Child Transport

[julian]

I have a four year old girl and nine month old boy. I want to transport them both about on my solo cycle. My daughter likes her trailerbike but I can't use this andput my son on his rear mounted baby seat. I have a Polisport front seat but haven't yet got it to fit. Even if I can it won't let me to ride standing on the pedals (we live up a very steep hill). Does anyone have any which mught help? I've thought of a child-back tandem + rear seat but cost is an issue - in three years the boy will be able to contribute to the pecalling as well...

[Istanbul_Tea]

Perhaps-your bike/the trailor bike and the childs trailor?  Bit of a long berth but hey I've seen buses and truckers do it.

[julian]

Thanks - I had considered that but we live in a very hilly place and descending under hard braking I'd be concerned about the possibility of the whole thing folding up on me - and the kids. Also the (Burley) trailer is reliable manufacture whereas the trailerbike is chinese made and not as strong. Finally it would put the whole load onto the seatpost - where the trailerbike attaches. Maybe if I lived somewhere where there was a couple of metres of flat road.... but thanks anyway.

[Chris Land]

Try a pashley U+2 trailer-bike.  You see them second hand every once in a while.  While the lad is still young you can replace the rear seat with a child-seat, then he can join in on the pedalling when a little older:
http://www.twoplustwo.uk.com/tbikes/bb04.html

[julian]

Thanks Chris - that's a good thought. Also I went in to SJS Cycles today about something else and while there had a quick look at their Voyager childback tandem - which starts at £699. It's excellent value and looks to be a strong, stable ride. I think the options I'm going to consider are the U+2 trailerbike or a childback tandem.

[Chris Land]

I'm in a similar quandry Julian as I'm trying to decide between a Thorn kiddy-back tandem and a tandem-trike.  It was all decided on the Thorn when some people mentioned that fidgety kids can effect the handling and a trike is more stable.  So I am now pricing up a trike, but they are big, expensive and spares are hard to come by, not an ideal combination for the round-the-world sojourn I am planning.  

Of course, if your family is growing fast, one advantage of the trike is that you can even have 2 kiddy seats on the back as you can double the racks.  Three kids and an adult on one-bike!

[julian]

Chris - I saw your post on another part of the site (and posted a reply!) and it was that that set me thinking again. I would in all honesty try to put to one side the point that's been made to you about fidgety kids making the tandem unstable. I can't know what your kids are like but all kids (and adult stokers!) will fidget a bit. But a good tandem will soak that up and hardly feel it. The other day I went to SJS and their childback Voyager tandem looks like the answer to me. Because its centre of gravity is low the fidgeting won't cause much wobbling at all. Even an adult can ride on the rear and the handling with just the pilot is ahrdly any different to your solo bike. I've decided to get one and tow the baby in a our Burley Solo trailer. But I am already thinking that when George is three and a half or so I could trade up to a triplet with two child seats. The trike would obviously be more stable but it would be a real issue getting it on public transport and I think it must be more fatiguing to ride (I've no evidence to support this!). With a tandem you could get S+S couplings built in and the whole thing would take to pieces. Where do you live? Could you get to SJS for a test ride?
Julian

[ahconway]

Just blowing the dust off an old topic here...

My daughter is almost two, and I've been cycling all over London with her using a Bobike stem-mounted seat (see http://www.camdencyclists.org.uk/Members/andrewconway/docs/bikeseat for more a detailed account) and my Fahrrad Manufactur utility bike since she was 9 months old.

Now that she's a bit older, I'd like to venture a little farther afield with her. Nothing huge at first, but we could ride out to Richmond along the Thames, or up to Herts along the Lee Navigation. Those two routes are flat but gravelly or muddy in spots. I've done both of these rides on my own with the city bike, and the terrain poses a bit of a challenge (the saddle is also a bit hard for hours on the road). Even the short ride up to Hampstead Heath can be tough because of the extreme hills and similar surfaces on the Heath's cycle paths....

Which means that I'm now figuring out how to carry her on my Raven Tour. We have a trailer, but most of the towpaths around London have barricades that make that pretty much impossible. And my forward posture on the Raven also rules out the lovely Bobike seat. So I'm now considering a Rhode Gear (or is it Bell, or Blackburn?) rear-mounted seat.

Anyone else have experience with this or other seats? One downside from my perspective is that I'd need to replace my nice Tubus rack with the Blackburn one that comes with the seat... but at least it's a decent rack.

Any ideas or advice appreciated!

Andrew

[J Bond]

Hi Andrew
I eventually went for the Thorn childback tandem and I'm so glad I did - it's excellent. Without my daughter on the back it rides (almost) like a solo cycle. Back to your question...I have used the Rhode Gear/Bike Limo seat for both my kids. It's expensive, heavy, unwieldy - top-heavy and is not stiff enough - it flexes with your kid in when your're standing on the pedals trying to get up these terrible West Dorset hills. In addition the footwells are way too short for their legs once the kid gets to two (even very short-legged kids like mine!)and the footstraps (gave up using them almost at once) are virtually impossible to strap around a wriggly toddler with muddy shoes. On the plus side it is high sided - offering good all round protection especially to the head, it has a secure, reliable mounting and you know it's not going to drop to bits for a long time. It is also padded so it would offer your daughter a degree of protection from the poorer cycling surfaces. It even has a safety bar which folds around to convert into a freestanding seat for those spontaneous off-the-bike picnics (something I've never ever managed to use). On balance I would say it's a good seat but a bit priccey and leaves you with a spare rack - the Blackburn rack that comes with it is tapered in such a way as too make it fit only with the Rhode Gear seat. It's a pity I'm not quite ready to put my 2.5 year old in anything else or you could have my old seat+rack. What I would say - and at the risk of sounding like a robotic Thorn advert - once she gets to four you could treat yourself to a childback tandem!
Hope this helps,
Julian



 seat

quote:Originally posted by ahconway

Just blowing the dust off an old topic here...

My daughter is almost two, and I've been cycling all over London with her using a Bobike stem-mounted seat (see http://www.camdencyclists.org.uk/Members/andrewconway/docs/bikeseat for more a detailed account) and my Fahrrad Manufactur utility bike since she was 9 months old.

Now that she's a bit older, I'd like to venture a little farther afield with her. Nothing huge at first, but we could ride out to Richmond along the Thames, or up to Herts along the Lee Navigation. Those two routes are flat but gravelly or muddy in spots. I've done both of these rides on my own with the city bike, and the terrain poses a bit of a challenge (the saddle is also a bit hard for hours on the road). Even the short ride up to Hampstead Heath can be tough because of the extreme hills and similar surfaces on the Heath's cycle paths....

Which means that I'm now figuring out how to carry her on my Raven Tour. We have a trailer, but most of the towpaths around London have barricades that make that pretty much impossible. And my forward posture on the Raven also rules out the lovely Bobike seat. So I'm now considering a Rhode Gear (or is it Bell, or Blackburn?) rear-mounted seat.

Anyone else have experience with this or other seats? One downside from my perspective is that I'd need to replace my nice Tubus rack with the Blackburn one that comes with the seat... but at least it's a decent rack.

Any ideas or advice appreciated!

Andrew