Looking for advice on hauling kids on your bike

[Livewell]

Hi,

we're looking to haul our 1 and possibly our 4 year old around on our bikes.   We have a mountain bike and a crusier.

I've seen the little "cars" you pull behind, and the seats you connect to the back of your seat.  Not sure what else is out there.

What have you used?  Brands, recommendations, advice - all appreciated.

Thanks!

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

I have used a Burley trailer from Craiglist with great success. It should fit both your kids and a couple bags of groceries, easy.

Your four-year-old may also be old enough for a tag-a-long bike. We have a Burley Piccolo because I needed the rack attachment, but there are other brands which attach to the seatpost. It may even be possible to pull the trailer behind it. What we use our Piccolo for is family rides--Mr. FP pulls Little Brother (age 4) in the trailer and I pull Big Brother (age 5) on the Piccolo, so he can pedal.

If you wanted to drop four figures, there are all sorts of awesome cargo bikes, including bucket-style ones (like Madsen cycles) and longtail ones. Or Xtracycle makes something (it used to be the Free Radical, but I think it's different now) that basically adds a third wheel behind your bike and holds a couple kids.

[Homey The Clown]

The Xtracycle Free Radical changed our lives. We got it already attached to a bike for a screaming deal. Now that their newer model has come out, there should be more Free Radicals available for a reasonable price. We carry our 3 yo daughter around everywhere on it. She was 33 months when we bought it, but we just put handlebars on the seatpost and are good to go. Don't underestimate your 4 year old. Our son (almost 6) rides his own bike almost everywhere we go. We only very rarely carry him on the Xtra. The biggest advantage to me over the trailer is that you can actually talk to your kid. Plus you can carry more.

[Rural]

Try not to have an accident and dump your toddler into a mud puddle (while taking on significant injury yourself to ensure nothing worse than mud happens to the child). But if you do, don't be offended when the toddler is much more concerned with her own muddy state than with your injuries. The child can't help it at that age but will continue to feel bad about it many decades later.


Um, yeah. Not that I would know about all that or anything. I should go call my mom.


Good luck with it,by the way. One mud puddle excepted, I have great memories of biking with my mom when I was very small.

[nottoolatetostart]

We have a Burley. I have a 3 and 2 yr old. We have used it since the little one turned 1 (minimum age requirement). We go all over our downtown area - library, grocery store, farmer's market, as well as trails at national park, etc. They each have a helmet. The Burley has a nice area for groceries in the back, or the seats fold down for more cargo room. It is easy to get around with it attached trailer.

[Livewell]

thanks everyone for the feedback!  much apprecaited

will look to avoid any mudpuddles or other potholes of course  :)

[abiteveryday]

The trailers are probably the best balance of cheapish and easy to use.   The fancier special purpose bikes are amazing if you really do a lot of riding though.

[Runningtuff]

Ditto on the tagalong - have used it since four and it's great. Before that she was happy in a weeride front seat.

[Dee18]

I started using a Tagalong for my then 3 year old daughter after we tried one on vacation in Vancouver.  That worked great for us.  She was up high enough to see, we could have conversations while riding, and she developed cycling skills (pedaling, balance, where on the road to ride, and even proper signaling).  She learned to ride her own bike at 5, but we still used the trail a bike for a few years when taking longer rides or when riding with traffic.  I can't say enough about how much it helps a child become a safe rider.

[jac941]

Yay! Another SF Bay family getting their kids onto bikes.

A few questions for you ...

1. Are you looking for recreational riding, or riding for transportation (replacing your car)?
2. Do you want to take both kids on 1 bike, or will there always be 2 parents riding carrying 1 kid each?
3. Will you be riding in traffic or on bike paths?

We have two kids who will be 2 & 4 this summer. We currently have a Burley D'Lite trailer (newer model with suspension) & an Xtracycle Edgerunner. In the past we also had an Instep double trailer & a Yepp Mini front seat. All were good solutions for wildly different prices from $25 -- $2000+. Each setup had pros & cons based on what we were using it for. I'd be happy to go through those as they apply to you if you let me know how you're planning to ride with your kids.

I can also recommend humofthecity.com where the writer blogs about biking with her family. She lives and bikes in San Francisco in traffic with 2 (now big) kids and crazy hills & tries and reviews bikes based on her use. I've found her reviews to be super valuable. Even if she doesn't like a bike or setup for her extreme use, she does say who that setup would be appropriate for. And, she isn't allowed to be compensated for her blogging due to rules in her job, so it's nice to know that money isn't swaying her opinions.

Happy riding!