Cycling with kids

[aamoedo]

Need some advice. I have a four year old and a six year old (almost seven.) The four year old rides on the back of my bike (rack mounted seat) and the six year old is fairly competent on his bike. We live in a small city and most of our driving is under four miles. I would like to find a way to bike them to the library, store, preschool etc at least one day a week. My oldest is homeschooled so he’s always with us for errands. Our city is not cycling friendly at all. Most of the ride is on terribly maintained sidewalks and the rest is no sidewalks, and people fly. I want to find either a front extra seat for one of the kids (the kind that mounts on the frame seems like the best option) or find a different option. They are too big for the more traditional baby seats. I could buy a tandem add on for my bike but to be honest, I don’t love the idea of making the bike so long when we are crossing busy streets. Thoughts?  Thanks!!

[GuitarStv]

I've got one of the tandem add-ons for my bike, and it works pretty well for riding with a kid.  My son likes it because he loves to help pedal the bike.
 We did a couple 30 km rides with me on it before he was 5 years old.  Length isn't really too much of an issue (it's only a couple ft more).  Now that he's five and a half and weighs more though, I find that it's really important to tell him not to lean one way or the other because it's much easier for him to throw me off balance.

I feel like a bike trailer would probably be the safest bet for what you want to do.

[Kmp2]

We have a longtail cargo bike, with a child carrying set up. The kids sit on an extended rear deck, with a cushion on top surrounded by a hoop-tie bar setup to hold on to and contain them.  We love it, it carries all 3 of our kids (1, 3, 6) in a pinch, but 2 comfortably including any gear or groceries. It has the ability to tow our older daughters bike, so she can ride when it's calm, and catch a ride if the roads are too busy or if she kids tired. This makes it a perfect go between for those years when your kids aren't old enough to bike far on their own, but are too big to comfortably ride in trailer for long. It has a 20" rear wheel, which lowers the center of gravity making it less tippy than some other setups.  Cargo bikes are fairly pricey new, but they appear to hold their value well - but I don't think we will sell it soon, it's fabulous for groceries for our family of five!

[aamoedo]

I am dyingggggg for a cargo bike but for now I’ll dust off the bike trailer :)

[aamoedo]

What kind of cargo bike  is it?

[Kmp2]

Sorry - terrible at keeping up to date and replying.... it's an Xtracycle Edgerunner...

[Dee18]

We had an Adams Trail-a-bike and loved it.  At age 6 my daughter was fine riding her own bike in our quiet neighborhood or on a dedicated biking/walking trail, but the trail-a-bike allowed us to go to our library which required a stretch on a busy road.  A side benefit was that she really got used to giving hand signals as I had her do them with me the whole time.  Also, we were so close we could have a conversation.