I’m hoping to do some long-ish (couple mile) bike trips with my 4-year-old in tow. I’d like recommendations on the best system for doing this.
Here are some relevant facts:
-Terrain will be light-traffic residential streets and some unpaved but flat urban trails.
-I have an aging but decent hybrid bike but I’d be willing to get a new bike if necessary.
-Reasonable budget preferred; I’ll spend more if I need to get a new bike as part of the system. But I probably can’t afford an uber-fancy cutting-edge system.
There are several different methods that depend on what you want to do - I don’t understand that clearly from your OP.
Do you want to ride a bike and be together with your 4-old? Then a bike buggy might be a good choice - you put the kid inside and can ride as long as you want.
Or do you want to start riding together, with your kid on his kid bike, to get him used to bike riding, and hopefully continue later? You can either - if there’s no traffic - just let him ride along, with a real kid’s bike (training wheels optional).
Or you can connect your bikes. There are several systems with both advantages and dis-advantages. The one I see most often is a special kid bike with the front wheel replaced with a long steel bar, which connects onto the adults bike. Like this. Obviously, the plus is that if the kid is tired, you can still pedal for both; the minus is that the kid needs a seperate bike to ride alone.
Or you can get a connector rod that fits between two normal bikes. A different model here.
The German ADAC (AA), ADFC (Bike club) and Stiftung Warentest (consumer testing) tests the common models of tandem kid trailers and connector rods each spring before bike season, and there’s a lot of difference between the good quality models and the badly made (where suddenly the rod breaks!) So I would strongly recommend reading test reports before buying.
But first, you have to decide what’s best suited for your needs, esp. with regards to the future.
I would also recommend getting the kid a helmet (preferrably a colourful one with his favourite cartoon character on it) and wearing one yourself as good example, but you probably thought of that already, didn’t you?
One thing I don’t know if all kid bike makers watch out for: the middle of the handlebar often has a screw or otherwise sharp and pointed end. This can be dangerous if kids fall forward onto it with their stomach. So some kiddie bikes have a special cloth wrapped around that area, like in this picture. You might ask in a good bike shop and buy that cloth seperately (it’s attached with pushbottons or velcro or similar).
Also, there should be round balls at the end of the handlebars (also in the picture), again so the kid can’t ram an open tube into his body and injure himself.
but that’s where I got mine and it’s great. At four years old, though, it’s starting to be a pretty heavy load to pull around. The option of your kid having their own bike, utilizing the gadgets that constanze links to sounds like a good way to go.
Thanks, most helpful. I was thinking about transporting him in a way where he didn’t have to move himself (avoiding the possibility of him pooping out far from home), but your tips on what to look out for in kid bikes are very appreciated. (And yes, the helmets were taken as a given!)
Do you (or anyone else) have practical experience with the ‘tandem kid trailers’?
We have a Burley Solo trailer. It is great. I just had my 5-year-old in it yesterday for a test run after I tuned up my bike for spring, and she got mad when we got home – she wanted to ride further!
The Solo is really manueverable, highly recommended. We’ve pulled it behind a tandem bike, and we still can make turns and navigate through gates. If you want more info about it, you are welcome to send me a PM (or ask questions here, of course).
I’m not sure how big your kid is and how much more use you’d get out of a new one, but last time I checked the resale value was quite good on craigslist. You should be able to find a used one too. I got mine new at REI when they had a 20%-off-any-one-item sale (I think they have another one coming up in May).
Well, I don’t have kids myself. But I do see them around here often. They can also be used to transport a whole case of beer by the guys
And you can put a bottle of water, toy, sun cream etc. in the trailer, so the kid has everything in reach. Useful equipment is one fly net hood you close in the summer, and one plastic hood with clear window when it rains or is windy.
Sorry, failure of terminology – I’m more interested in systems like this, whatever they’re called (I think the one pictured is from the company that first designed such a system; they call it the ‘trail-a-bike’). What are they like to use? My kid is 35 lbs (about 16 kg), about 42 inches (107 cm), pretty clutzy (the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, after all), and he’ll be four in July.
I have a “trail-along” type of bike for my daughter. Got it when she was 4, she is 6 now. She can ride her own bike but when we want to go for longer rides together we take the trail along. Works great. She can help peddle and builds muscle in her legs. And you can really feel her peddle when she does. There have been times I stop peddling on flat ground and she does all the work.
The trailers that they sit in are big and very heavy. Plus the kid is sitting very low and gets the stuff flipping on the wheel right in the face.
We really love our trail along and have gone on many many very long rides. Handles great. Just make sure you get one that has a metal connection or hitch. There are some that just use straps to connect and these are not nearly as good. Plus, you want to be able to disconnect relativley quickly.
