Child carrier

[jrenaut]

A week and a half into preschool, and my wife and I are about done with taking our daughter to school on the bus during rush hour. I want to carry her on my bike. She’s a very tall 3 years old, and I’d also want to sometimes carry a tall 1 year old, too.

Does anyone have experience/advice with bike child carriers? I’m open to any style of carrier that will work, but if you’ve seen how I have to store my bike, you probably realize that I do not have a lot of space to work with.

[Tim Kelley]

I have a Topeak MTX rack with the matching Babyseat II that I can swap out for the Trolleytote system when going grocery shopping. I love it!

My daughter is only 10 months old but is in the 90% for height and has plenty of room to grow into it. I should be able to use the child carrier for at least another two or three years. It’s rated to hold a weight of up to 48.5 lbs.

Revolution Cycles had a few in stock last time I checked. Something worth looking at!

[jrenaut]

The grocery basket is nice. I’m currently 100% backpack, but that has its drawbacks, like biking 6 miles, mostly uphill, with a watermelon and a cantaloupe wedged in your back.

[Tim Kelley]

Betweem the tote and a backpack, I carried $120 worth of groceries home last night. And I wasn’t even shopping at Whole Paycheck!!

[mstone]

Remember to also check the bike’s weight rating for racks…

[jrenaut]

@mstone 7688 wrote:

Remember to also check the bike’s weight rating for racks…

How do I do that? It’s a Giant Defy 3, and it doesn’t list any rack weight rating on their website.

[mstone]

That’s a good question. Best bet would be a paper manual or something that came with the bike. In my experience, most bike companies are morons about actually posting that stuff on the internet, I don’t know why. To some degree it depends on your own weight, and in the absence of any actual documentation from the manufacturer you can guess that the bike is probably designed for a total weight (rider+rack+etc) somewhere around 200-250lbs. Adding weight on the rack is different than adding weight on the rider, though, because it’s distributed entirely on the rear wheel. If the kid is small it won’t matter, but as the weight goes up you’ll want to watch the bumps, especially on a 700×25 road bike.

[jrenaut]

I didn’t get a paper manual. Maybe I can get a hold of someone at Giant. Rider + rack + carrier + child + laptop + whatever else I need to bring to work are going to get close to 250.

Maybe I’ll just have to tell my daughter that bumps build character.

[Tim Kelley]

I’ve gotten close to 300lbs (rider included) on my bike. But its a bit more beefy than your road bike.

[DaveK]

@jrenaut 7699 wrote:

I didn’t get a paper manual. Maybe I can get a hold of someone at Giant. Rider + rack + carrier + child + laptop + whatever else I need to bring to work are going to get close to 250.

Maybe I’ll just have to tell my daughter that bumps build character.

Plenty of 250-lb guys ride road bikes, you should be fine. Also consider that you won’t be hopping curbs and whatnot with your child on the bike. The only weight limit I’d make sure to check is the rack itself.

[jrenaut]

@DaveK 7704 wrote:

Plenty of 250-lb guys ride road bikes, you should be fine. Also consider that you won’t be hopping curbs and whatnot with your child on the bike. The only weight limit I’d make sure to check is the rack itself.

Yeah, that makes sense. I think I’m going to try to get to a bike shop this weekend and take a look in person.

Thanks for all the advice.

[ponchera]

I was looking for a thread discussing trailers but couldn’t find one. Any thoughts on those? I want to buy one to fit my 1 year old and maybe a buddy of hers now and then.

I’ve read up on everything from the cheap instep to the “cadillac” models burley/chariot that run dor 500-600. I really don’t want to spend that much and was wondering what are the specific “gotchas” of buying the cheaper ones assuming they check out with all the safety features. I see that some can function as strollers and cross country skiing etc etc. I really don’t care for any of that, i just need to attach it to the bike.

I just want it to be safe, carry kids and a bag with their stuff, and collapsible so I can cram it somewhere in my condo or downstairs bike racks. Preferably not look to fugs but thats flexible. I’ve seen that the Insteps are popular on Craigslist but they qualify as either fugs or look a bit flimsy and outdated. LBS haven’t been helpful, they don’t have them on display. i’ve only seen them in REI which carries the cadillac models.

thoughts? what are the newbie mistakes when purchasing the cheaper stuff?

[eminva]

I’m sorry, I never had a trailer so I can’t answer your question. I have had good experience with Burley products, though. I realize the OP has space limitations, but his kids are getting older so he might want to consider a Burley Piccolo soon, if not now. I believe they have been discontinued, so you would have to search Craig’s List. They are solid and well made so used is fine (We bought ours on Craig’s List for $150 and sold it the same way when he outgrew it). I took my son to school, dropped off him and the trailercycle, and continued on to work solo. I would pick up the Piccolo at school in the evening (my husband had already picked up my son by then). It can also be used on a trail if you also mountain bike. The Piccolo differs from other trailercycles because it attaches to a “Moose Rack” to which you can affix panniers, rather than the seat post. If I understand it, this is more stable and helps the child learn the balance he or she will need to transition to a bicycle of his or her own. They also have gears so your kid can get the hang of that.

We had lots of fun with that and rode all over the place, including the city, where we lived at the time.

There’s also the Big Dummy with child seat approach — I’ve seen pictures on the internet with three kids on board!

Liz

[americancyclo]

@ponchera 7764 wrote:

I’ve read up on everything from the cheap instep to the “cadillac” models burley/chariot that run dor 500-600.

you can find the nice models on CL for under $200. A friend of our just picked up a burley that converts in to a stroller that was 2 yrs old but in “like new” condition for $150. Personally, I’d go that route rather than paying full retail for a lower end product.

[Ryan Ron]

What are some good and affordable baby Carriers out there for a newborn?
Many Thanks!

[Author]

Posts