Toddlers and biking

[crackboy]

So my son is now about 19 months and with the weather nice I am hoping to get him involved with the biking. He has a strider bike, but I want to either get him a bike seat or trailer and can't really decide which to go with

basically can't decide between a trailer and the bike seat. Our guy is a brute, already about 35 inches and 30 pounds.


I am leaning towards the trailer since it seems easier to load him up if i am by myself and i have to worry less about weight ranges, but I feel like he would enjoy himself more on the seat since he could see more action.

i know Burley is the big name but i can't afford to drop $300+ on this.

anyone have any input? saw some Aesom trailers on amazon that didn't look bad, but I have never heard of them.

I don't need a stroller out of it as we already have a bob and an umbrella.

[grskier]

sport consignment stores are your friend.. so are your friends with a little older kids. People are always looking to off load these.

[jfost]

no way I'd trust a 19mo old on a trail-a-bike thingy,



or maybe you mean one of the seats up on a rack?



anyway, if it is that - 30# and 35" is pretty big for one of those, and he's not getting any smaller! I'd go burley trailer...



you can put a lot of stuff + a second kid in there if need be.

[Shredhead]

I bike a lot. I've used everything, trailer, seat, trail a bike and a tandem. Trailers are good because your little guys can fall asleep and their heads aren't hanging down and bouncing around. Plus if you have another, you can stuff him in there too. Take a nice 2-3 hour bike ride and give your wife a break. You're not on a ride, you're watching the kids!

My Burley lasted a really long time. I finally wore out the tendon in the hitch and gave it away. That guy changed it and used it for a long time too.

[plugboots]

The only reason we didn't get a trailer was it doesn't work well on singletrack. Otherwise I agree with what others have posted. We gave away our trail a bike and behind the seat thing to friends when we were done.

[FireStrom]

We do a ton of biking with our 3 and 1 year olds and find that an ibert and a chariot trailer is the ultimate combo. Yes the chariot is $$, but since it works as jogger, stroller and ski trailer too it is worth it. Maybe sell bob?

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[hutash]

Trailer is the way to go for a lot of reasons above, but most importantly they are much safer if crash. Mine had a three or five point harness (two vs one kid) and a roll cage. I never did crash it, but I had one on one wheel for then once.

It can also be used to haul groceries or gear for touring/skiing. Plus kids are slower to out grow a trailer then a bike seat.

[pesto]

If you get a trailer please put a flag or two on it. They can be difficult to see when driving a car.

[criscam]

I have a trailer for my 1 and 3 year olds and just use it on my road bike. Nice to be able to haul them to the park and still get a little (or a lot going up hills) exercise. I'm thinking about getting a trail-a-bike this spring though to ride mellow single track with my oldest. If I were you, I'd get the trailer/chariot now then sell it in a year or two and get the trail a bike. Would prob be a wash $ wise.

[RShea]

If you are going to be road or Rail Trail type of riding- no question go with a trailer. Only reason not to is if you are thinking anything single track for riding. And at that age and weight, I would forgo the single track trail riding with any kid and do that when the kid is with Mom...

[jerr]

I made a wooden seat that slots over the cross-bar of my bike (arms extend down to the bottom of the v-frame, to hold it on/up). It has foot rests and my son holds onto the handle bars. So, he's sitting in-front of me on the bike, between my arms.

This set-up totally rules. We would do hour+ single track sessions, mild down hill tracks, berms etc. We'd also go out for rides around the neighborhood. We used it at least every week for about 3 years. A bunch of friends made them too, everyone totally rates them.

You have to teach them how to sit up there with you, but that's simple.

Total cost? <$20 & a couple of hours to make it.

Down-side - hiding it from mum until she got used to the idea that not everything in life has safety straps for Africa.

[sethschmautz]

Jerr, can you post pics? That sounds awesome.

[jerr]

Yep. I'll see if I can find an action shot

[jerr]

Not quite action but you get the idea. It's mounted on an old hard tail but I've used it on my full sus bike too. This was a few years ago. My son is 2.5yrs in the pic.

[CuriousGeorge]

We found WeeRide seats work great, like the Wooden DIY.
Only problem was the tears when he bit his tongue first time out when the single track got a bit bumpy, clenched his teeth from that point on.
He's a ripping rider now, I'm sure those early days didn't hurt.
Trailer works too for the mellow trips and napping.

[sethschmautz]

Awesome, thanks Jerr. Looks like a ton of fun for the little guy. Mine is still pretty young - just over a year - but I'll keep this in mind for the future.

[TomCrac]

@jerr .... Not a big fan of having kids elevated but interesting design ... At least the smart one is wearing a lid

[3boyzz]

My toddlers are now 17 and 19 years old, but I still have the Burley trailer. It's great for bike touring or even running some errands. If you look on Craigslist you can find some for a good price. My sons loved riding in it. They wore helmets, had snacks and water bottles and slept, well like babies! I flipped it once when I hit the edge a big rock and it landed on it's side. They were fully belted in and didn't get a scratch. My ex-wife was directly behind me and did not like it one bit, but my sons thought it was fun!

IMHO I would never use any kind of child seat. I would never forgive my self if I tossed them onto the ground from a height of 3-4 feet. I watched my brother in law bend a wheel and crack his helmet one time to avoid a little kid who flew in front of him down a side trail. Some times you can't avoid collisions, no matter how skilled a rider your are.

Would you stick a kid in a back pack while skiing around skiers/snowboarders that had no control over their boards?

Just something to think about.

[TBS]

Trailer is the way to go for a lot of reasons above, but most importantly they are much safer if crash. Mine had a three or five point harness (two vs one kid) and a roll cage. I never did crash it, but I had one on one wheel for then once.

It can also be used to haul groceries or gear for touring/skiing. Plus kids are slower to out grow a trailer then a bike seat.

Agreed, esp on the crash safety.

I tried putting a seat over the rear wheel - kids fidget a lot, and with a kid that small, a helmet adds major top-heavy weight their necks have trouble supporting - they are like little bobbleheads. All of that unanticipated movement kept me kind of unnerved - mostly because their mother would go medieval on me if her kid came home scratched & bleeding on my watch. Never did try the front carriers.

Trailers OTOH worked very well. I crashed once in gravel but the trailer stayed upright. True, they get hung a lot up in narrow rooty rocky stuff, but there were some good trails in our area wide enough to accommodate us without problem

Towing a trailer can be a great freakin' training ride. I used it for interval training when I had to take care of the kids. They would see a runner or other riders and tell me to chase them down so they could say "beep beep" when we passed. There would be a lot of encouragement/heckling about the time required to catch, or if I blew up in the process. A good way to spend time together.

[bodywhomper]

w/ my 7yo, we did center mount and rear mount. he loved center-mount and hated rear mount. when he got too tall for the center mount, we put him in a trailer and he was pretty miserable (definitely a decrease in the experience for him). then we did trail-a-bike, which he liked a lot. center-mount felt safest to me. w/ trail-a-bike, it's easy to accidentally launch the kid by standing in the pedals to climb a brief and steep hill.

[jerr]

SethSmtz - you're welcome, you'll love it.

@jerr .... Not a big fan of having kids elevated but interesting design ... At least the smart one is wearing a lid

I knew this was coming (yawn-a-little).

I guess if you can't see how you can manage this safely then you probably shouldn't do it - no big deal. For the rest - you'll love it!

Me and my son had to learn to ride together, around quiet streets. When you get going a bit more, route selection and timing are important, and a conservative aware riding style is obviously an imperative. The picture was taken outside my house for my family. This is why I don't have a helmet. Rest assured TomC that I fully understand if I'm not wearing a helmet on a ride further than 20m from my house I will certainly die.

Really, the biggest benefit of this seat set-up isn't clear from the picture or the description.

Your little one is right with you for long periods of time, and you have the most amazing conversations. Pure parent/child time = pure gold. We've also done 2 half day trips into NZ national parks. A lot of prep and a ridiculous amount of contingency gear/planning, but so worth it.

He'd also learnt to change the rear derailleur up for me on request, which was cool.

[hutash]

Towing a trailer can be a great freakin' training ride. I used it for interval training when I had to take care of the kids. They would see a runner or other riders and tell me to chase them down so they could say "beep beep" when we passed. There would be a lot of encouragement/heckling about the time required to catch, or if I blew up in the process. A good way to spend time together.

That is frickin' hilarious. I can just hear you kid, "come on dad move your fat butt, that girl up ahead is kicking your ass. "

I towed my kids a lot when I was racing, great resistance workout. The climbs I cruised up on my road bike suddenly got a lot harder with a kid or two in tow.

[TBS]

That is frickin' hilarious. I can just hear you kid, "come on dad move your fat butt, that girl up ahead is kicking your ass. "

I towed my kids a lot when I was racing, great resistance workout. The climbs I cruised up on my road bike suddenly got a lot harder with a kid or two in tow.

Yup, its a necessary accessory if you have a job, wife & kids, and want any chance of being a competitive racer.

My teammates were always giving my kids ideas for motivating words like "you will go faster if you lose 10 lbs", "you shouldn't have had that beer last night", and my favorite "it's OK daddy, you're just getting older".

[plugboots]

I knew this was coming (yawn-a-little).

I was just watching "The Hobbit" and I kept thinking, "Why aren't they wearing helmets?"

[crackboy]

i think at this point i am convinced of the trailer more so since i don't want to get a seat and have him grow out of it in a month. and its mostly going to be on paved/rail trail.

i wish i could find a burley on craigslist. if i was still in Davis, you can pretty much find them on the street corner, but PIttsburgh isn't exactly flowing with used trailers.

i am probably going to be unemployed in a couple months so trying to do this on teh cheap