Biking with a toddler - try it, you’ll love it
By
on
October 10th, 2005
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Biking with your small kid(s) in the bike seat is not only great transportation but it’s also an excellent way to spend some quality time together. The perfect age is somewhere between one year and the time your child is confident on a regular bike. So anywhere between one and four years. You can bring the kid(s) on your city bike with no gears or on the hard core mountain bike. And the kids LOVE riding on the back of the bike. Here in Sweden you see lots of kids on the back of the bike but I’ve seen very few in US. I think it’s shame. If we still lived in NYC you bet we would have the little one strapped on the back of our bikes. I’m afraid the misconception is that you need to be Lance Armstrong to bring your child on your bike. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you can bike a normal bike down the street you are ready to strap your kid in the bike seat.
It’s a great feeling pedaling down the road with your child smiling in the back. Kids love the bike seat. It’s so relaxing most fall asleep during longer rides. Me and Sandra enjoy the most extreme mountain biking possible. Where you struggle to hike, that’s where we love to bike. But of course not with the kid. Normal roads, parks, or scenic gravel roads is our most common terrain. Occasionally we go on some narrow single track but not often because of safety reasons. We don’t go on any extreme trails but we still bike on very steep roads. Most of the biking we do is around Stockholm but our most fun trip so far was a week with Daniel and the bikes in the Norwegian mountains. The very first time we put Daniel in the bike seat he was a bit hesitant because of the bike helmet. It must have felt weird strapping that on for the very first time. But after that it has been all smiles. Below you will find a few useful tips for safe and enjoyable biking with your kid:
— Bike seat or towable bike trailer? The best way to bring your kid along on a bike is a special bike seat. I do not recommend using a towable bike trailer. Regardless of how many kids you got. The cart is heavy to pull, weighs a ton, and the kids don’t see anything of the surroundings. And that’s what they love the most. We use a bike seat called Hamax Sleepy which is safe and very easy to install. The website is shit but their products are great. Since we have a total of four bikes we installed mounting brackets for all of them. That’s a one time five minute install for each bike. After that you can easily shift the bike seat between the bikes. It takes less than 20 second to shift the seat from one bike to another. The seat is very comfortable, the back can be reclined, has high and padded rear for extra protection, and sort of built in suspension to keep your kids ass from going numb. There are many other seats on the market but this one is safe, easy to install, comfortable, and not very expensive. Highly recommended.
— If you have two kids you can mount one seat in the back and one in the front. The seat in the front looks slightly different but we never looked at it seriously. It’s perfectly safe but I don’t recommend it. Too many distractions with having a child in the front, basically on your handle bars. If I do crash I prefer to hit the object first instead of my son.
— Safety is important to me. My son does not go near the bike without a helmet. Get a helmet that fits well and can be adjusted so it can be used for a few years. DO NOT try to safe money on the helmet. Also make sure that your seat has straps to hold the legs and a proper harness. Never use the seat without the straps or harness.
— Regardless of what time of year you bike, dress your child a little warmer than if you were going for a stroll. A thin wind jacket in the summer and for the colder seasons some warmer pants, a hat, jacket, and some gloves. The bike seat is somewhat protected from wind but if you ride faster the wind becomes an issue.
— Use a safe bike. You don’t need the 27 gears we got on our mountain bikes or some advanced suspension. You just need a regular bicycle that is not about to fall apart. Our city bikes are simple, with few gears, but are solid bikes with good balance. We use the mountain bikes for longer rides and when we are training.
— Use the bike ride as a training session. In case you want to do some extra training, biking is excellent. Gentle on your joints but still excellent training for your lower body and overall conditioning. Go for a 20 mile ride a few times a week and you’ll see what I mean. For the longer rides I recommend a good road- or mountain-bike. It’s more fun and much easier. Don’t get me wrong, the heart rate still goes way up in steep terrain and the legs will burn but the rides will be more enjoyable with proper equipment. If you don’t enjoy working out, schedule a nice lunch/dinner/picnic stop on the way. Stop for some food, perhaps a bottle glass of wine, and play some with your kid before heading home again. Makes it easier to get on the bike when you got a nice wine waiting for you.
Enjoy!!!
Hey AD…
I use a towable trailer with my two. In the warmer months, I just remove most of the outer shell so they can get a good look around. You’re right, those things do weigh a ton, especially with a 4 and a 2 year old on board. I’m a road rider though, so rough surfaces are a rarity for me. We’re usually just tooling around the neighborhood. I’ve always considered the added weight an advantage and use it like a training tool. Its amazing how much quicker you can be without lugging that thing behind.
I absolutely loved our baby bikeseat. When we lived in Calif we didn’t have a car, and our daughter was 2-3, and we biked everywhere with her in the seat. We moved here and number two came along and we’d bring them everywhere in the bike seat. It made me sad once they got too big, but I agree with you, it’s great. I especially loved it when my kids would gently pat me on the back as I was pedalling.
Recently, I was unsure whether the loving-mountian-biking-gene got passed on to Tod-lar. He doesn’t really care for his bike seat. Then a month ago, after watching a mountain biking trial DVD we have, Tod-lar rode his trike OFF our front porch. Guess he would actually rather be biking than just sitting on one!
I love the idea of biking with my baby. Unfortunately I live in the hills and it’s impossible to ride up here. But I’ve been thinking about getting an attachment for our car so I can attach the bike and go to some nice biking spots.
I have a 2 and 4 year old and am finding it difficult to find a way without the trailer option to get both of them on my bike with me. Can I have a front and back mounted seat at the same time? The older one likes to ride a trail-a-bike but cant find a decent front mounted seat for the little one. Would love some advice from anyone who has done it. Otherwise I have to get the oldest one to start riding herself, quickly. I love to ride.