Cycling UK Forum

My son is looking for some form of bike attachment to take his one year old son to nursery,
He says the road is quite narrow in parts and there are also some big speed bumps.
I am out of my depth on answering this one, has anyone had similar requirements and what worked for them.

Cheers

First congratulations to him, and I hope that they find a solution.

We've used a lot of *different approaches, and most of them are discussed in the archives.

There's an introductory article from Cycling UK:
"How to transport children by bike":
https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/how-t ... ldren-bike

I suggest starting with that and then coming back with specific questions.

Jonathan

* Trailer, child seat behind the saddle, box behind trike, box in front trike... then follow-on, low rear cargo bike, tandem trailer trike tagalong, tandems...

I used two different types of child seats and a trailer.

Any of them are fine, and some other solutions, as well.

This thread has some links to other threads with information about carrying children

viewtopic.php?t=130079

Thanks both, will read up later when I have a quiet moment.

It's going back a while for me! I used a childseat that fitted onto a Blackburn rack. Both were made for each other. The seat was called 'Taxi' IIRC. The rack mounted design keeps the added weight of the child lower and avoids stressing the seat tube. The childseat weight was well centred over the back wheel. I think it was good until they were around 3-4yrs old.
Once they outgrew that I used the Burley Piccolo tag-along. Again it came with a special steel rack that the Piccolo mounted onto through a swivel joint. The rack mount meant this was a very stable arrangement that minimised unwanted movement from the passenger. It prevented the 'tail wagging the dog effect' you get with seat tube mounted tag alongs.
I did have a chariot trailer but it got only a little use. I disliked how it was so close to car tyre level. Plus it was like pulling a drag parachute. Off road it had no suspension so wasn't comfortable for the passengers either.
There are probably better solutions available now. Our kids loved being on the bike with their parents.

I used a behind-the-saddle child seat, then a trailer, then a tag-along. I don't think any of them were the best-designed of their type, but they all worked well enough for the short rides I used them for. Sometimes the child seat was used in combination with one of the other two, since we had two children, of ages such that that could work. You do need a robust bike though.

The trailer was pretty low to the ground, which could have interesting results for the passenger when used on bridle paths with deep puddles!

I think they have some sort of seat behind the rider in mind, the cycling uk.org link is very good isn’t it.

I used a wee ride.

https://www.weeride.co.uk/shop/weeride- ... seat-grey/

sadly too big for it now.

I have used a bunch of different child seats and trailers and my strong recommendation would be the rear seat post mounted Hamax Siesta or similar. Works until age 4 or 5. It does make the bike feel slightly more "wobbly" because of the seat moving around behind you but it is solid, practical and works really well

Front mounted seats are lovely because they allow you talk to your child more easily and the kid has a better view and the balance feels nicer but they have the MASSIVE downside that you have to angle your knees out when cycling which gets very uncomfortable and limits your ability to go at normal speeds (although fine for very short trips).

Kiddy trailers are fine if you're not cycling in traffic but they are in my opinion too exposed for busy roads as they stick out more than the bike and are low down so less visible.

If you do get a child seat, please don't do what I see many parents doing and that is leaving the kid strapped in the child seat with the bike propped up on a kick stand or leaning against a wall. Just asking for utter disaster if the kid pushes their feet against the wall or a passer by/dog/gust of wind tips the bike over.

And.....be VEEEEERY careful the first few times until you're confident with the handling. If you hold the bike at the wrong angle it's very hard to stop it tipping over and because the child is higher than normal there's a bigger risk of injury. And don't get one of the seats where the child's head is higher than the back of the seatm just to make sure there's maximum protection if the bike does ever fall over.

Vetus Ossa wrote: ↑18 Sep 2024, 8:58am My son is looking for some form of bike attachment to take his one year old son to nursery,
He says the road is quite narrow in parts and there are also some big speed bumps.
I am out of my depth on answering this one, has anyone had similar requirements and what worked for them.

Cheers

I can’t be a lot of direct help but maybe I’ve different experience that’ll help in its own way. When my children were small, little but beyond babies, I’d wanted to take them on the back of my bike but they wouldn’t fit. I had a 26” wheel mountain bike and my wife bought an expensive universal seat - from a prestigious local shop - that clamped to the seat tube. The child’s feet and mine collided and I had hell’s job on getting a refund (supposed to be universal but didn’t work). So some bikes are more suitable than others, long chain-stays likely help and my experience might not be representative.

That child is now an adult with their own child that has been transported on the back of a bike for two or three years. Transport on the child seat has now stoped because: said (grand) child weighs ‘a ton’, and my child uses a three speed SA but hasn’t dropped the gearing lower. Grandad doesn’t interfere ‘cause he shouldn’t and he lives too far away. Said grandchild is large for their age (not overweight) and one rear wheel has been written off by them, it probably could have been saved but grandad wasn’t involved.

My own child, from when four, used a tag along connected to the rack on the mountain bike. That tag along worked well but stability when braking was always a bit of a concern and they only peddled for some of the time; we had some great times with that arrangement though.

We started with a bobike front mounted seat. It was great to have them in front, but as mentioned above can make riding awkward, I think they work best on sit up and beg style bikes.

We've used 2 different rear seats. A cheap frame mounted one and a yepp (thule) rack mounted one. The rack mounted one felt much more solid and secure. And tool free attachment to make it easy to move between bikes. Ours needed a specific rack but I think the newer ones have a different mounting system that fits most standard racks.

Thanks all for sharing your ideas, my son and I appreciate it.
He has bought a second hand Hamax, as money is tight at the moment, i believe it is the sort that fits behind dad.

Thanks for adding the decision. Clip-on toys often go down well!

We're very pleased with our Hamax seat that has a bracket on the seat post and cantilevers from that.

Good advice upthread about managing the bike when the child is in the seat: never take your hand off.

Jonathan

Vetus Ossa wrote: ↑20 Sep 2024, 12:53pm Thanks all for sharing your ideas, my son and I appreciate it.
He has bought a second hand Hamax, as money is tight at the moment, i believe it is the sort that fits behind dad.

When he can, I recommend getting a poncho for it https://www.hamax.com/kid/child-bike-se ... ain-poncho

It can get cold sitting back there.

Vorpal wrote: ↑20 Sep 2024, 2:53pm

Vetus Ossa wrote: ↑20 Sep 2024, 12:53pm Thanks all for sharing your ideas, my son and I appreciate it.
He has bought a second hand Hamax, as money is tight at the moment, i believe it is the sort that fits behind dad.

When he can, I recommend getting a poncho for it https://www.hamax.com/kid/child-bike-se ... ain-poncho

It can get cold sitting back there.

Thanks Vorpal, he has already thought of that one.