Luigi de Guzman wrote:
> "safest" would be a trailer, especially considering the kids are so young.
>
> For bigger little kids, I have seen little bicycle seats that clamp onto
> your bike's top tube. Picture a small saddle clamped ahead of
> you, and that's what you've got. Naturally, the positioning is
> tricky--they'd need to be able to hang on to the handlebar, and they'd
> also need to be short enough so you can see over them. This is very
> fiddly, but I've seen it done. Unknown if these things are sold anywhere
> outside the UK, though--I used to see them in England, but haven't seen
> them anywhere else.
>
> -Luigi
>
I remember seeing those in Germany as a kid ('60s, early '70s). IIRC,
German traffic law said the passenger couldn't be older than 7, and the
cyclist had to be 14. The seat was usually a metal bucket seat, so the
kid was less likely to fall out.
Personally, I would put a kid who's too big for a trailer onto a
tag-along bike that clamps onto the seatpost. Every so often I'll see a
bicycle, tag-along bike and trailer linked together on the bike paths
around here. Looks great, but I'm not sure how far these "road trains"
really get.