Family Holiday on a bike

[Skunk]

Hi, I hope this is the right sort of thing to ask.
My wife, five year old son and myself are considering a holiday on bikes to Holland in the Summer. I have a couple of questions that I'd like to know if anyone has experience of.
At the moment I have a mtb with an Adams trail-a-bike attached. I am considering getting one of these trailer bars fitted which will attach my son's whole bike - a bmx type bike with 16" wheels - with the front wheel raised off the ground so that he has his bike to use on short journeys to the beach etc. whilst over there. Has anyone any experience of these as I found the trail-a-bike a took a while to get used to and seems a little unsteady at times?
The other thing I wanted to ask is about carrying luggage. My lad is big for his age and I'm not sure that in six months time, I'll be able to manage him and loaded panniers so we are thinking about my wife carrying the lion's share of the luggage. She cycles about three times a year, doesn't like hills (hence us plumping for the Netherlands). She has a Raleigh 15 speed mtb. Would we be better off with panniers or one of this luggage carrriers that you pull behind, like a child carriage type affair? And have we got it the right way round with me the keener cyclist taking the trailer bike and my wife taking the luggage.
Any thoughts appreciated. This is the start of my looking into it, and I just wondered what experiences other people have had.

 

[ScumOfTheRoad]

On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 16:16:27 +1000, Skunk wrote:

>
>
> has a Raleigh 15 speed mtb. Would we be better off with panniers or one
> of this luggage carrriers that you pull behind, like a child carriage
> type affair? And have we got it the right way round with me the keener
> cyclist taking the trailer bike and my wife taking the luggage.
> Any thoughts appreciated. This is the start of my looking into it, and
> I just wondered what experiences other people have had.
I have no experience of this.
But if you're worried about carrying luggage,
aren;t there organised holidays out there where luggage is transferred by
van?
I suppose that detracts from the spontaneity, and adds to the expense.

I guess another plan would be to try a local youth-hostel trip
over a weekend. Get the luggage weights and carrying method right??

 

[Skunk]

Yeah, the weekend away is a trial run we're gonna plan. But even for that, we're going to have to decide beforehand on panniers or not as we have no equipment at all at present apart from small frame/handlebar bags.
Don't really want to have luggage carried for us cos as you say it takes away the spontaneity and it's not a cycling holiday as such as we're going to cycle three days to a campsite stay a week, and three days back. A compromise between me and my non-cycling wife, and my son, who doesn't care as long as there is a beach and a steam train involved somewhere.

 

[Roos Eisma]

Skunk <[email protected]> writes:


>Hi, I hope this is the right sort of thing to ask.
>My wife, five year old son and myself are considering a holiday on
>bikes to Holland in the Summer. I have a couple of questions that I'd
>like to know if anyone has experience of.
>At the moment I have a mtb with an Adams trail-a-bike attached. I am
>considering getting one of these trailer bars fitted which will attach
>my son's whole bike - a bmx type bike with 16" wheels - with the front
>wheel raised off the ground so that he has his bike to use on short
>journeys to the beach etc. whilst over there. Has anyone any experience
>of these as I found the trail-a-bike a took a while to get used to and
>seems a little unsteady at times?
>The other thing I wanted to ask is about carrying luggage. My lad is
>big for his age and I'm not sure that in six months time, I'll be able
>to manage him and loaded panniers so we are thinking about my wife
>carrying the lion's share of the luggage. She cycles about three times
>a year, doesn't like hills (hence us plumping for the Netherlands). She
>has a Raleigh 15 speed mtb. Would we be better off with panniers or one
>of this luggage carrriers that you pull behind, like a child carriage
>type affair? And have we got it the right way round with me the keener
>cyclist taking the trailer bike and my wife taking the luggage.
>Any thoughts appreciated. This is the start of my looking into it, and
>I just wondered what experiences other people have had.

Do you have a big nobbly tires on your MTBs?
Almost all the cycle paths you will encounter in the NL have good
surfaces, so go for something smoother to save you some effort.

Roos

 

[Steve]

ScumOfTheRoad wrote:
> On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 16:16:27 +1000, Skunk wrote:
>
>
>>
>>has a Raleigh 15 speed mtb. Would we be better off with panniers or one
>>of this luggage carrriers that you pull behind, like a child carriage
>>type affair? And have we got it the right way round with me the keener
>>cyclist taking the trailer bike and my wife taking the luggage.
>>Any thoughts appreciated. This is the start of my looking into it, and
>>I just wondered what experiences other people have had.
>
> I have no experience of this.
> But if you're worried about carrying luggage,
> aren;t there organised holidays out there where luggage is transferred by
> van?
> I suppose that detracts from the spontaneity, and adds to the expense.
>
> I guess another plan would be to try a local youth-hostel trip
> over a weekend. Get the luggage weights and carrying method right??
They also organise these kind of things where you live on a barge and
meet up with it each night. Dunno if it's of any interest though.

Steve

 

[David Martin]

On 17/10/04 7:16 am, in article [email protected],
"Skunk" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi, I hope this is the right sort of thing to ask.
> My wife, five year old son and myself are considering a holiday on
> bikes to Holland in the Summer. I have a couple of questions that I'd
> like to know if anyone has experience of.
> At the moment I have a mtb with an Adams trail-a-bike attached. I am
> considering getting one of these trailer bars fitted which will attach
> my son's whole bike - a bmx type bike with 16" wheels - with the front
> wheel raised off the ground so that he has his bike to use on short
> journeys to the beach etc. whilst over there. Has anyone any experience
> of these as I found the trail-a-bike a took a while to get used to and
> seems a little unsteady at times?
> The other thing I wanted to ask is about carrying luggage. My lad is
> big for his age and I'm not sure that in six months time, I'll be able
> to manage him and loaded panniers

If he is on a trailabike and it is flat then you will easily cope. I have a
giraff (like a trailgator but worse) and it is very good for the spontaneity
of being able to uncouple and go unfettered. It is a little rocky as you
have a couple of connections with play in but is aboslutely no hindrance
with panniers.


> so we are thinking about my wife
> carrying the lion's share of the luggage. She cycles about three times
> a year, doesn't like hills (hence us plumping for the Netherlands). She
> has a Raleigh 15 speed mtb. Would we be better off with panniers or one
> of this luggage carrriers that you pull behind, like a child carriage
> type affair? And have we got it the right way round with me the keener
> cyclist taking the trailer bike and my wife taking the luggage.
> Any thoughts appreciated. This is the start of my looking into it, and
> I just wondered what experiences other people have had.

Fit low rider pannier racks and take half the luggage each. Take it gently
and potter and you'll enjoy it.

..d

 

[davek]

Skunk wrote:
> Any thoughts appreciated. This is the start of my looking into it, and
> I just wondered what experiences other people have had.

I haven't got any similar experiences but I do have a 6yr old and for a
trip such as you're planning I'd be considering letting him do his own
riding - what sort of distances will you be covering in a day? For a
three day trip like yours, I reckon my 6yr old would be up to 40 miles a
day under his own steam, especially if the terrain was nice and flat -
he might even be able to manage more. And from the sound of it, I doubt
your wife would be up to much more than that herself.

Why don't you try taking him out for a day trip locally to see what he's
capable of - it will also serve as useful practise. Schedule lots of
stops, take it nice and easy, make sure you've got contingencies in
place to get you home if you need to abandon, and you might find that he
is capable of a lot more than you imagine.

Come next summer, all thoughts of trailer bikes may well be redundant -
you could spend the money instead on getting a better bike for your wife.

d.

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, Skunk
('[email protected]') wrote:

> The other thing I wanted to ask is about carrying luggage. My lad is
> big for his age and I'm not sure that in six months time, I'll be able
> to manage him and loaded panniers so we are thinking about my wife
> carrying the lion's share of the luggage. She cycles about three times
> a year, doesn't like hills (hence us plumping for the Netherlands).
> She has a Raleigh 15 speed mtb. Would we be better off with panniers
> or one of this luggage carrriers that you pull behind, like a child
> carriage type affair? And have we got it the right way round with me
> the keener cyclist taking the trailer bike and my wife taking the
> luggage. Any thoughts appreciated. This is the start of my looking
> into it, and I just wondered what experiences other people have had.

I have no experience of trailabikes. You might also thing about a
kiddiback tandem, which various people in these parts seem to like. I
do have experience of luggage trailers. They are extremely easy to use
on flat roads at low speed, and create surprisingly little drag. The
trailer I used was this one: <URL:http://www.bikehod.com/> and for the
purposes you've outlined above I'd recommend it. I suggest you get the
trailer well in advance of your holiday, and that whichever of you is
actually going to use it while on holiday gets used to it before you
go. Actually, I'd suggest this for whatever solution you choose for
your son's bike as well.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; my other religion is Emacs