail KidicalMassDC@gmail.com.

[Tim Kelley]

@Meganomics 14348 wrote:

I know it might be a stretch for people to come from Arlington, but we’d love to have you!

Would you have any interest in putting on something similar in Arlington?

[Meganomics]

@FFX_Hinterlands 14284 wrote:

The obvious choice is a longtail like an Big Dummy, Sun Atlas Cargo, Yuba Mundo or Xtracycle. Two kids can sit on the back. For short-tailed bikes with a sturdy rack you can use a Bobike Jr. Seat for 5-10 year olds (http://clevercycles.com/blog/products/accessories/child-seats/rear-mounted-child-seats/#_) . Once they hit about 7-9 they could be riding a geared bicycle and keeping up with you.
Bikes at Vienna has a Sun Atlas Cargo and a Yuba, I think. They used to have a family Tandem laying around at one time.

Cosign this. I bought our Yuba Mundo with an eye toward what to do with my son when he outgrows his bike seats in a few years. A really sturdy longtail can even carry an adult on the rear rack. At least two manufacturers, Yuba and Xtracycle, have created pads and handlebars for rear-rack passengers.

[acorn]

We are actually looking to sell one of our bike trailers (or whatever they are properly called- the kids’ size bike extension that hooks onto the adult bike) if anyone wants to buy it. Our older son is too big for it now.

They are fun to use with a kid although I was always nervous about going down steep hills or around sharp curves- often we would walk those. And if your kid doesn’t pedal all the time it can feel like towing a big sack of potatoes.

[jrenaut]

This “bike bus” is also awesome.

[Author]

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