Child carrying advice please

[doctormick]

You've probably seen similar messages before but I can't find the
advice I'm after in any archive.

My wife wants to buy a bike to go cycling with my ten and seven year
old daughters but also want to be able to take my 21 month old
daughter with her. However we can't decide whether she should go for a
seat on the back or a trailer.

Can anyone tell me from experience which is the best/safest way to
carry my 21 month old daughter. She weichs approx 28 - 30 lbs

We live in a rural location between Brighton and London, therefore
busy main roads and narrow country lanes. It's also pretty hilly
immediately around us. Any ideas would be gratefully received.

Regards

Mike Turner

email [email protected] removing the words "no chopped
ham" from the address. Keep Britain Spam Free!

 

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

doctormick wrote:

> My wife wants to buy a bike to go cycling with my ten and seven year
> old daughters

Got one of those

http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk/web/public.nsf/Documents/me-n-u2

> but also want to be able to take my 21 month old
> daughter with her. However we can't decide whether she should go for a
> seat on the back or a trailer.

I never found seats terribly satisfactory. A trailer lasts until they are
bigger and has other uses. Or you can get a trailer bike with a mounting
for a child seat, whicih then turns into a pedalling-type trailer bike
later.

Best is a tricky one, though, since everybody's experience seems to eb
different.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington
University

 

[Peter Clinch]

doctormick wrote:

> My wife wants to buy a bike to go cycling with my ten and seven year
> old daughters but also want to be able to take my 21 month old
> daughter with her. However we can't decide whether she should go for a
> seat on the back or a trailer.

VeloVision issue 13 has a buyer's guide for family cycling and goes into
a little detail on numerous options. You can order a copy from
http://www.velovision.co.uk/

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

 

[Mike Vandeman]

On 4 Aug 2004 04:10:04 -0700, [email protected] (doctormick) wrote:

..You've probably seen similar messages before but I can't find the
..advice I'm after in any archive.
..
..My wife wants to buy a bike to go cycling with my ten and seven year
..old daughters but also want to be able to take my 21 month old
..daughter with her. However we can't decide whether she should go for a
..seat on the back or a trailer.
..
..Can anyone tell me from experience which is the best/safest way to
..carry my 21 month old daughter. She weichs approx 28 - 30 lbs
..
..We live in a rural location between Brighton and London, therefore
..busy main roads and narrow country lanes. It's also pretty hilly
..immediately around us. Any ideas would be gratefully received.
..
..Regards
..
..Mike Turner

You have no business subjecting a child to that danger and air pollution! I sure
hope you don't take her where there are smokers....
===
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)

http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande

 

[pas]

doctormick wrote:
> You've probably seen similar messages before but I can't find the
> advice I'm after in any archive.
>
> My wife wants to buy a bike to go cycling with my ten and seven year
> old daughters but also want to be able to take my 21 month old
> daughter with her. However we can't decide whether she should go for a
> seat on the back or a trailer.
>
> Can anyone tell me from experience which is the best/safest way to
> carry my 21 month old daughter. She weichs approx 28 - 30 lbs
>
> We live in a rural location between Brighton and London, therefore
> busy main roads and narrow country lanes. It's also pretty hilly
> immediately around us. Any ideas would be gratefully received.
>
> Regards

frame mounted rear seats will really throw your balance off, go for the
trailer.

penny

 

[Alvin Liau]

"pas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> frame mounted rear seats will really throw your balance off, go for the
> trailer.
>
> penny
>

Plus you can stuff the trailer with lots of toys!!

Cheers,
Alvin Liau

 

[MattB]

doctormick wrote:
> You've probably seen similar messages before but I can't find the
> advice I'm after in any archive.
>
> My wife wants to buy a bike to go cycling with my ten and seven year
> old daughters but also want to be able to take my 21 month old
> daughter with her. However we can't decide whether she should go for a
> seat on the back or a trailer.
>
> Can anyone tell me from experience which is the best/safest way to
> carry my 21 month old daughter. She weichs approx 28 - 30 lbs
>
> We live in a rural location between Brighton and London, therefore
> busy main roads and narrow country lanes. It's also pretty hilly
> immediately around us. Any ideas would be gratefully received.
>
> Regards
>
> Mike Turner
>
> email [email protected] removing the words "no chopped
> ham" from the address. Keep Britain Spam Free!

I have a Trek Rocket trailer for my son and I'm very happy with it. Pretty
good aerodynamics, seems to roll well, and it's easy to attach and detach
from the bike. My wife and I each have a mount on our town bikes for quick
trailer swapping. It also converts into a jogger which I don't use much, but
is nice when we need a jogger.

Matt

 

[S o r n i]

Abdominal internally. Hands and arms externally.

Bill "HTH" S.

 

[Ambrose Nankivell]

"S o r n i" <[email protected]> writes:

> Abdominal internally. Hands and arms externally.
>
AIUI at 21 months, they're external. ICBW

A

 

[Doki]

Mike Vandeman wrote:
> On 4 Aug 2004 04:10:04 -0700, [email protected] (doctormick)
> wrote:
>
> .You've probably seen similar messages before but I can't find the
> .advice I'm after in any archive.
> .
> .My wife wants to buy a bike to go cycling with my ten and seven year
> .old daughters but also want to be able to take my 21 month old
> .daughter with her. However we can't decide whether she should go for
> a .seat on the back or a trailer.
> .
> .Can anyone tell me from experience which is the best/safest way to
> .carry my 21 month old daughter. She weichs approx 28 - 30 lbs
> .
> .We live in a rural location between Brighton and London, therefore
> .busy main roads and narrow country lanes. It's also pretty hilly
> .immediately around us. Any ideas would be gratefully received.
> .
> .Regards
> .
> .Mike Turner
>
> You have no business subjecting a child to that danger and air
> pollution! I sure hope you don't take her where there are smokers....

Indeed. Lock the little bastards inside all day and make sure they get
plenty of telly. That way the peeeedos won't get them and they won't get run
over.

 

[Mark Mcn]

Reply to Doki
> Mike V*ndem*n wrote:

Did he? The bozo bin is working, I see. ;-)


--
Mark, UK.
We hope to hear him swear, we love to hear him squeak,
We like to see him biting fingers in his horny beak.

 

[Skunk]

I had a bike seat until my lad was three and a bit, and then I got a trail-a-bike. Apart from the obvious thing of being bigger and able to physically manage the trail-a-bike better, he enjoys it more because of the distance between himself and me means he can look around more, and is not strapped into a small seat looking at the small of my back constantly, and feeling like he was perched up high. Because of that alone, I would recommend a trailer over a bike seat.

 

[Paul Rudin]

[email protected] (doctormick) writes:


> Can anyone tell me from experience which is the best/safest way to
> carry my 21 month old daughter. She weichs approx 28 - 30 lbs

A trailer.

 

[scurry]

doctormick wrote:

> You've probably seen similar messages before but I can't find the
> advice I'm after in any archive.
>
> My wife wants to buy a bike to go cycling with my ten and seven year
> old daughters but also want to be able to take my 21 month old
> daughter with her. However we can't decide whether she should go for a
> seat on the back or a trailer.
>
> Can anyone tell me from experience which is the best/safest way to
> carry my 21 month old daughter. She weichs approx 28 - 30 lbs
>
> We live in a rural location between Brighton and London, therefore
> busy main roads and narrow country lanes. It's also pretty hilly
> immediately around us. Any ideas would be gratefully received.
>
> Regards
>
> Mike Turner

Sorry, just sold my trailer last week.
I like trailers much more than the seats. See Penny's post. Around
here (Salida, CO-Mtn town in southerrn Colorado), you'll see lots of
mountain bikes pulling a trailercycle (Tag-A-Long etc) with the 4-8 year
old riding it, and the trailer with the baby attached to that. We
thought of doing that with our tandem, but figured that my daughter
would be in the next time zone, so gave it a pass.

Shawn

 

[scurry]

S o r n i wrote:

> Abdominal internally. Hands and arms externally.
>
> Bill "HTH" S.
>
>
Bill are you getting tutored in posting style by Crazy?

 

[S o r n i]

scurry wrote:
> S o r n i wrote:
>
>> Abdominal internally. Hands and arms externally.
>>
>> Bill "HTH" S.
>>
>>
> Bill are you getting tutored in posting style by Crazy?

Jeez, between you and Monique, EVERYBODY'S PICKING ON ME!

Bill "where's Lucy with the football?" S.

 

[KakenBetaal]

I've been using a copilot limo baby seat with my 2.5 year old. He totally loves it and it's very manageable handling wise on a specialized sirrus elite. I've no experience with trailers or trail-a-bikes though.

 

[pas]

http://www.specialtyoutdoors.com/misc/babyseat.jpg

here's how they do it in some countries. We built one like this ourselves
for around town, it's actually much more stable than over the back wheel as
the CG doesn't change a whole lot and the kid is inside your arms. I'd
still go with a trailer for off road.

penny

 

[David Reuteler]

In rec.bicycles.misc S o r n i <[email protected]> wrote:
> Jeez, between you and Monique, EVERYBODY'S PICKING ON ME!

i've been consciously holding back, fwiw. i'll be back when there's a
lull.
--
david reuteler
[email protected]

 

[pas]

JohnB wrote:
> pas wrote:
>>
>> http://www.specialtyoutdoors.com/misc/babyseat.jpg
>>
>> here's how they do it in some countries. We built one like this
>> ourselves for around town, it's actually much more stable than over
>> the back wheel as the CG doesn't change a whole lot and the kid is
>> inside your arms.
>
> I've never liked this kind of arrangement as it places the child at
> some risk in the case of an emergency or sudden stop. At least the
> example you show has a rigid back that should help prevent the adult
> crushing into the child. the worst are those clamp on saddles that go
> on the top tube with two foot supports attached to the down tube.
> However I don't like the idea of the child being flung forward onto
> the handlebar clutter or worse, which even with strapping is possible
> with some arrangements. At least if they are on the back they have a
> soft back to knock into.
>
> John B

trust me, it's much more stable than the baby on the back of the bike.
After all, three million third world cyclists building them at home can't be
wrong!! The one we built had a little seat on the top tube, foot rest and
no back the kid just held onto the handlebars. I don't know about trails but
it was great for the bike path

The rear tyre thing is just - bad. You have to remember to compensate for
the weight of the kid everytime you stop. The kids' weight, and you could be
riding with an extra 30# back there, will really throw you off even if you
have to swerve. If you are really worried about "risk of emergency stop"
or a kid being flung around, perhaps you should not take your baby out at
all... there's going to be risk no matter what.

penny