Babies on bikes

[Kushan]

Looking for wisdom and advice from the Riv community on riding bikes with babies on them. At what age did you start? What seats, trailers, etc did you use? Where did you ride? 

My little one just turned 6 months old and I am itching to introduce him to bike rides. He can sit on his own and does pretty well in carriers (both facing in and out). He loves being outside and I would love to do a ride with him on a car-free bike paths or (non-technical) dirt trails. Most online resources recommend biking with babies after 1 year of age but I am not sure if that's based on any actual research. 

[Michael Baquerizo]

it might not just be research but also law. you should check in your area. 

i started when we were allowed to, i think still before 1 YO. we used a yepp maxi because i didn’t want to have to buy a mini and then a maxi after he grew out of it. but i regretted not being able to have him in the front with me. 

fast forward a few years and i helped a friend install a mini on his bike w swept back bars. it was impossible to ride around with, and there wasn’t even a kid on it when i tried. turning was impossible. i’m sure there’s an ideal setup for it like a rosco bebbe) but a ‘normal’ bike is not it  

i still use the yepp maxi on a nitto campee rear rack, for sure not rated for his weight and it’s about time i switch out racks for something beefier. 

[Ted W]

My son is about to turn one and I’ve had him in a rear mounted Thule kids seat since he was about 8 months old. Before that, I played around with mounting his car seat base to the metal frame of one of those side-by-side kid trailers. I only ever used it twice, though, before he was old enough to be in the rear seat.

You’re not really supposed to mount car seats to those trailers, but I was able to fabricate a mount that let the base mount the same way it does in the car, allowing the carrier to clip in the same way as it would in the car. Combined with the “roll cage” design of the trailer, I felt comfortable using it for quick rides to the neighborhood park, less than a mile away.

The conventional wisdom I’ve heard is that you need to wait until they can hold their head up well with their helmet on. That was technically 7 months for us, but I waited until he was a little bigger and the helmet gift him better.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/23100a0d-6d3f-4bed-b5f4-b5083cca6a1fn%40googlegroups.com.

[j glenn]

• I didn't get back into riding till my kid was at least 2, but I would highly recommend  a high quality solo trailer. We had a Burley Bee.  The trailer provided a safe roll cage around the kid and didn't effect the bikes handing so I could get some real fitness riding in on a 20 mile 3 playground tour.   We used it for longer rides untill he out grew it.    The biggest advantage to the trailer was the environmental shelter it gave.  The mesh gover protected from sun an bugs and the plastic cover from cold and rain.  We went out in all weather, including out in the snow with studded tires.
• We're riding a Big Dummy now, but it's less used for long rides, as it's less comfortable and not as suitable for "wake me up when we get there".  The back deck is better for standing up and surfing on though.  I have installed Quadrophonic scooters mirrors.....

[Ted W]

> We're riding a Big Dummy now, but it's less used for long rides

Do you have one of the covers for the passengers? I’ve seen some with these and it seems like a really neat option. I’ve been considering a cargo bike but I’m worried about the size of the bike making it tricky to park. I already have trouble navigating my Gus through the office elevator when I ride it to work.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/69bce26c-cd08-46a4-a846-b866ba75c200n%40googlegroups.com.

[Ted Durant]

On Friday, September 1, 2023 at 9:58:35 PM UTC-5 Kushan wrote:

Looking for wisdom and advice from the Riv community on riding bikes with babies on them. At what age did you start? What seats, trailers, etc did you use? Where did you ride? 

Mind you, this is 30+ years old ... we put our daughters in their car seats in our Burley trailer to start, about 1 year old. Got hit by a car once, luckily a very slow motion event, 90+ year old making a left turn from a 4-way stop pushed us into the curb. Nobody hurt, and I felt pretty good about the overall safety of the setup, but of course a higher speed incident would have been much different. We also used a rear rack mounted seat, but I never liked that setup; terrible balance and a much bigger distance to fall if the bike goes over. We rode lots of places around Milwaukee, using the bike path as much as possible, quieter public streets elsewhere. 

The trailer lasted well into childhood for our two daughters. Most important thing was that every ride had to be about the food. We still have it and are hoping our grandchildren will ride in it soon.

Ted Durant

Milwaukee, WI USA

[Anthony Beauchemin]

I waited until my kiddo was 1 before putting her on the bike. Up until that point I got her used to the idea of being on the bike so it wouldn’t seem so weird to her. One thing that really helped was the drawing of the baby on the bike on my Riv coffee mug! I would show her that and tell her that would be her and she would get really excited about it. Then when I got her helmet I would let her wear it around the house. By the time we put her on the bike she was comfortable and excited to ride! 

I initially took her around the neighborhood and through alleyways to get us both used to riding, then worked my way up to longer rides. I’m a stay at home dad so the majority of my riding is with my daughter now, I use an Ahearne cycle truck that has been given new life as a “precious cargo bike”. She loves it and helps when we bomb down hills!

[Piaw Na]

I used the Chariot Cougar: https://blog.piaw.net/2011/12/review-chariot-cougar-1-strollerbike.html. It doubles as the world's most luxurious stroller until they turn 10 and can wear helmets easily. We used the heck out of this thing 2 kids and used it everywhere, but to be honest once we got the triplet the kids lost interest once they were big enough to use the triplet (though occasionally we'd tow it along so that the smaller kid could shift to the trailer after falling asleep on the triplet). If you don't already have a trailer you'll keep this one as a trailer long after the kids stop using it. Trailers are useful!

[Eric Norris]

I really don’t want to sound like I’m giving parenting advice, but … way back when my kids were this age, we were advised to 1) put a helmet on them and 2) wait until their neck muscles were strong enough to support both their head and the helmet. We eventually bought a trailer (forget the brand), which neither kid ever really liked. 

--Eric Norris
campyo...@me.com
Insta: @CampyOnlyGuy
YouTube: YouTube.com/CampyOnlyGuy 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/fbbf0dc1-8489-43a3-8af3-1f280847cdb2n%40googlegroups.com.

[Ted Durant]

On Saturday, September 2, 2023 at 11:25:37 AM UTC-5 campyo...@me.com wrote:

 2) wait until their neck muscles were strong enough to support both their head and the helmet. 

Well, we had our kids in a car seat (strapped into the Burley trailer) until they were truly strong enough to sit up, meaning they were toddlers at that point. So, in the car seat, they had plenty of head support and didn't seem to mind the helmet we had for them.

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

Hi Kushan,

Oh, I so know that excitement you feel about introducing your baby to biking. It’s wonderful that you want to share it and it will be such a bonding experience between the both of you as he grows up.

Is the plan to put him in a bike seat on your bike? Or in a cargo bike? In a car seat inside a cargo bike? I think the last option is the only one I could safely recommend, and maybe not even that. I am a nurse, and I won’t ever forget the part of our pediatrics training that talked about the microtears that can be caused even by bouncing a baby too hard. You can damage their little eyes, their brains, and their neck muscles, which really aren’t meant to support much until after one year of age. Now, if a pediatrician happens to be on here and would like to offer advice, I’d love to hear it, but from what I can remember in peds training, it wouldn’t be safe to take baby on a bike seat until next year. 

I’m sorry!

Leah

On Friday, September 1, 2023 at 10:58:35 PM UTC-4 Kushan wrote:

[Eliot Balogh]

A trailer is the safest option. If you go that route I would consider a Thule or older Chariot (these can be had very inexpensively). They have weight adjustable suspension and you can use an infant sling. The general age recommendation is to wait until 12-18 months but we certainly started closer to 6 months (My wife and I are both nurse practitioners and got the Ok from his pediatrician). It will very from child to child but once they are demonstrating strong head and neck control they should be ok in an infant sling.

I personally prefer a Thule Maxi seat on a rack behind me. It’s just nice not having to deal with the weight and logistics of a trailer. We only just started doing that on our Cargo E bike now that he’s 16 months and gets to ride to daycare. 

Eliot

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/4500cdae-b909-418b-bd21-25eea858c903n%40googlegroups.com.

[Patrick Moore]

+1 for a trailer. One advantage of a trailer is that you can use it with a bike that is not well suited for a heavy load on the rear rack; and I agree, they don't change the handling and feel of the bike as much as a big and high rear-rack weight does. And they allow easier mounting.

Mine was a "doublewide" and let me combine child hauling with grocery shopping: my daughter and I would combine bicycle fun with grocery shopping on Saturday mornings, she on one side, the paper grocery sacks on the other, usually with a helium balloon or two in our slipstream.

My tractor was a early-edition Raleigh Technium sports tourer, a tank with long stays and flexy tubes stuck into gaspipe lugs, but with 32 mm tires (fat at the time, early '00s) it was very plush. I had it set up with a 67" fixed gear, just right: low enough to grunt Catie and groceries up minor hills or pull the doublewide against headwinds, fast enough to keep up with modest tailwinds.

You don't need a name brand. I forget what I had; it was decent but not a Burley or a Thule; Avocet? It worked fine and by the time you get to the point of experiencing the longevity of an expensive brand your child has long outgrown it. I did later get a used Burley trail-a-bike but by the time my daughter was old enough to ride it she was embarrassed to be seen on it and demanded her own bike.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CAALGE1W26c557aGjkTv4Pa8NLcmJPQb5ZaNZZu-tfsZhX1ZN-w%40mail.gmail.com.

--

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters,

and other less well defined but still important writing services.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When thou didst not, savage,

Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like

A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes

With words that made them known.

Tempest Act 1 Scene 2

[SallyG]

We used a Burley double-wide when our kids were 2 and 3.5...We hooked it to my husband's old Giant mountain bike. Traffic was non-existent or very light since we lived on a small island. The kids liked it because they could bring various stuffed animals, so we could get a long-ish ride in ...When we moved to San Diego, the trailer seemed too wide for the streets so we got a Tag-a-long...it didn't seem as safe and, by that time, the kids wanted to ride their own bikes...so we didn't use it much. (P.S. I'm another nurse...seems like nurses choose Rivendell, ha!)

[Bones]

For whatever reason I have never considered a trailer. I always assumed we could communicate and enjoy the ride better if the kids were on the bike with me. I started my oldest at nine months, which was when the tiniest helmet I could find would fit her massive head. The front mount seat is the best in my opinion. You can interact a lot more and they get to see everything you see. Once she outgrew that I moved her to a rear seat, and put lil man in the front. Eventually they reached the weight limits and I switched over to a cargo bike (Xtracycle Stoker). Now big sis, lil man and baby girl all fit on the back. We go everywhere on it. Love it. I was able to get rid of a car and I can accommodate all three kids easily.

Bones

[Leah Peterson]

If you’re a RivSister who is also a nurse I love you extra! A double sisterhood.

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 3, 2023, at 12:52 PM, Bones <ekstr...@gmail.com> wrote:

For whatever reason I have never considered a trailer. I always assumed we could communicate and enjoy the ride better if the kids were on the bike with me. I started my oldest at nine months, which was when the tiniest helmet I could find would fit her massive head. The front mount seat is the best in my opinion. You can interact a lot more and they get to see everything you see. Once she outgrew that I moved her to a rear seat, and put lil man in the front. Eventually they reached the weight limits and I switched over to a cargo bike (Xtracycle Stoker). Now big sis, lil man and baby girl all fit on the back. We go everywhere on it. Love it. I was able to get rid of a car and I can accommodate all three kids easily.

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/LDBrGdOz6zM/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/ce5d5c04-a362-4a5c-82ce-b74075b7b18dn%40googlegroups.com.

[Sally Bidleman]

Love back! And more RNs...my (RN) son is marrying his (RN) girlfriend in 2 weeks...woo-hoo...

Have a great day...I'm putting on my new Crane bell today and going for a ride:)

Sally

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/0BE49776-C12B-4327-BB11-2E142E75819E%40gmail.com.

[Patrick Moore]

I'm sorry, but I'm waxing nostalgic, so here are more baby-on-bike-or-trike vignettes. Catie graduated from college in June and is visiting us for a month before a planned move to NYC with friends. She's with me now.

Age barely 2, I bought her a Radio Flyer toddler tricycle with fat 8" (?) pneumatic tires and -- odd! -- a freewheel on the direct-drive front wheel pedals but no blinking brake! and a decoupable parent-steering tiller in the rear, together with net bag for miscellanea. I live 1/4 mile from an Albertson's and she'd ride through the aisles while I filled the bag with groceries, the rest carried home by hand.

Later she had the typical sh*te 12" wheel toddler bike with training wheels and she'd ride that through the grocery store aisles. Recall one traumatic trip home, me overburdened with half a dozen grocery sacks in both hands, and a bicycle upset negotiating a ADA sidewalk ramp with resulting howling and snickers from passers-by. A Strider would have worked much better.

Over and out.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing services.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Toshi Takeuchi]

I thought I was extremely stable with my Burley solo.  Kids started at about 11 months with helmet.  I had books and music with them and they loved it.  (Slept a lot too!)  I had them on a tandem with child stoker kid at 2 1/2 and later tandem + burley followed by triplet with both my kids.  I had a rear seat on my mountain bike.  It was much more unstable because when they moved around, the balance changed dramatically.  No problems moving around in the trailer.  

Bicycling often was a way to give my wife a break, so I biked a lot with my kids!  I just dropped off my son at college, so time flies!

Enjoy,

Toshi

[Kushan]

What a great discussion! Thanks everyone for the suggestions and the stories.

Leah & Eric - I hear you about the safety. My son can hold his neck upright pretty well right now but I failed to take into account the added weight of the helmet. Head bobbing is also another good point I didn't think about before. 

So it seems like most people started between the ages of 9 months to 18 months. Those who started earlier used trailers or car seats for extra protection and head stability. I was excited to start him earlier than 12 months, but given everyone's responses here, we are now thinking of waiting till one year to be on the safer side (months 9 to 12 for us are anyways going to be overlapping with the winter). 

In terms of seats vs. trailers, looks like a lot of folks end up going the trailer or rear-mounted seat route. We'll probably have to try multiple options and see what works, but my wife and I are more attracted to the front mounted seat option. Our thinking (similar to Bones above) is that having the baby in the front where we can see or interact with him seems like a more fun experience for both the baby and parents. These days, we love walking around with the baby in the carrier and front mounted child seat feels like a bike version of it. Granted that he will age out of this option by year 2, we still feel that the experience will be worth the extra cost and mounting effort. Our plan is to start with Thule Yepp Mini on my Appalossa with Albatross bars (we'll have to watch out for the clearance issue Michael mentioned above). We are not much of utility riders and most, if not all, our rides with the baby will be on car-free paved or dirt paths. This makes me feel a little better about opting out of the safety that trailers provide. But only the time will tell what this baby is going to like. 

[Alex Wirth]

Take a spin through my instagram for the progression of various set-ups.  Truth is you'll probably want several options to suit the Bike Lyfe :-)

https://www.instagram.com/yellowhausbicycles/?hl=en

Can't say enough about front-mounted options....along with a bakfiets.

Both our kids started in the bakfiets in a click-in infant car seat (both I think around 6 mos).  

Have fun!!

[Bernard Duhon]

Burley recommends 20 months for their child trailer that’s very conservative but the doting grandmother insisted so we did. After they grew out of it the trailer Was and is and excellent grocery and whatever hauler

it have passed it around and is back at my house waiting for great grandchildren

Get Outlook for iOS

---

From: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com <rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Ted W <ted.l...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 2, 2023 7:21:53 AM
To: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com <rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [RBW] Re: Babies on bikes

 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CANCvShqj1EE%2BGQZLNjOH3%3DFU1-wHP1d%2BGz2c-vobqt1N-P6Bzg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Davey Two Shoes]

I've had my little dude on the back of the bike since he was 1. He loves it. First I used my Sam but now I use my Karate Monkey. Its better for the job.

[Pat Smith]

Not too much to add other than I tried a front mounted seat at about 9-10 months given that my kid was strong enough to hold their head up with a helmet. The top tube + baby seat wasn't functional on any of my 3 bikes. It didn't matter either way because the kid hated the bike helmet. I waited another 4 or 5 months till the next spring and went with a rear mounted bike seat, which the kid enjoyed. Been doing daily 9 mile round trip daycare pick-ups and here is a photo of the very last one before they started pre-school. Also just took them in for their 3 year check up and they are now 40 pounds, right at the weight limit for the Yepp Maxi seat.

We have a 2nd due in January and I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it to get a box bike and adapt it to hold a baby in a car seat or if I should just give up on my dreams of getting the baby on the bike for the first year. DC is about to pass a $1000 rebate for cargo e-bikes purchased in the city so I've been eying my choice of future baby hauling machine. I imagine I'll wind up with a long tail but I need to do a lot of test rides first.

Smitty in DC

[Alex Wirth]

Sounds like you’re doing it right to me, Smitty!

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/LDBrGdOz6zM/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/55d1e267-f4c7-48fc-88ce-c0dac116f4f3n%40googlegroups.com.

[John Dewey]

Y'all, 

Dewey kids started riding bikes shortly after they were born. Kid #2, our son, had his first bike ride at 6 weeks in a little baby 'backpack carrier' along some gravel roads in Northern Minnesota in 1981. When he was 2 years old he 'graduated' (got bumped up) to the back of our good ol' Santana tandem and at age 3 he finished a half-century. Both kids had completed centurys by their 3rd birthdays. In 1996, we rode same tandem from Seattle to Thief River Falls, MN, mostly along tiny Canadian backroads. Purist magic!

And 42 years later now, we are still riding together...the best riding pal I've ever had. And so grateful for it.

--

[Kushan]

John - that's legendary! 

[Kushan]

Smitty - 

May I ask what didn't work about the front seat set up? Was it leg clearance for yourself? Being able to steer (as someone else pointed out earlier). The set up videos of these seats make it look so easy to set up and ride, so I am wondering if there is something specific (like size of frame, presence of horizontal top tub etc) that makes it difficult to use them. 

I haven't spent much time on a bakfiet/cargo bike but they look so fun and functional.

[Michael Baquerizo]

RE helmets, they tell you to get your kid in a helmet at home so that they get used to it. Or just leave it out for them to play with. 

We got lucky that ours never had beef with one, 4 years now and still mostly doesnt have an issue putting one on.

[Toshi Takeuchi]

Re: Helmets

Back when my son was about 2 yrs old, about 16 years ago, there were only kids helmets that were pointy in front and pointy in back, so when he sat in a trailer, his head would be forced forward and he couldn't rest his head in the back.  Understandably, he hated the helmet and one ride, he decided he had enough and managed to take the helmet off and shove it out of the meshed enclosure out the front of the trailer and onto the street.

Luckily just around that time, the first kid helmets with a flat back were sold, and thereafter he was able to lie back in the trailer and didn't mind helmets (that were comfortable).

Toshi in Oakland, CA

[Pat Smith]

Kushan - that's right no room for my legs or knees! My flat bar hybrid bike provides the most clearance given it's long top tube but it was still uncomfortable. Mountain bikes with very long top tubes may do better. 

Smitty

On Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at 12:26:40 PM UTC-4 Kushan wrote:

[Will Boericke]

Trailer for me when my kids were small.  Don't like that unpredictable weight up high and they grow fast, so any up top solution is very impermanent.  They'll be towing me around soon :)

Will

[David Pulsipher]

I started as soon as they could hold their head up to have a helmet on, so typically about 5-6 months.

Using a DIY kid seat adapter on my Surly Big Dummy - raving success with all four of my children.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Crs5-qwuVxl/

[Christian B-H]

John Dewey, that is inspiring stuff! Thanks for sharing the story and photo. My 11month old just went for her first ride in the burley trailer today behind the Platypus. She’s been jogging with us before in it, and worn her helmet around the house. Bounced around a bit more than I’d have liked, but a safe and happy start!

[Josh Zielinski]

Kickbacks are the best!!!

If you have the room for one setting up a tandem like the one in picture is 100% the most fun way to ride with a kid (not a baby).  Really engaging and bonding style to go about!

Sheldon Brown and some tandem outfitter site (name escapes me) had tons of great information!

Kidback to crankarm shortness to regular ol tandem is the process.

Josh Z

Oregon

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CA%2BkTrE4BQ9a81v1SwWKm3edL4g9WP3iHTB4Jxjpw7nPhAvUocQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Frakern]

I had the Yepp Mini on the front of my Cheviot from when my son was around 1 year to 2.5 years old and even with albatross bars on it with bar end shifters I didn't have a problem with legs or steering.

[Jesse Dubus]

I went through this just a few months ago. Before my son was born last February I rode either a very lightweight steel racing bike or a Surly Steamroller single speed, neither of which would work at all for carrying a child. I'd admired the Rivs my friends have for a long while so it was a great excuse to buy a Hillborne frame which I built up with a Thule Yepp Next Mini. Originally I had had visions of using the bike both as a baby commuter and a light cross bike, but I haven't done the latter and I'm not sure I ever will.

I'm very happy with how it turned out although I'd probably do things slightly differently if I knew then what I know now. First of all, I should have made the connection that riding with a child is basically the same as doing fully loaded touring, which I did a lot of in my 20s. A Hillborne is burly enough, but I'd probably just get an Atlantis if I could choose from any frame and start over. I also would size up as much as possible. I got a 54cm and fits well, but the cockpit is certainly tight with the kiddo. Albastache bars work great though if the kid sits back and up straight his head is just under my chin. Likewise my knees just barely clear the bottom of the seat on the top of peddlestrokes. I think I'd be happy with the 57cm tradeoff.

My kid started riding at 10 months. I would have started at nine months when we was already holding his head up strongly but I had to wait for the Sams to come out and then to finish the build. He mildly resisted the helmet but got used to it quickly and seemed to take to riding right away. He especially loves riding when his mom is around. We've got a tandem coming soon that I can't wait for us all to ride together. He's a big kid and in six months (when he's two) I'll probably transition him to the rear. I have no regrets starting him out front though; it's nice to be able to see him and my guess is he prefers it also. Mostly we ride on errands in the western half of SF and through Golden Gate Park, but occasionally we ride from one end of the city to the other and back. It's a workout since a fair amount of climbing is unavoidable, but comfortable enough for both of us. This summer we went camping in Yosemite Valley and rode all over the valley together, and those rides will be fond memories for the rest of my life.

Oh, and for anyone considering the Yepp Next Mini, don't make my mistake and plan on using a canti brake up front: they're not compatible with the Thule seat.

[Chung Eun Kim]

I'm almost ready to get A Homer Hilsen and planning to use it as a baby hauling bike.

Has anyone tried using the frame mounted child seat in the rear or the stem mounted child seat?

I wonder if there's any concern with frame mounted seat compared to rack mounted seat.

[Piaw Na]

I definitely think that too few parents consider tandems/triplets for their kids. I have a custom kidback built by the late Peter Johnson and my kids rode them a lot when they were small. Here's what they looked like when they were 4 and 7 riding in Switzerland: 

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WoGpbwSHABs/XSHtSl9rWQI/AAAAAAAE7y4/DQlYnVWKC845Ako73oKKfMFopttW1sdFACKgBGAs/s1600/IMG_20190615_131810.jpg

The 4 year old would fall asleep in the middle of the afternoon and we'd have to take a nap break for him, but those days go by fast and today he's 8 and speeding to school on his Woom 5 and his mom cannot keep up with him without turning on the ebike motor. In preschool he was one of the first kids to learn to ride a bike with pedals and no training wheels. He showed up for the school's bike race and from way back lapped the field twice. We sold a lot of Woom 2s that day. :-)

[Kushan]

@jdubus - that is very encouraging to hear. With my 60 Appaloosa, looks like I have unintentionally managed to take care of your recommendations on sturdier frame and larger size. If you have any pictures of your set up with Thule mini and albatross bar (that's what I am running as well), please do share for some inspiration!

@piaw - what a cool idea! When did you start your kids on tandems? I imagine it's also a good way to get them on a pedaled bikes before they can do it solo. 

[Piaw Na(藍俊彪)]

I started at 3.5 years old for the older one (it took longer than 9 months to deliver the bike): https://blog.piaw.net/2015/02/first-impression-co-motion-periscope.html

The younger one started at 2 years. The first time he got onto that bike he pulled his feet out of the pedals because he didn't know he was supposed to pedal. But he got the point real quick. At 4 years old he was not much better than a bike decoration (we joked that his job was to look cute), but now he's easily putting out enough power to do major climbs. At 5 years old the older one was tall enough to ride without the kidback kit. At 4 the younger one (who's probably going to be taller than I am as an adult) ditched the kidback.

I believe (and have not found any documentation to contradict this) that we're the first triplet with kids under 12 to make it over the top of the Stelvio pass in Italy. https://blog.piaw.net/2022/07/tour-of-alps-2022.html

Piaw

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/LDBrGdOz6zM/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/5174abf4-bb97-4ed5-9fb6-c3daedfbb301n%40googlegroups.com.

[Jesse Dubus]

He enjoys riding bikes much more than the second picture would suggest.

On Wed, Sep 27, 2023 at 9:21 AM Kushan <kth...@gmail.com> wrote:

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/LDBrGdOz6zM/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/5174abf4-bb97-4ed5-9fb6-c3daedfbb301n%40googlegroups.com.

[Kushan]

I am happy to report that my son has started a grueling indoor training regime to prepare for his first outside bike ride in 3 months :)