Advice for newbie - bike and trailer / seat

Plek Trum

Hello guys - complete novice and getting fit at the minute, planning on cycling and bringing my child where possible. We live in Kerry, seems awful.shame not to!

Can anyone please advise on good quality hybrid bike and a good quality trailer please? Did some reading and I know things like aluminium frame, UV cover, wheel suspension and seat padding for the trailer are points to note.

Appreciate all advice, thanks!

josip

What age, size and weight is your child?

With my 4 year old son, I went for a rear carrier.
Although lots of stats showed trailers to be as safe or safer, I was more comfortable having him up high behind me than down low.
Each to their own and I'm only mentioning this because you have seat in the title thread so perhaps you're still deciding between a trailer and seat?

Carawaystick

We had a seat that went onto the back of the bike, its good for 22 or 25 kg childred or so.
There's a mount to bolt onto the seat tube, and attach 2 prongs on the seat to it to mount the seat on the bike, or take the seat off when not needed.

Although I'd prefer a seat to go on the crossbar, with footrests on the down tube.
Haven't seen any of these on sale, but seen them on bikes in Dublin recently, and loads growing up.
These allow your child see where ye're going, but prevent sleeping

There are fancier front seats that fit onto the handlebars, but probably have a similar weight limit to the back seat versions.

mr spuckler

Although I'd prefer a seat to go on the crossbar, with footrests on the down tube.
Haven't seen any of these on sale, but seen them on bikes in Dublin recently, and loads growing up.
These allow your child see where ye're going, but prevent sleeping

something like this?

i've only used a trailer so far and find it brilliant. it rolls really smoothly so i don't find it much of a drag on the flat but of course you'll feel it any time the road goes up. i've mainly used it in Dublin but have had no problems with cars etc, i think drivers tend to be a bit more forgiving when they realise there's a child in it than they would if you took up the same space on the road by yourself.

CramCycle

josip wrote: »

What age, size and weight is your child?

With my 4 year old son, I went for a rear carrier.
Although lots of stats showed trailers to be as safe or safer, I was more comfortable having him up high behind me than down low.
Each to their own and I'm only mentioning this because you have seat in the title thread so perhaps you're still deciding between a trailer and seat?

Trailers are definitely safer (IMO and from what I have researched, although child seats are not dangerous) but, interestingly, it seems to be a strong reaction by parents to the thought of doing it. I wanted a trailer myself but my partner insisted a child seat would be as good as it gets. I was going to show the safety stats and test videos but then I would end up with neither.
At the OP, any decent hybrid should do the trick, do you have a bike already, it may be more than suitable. As for trailers, PM doozerie as he had one and as far as I know done alot of research and would be a voice of knowledge on the subject. NamelessPhil also has alot of experience in using a trailer in traffic in Dublin, probably give you some great info on what to expect in terms of handling, I remember Phil saying something about a hilly holiday in the UK with the trailer and what it could get around.

Carawaystick

mr spuckler wrote: »

something like this?

This kind of thing

mr spuckler

Carawaystick wrote: »

This kind of thing

ah, proper old school!

josip

When I was researching, a few cycle shops advised me that you'd have to cycle somewhat bow legged if you go for the seat on the crossbar.
While it's probably the most emotionally satisfying place for a seat, easy to have chats etc, if you're doing a long or hilly cycle it can be a tough ride.

I find with the rear Hamax seat that after 18kg the front wheel starts getting very light on the uphills, so I try to keep it as close to the saddle as possible without my heels clipping his toes.
It's a stable seat position when moving but it's quite unstable when stopped.
More than a few degrees either side of vertical and they're going over.
Not much you can do to stop them.
One good thing I got with the seat was the Hamax poncho.
It's designed to fit the seat perfectly and not a drop gets in.
We used it in all the storms last year.
My passenger actually longs for "poncho days" because he feels so snug and wrapped up.

Carawaystick

josip wrote: »

When I was researching, a few cycle shops advised me that you'd have to cycle somewhat bow legged if you go for the seat on the crossbar.
While it's probably the most emotionally satisfying place for a seat, easy to have chats etc, if you're doing a long or hilly cycle it can be a tough ride.

Used to get and give crossbars for several miles as a teenager, including off road through forest. Should be no bother to an adult to carry a child.

mint man

i have a couple of childseats for sale on adverts
http://www.adverts.ie/child-bike-seats/weeride-child-s-crossbar-seat/11906922?notification=55610d89bf85a94d603b4e76fecc7de2-1480980824#comment_78703543

http://www.adverts.ie/child-bike-seats/rear-child-seat/11906935?notification=7c0c90dff2deba37ab170c028676d123-1480974908


the wee ride is more fun to use , have chats /point out stuff to child .
while the rear seat is easier to cycle with.

for a good while i had one front and the rear , got tough going at kids got older !

if i was to recommend one on my experience it would deffo be the wee ride

scaryfairy

Hi OP
After much research we went for a Thule Chariot trailer. It's fantastic quality and very easy to attach to bike, rolls very well etc. As I needed something quite narrow (to get into the lift and apt) that was more or less the only one that we could buy. It's super pricey though, but managed to reduce the price quite a bit by ordering from the NL or Belgium, and it crops up on adverts.ie too sometimes.
I think it can be attached to almost any bike. I ue it on a hybrid and saw it with a Brompton too!

Plek Trum

Thanks so much guys, thats really great info and very helpful!!
Just wondering (and this might be slightly copping out) - do you have any opinions on electric bikes and trailers?

Saw a youtube clip recently about them and it was food for thought. We have a few steep hills close the house but perfect after that, any thoughts?

Plek Trum

mr spuckler wrote: »

something like this?

i've only used a trailer so far and find it brilliant. it rolls really smoothly so i don't find it much of a drag on the flat but of course you'll feel it any time the road goes up. i've mainly used it in Dublin but have had no problems with cars etc, i think drivers tend to be a bit more forgiving when they realise there's a child in it than they would if you took up the same space on the road by yourself.

Out of interest, what model did you buy?

Plek Trum

mint man wrote: »

i have a couple of childseats for sale on adverts
http://www.adverts.ie/child-bike-seats/weeride-child-s-crossbar-seat/11906922?notification=55610d89bf85a94d603b4e76fecc7de2-1480980824#comment_78703543

http://www.adverts.ie/child-bike-seats/rear-child-seat/11906935?notification=7c0c90dff2deba37ab170c028676d123-1480974908[/URL


the wee ride is more fun to use , have chats /point out stuff to child .
while the rear seat is easier to cycle with.

for a good while i had one front and the rear , got tough going at kids got older !

if i was to recommend one on my experience it would deffo be the wee ride

Would you find it hard to get up hills with the Weeride-safe-front-child-bike-seat? Just had a look on YouTube and people seem to be cycling a bit with their knees pointed out to accommodate it?

mint man

Plek Trum wrote: »

Would you find it hard to get up hills with the Weeride-safe-front-child-bike-seat? Just had a look on YouTube and people seem to be cycling a bit with their knees pointed out to accommodate it?

yes you have to cycle with your knees out a bit , but its do-able.
i feel the benefits out way the sacrifice tbh.

Tigerandahalf

mint man wrote: »

yes you have to cycle with your knees out a bit , but its do-able.
i feel the benefits out way the sacrifice tbh.

One of the downsides of that is that in the winter your child will get the full impact of the cold breeze plus in the summer they will get flies and bugs in their eyes and mouth.

The rear seat is very handy but get a mirror for the handlebar end so you can keep an eye on them.

I am tempted to get a trailer at some stage. There are ones in Halfords that are cheap enough but I would prefer to get one that would be fully waterproof and dry off quickly afterwards, even if it was just a plastic cover buttoned onto it.

This would be especially handy if you want to take it onto trails or greenways or even do school runs.

The only issue might be the width of the trailer on footpaths.

CramCycle

Plek Trum wrote: »

Thanks so much guys, thats really great info and very helpful!!
Just wondering (and this might be slightly copping out) - do you have any opinions on electric bikes and trailers?

Saw a youtube clip recently about them and it was food for thought. We have a few steep hills close the house but perfect after that, any thoughts?

Don't see the point, just get a wide range of gears in the bike.

mint man

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

One of the downsides of that is that in the winter your child will get the full impact of the cold breeze plus in the summer they will get flies and bugs in their eyes and mouth.
.

either was ever an issue ,bike seats seem socially more enjoyable for the child than been left in a trailer .

the upside to a trailer from a bikeshop owner i know is he was saying during his commute cars gave him a massive wide berth.
I found with the rear seat installed this was generally the same but not with the front as cars approaching from the rear cant see your carrying a toddler .

NamelessPhil

As a previous trailer owner (2010 - 2014) I have nothing but praise for it as a mode of child transport for pre-schoolers. We used a Chariot (now Thule) trailer. We added extra lights for winter/night riding and when the occupier got big enough even draped a set of fairy lights on the inside for Christmas.

I used it for the creche run and for longer trips at the weekend, i.e. ride to DART station, park the bike and use the trailer as a buggy on the DART and at the other end. It was a fantastic bit of kit. Our child could be wrapped up in the foot muff. She had space for her teddy and pockets for her snacks and water bottle. When she was very small she would fall asleep in it in the seven minutes it took to get home. I had no worries about her being left alone in the trailer, you could still hear her above the traffic noise. It had a five point harness and if the bike fell over the trailer stayed upright. Both of our bikes had the simple skewer mounted attachment, so either parent could cycle with it. The trailer had a sunscreen, fly screen and waterproof cover. She'd be dry as a bone while I got soaked. We used the trailer during the hard snowy winter of 2010/11, the bigger wheels of the trailer made easier work in the snow. There was a storage bag on the back, big enough to take the contents of a nappy bag or a backpack's worth of shopping. With a trailer you can also use a pannier rack or backpack without squashing the child.

The trailer is wide and I only had one dangerous overtake in 4 years of use. Most other road users slowed down to see what was inside. Grannies and Dads loved it, my own generation were more inclined to think it was dangerous with no actual evidence to the contrary. It covered a fair bit of mileage including Stocking Lane Boards hill climb in 2011 and the North York moors with gradients of 17% upwards. Climbing with it was fine if your bike has low enough gearing.

Regardless of whatever mode of transport you chose, I would recommend a kickstand for the bike, it makes mounting and un-mounting a trailer a lot easier and even provides stability if you're trying to get a protesting toddler into a rear seat.

Good luck with whatever you chose, I'd use a trailer again in a heartbeat.

CramCycle

NamelessPhil wrote: »

The trailer is wide and I only had one dangerous overtake in 4 years of use. Most other road users slowed down to see what was inside. Grannies and Dads loved it, my own generation were more inclined to think it was dangerous with no actual evidence to the contrary. It covered a fair bit of mileage including Stocking Lane Boards hill climb in 2011 and the North York moors with gradients of 17% upwards. Climbing with it was fine if your bike has low enough gearing.

If I remember rightly, one of the faster times up there as well (I say as I was unable to catch you).

Chuchote

Study here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10768671

A retrospective analysis of data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission for 1990 to 1998.

RESULTS:
There were 49 injuries to children during the 9-year study period (estimated 2338 injuries; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1121-3555): 6 were associated with the use of bicycle-towed trailers (an estimated 322 injuries; 95% CI, 158-486) and 43 were related to the use of bicycle-mounted child seats (an estimated 2015 injuries; 95% CI, 988-3042)

oinkely

I'd vote for the trailer too.

I have both, and while both are good i prefer the trailer. Bike is much more stable with the trailer and the kids are out of the elements too, shaded in summer and protected from the cold in winter.

I bought a second hand bellelli one which has a hard plastic base and makes it seem very solid. Easy to tow around and no hassle from cars. the two older kids are now on their own bikes so the youngest who is 2.5 is in there on her own, and she loves it. Pockets for all her stuff and she can shout 'go faster daddy' whenever she feels like it. usually when i am struggling up an incline!

doozerie

Another vote for trailer here. We (NamelessPhil and I) considered a range of options before we committed and we never regretted that choice. Some thoughts:

* Putting a child seat on the front of the bike wasn't an option for us, for the products we considered anyway. The products we looked at clamped to the stem and therefore required sufficient space between the stem and the headset. We are small so the stems on our bikes didn't have the clearance, and raising the stem would have badly compromised bike handling for us.

* We considered the trailer safer, with its lower centre of gravity, 5-point harness, and built-in roll cage. Note that this is based on the (now Thule) Chariot Cougar, some other trailers we looked at didn't reassure us on that front at all - the Chariot was pricey but it was money well spent in that regard as well as many others.

* NamelessPhil mentions us using the trailer in the North York moors. The steepest incline I rode up with the trailer was between 20% and 25%. With low gearing (I was on my MTB, riding on slicks) that was perfectly manageable. Another benefit of the trailer is that it allows you to get out of the saddle as you would if riding without the trailer, by contrast I would expect a rear child seat attached to the bike to make bike handling trickier when out of the saddle and this may make steep climbs more of a challenge.

* On that point of going up hills, as CramCycle mentions, you shouldn't *need* an electric bike as long as you have the gears to allow you to manually ride up anything you expect to encounter regularly. If you are considering an electric bike I'd recommend that you look carefully at the braking system on it. Typically electric bikes are heavier so they might (or might not) have beefier brakes to provide the stopping power for that extra weight. Adding a trailer's weight to that of the bike might push the limits of whatever brakes are on the bike. For reference NamelessPhil used a hybrid with v-brakes, I used an MTB with cantilever brakes, and when tuned well both brake types handled bike+trailer with no problem, whatever bike you consider for use with a trailer you should consider whether the brakes are up to the job.

* The Chariot Cougar was extremely flexible. Once detached from the bike you could stick either one (big) or two (small) wheels to the front to convert it to a very effective buggy. It worked very well as a buggy, it could replace an "actual" buggy, the only downside being that it was relatively bulky for that purpose and didn't fold down as small as a buggy would. For that matter, because it could accommodate a baby (by adding the baby bivvy accessory) it could replace a pram too. It also had an optional accessory (a long detachable arm connected to a harness) which allowed you to convert it to a trailer for use when walking/hiking, that allowed us to get out for walks on hilly trails where a buggy wouldn't have been able to go. And you could replace the rear wheels with ski attachments too, less useful here than in some other countries of course but I'd love to have tried it!

All in all, for me a *good* trailer is far better than any other option. You'll need to ensure that it is compatible with your bike(s) though - in the case of the Chariot it attached to the bike bike a socket joint attached to the rear axle. That works very well with a quick release wheel (could pose a challenge for a bike with a solid/non-quick-release axle) but it requires a flat surface on the rear dropout for that socket joint (a hefty lump of aluminium) to bear against. Some bikes don't have a flat surface at/around the rear dropout and might not work with that particular socket as a result. The frame designs of both of our bike frames were fine but when I was replacing my MTB I had a bit of trouble finding a new frame that suited, a few of the frames I looked at had a raised profile around the dropout so they weren't an option.