Biking with kids advice

[peggyfromwastate]

We live now in a very bike able area. All the kids can bike except for dd4. She weighs 40 pounds and she's about 41" tall. Too big for the seat attachments but not too big for the trailers. The trailers wouldn't work well on the street, but I'm guessing they'd be good on trails? Do any of you have advice for what to do with kids who are too big for riding on seats on the bike with the adult but are too small to keep up otherwise? She just turned 4 so she's not nearly ready to ride on her own. I know some kids do that but she can't figure out balance on her balance bike even. Just doesn't like it at all.

[spotty_dog]

We'll be looking into a trail-a-bike soon, would that be an option?

[Amiens]

We have a bike trailer that dd (5 years old) rides in that can also convert into a jogging stroller (Croozer). It's a double because at the time of purchase we had 2 kids that couldn't ride a bike. I think you can get in a single, it is up to 45 lbs, I think. Another option to look at is a bike attachment - it looks like a one wheeled bike with pedals that attaches to the back of the adult bike. If L is not riding next summer we will have her do this.

HTH


Edited because I can't keep my youngest's age right. Keep thinking she is 4 when she just turned 5.

[Sheherezade]

We did the trail a bike. Our kids loved it - but they were able to safely stay on it.

[peggyfromwastate]

We ended up finding this very cool bike attachment at rei-- it's a WeeHoo bike thing. Very cool. We are going to try it tomorrow. I'm so excited!!

Here it is:
http://m.rei.com/mt/www.rei.com/prod...o-trailer-bike


Dd4 is not balanced or reliable enough for the add on bike thing-- I'm really hoping this works!!

And the price is totally out there crazy but we will Craigslist it when we move from here. By then dd will hopefully be a strong enough biker to hold her own with the gang. Craigslist stuff goes for a good price around here on stuff like this-- everyone bikes.

[alison]

Is your dh biking to work? If so, he qualifies for "Clean Air Cash." I believe it's $300/year that you get back for not driving to work. Just google it--it falls under the Department of Transportation site with the university. Every little bit helps!

[peggyfromwastate]

Yes he's biking to work-- but not when he takes call. He has to cover 3 different hospitals for call and it isn't practical to bike. But next year he plans to bike 100% of the time bc he will be at one hospital only--

Thanks for the tip!! I'll make a note to look it up!!

[alison]

Definitely--it goes right into your paycheck each month, from what I remember.

[v-girl]

The Weehoo i-Go looks really cool!

[SoonerTexan]

Peggy...that looks really neat!

I have a slight hijack...do you guys think the seat attachments that go directly on the bike are safe? We'd love to take N out and I know she would love it too, but I'm terrified of what would happen if DH crashed. Of course she would have a helmet on and I guess a trailer has its own issues, but is it safe?

[peggyfromwastate]

I have seen tons of ppl ride with the seat attachments. They look safer to me than bike trailers. The kids always have helmets.

We took the whole family out on a ride. The kids loved it. Even the teen went with us on her cruiser bike. Dd4 loved the seat and did very well in it. Dh had no trouble steering or balancing. I had some difficulty directing ds8!!! But we made it. They ask to go on bike rides all the time now...

[samssugarmomma]

We aren't fans of the bike attachments. I don't know that I have a specific reason......just not a fan.

We have a trailer and while those do have their own risks, the hitch on ours is anti flip so even in one of us crashes, the bike trailer won't turn over as well. This is the bike trailer that we have - http://www.rei.com/product/798370/bu...e-bike-trailer only ours is an older version.

We also have a bike attachment sort of like Peggy's but with pedals.

[Chrisada]

Since R has been riding on his own, we started using a seat attachment for P. He loves it more than the trailer. He has a helmet and I feel he is safe.