Cycling with a 9 month old & bike attachment for older child

[MVillar]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone has any info on what type of seat and helmet would be best for a 9 month old or is it not possible to cycle with a child that young?

I'd also like to ask about bike attachment bars for connecting a child's bike to an adult bike. Are there any specific ones that are better? Is it worth buying the bar and the half bike type attachment instead?

Thanks in advance for any advice

[gaz]

Welcome to the forum.

Lots about transporting babies and toddlers here: https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/how-t ... ldren-bike

Follow-Me is the most highly regarded system for pulling a child's bike along behind you, price-tag to match.

IME tandems are better to ride than trailer bikes. IMV trailer bikes are better then trail-gator arrangements. That's from the perspective of a parent, your child's views may differ .

[Jdsk]

Welcome.

As above.

I wouldn't stick to anyone else's age limits too rigidly.

We've used child seats, a trailer, tandems ± kiddicranks, a Follow-Me, and now a tandem trike trailer (both children pedalling). All have worked brilliantly. A trike with two front wheels and two children in front not so well.

Putting a small child in and out of a child seat on your own can be tricky, and a low step-over height can make a big difference.

Hard to advise on helmets: good fit really matters, and trying several on in a shop can help.

Jonathan

[Jupestar]

Depends on type of bike, type of rider and type of use.. can’t really advise as it’s different for everyone,

I started with a Weeride, I think from 1 till 2.5/2.75.. moved briefly to an Hamax Siesta for a few months when he was too big for the Weeride. Neither of us liked the Hamex.

Then when he started riding independently shortly after the 3rd BD. It was a Mac Ride and a trailgator.

Trailgator was a bit finicky to set up, but it did work and I’ll use it again for the next one. I only really used it to tow the bike back if he downed tools and we were a couple of Km’s from the car. He could sit on his bike, but off road it takes a lot of bumps so he would normally come up front on the Mac Ride and I’d tow the bike.

He’s nearly 5 and I think we are done. He wants to do the red track at Bedgebury ‘On his own’. So I may need to set the trailgator up on his new bike for when the tools are downed. Let’s see it’s too muddy at the moment and a touch to far for me to consider it local.

[martinn]

Similar to the above.
I have used when small, a Weeride, from about 8 or 9 months is I recall correctly, for my second one, or roughly when they can support their own head.
On some cargo bikes, use the same baby seat that you use for your car...
I have used a trail gator, a tag along, and a follow me. The follow me is massively superior to the tag along, which is superior to the trail gator, in terms of stability, in my experience, but we are all different.
I have also used a tandem trailer, which I used from about 4 months, with the correct adapters on it for my last two.

Currently have a tandem with an extra bottom bracket and small cranks, for the middle one.

cant give you any specifics on helmets, except to reiterate what was said above , if they are going to wear one,(mine all refused) make sure it fits properly and isn't loose.

regards

Martin

[Jdsk]

Currently have a tandem with an extra bottom bracket and small cranks, for the middle one.

In case anyone doesn't know this trick:

1 Flat bar with no pedals.

2 Kiddicrank as above... then the seat goes up as the child grows, until...

3 Kiddicrank removed, seat down to the bottom again, and repeat.

This gives an amazing range of sizes/ ages. Of course you have to move/ extend/ reverse the handlebars accordingly.

Ours is about halfway through its second cycle with the grandchildren.

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

I have used a trail gator, a tag along, and a follow me. The follow me is massively superior to the tag along, which is superior to the trail gator, in terms of stability, in my experience, but we are all different.

Thanks.

I've often wondered how they compare, but never before heard from anyone who has tried them all.

Jonathan

[hayers]

I have used a trail gator, a tag along, and a follow me. The follow me is massively superior to the tag along, which is superior to the trail gator, in terms of stability, in my experience, but we are all different.

Thanks.

I've often wondered how they compare, but never before heard from anyone who has tried them all.

Jonathan

We.used a follow me: worked well for me, and advantage of being seperable, but my wife always found it made her bike very unstable - I think because it's a ladies frame with reduced torsional stiffness.

Also had good experience with a "weehoo" and a "weehoo copilot" - would recommend both.

[timfoster]

I wonder if someone can help provide possible solutions for a problem that I'm sure lots of people have. We have some good cycle paths near us and can cycle all the way from our house to my daughter's school (about 20 mins) on the paths or minor residential roads. I want my daughter to start cycling back from school. My wife is not into cycling at all and she drops her off at school in a morning. I pick her up so I'm looking for a solution that will allow me to take her bike, attached to my bike so we can cycle home together. It needs to be something that's not too heavy but that I don't have to carry when I detach her bike. I looked at FollowMe Tandem which looks really good, but at £250 it's a bit expensive (and I think only works upto 20" wheels) Is there anything out there that will do the job?

[Vorpal]

This has been discussed a couple times before. You might find your answer in one of these threads. I imagine there might be more on the forum; a few key words from these threads, you can search for yourself.

viewtopic.php?f=54&t=119751
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=75705

[simonhill]

Could your wife drop off the bike in the morning?

Also a brief description of the 2 bikes and age of daughter might help.

[simonineaston]

Personally, I wonder if its possible to martial reasonable logical & respectful (obs!) arguments to persuade mum to give cycling with daughter to school a try. Seems the most obvious solution, given the availability of such good infrastructure. Perhaps arrange to borrow an decent adult bike for mum, if one not already available, making sure tyres are pumped up hard / chain nicely oiled, to maximise the positive experience. It will be a hard-nosed anti-cyclist who doesn't quickly come to appreciate the benefits of the morning ride!

[Jdsk]

Good advice on options above.

We've done some of those, and also used a tandem.

It's worth rehearsing what's going to happen if plans change and you have to move a bike without riding it... racks, straps, protective sheets. When we had an Espace it wasn't a problem. Otherwise the Pendle bars and straps were always kept in the boot.

There's a comparison of towing devices... yesterday!
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=144168&p=1581534

Jonathan

[hamster]

We had similar issues with logistics - can you put the child's bike on a flatbed bike trailer? We used to ride out from a town centre to quiet paths with the kids in a trailer, and with oldest's bike strapped on top of the trailer.

[emleyman]

When my daughter was young we used a Trail Gator. They seem to be still available (http://trail-gator.com/). It's really designed for towing with the child on the bike, but you could tow an empty bike with it. You might get comments about someone having fallen off though!

When not towing the trail gator folds down and clips to your frame, so it's possible to leave it attached to your bike all the time, although it would add a fair bit of weight. From memory, i think you could remove the main bar and just leave the bracket attached to your seatpost if you wanted to remove the trailgator and just put it back on days you were towing the bike.

It claims to be for max 20" wheels, but if you're only using it to tow an empty bike I suspect you'd be able to get a bit larger on it. I imagine the restriction is related to safe towing weight for a child. The actual connection to the child bike has some adjustment (shims) to allow different bike sizes to be towed with the front wheel a small amount above the road.