Fatherhood anonymous; an open discussion on being a dad.

[SkiLyft]

More kid stoke!!


She’s a real vibe out there



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[VTskibum]

^^ that feeling is so identifiable

Big vibes… spoiler alert, it’s just the start of building that shit!


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Many a Christmas Eve building some monstrosities after midnight in your future! One was big enough doll house that I had to start a few days prior. So had my own little workshop. The brio train table layout was another. I was the only one who could properly reassemble the tracks to make it complete, which my son would knock down daily. Trudging back old memories as my oldest turns 12 in a few months and my youngest 10. Youngest just skied a week of steep and deep Utah blower w me last week, such a different phase than the baby stuff!!


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[Not DJSapp]

I've only lurked this thread from time to time, but keep with it Dads. It pays off.

Photo below is Mini DJSapp #1. Now 13 years old. She pulled Mrs. DJSapp's Original 179 Soft Bro Models out of storage and gave 16" of freshies hell today in her first legit powder day. Tried her damnedest to rip the fall line under the lift. Ate shit a few times but kept charging. I must be doing something right.

[ghosthop]

Congratulations to all the dads with new babies in this thread.

A couple of questions about transportation. What is working for you all? The baby is 8 months now, over 20 pounds and gaining close to a pound a month. Somewhere around 29 inches, i.e., pretty damn tall for his age which is life's great joke if you've met me.

Backpack carrier. We currently have an Ergo 360. I went for a hike this week after carrying him in my arms around the library and a few stores and my back is still sore. I thought time to move him from the front to the back but even though the carrier is rated for 45 pounds it does not work for my torso length/shoulder width. I am looking for something to carry the baby this summer hiking in the Wasatch and get him high enough on my back he can see over my shoulders. I'm not as concerned about capacity of the pack because I had originally been planning to carry the rest of our weight on my front.

Car seat. His height is the main issue here, growing out of his infant seat. Guidelines now encourage you to keep children rear facing for 4 or 5 years. I have seen and am interested in the rotating seats but haven't done much of a deep dive. Cost is a non issue.

Cargo bikes. Sore subject at my house, I would like to order a bakfiets. Has anyone gone down this route? Built to be functional they are about the same price as a used car. I cruise KSL but very little shows up used which I assume means there is an exchange I am unaware of. Would love to hear about ebike/cargo bike experience with kiddos.

[Buzzworthy]

My daughter was always lanky. I’m not the tallest guy myself and she’s 6’. This Recaro seat worked great once out of the rear facing but that was before this 4-5 years old recommendation.
Anyway they make great products and are built well and well worth the cost.
https://www.recaro-kids.com/products...ite-2-car-seat

[waveshello]

Backpack carrier.

Car seat.

Cargo bikes.

Our first born daughter is 2 years 3 months, but is taller than many 3 year olds. I think 31" or 32".

1. Osprey Poco Plus seems to be well loved and works great for us, our girl loved riding in it from about 6 months old to now--she's getting close to the upper limit on size but she also loves to walk on her own a lot more now. It's very adjustable for adult and child and comfortable for both.

2. We have the Graco extend2fit seat. Does rear and forward facing, can allow for quite a bit of leg room in the rear facing config. More than likely your mid row seat legroom will be the limiting factor there, not the seat. She likes it, it's easy, cupholders are great, sometimes less is more.

3. Cargo bikes look awesome, people who have them seem to like them a lot, but don't seem to keep them long after kids start to ride on their own. If you can afford it, why not. I would. If not, I think the top tier option for carrying kids is still the forward facing seat on the rear rack. Kids love it, it doesn't effect the handling characteristics of the bike very much, you don't have to think about where trailer wheels are going. Trailers suck. Those seats that put the kids in front of you look great unless you need to pedal!

[MarcusBrody]

Congratulations to all the dads with new babies in this thread.

A couple of questions about transportation. What is working for you all? The baby is 8 months now, over 20 pounds and gaining close to a pound a month. Somewhere around 29 inches, i.e., pretty damn tall for his age which is life's great joke if you've met me.

Backpack carrier. We currently have an Ergo 360. I went for a hike this week after carrying him in my arms around the library and a few stores and my back is still sore. I thought time to move him from the front to the back but even though the carrier is rated for 45 pounds it does not work for my torso length/shoulder width. I am looking for something to carry the baby this summer hiking in the Wasatch and get him high enough on my back he can see over my shoulders. I'm not as concerned about capacity of the pack because I had originally been planning to carry the rest of our weight on my front.

Car seat. His height is the main issue here, growing out of his infant seat. Guidelines now encourage you to keep children rear facing for 4 or 5 years. I have seen and am interested in the rotating seats but haven't done much of a deep dive. Cost is a non issue.

Cargo bikes. Sore subject at my house, I would like to order a bakfiets. Has anyone gone down this route? Built to be functional they are about the same price as a used car. I cruise KSL but very little shows up used which I assume means there is an exchange I am unaware of. Would love to hear about ebike/cargo bike experience with kiddos.

I can only speak to a couple of these, but I carried my kid all over in both a variety of soft front/backpacks and a structured Thule backpack. I really liked one of our soft carriers as it basically sandwiched him between two layers of fabric vs. one side carrier/one side body as I found it much easier to get him onto my back one he was larger. But I don't think they make that one anymore and my quick Google didn't turn up anything. The structured carrier was nice because it 1. put some weight on the hips 2. let me pack other stuff in its lower pockets 3. Let my son sit up a bit higher to see and (a bit later) eat his morning cheerios without spitting them all into my hair. It did add a good deal of weight though and was bulky. We spent a summer in the (lower) Indian Himalayas when my son turned two and we didn't even take the big backpack. I just lugged him all over in the soft carrier. It was nice as it kept the weight very close to my body, but was a bit of a pain to carry extra stuff (and my son was pretty light). I couldn't find a good picture of how he entered the soft carrier, but here it is on my back. He was sitting pretty low due to where I had to set things up so the hip belt sat on my waste not above my belly button. I'm pretty tall though. I found another picture with my wife wearing him and he can basically look over her shoulder.



Car seat-wise: I suspect that any of the big brand upper-tier, rotating-base car seats would be fine, just test them out in your car if you can as I found that they had some differences in how well they interfaced with the seats of our particular car. Babys R Us used to be great in that they'd let you take a couple out to your car and try it, but I think they're out of business now. IF there's something in your area that would let you see how they fit, I'd go and do that. We didn't worry about trying to get 3 in 1 (rear/front/booster) capabilities and only now bought a dedicated booster seat a month before he turns 7. The upper tier convertibles (with the rotating bases and the fully upper headrest/wing portions that raise) are pretty great and will cover your kid for a long time.

Heh, looking up the convertibles now, I'm not sure one of our seats doesn't convert into a high backed booster. I'll have to check that out...

[anotherVTskibum]

Speaking of forward- vs rear-facing, how are people doing convincing the kids to stay rear facing? Our 18-month-old, who is on the tall side, has taken to fighting each and every attempt to put him in a rear-facing seat. I suspect that it has something to do with seeing his older sister facing forward and wanting to see more than the seat back mirror allows. We'd obviously like to keep him rear-facing per the guidelines, but the risk of him ending up with a concussion from trying to escape as we put him in rear-facing (not to mention lower-leg injury as he's learned to reach out with his leg to keep the door from closing) is starting to seem like more of a risk than ending up in a crash.

[schuss]

My personal takes/experience to the above:
1. We used the deuter kid comfort for hiking and some various front/back carriers for day to day. You'll find one you like and go with it.
2. We're a big fan of the Britax clicktight series as they have better weight ranges and can actually be changed out in five minutes or less. Diono also makes some solid seats that are skinnier than most. We flipped to front facing one their legs started to be really awkward/uncomfortable rear facing. Probably earlier than most, but the constant complaints from the kiddos wore us down.
3. I'm going to be honest, with the state of inattentive driving out there, I don't even road bike much. If you're excited about it and ready to do battle with cars, you do you, but unless I lived in a bike friendly area I don't think I'd enjoy having a heavier, more awkward bike with my kids to worry about.

[funkendrenchman]

Cargo bikes are great if you live in a bike friendly area. Pretty much everyone here has ditched chariots for riding around town. People use them for errands, playgrounds, play dates, school, daycare.

The bike of choice here is the Rad Wagon. Only seen a couple Bakfiets and they look way less fun.

[jackattack]

Cargo bikes. Sore subject at my house, I would like to order a bakfiets. Has anyone gone down this route? Built to be functional they are about the same price as a used car. I cruise KSL but very little shows up used which I assume means there is an exchange I am unaware of. Would love to hear about ebike/cargo bike experience with kiddos.

my nickel's worth:

I had a Larry vs Harry Bullitt for a while. I really enjoyed it, but the dog wouldn't stay in so it didn't make sense for us to keep it. The ride is energetic, it handles like a high-end road/touring bike, and once underway it maintained speed very well. It does not ride like a cadillac, being designed for smooth danish bike paths and not 'merican chipseal shoulders and gutters. I've considered an ebullet for the future when there are kid(s) to haul around. Personally, I think that the bakfiets style bikes are better for daily use. You can keep an eye on the kids, they have a great view of the road ahead, and the weight is down low so the bike handles very well. The long tails are less expensive, particularly the rad-wagon, but in terms of quality there is no comparison. My wife rides a radrunner 1 mile to work and back during the warm months. I think for the $600 we have into it, the Rad is a good buy but it's not very comfortable for me and the handling is garbage. It is fun a fun little moped when we go 2-up to a friends house for cocktails and dinner.

If it will be a primary mode of transport and you can comfortably afford it, I'd go for the Bullitt.

edit- The Bullitt is about half the weight of a normal bakfiets being hydroformed aluminum, and quite a bit narrower. If you haven't yet, look them up.

[carlh]

I have a nicer long tail, yuba spicy curry, that I bought when my son was almost 2. He is 6 now and we still use it to drag his 20” up hills and to good places for him to ride, not sure you can drag a kids bike on a front loader easily. First year I bought it I did day care drop off then 10 miles each way to work 4 days a week. The long tails are more fun to ride and easier to store than a front loader.
Short version if you live someplace bike friendly buy a cargo bike they are awesome. Long tails ride better unloaded and front loaders are easier for loading little kids and for heavy loads.

[Mani_UT]

. Would love to hear about ebike/cargo bike experience with kiddos.

On the cargo bike subject, we used a Benno boost (mid tail ebike) and it can carry a lot with appropriate paniers and accessories.
The kid loved it. He even cried some days when younger leaving daycare only to see I was picking him up in the car instead of the bike!
Great for going to trails or riding on scenic routes too.

[alpinevibes]

Congratulations to all the dads with new babies in this thread.

A couple of questions about transportation. What is working for you all? The baby is 8 months now, over 20 pounds and gaining close to a pound a month. Somewhere around 29 inches, i.e., pretty damn tall for his age which is life's great joke if you've met me.

Backpack carrier. We currently have an Ergo 360. I went for a hike this week after carrying him in my arms around the library and a few stores and my back is still sore. I thought time to move him from the front to the back but even though the carrier is rated for 45 pounds it does not work for my torso length/shoulder width. I am looking for something to carry the baby this summer hiking in the Wasatch and get him high enough on my back he can see over my shoulders. I'm not as concerned about capacity of the pack because I had originally been planning to carry the rest of our weight on my front.

Car seat. His height is the main issue here, growing out of his infant seat. Guidelines now encourage you to keep children rear facing for 4 or 5 years. I have seen and am interested in the rotating seats but haven't done much of a deep dive. Cost is a non issue.

Cargo bikes. Sore subject at my house, I would like to order a bakfiets. Has anyone gone down this route? Built to be functional they are about the same price as a used car. I cruise KSL but very little shows up used which I assume means there is an exchange I am unaware of. Would love to hear about ebike/cargo bike experience with kiddos.

We had two Ergos and Dueter Kid Comfort Active packs. Once the boys passed ~18mo we were pretty much full-time with Dueters. They're happy with visibility and their own space and we're not sweating with a small human stuck to our backs with the Ergo.

Car seats: FWIW: Federal recommendations are for rear facing "as long as possible" but really until ~3y/o. https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.go...y-age-size.pdf

Our boys are tall and grew out of the Chicco KeyFit 30 by 14mo. We switched them to the Clek fllo and they stayed rear facing till they were almost 2.5. If nothing else, it didn't really work for their long legs in our car to stay rear facing, but they were also 100% over it. The Clek's are awesome, super safe both forward and rear-facing (with the rebound bar) and we were able to order ours with a wool blend fabric. Highly recommend.

We also have Wayb Pico travel car seats which live in my car, and are rarely used, but fully certified and a game changer if you're on planes regularly and/or wanting your "own" car seat when you travel somewhere. A bit expensive, but pretty sweet: https://wayb.com/products/pico-car-seat

Cargo bikes: the bakfiets and that style look cool but we weren't in a position to drop $5-8k. Once the beater townie+chariot was a bit too much for my wife to manage we bought a Blix Packa Genie e-cargo bike. Aspen is very bike friendly and relatively flat around town, but efficiency and the ability to for my wife to not be super sweaty rolling into work was the kicker for getting the e-bike. It was under $3k with accessories and tax and has been great for commuting, school drop off, store runs and everything else.

[The SnowShow]

This ski season has been my favorite with our little girl. Her progression into skiing solid expert terrain with us has been just so exciting. She’s typically a very cautious kid and the same was true with skiing up to this point. She had good style but was overcautious. Things just clicked this season….this is the best.

[ghosthop]

The stoke is high.

My boy has now met all 5 of his living great-grandparents. We have photos of me when I was his age playing with the other great-grandchildren and now I’m one of the parents smiling in the background. It makes me think one day I’ll get to be white haired and playing on the floor surrounded by babies.

Family can be a tough thing but I’m glad to have helped make more of us.

[Boissal]

The stoke is high.

My boy has now met all 5 of his living great-grandparents. We have photos of me when I was his age playing with the other great-grandchildren and now I’m one of the parents smiling in the background. It makes me think one day I’ll get to be white haired and playing on the floor surrounded by babies.

Family can be a tough thing but I’m glad to have helped make more of us.

That's amazing! Both my grandparents on my mom's side were alive when my sis had her first kiddo, unfortunately grandpa had AZ disease and didn't really get it. Grandma's still around and now has 2 great grandkids she gets to see a lot but she agonizes over the fact that she may not ever meet her soon to be 3rd great grandkid since I'm an asshole and decided to procreate across the pond in the US.

Having met 5 great grandparents is quite the accomplishment!

[Dromond]

Dads, please tell me all your tricks for riding bikes with kids. We just took our 17 month old on an overnight trip on a rail trail outside of Seattle - 20 miles per day on gravel/dirt with some gradual climbing. It worked out pretty well and the hand-me-down trailer added a ton of storage space, but it’s also pretty rough and rattle-y. That didn’t stop little one from falling asleep two times so it can’t have been too bad.

Anyways I’d love to hear your secrets/war stories from riding on dirt, touring or mtbing with toddlers. I’d love to mtb on actual trails (even if super easy ones) with my kid some day, but I’m not sure what the best way is. I know someone who rides that Tout Terrain trailer thing, but it’s super expensive and I think I’d have some fitment issues with my bike. The kid-sits-on-top-tube device seems like the obvious next step and perhaps the superior mode - but my girl is small and might not be ready for that for another year.

[SchralphMacchio]

Little kids riding on a rigid or hardtail, on anything with bumps/roots/holes is pretty tricky - regardless of where they sit - because they don’t know when the bumps are coming and their neck gets kind of whipped down and strained a little. Even the smallest little root will whip their heads unless you are rolling it with both of your feet on the ground at less than walking pace. I started taking my daughter at 11 months. I had the least interference issues with a Kazam iBert which has a 3 point harness and a padded steering wheel they can hold to brace themselves. When she had very good ability to follow instructions was when the top tube seat made sense - yes core strength helped but ultimately it was her willingness to keep both hands on the bar, her feet in the stirrups, and not slide off the seat that we both started having more fun. Braking was also something I had to re-learn, if you brake too hard the head whips forward, if you go over a roller too fast the head whips forward in the bottom compression then backward off the top. I watched my daughter’s head and talked with her a lot to dictate our trail selection and speed. By the time she was 2.5 we were doing green flow trails at a speed that scarred me (on my FS bike, we don’t go as fast on the steel hardtail)! I got her a full face (Bell Sanction XS goes down to 48 cm) but it was too heavy for her to use until she was 3.5 and she didn’t like it. She’s now 4.5 this summer and that helmet still fits, we will see if she wants to try it again.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ89VqvD...c4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

As far as ride on top seats - the original bolt on Shotgun is terrible because it really sucks to adjust and get on and off. The MacRidemore is expensive but great, and you never see them for sale used for good reason. Shotgun made a second Gen seat that copied (licensed?) the MacRidemore and I haven’t handled it but I’m sure it’s fine. If you keep your stem low or slammed, that little bolt on kids handlebar is great as well. I leave it on my bike and on shuttle days people always wonder: “is that little bar for tricks?,” “is your kid shuttling with you today,” or “is that for climbing?” I always say they are my MTB aero bars.

[carlh]

Trailers suck. Cargo bike for utility duties and a Macride for MTB are what I did.
My son is almost 7 and mostly riding on his own now but Burke Gilman rides with the cargo bike means we ride as far as we want and he can ride home on the back with his bike being dragged.
Macride is super fun until you can’t see over them but is hard work on the hills. Working on actually having him ride his MTB and see a tow strap in my very near future.
We also did a cleary balance bike with 2 hand brakes so he could ride it on easy trails and never did coaster brakes.

Dads, please tell me all your tricks for riding bikes with kids. We just took our 17 month old on an overnight trip on a rail trail outside of Seattle - 20 miles per day on gravel/dirt with some gradual climbing. It worked out pretty well and the hand-me-down trailer added a ton of storage space, but it’s also pretty rough and rattle-y. That didn’t stop little one from falling asleep two times so it can’t have been too bad.

Anyways I’d love to hear your secrets/war stories from riding on dirt, touring or mtbing with toddlers. I’d love to mtb on actual trails (even if super easy ones) with my kid some day, but I’m not sure what the best way is. I know someone who rides that Tout Terrain trailer thing, but it’s super expensive and I think I’d have some fitment issues with my bike. The kid-sits-on-top-tube device seems like the obvious next step and perhaps the superior mode - but my girl is small and might not be ready for that for another year.

[californiagrown]

Dads, please tell me all your tricks for riding bikes with kids. We just took our 17 month old on an overnight trip on a rail trail outside of Seattle - 20 miles per day on gravel/dirt with some gradual climbing. It worked out pretty well and the hand-me-down trailer added a ton of storage space, but it’s also pretty rough and rattle-y. That didn’t stop little one from falling asleep two times so it can’t have been too bad.

Anyways I’d love to hear your secrets/war stories from riding on dirt, touring or mtbing with toddlers. I’d love to mtb on actual trails (even if super easy ones) with my kid some day, but I’m not sure what the best way is. I know someone who rides that Tout Terrain trailer thing, but it’s super expensive and I think I’d have some fitment issues with my bike. The kid-sits-on-top-tube device seems like the obvious next step and perhaps the superior mode - but my girl is small and might not be ready for that for another year.

My boy just turned 20 months. He has been riding on various bike seats (back, front) since he was 10 months. I bought a Shotgun Pro bike seat for him a couple months ago and we have been riding it pretty much every day since. FWIW, he is about 50th percentile height and weight. I live 1.5 blocks from a state park with mellow MTB trails (St Edwards) and so as soon as i get home from work he is chattering away "ride bike, ride bike". So i just quickly change, pop him on the seat and go ride some single track to one of the 4 different playgrounds that are accessed through park trails. the first time we rode at 18 months he kinda fell off at one point because he tried to say Hi and wave at some people on the trail instead of holding onto his little handlebars. I caught him, and he has been really solid ever since. He walked early and is a pretty tough kid though. When i have the time, we just cruise through the woods stopping every so often for snacktime, or to stop at a playground, or to just toddle around on foot climbing on logs and stuff. I learned the hard way to bring a ziplock with wipes/diaper/cream after a blowout about as far from our house as you can get in the park. That was a mess!

You know your kid and their abilities, but it might surprise you how capable the little ones are and how quickly they understand that they actually need to hang on and be active on a Shotgun or Macride type seat. I think what has really helped him (and me) is to be able to ride pretty much every day and to very slowly push their limit a little bit every time whether its new rougher lines, getting off the brakes a little more, or biking 5 extra minutes. It also helps that i can pull the ripcord and be back home in 5-10 minutes if needed, though that has never needed to happen (aside from said diaper blowout). Ive just made sure to focus on fun- we almost always stop at a playground, i always have snacks and a waterbottle, i narrate everything (line choice, roots/rocks, how fast, etc) and chat with him the whole time. i also overdress him as he is getting all the wind, but not having to pedal so he will get colder than me- especially his little hands (tape the bars where he holds on otherwise he is just gripping cold metal). I takes less than 60 seconds to swap the Shotgun pro between my bike and my wife's bike and it is the thing that has gotten her out and actually riding again. That said, i wouldnt suggest the Macride or shotgun for longer rides as they do have to be active participants. For longer, paved rides to the breweries or wineries i just strap him into a standard rear seat that hangs off the seatpost.

And to echo Schralmacchio, you should really just ride the brakes and go slow down trails you dont know like the back of your hand. You cant body-english anything and so little roots and rocks that you would just instinctually just suck up are BIG bumps to your kid, and realizing that too late and grabbing a bunch of brake will pitch them forward hard right before you hit that big bump. You really have to be smooth on the brakes and take it slow on anything thats not very smooth... at least for a while.

As for helmets, it doesnt matter IMO. You shouldnt fall, and neither should they, PERIOD. Treat it like they dont have a helmet. Start slow, go easy, be protective. IMO the helmet is only there to get them used to wearing a helmet and associating a helmet with biking. Once he gets on his own bike (strider or pedal) he will be falling down and a helmet becomes functionally useful. Thats my parenting philosophy on it, YMMV.

[funkendrenchman]

As far as ride on top seats - the original bolt on Shotgun is terrible because it really sucks to adjust and get on and off. The MacRidemore is expensive but great, and you never see them for sale used for good reason. Shotgun made a second Gen seat that copied (licensed?) the MacRidemore and I haven’t handled it but I’m sure it’s fine. If you keep your stem low or slammed, that little bolt on kids handlebar is great as well. I leave it on my bike and on shuttle days people always wonder: “is that little bar for tricks?,” “is your kid shuttling with you today,” or “is that for climbing?” I always say they are my MTB aero bars.

I'll have a Mac-Ride for sale in November if anyone is looking down the road.

[406]

I'm in the ride extra conservative camp and view as a kid activity, not me getting out for a ride(but is good exercise). Got tons of use out of the Kids-ride-shotgun, starting when middle kid was around 2 and during peak lock down. Oldest would ride her bike further than 2 your old could strider, and balancing on my bike really improved her skills when she got back on her bike. I don't put it on my carbon bike, just on the Ti hardtail.

Middle kid and I did a couple overnight bike trips at 3 & 4, if you want to see photos of set up, pretty heavy!:
https://www.strava.com/activities/5362152214
https://www.strava.com/activities/7098768996

This year she is too big for shotgun, so I putting together a seat from amazon that goes on the rack...will see how that works and if I can figure out storage for all the gear.

Youngest loves riding on the shotgun, but middle kid views it as her seat so sometimes a bit of drama there.

[altasnob]

I'll give you an old version of this thing for free if you come pick it up in Tacoma

https://kazambikes.com/collections/c...ert-child-seat

I generally don't like to try to drag my kids along with me on my adventures. I go adventure myself and when I am with my kids, it is their adventure. So I walk and they balance bike. Even cautious kids will be pedaling by 4.

[californiagrown]

I'll give you an old version of this thing for free if you come pick it up in Tacoma

https://kazambikes.com/collections/c...ert-child-seat

We used the Thule Yepp mini for a while which is a similar design. I had to shave some stuff down on the mounting hardware to get it to fit with my short stem, and that front seat design gives you the turning radius of a DH bike unfortunately... so we just cruised on paved paths and the gravel roads to get to playgrounds. Its was great to have until my kid was ready to be an active participant- he liked it way more than the rear seat which i think he found boring.