Cycling UK Forum

Setup works great! Thanks everyone for their help!

Omg I hadn’t even clocked that the handlebars were extendable! Just extended them a bit more which should make things more comfortable for my daughter.

I am starting to think she is not far off being able to reach the pedals - so will look into crank shorteners for the near future…

Thanks again! I love the wisdom of internet forums!

Update from me: I think I’ve sorted it!

Got the bike shop to just service the bike (not cheap! As it needed a couple of new brakes! But anyway).
And then I
- Added some motorcycle footrests bought from Amazon
- Lowered the seat
- Reversed the rear handlebar
- Adjusted the seat so as to move it forward an inch or so
- Removed the pedals (not strictly necessary as the footrests are out of the way of the pedals anyway, but thought might avoid potential issues with feet getting caught etc)

Had a little test ride with my daughter at the back and all seems to work! Thanks everyone for their help!

Further update - turns out that the bike shop said that even just fitting in a footrest wouldn't work, because in any case the handlebar is about 30cm too far from the seat for a child. And also that it will be tricky to fit in a footrest somewhere that it won't interfere with the spinning of the rear cranks, even with the pedals removed.

So I've told them to just service the bike and leave it at that. However I find it hard to believe there isn't a way at all to make this work - so am going to keep trying.

Is there a way to extent the stoker's handlebars? Or replace them with handlebars that are more U-shaped?

I have spoken to the bike shop and I think I am leaning towards just fitting a footrest at the back, and foregoing the kiddy crank. Which obviously means she won’t be pedalling but I think that’s fine - and feels like a neater solution to a tagalong given we already have the tandem.

And then once she is a bit taller fitting the crank shorteners.

This is the bike model:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Barracuda-CALI ... 002GJG278/



I should get a proper breakdown of what needs to be done. As mentioned earlier I am not very mechanically confident so would rather leave all jobs to the bike shop even if it ends up adding more to the cost.

Thanks, I am in London.

The bike shop will give me a detailed quote soon, so once I have it I can share it here.

I have googled the FollowMe tandem, and while the price is a bit cheaper than this quote, it looks like it only goes to bikes up to 20 inches, which my daughter’s bike is. So basically she would outgrow it as soon as she outgrew her current bike.

The bike is in pretty decent nick - just needed a bit of TLC from sitting in the garage for a long time.

Thanks for sending the list of threads, really helpful! I am intrigued by the option of a Tandem trike trailer, do you have any pics/links on how it works?

EDIT: The Pashley U Plus 2 looks like it could work great! (I have 3 kids in total though don’t necessarily expect to cycle with all of them at once) unfortunate that it’s discontinued and seems to be rare to find

Update: apparently our design of our tandem, and where things like brake cables etc are placed, makes a bit trickier than anticipated. Long story short the bike shop have called and said it’s likely going to be around £300 to fit the kiddy crank and do all the necessary adjustments (plus the £100 I’ve already spent on some parts).

I just wanted to sense check whether others thought this was worth it? The bike shop suggested that a “beam” or basically one of those attachments to connect the kids bike to the adult one might be mor economical, but I am not convinced and to be honest they don’t look as safe. I’ve also looked on eBay and second hand child back tándems seem to be around £500-600. And obviously cargo bikes are more.

What do others think?

Thanks all for your really helpful replies!

I have now purchased the kiddy crank, the recommended chai set from SJS, as well as these pedals I found with a pair of compatible toe clips as advised - https://kidsracing.co.uk/collections/cl ... ids-pedals

I will let you know how I get on! I also want to fit a bipod stand on the bike, as I imagine you need to lift the child on and off the seat.

Thanks all again.

Thank you all very much for your responses! I must admit though some of this has gone over my head (I am not the most mechanically-minded!) so please forgive my follow-up questions.

Mr.Benton I have had a look at my tandem and compared it to my daughter's bike, and even with the seat at its lowest it's quite a distance to the pedals still, so I don't think I have an alternative to the Kiddy Crank?

1 - Crank shorteners

I would have presumed that this part - which SJS recommend is bought in conjunction with the Kiddie Crank - would do away with the need for crank shorteners? https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/chainsets/s ... mm-cranks/

As I presume this is sized for children? Unless I have misunderstood the purpose of the crank shorteners.

2 - Cranks

In answer to your question 531colin, SJS have said the cranks are half-inch. Could you show me an example of plastic toe clips that might fit? Do these attach to the pedals, or do they replace the pedals?

3 - "You will also need a way to join up the kids pedals to the existing drive train somewhere along the line!"

When I e-mailed SJS they said that in addition to the Kiddie Crank, and the chainring linked above, "you will also need a second chainring for the front chainset to take drive from the front chainset up to the stoker position and new chainring bolts to match", is this what that is?

I currently use a bike trailer (Adventure AT5) to ferry my 5.5 year old around. However she is getting quite tall for it so have been thinking about another solution. (She is a pretty good cyclist for her age, but we've only just started riding on the roads near our house, and wouldn't want to rely on her cycling on her own bike for anything other than the shortest distances).

One thought we had, is that I have an old "California Barracuda" tandem bike that has been gathering dust in the garage for years, and whether adapting the stoker seat at the back for her might be the best solution? After some googling it looks like what I need is a "kiddy crank". (I would get my local bike shop to fit it all)

I have been in touch with SJS cycles, who have advised me that what I need is:
- this kiddy crank https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/componentst ... -mm-black/
- this chainring https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/chainsets/s ... mm-cranks/
- these pedals https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/pedals-clea ... ch-thread/

I just wanted to sense-check this with others? Presumably I likely need to get a child saddle as well - as the adult one will be too big? Anything else I am likely to need? Thanks in advance!