Kiddy Trailers



ghostgum said:
One expensive solution is the Christiania Bike (trike)
http://www.christianiabikes.com/english/uk_main.htm
All Danish people know about those. They're wicked, aren't they?

Below 12 months the pram or car were used.
Car.... blergh. That's what I'd like to avoid.

My wife pushes the 3yo uphill each morning as she walks the 7yo to school, then again in the afternoon for pickup.
That can't be right. Kids don't walk to school these days ;-)

(The 7yo had a slight advantage in the school cross country run over those kids who were driven to school :) The walking has been very successful at helping burn off the pregnancy fat. My wife destroyed the bearings on the first pram by pushing a 10kg child and 20+kg of shopping home. Nylon bush bearings just can't take that sort of load.
Hadn't thought of bearings.... definitely something to keep in mind. Your wife sounds like a hard core chick. I like it.

LH
 
LotteBum said:
Hadn't thought of bearings.... definitely something to keep in mind. Your wife sounds like a hard core chick. I like it.

I'm not sure "hard core chick" is the right description. More appropriate would be "As cheap as I am". Why drive a car and turn in a fat slob, when you can walk instead and get the exercise while you travel, for only a little extra time? Why drive 4km to the gym to sit on a excercise bike when you can ride there? We've always made do with one car, and if we need to go separate directions then you either ride or ask for a lift from someone else. My wife also rode 4km to work for about 3 years (definitely not the norm amongst her colleagues), including until she was about 6 months pregnant.

My wife was commenting last night about the children who walk to school. The stereotype seems to be that Chinese kids get driven to school, and the Indian kids walk to school with their family, then the mothers continue
their social walk afterwards. We are in the white ethnic minority.

Are you allowed to attach a kiddie trailer to a scooter? :)
 
On Sep 11, 12:09 pm, ghostgum <ghostgum.2wq...@no-
mx.forums.cyclingforums.com> wrote:
> Are you allowed to attach a kiddie trailer to a scooter? :)


You could probably attach a registered motorcycle trailer provided the
scooter was large enough and the trailer was small enough. Of course
then you couldn't transport humans in it :)
 
ghostgum said:
I'm not sure "hard core chick" is the right description. More appropriate would be "As cheap as I am". Why drive a car and turn in a fat slob, when you can walk instead and get the exercise while you travel, for only a little extra time? Why drive 4km to the gym to sit on a excercise bike when you can ride there? We've always made do with one car, and if we need to go separate directions then you either ride or ask for a lift from someone else. My wife also rode 4km to work for about 3 years (definitely not the norm amongst her colleagues), including until she was about 6 months pregnant.
That's pretty cool. My mum rode 10km each way until the Friday before she had me (I was born on a Sunday), and this was in December, when it's frigging cold over there. I plan to ride for as long as I can. I'm only 14 weeks now, so obviously I'm not at all uncomfortable, but I'll see how I go. I'm not sure how easy it is on a road bike...?

Are you allowed to attach a kiddie trailer to a scooter? :)
Trust me, I would if it was legal! Nah, Paulie inherits the red rocket next year, and I'll take over the Corolla. Might buy a Prado though - I hear they're useful when you have kids.

LH
 
LotteBum wrote:
>
> Theo Bekkers Wrote:
> > It was the standard method of travel when I was a kid in Holland. I
> > remember going on family outings to my great uncle Frans place, where
> > us kids would climb up the huge cherry tree and eat cherries all day.
> > Dad with the twin girls, one seat on the crossbar and another on the
> > back. Mum the same with the twin boys, except for the crossbar. My
> > older brother with my younger brother on the back, and my sister and I
> > on our own bikes. My older brother was 12, older sister 9, I 7, younger
> > brother 6, twin girls 3 1/2, twin boys
> > 18 months. This was the only way we ever travelled, no heros, no medals
> > needed.

> That's awesome! Way to go Team Bekkers!
>
> --
> LotteBum


Back in Ancient Times during the 1950s when I was a youngster, the idea
of my mum or my father pedling around
Sydney Roads with child trailers behind push bikes would have been
utterly impractical and
entirely irresponsible because of the dangers of riding on the crowded
narrow roads.

I lived about 17km away from the fabulous Sydney beaches where my
sisters and I were taken on many weekends
but most certainly not by means of bicycles. The round trip would have
been utterly exhausting
and dangerous due to large hills and steep descents, and the bloody
traffic.
From an early age we walked a mile to primary schools, then later caught
buses.
I cannot recall a single student riding a bike to school in the 11 years
at St Leo's.
But a couple of kids who were sons of Dutch immigrants and a couple of
Italians were interested in bikes,
and raced on weekends, and at 15 or 17, I used my earned pocket money to
buy a second hand beat up
old push bike which I gradually restored,
and unlike most of the rest of my car driving peer group I rode to the
beach and back quite often,
or rode to Gosford and back with the Dutch Comrades, who I found to be
brilliant company.
The two Dutch guys were utter dunces in class, except that their picture
painting efforts were excellent, but despite their
dismal marks elsewhere they were quite successful after leaving school,
showing much more panache than most aussie kids.
But once I completed school, and work and night school study began, I
ceased cycling completely, and got around only by
motorcycle, which allowed me time to travel all around Sydney and for
work, study and to socialise
without turning up exhausted in a lather of sweat. I refused to buy a
car, or marry the dopey sheila living next door.
It was expected that i do that asap, but I let them all down.
Mum and Dad most certainly did not have the time, inclination, or
capabilities for cycle travel it seemed.
And nor did I, in all my 20s, and half my 30s.

When young we always went around by car, and usually in a Morris Oxford,
or a *****'s Jeep stationwagon.
My dad was a vet, always rushed off his feet, and also a local alderman,
and never cycled anywhere
while I knew him. ( But he cycled in his youth, riding to Cairns and
back to Sydney in 1927.)
My grandma and a great aunt lived with us, and they sure were never to
ever turn a crank with a foot.
There were hardly any cars on the road in '27, but by '55, Sydney's
roads were already choked.
Road widening and re-building has never kept pace with car ownership and
use.
There were no cycle paths. My mum rode a lot in her youth, but only on
horses in Centennial Park,
as she enjoyed life in Paddington with its airs and graces methinks. She
just wasn't even slightly
ever interested in bicycles, like about 90% of those around her. My
sisters never rode anything
that wasn't a horse or at least a moped. Providing leg power just wasn't
on!

Here in Canberra, a network of cycle paths allows ppl to cycle if they
want to
without any fear of being run over by motorists.
The hills tend to be gentle and short compared to many other places,
and if ones life expecations do not include being a busy professional
person,
or living expensively in a bigger city like Sydney, then a humble simple
life
of frugality in a cycle friendly town may suit some folks exceedingly
well.
I own a small car though, and use it constantly for shopping and its a
luxury I allow myself
even while on very low wages. The $1,400 per annun to run a 1986 Ford
Laser seems good value to me,
as well as the cost of the cycling, maybe $500 per annum in costs, and
$1,000 in time spent cycling and cost of
earning during that time. The bicycle could provide all my travel needs,
but I like the diversity of operation,
and don't much like riding into town when its -10C on winter evenings to
play chess.

The idea of borrowing money to buy a new car seems utterly wasteful, and
I never ever have.
the depreciation on a new car is a waste. But I did once buy a brand new
utility for my building work.
22 years later I got a very nice price of $4,000 for this Holden One
Tonner.
It was impossible for me to be a working tradesman without a motor
vehicle.

I did such a fine job of buying and renovating my house in distant past
years that I don't need the huge income
or time to now maintain what I own. Other folks seem to need to work a
lot more than i do.
Young folks buying their own house now are having to pay much more in
real terms than I did,
and so often their work schedules don't permit the time to cycling with
kids in tow
as a priniciple means of transport. There is only so much money anyone
can save by refusing to buy a car.
Judging by my own economics of the issue, it really isn't much of a
saving, a couple of grand a year at most
if one can settle for a cheap to run small four cylinder car.
I chose the building trade as my trade because I knew one of the biggest
purchases I'd ever make
would be to buy a house and land. I came easily to the idea of being a
settled down person,
and this boring dull attitude saves me a huge amount because I don't pay
rent.
Being a builder meant I could buy a tiny run down house
cheaply, and invest my time and skills directly to rebuild it without
paying profits to another builder to house me,
and have to earn high wages to pay that builder, and pay tax on top of
all that.
So I managed easily to provide a very adequate house with moderate
luxuries of two bathrooms and an inground pool
all paid for by age 37, and all without the help of any "partner", as a
wife is called these days.
The point I make is that ones life decisions and choices have a large
effect on how you
get on later in life, and the more you avoid the larger massive expenses
of housing by being
self reliant, the better. If you have any time left over to avoid
motoring costs by cycling,
its an additional winfall.

I don't need a wealthy lifestyle, do not have to do parenting duties and
chores so i can spend a wednesday and sunday
on a bicycle for 4 hours each day and then rest up.
I don't even bother to ride the 1km to the local shop to shop, where
each bag of groceries is $20 average,
and heavy, because there are no packaged "Fake Supermarket Food
Products" within.
Three times a week it seems a weight of vegetable expense is difficult
to avoid. The land I own combined with the
local climate prevents me growing my own food.

Compared to many, I'm bone lazy and quite inconsistant, but I couldn't
care less; my greenhouse footprint on This PLanet
is tiny compared to busy people whose average weekly earnings are 7
times my earnings, and spend every darn thing i don't want or need
and it all ends up CO2. Most ppl today cannot be frugal and happy, or
even just happy.

Relying on buses to get around Canberra would mean long waits especially
on weekends,
and a car makes sense to me, and I don't like riding when its wet.

But overall, I've always found it cheaper to live in Canberra than
living in Sydney.
I have come to terms that Canberra is viewed by those living elsewhere
that is THE MOST BORING PLACE ON EARTH.
Hmm, sounds wonderful to me, no bugger takin a quid off me each time I
do anything at all.
Beautiful dull boring empty country scenery is only 5 minutes away by
bicycle. No seeemingly endless tracts
of deprssing urban landscapes.
I sure don't miss the Sydney beaches, and I don't need a pretentious
McMansion.
People who say Canberra is boring are usually very boring themselves,
and have less ability to be self sufficient.
For those defiant and rebellious enough to reject the peer group imposed
straightjacket like conformity
of being addicted to cars and wealthy pretense more than I do, they sure
can do it well in Canberra, and only have a bicycle for
all their family travel. For such healthy rebellions, I'd hand out
medals if I could, but alas I have not
quite the right relationship with people running The Mint.

Patrick Turner.
 
On Sep 11, 8:52 am, "Theo Bekkers" <[email protected]> wrote:
> After the first trimester the nauseousness passes,


My wife would definitely take issue with that statement, as would many
others I've spoken to recently. With our recent addition (now 6 weeks
old) my wife was puking up at all times of the day ("morning"
sickness? HA!) from within a few days of conception to the day of
delivery. In fact, the anaesthetist was kept busy holding a bowl for
her to puke in during the delivery.

But to bring it back on topic, our daughter's first present for her
big brother was a brand new bicycle! :)

Graeme
 
Theo Bekkers wrote:

>>Yes. Contrary to popular belief, I am not a virgin.

>
>
> <applause> Great response Lotte.


Sex traitor. You haven't enquired whether the sperm donor survived the
encounter {:).
 
Dave wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:16:11 +1000, LotteBum wrote:
>
>
>>Does anyone have any advice regarding this?

>
>
> I think we were using a standard style trailer from around 9 months,
> though very carefully. The problem is that the kids are quite upright, so
> need to have pretty good neck muscles. That doesn't come until 9-12 months
> for most kids.
>
> Ideally it'd be possible to get something where a car style capsule would
> clip in, preferably with some kind of roll cage just in case.


Are you saying this is what you'd need (car capsule) for a less than
9-12 months baby?

My understanding is that the capsule stops the head rockig around.


> I haven't seen anything like that around.


That was why I suggested mounting a capsule in a standard two wheel
bicycle trailer on multiple layers of foam.
 
Terryc said:
Theo Bekkers wrote:

>>Yes. Contrary to popular belief, I am not a virgin.

>
>
> <applause> Great response Lotte.


Sex traitor. You haven't enquired whether the sperm donor survived the
encounter {:).
Now that you mention it, we haven't seen a post from Paulie for at least 3 months :eek:

DB
 
Duracell Bunny said:
Now that you mention it, we haven't seen a post from Paulie for at least 3 months :eek:
Not to worry - Paulie is ok. I need him around to finance my retirement and to fill the Prado. We've just been busy renovating the sh!tbox house in time for Peanut's arrival.

LH
 
LotteBum wrote:

> Thanks for the links - hadn't seen the Burley one as yet and they look
> quite good.
>
> I think that once the Peanut is too old for the trailer, maybe I can
> put my dog(s) in - they'll be old and frail by then. And hopefully
> capable of sitting still.


With this in mind, log into tribe.net and go to the bicycle touring
discussion area(tribe) and read the excellent reply by Sass to the post
on taking your dog bicycle touring. the information on adapting a
bicycle trailer to dogs is excellent (aka she has done it and learnt
from it).
 
Graeme Dods said:
My wife would definitely take issue with that statement, as would many others I've spoken to recently. With our recent addition (now 6 weeks old) my wife was puking up at all times of the day ("morning"
sickness? HA!) from within a few days of conception to the day of
delivery. In fact, the anaesthetist was kept busy holding a bowl for
her to puke in during the delivery.
Wow, I do consider myself lucky then. So far, everything has been very text book (except for the conception), including what I could have sworn was Peanut flipping us the bird at the first scan last Thursday. That was when it hit home, that this poor foetus really is a Paulie-Lotte cross.

Lotte
 
In aus.bicycle on Tue, 11 Sep 2007 12:19:04 +1000
LotteBum <[email protected]> wrote:
> it's frigging cold over there. I plan to ride for as long as I can. I'm
> only 14 weeks now, so obviously I'm not at all uncomfortable, but I'll
> see how I go. I'm not sure how easy it is on a road bike...?


You need a recumbent you do! Nice back support.

Zebee
 
On Sep 11, 10:44 am, LotteBum <LotteBum.2wq...@no-
mx.forums.cyclingforums.com> wrote:
> Wow, I do consider myself lucky then. So far, everything has been very
> text book (except for the conception), including what I could have sworn
> was Peanut flipping us the bird at the first scan last Thursday.


On Isabella's first scan where she was recognisable as a baby my wife
was yabbering away nervously to the doctor. Isabella had clearly had
enough of the noise and could be seen on the scan waving her arms
around until her hands covered her ears. She takes after me! :)

Graeme
 
Patrick Turner wrote:

> Here in Canberra, a network of cycle paths allows ppl to cycle if they
> want to without any fear of being run over by motorists.



> $1,000 in time spent cycling

What a load of stupidity.


> and don't much like riding into town when its -10C on winter evenings to
> play chess.


You would probably be better at it.

> I don't need a wealthy lifestyle, do not have to do parenting duties and
> chores so i can spend a wednesday and sunday
> on a bicycle for 4 hours each day and then rest up.


Yawn, what a load of ********. If you are any good as a builder, then
you could easily whip up a small bicycle trailer to carry your shopping.

> I don't even bother to ride the 1km to the local shop to shop, where
> each bag of groceries is $20 average, and heavy, because there are no
> packaged "Fake Supermarket Food Products" within.


So you are just another fat ****?


> Three times a week it seems a weight of vegetable expense is difficult
> to avoid. The land I own combined with the
> local climate prevents me growing my own food.


Yawn. you really do need to exercise your brain more. Perhaps if you
pumped some of your hot air into a hot house, you would be pleasently
surprised.

Oh, you might like to read Desiderata. It has something about comparing
oneself to others.
 
On Sep 11, 10:44 am, LotteBum <LotteBum.2wq...@no-
mx.forums.cyclingforums.com> wrote:
>
> Wow, I do consider myself lucky then. So far, everything has been very
> text book (except for the conception)


I don't know, depends on which section of the library you're browsing.
There are some very unusual text books out there!

Graeme
 
Graeme Dods said:
I don't know, depends on which section of the library you're browsing. There are some very unusual text books out there!
That reminds me of the pregnancy book Paulie's mum got us. It's very focused on getting you in the bedroom - almost to the point of wanting you to shag like the clappers during labour.

LH
 
"Terryc" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Dave wrote:
>> On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:16:11 +1000, LotteBum wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Does anyone have any advice regarding this?

>>
>>
>> I think we were using a standard style trailer from around 9 months,
>> though very carefully. The problem is that the kids are quite upright, so
>> need to have pretty good neck muscles. That doesn't come until 9-12
>> months
>> for most kids.
>>
>> Ideally it'd be possible to get something where a car style capsule would
>> clip in, preferably with some kind of roll cage just in case.

>
> Are you saying this is what you'd need (car capsule) for a less than 9-12
> months baby?
>
> My understanding is that the capsule stops the head rockig around.
>
>
>> I haven't seen anything like that around.

>
> That was why I suggested mounting a capsule in a standard two wheel
> bicycle trailer on multiple layers of foam.


I never did this myself (bought a front-mounted child seat when Louka was 12
months instead) but a woman who lives around Chatswood, Sydney, used to
carry her babes around in a capsule in a trailer from when they were very
young. She said she didn't know if it was legal, but it worked for her. I
never asked her how she mounted the capsule though.

Liz