Commuter with 2-3 year old

duffyshuffle

Have a 10km commute with Creche 3km in, was looking at getting a bike to bring her to Creche then head to work and then collect on way home - anyone any thoughts on seats on crossbars vs tow behind and also different types of bikes/models etc to look at?
I have a road and cx bike already that I’d use either of without her, so this is for commuting and heading to the park etc with her.
Also what age/weight can you bring them with you until?
Thanks

site_owner

What's your current set up for work?

Rack / panniers?

Do you have secure parking at work

site_owner

Kids can go on a normal rear seat until about 25 kg, 5 1/2 years ish.
There are more heavy duty seats up to about 35kg, but mounting is harder and they weigh more.

A good trailer will take a lot of weight and kid will outgrow it a long time before that

duffyshuffle

site_owner wrote: »

What's your current set up for work?

Rack / panniers?

Do you have secure parking at work

Backpack, can lock bike indoors in work and would v rarely if ever need to lock it up anywhere -
Would have to for Creche collection and drop off outside it

Normal road bike,
Don’t bring my child with me at the moment

site_owner

youve got a few options then, in my experience.
you can use almost any child seat as there are no racks or panniers to interfere with. this is the probably the least hassle option but you cant add more kids and you are stuck with a semi permamenent seat and permanent bracket.
you'll neeed a poncho of some sort but theyll still get pretty wet in heavy rain as their face is exposed and water will seep in

the trailer option is posssible, its better in that the child will be dryer and warmer but you'll need a more expensive trailer to survive heavy rain
youll also need a long mudguard to prevent spray soaking it.
the advantage is that you can pile a lot of stuff in if she needs bags and things every day.
if the crech has a buggy store area you can also detach it quickly, fold it up and leave it there for your commute.

you wont get a cross bar seat on a roadbike unless you have a weird body shape or arms that reach your knees

every child is differnt, but i'd advise against them cycling as you will be on the clock for the commute. i have enought rig ma role getting the 2 of them loaded in every morning but once they're in, off we go and the 2k drop takes a couple of minutes.
days when i let the 4 yerar old cycle invariably take just sa long to get out the door and god knows how long to inspect every snail and blade of grass along the route !

AndrewJRenko

Will the creche let you drop the child seat there to save carrying it round all day?

tomasrojo

A cargo bike is another option, but it's expensive. But there is no messing about attaching and detaching things, it's nice and stable and if you get one with a rain hood the kids stay dry I'm commuting with a five-year-old and seven-year-old, so you can keep going with them fora long time.

Good point about the long mudguard with a trailer. I extended the mudguard of my touring bike with milk-jug plastic for this reason. It's not very pretty, but it works great. (I still use the Chariot Cougar trailer as a goods trailer, and I have a Bike-Hod trailer too. They get absolutely filthy without a mudguard extension of some kind.)

check_six

I used a seat on the back of the bike. Then I switched to a trailer which was brilliant. I was able to drop the trailer in the creche in the morning and pick it up in the evening. You can get extra tow hitch connector things for the trailers so that we were able to tow the trailer with a variety of bikes. The capacity for bringing extra bags and luggage in the trailer cannot be over-emphasised. Need to bring a football and some bags of shopping? Just throw them in the 'boot' of the trailer!

After the trailer I switched over to a trail-gator tow bar which allows you to tow your child on their own bike. In the morning when time was of the essence we could use the tow bar, and in the evening my fellow was able to cycle himself home.

duffyshuffle

Thanks to everyone for the replies so far!
I live beside the coast so trailer is an option - can you use a road bike with them or would I need a more city / hybrid type bike for one? Same for seat on back or bars?
She’s getting closer to being able to cycle so swapping to a tow bar for her bike next spring sounds like a great idea.

Creche has space for a trailer or seat no problem ðŸ‘ðŸ»

So recommend me a bike for commuting and Creche drop off please ðŸ˜႒

And any recommendations on a trailer?

Thanks all

check_six wrote: »

I used a seat on the back of the bike. Then I switched to a trailer which was brilliant. I was able to drop the trailer in the creche in the morning and pick it up in the evening. You can get extra tow hitch connector things for the trailers so that we were able to tow the trailer with a variety of bikes. The capacity for bringing extra bags and luggage in the trailer cannot be over-emphasised. Need to bring a football and some bags of shopping? Just throw them in the 'boot' of the trailer!

After the trailer I switched over to a trail-gator tow bar which allows you to tow your child on their own bike. In the morning when time was of the essence we could use the tow bar, and in the evening my fellow was able to cycle himself home.

site_owner

I use a trailer with a road bike no issues. I've heard that the weight can damage or flex a carbon frame but never had an issue with my alu frame.

What's your budget?
Cheap - halfords or any on that same frames styleid
Medium - burley bee
Higher - Thule / burley dee lite / qeridoo

Feature to watch for (imo)
Structured seats, cheap ones will just be a bit of sagging material
Hard base - will keep more water out
Material and construction - lighter, more water proof, less holes, etc

Other features like suspension or ultra light weight aren't really in considering for me as I generally do a max of 5-10k before they get a break and it's mostly on the Sutton to at Anne's stretch

duffyshuffle

Great Burley Bee looks good!

Re: bike I called in to the LBS and they were saying don't use a road or cx bike and a city/hybrid type bike would be sturdier / better balance, and maybe to do with Carbon frame as well - can't remember fully.

So an aluminium frame would be better than carbon? Looking at another CX with disc brakes with a Burley Bee on the back?

site_owner

carbon bikes supposedly cant take the stress from seat mounts, so its not possible to put a seat on.
from the manual

for trailers, i dont know think there is any specific issue using a trailer - link

basically the more upright you are, and the wider your tyres, the easier the whole thing is going to be.
assuming you go for the trailer, it can pull when cornering if you dont adjust your riding style, so the wheel can lose traction and move to the side unexpcetedly. clipped in, or at speed, or on slippy ground this could bring you down.

persoanlly, i just adust my riding style for the part that i have the trailer and the seat and i've always been able to compensate for any little movements. similar to yourself, a tiny part of my commute is with the kids so i'm happy enough to cycle slowly on a road bike for a couple of km then commute as normal, rather than be "super confident" on a wide tyred mountain bike and then pissed off for the next 10km that i cant go as fast as i want.

i commute whatever the weather, trailer in tow, and always been fine.

do you use cleated shoes?

site_owner

mr spuckler

duffyshuffle wrote: »

Great Burley Bee looks good!

Re: bike I called in to the LBS and they were saying don't use a road or cx bike and a city/hybrid type bike would be sturdier / better balance, and maybe to do with Carbon frame as well - can't remember fully.

So an aluminium frame would be better than carbon? Looking at another CX with disc brakes with a Burley Bee on the back?

just on the cx point - i ran my cx bike with my trailer for about a year with no issues at all. i only changed to a hybrid because of the child seat i was going for, which you couldn't fit onto a bike with drop handlebars.
our creche didn't have space to store the trailer so we use a weeride seat for the creche run and a croozer kid for 1 trailer for weekend outings.

karlitob

duffyshuffle wrote: »

Have a 10km commute with Creche 3km in, was looking at getting a bike to bring her to Creche then head to work and then collect on way home - anyone any thoughts on seats on crossbars vs tow behind and also different types of bikes/models etc to look at?
I have a road and cx bike already that I’d use either of without her, so this is for commuting and heading to the park etc with her.
Also what age/weight can you bring them with you until?
Thanks

I use the weeride. Same age, same commute, same distance to crèche. I think it’s a brilliant piece of kit.

duffyshuffle

site_owner wrote: »

carbon bikes supposedly cant take the stress from seat mounts, so its not possible to put a seat on.
from the manual

for trailers, i dont know think there is any specific issue using a trailer - link

basically the more upright you are, and the wider your tyres, the easier the whole thing is going to be.
assuming you go for the trailer, it can pull when cornering if you dont adjust your riding style, so the wheel can lose traction and move to the side unexpcetedly. clipped in, or at speed, or on slippy ground this could bring you down.

persoanlly, i just adust my riding style for the part that i have the trailer and the seat and i've always been able to compensate for any little movements. similar to yourself, a tiny part of my commute is with the kids so i'm happy enough to cycle slowly on a road bike for a couple of km then commute as normal, rather than be "super confident" on a wide tyred mountain bike and then pissed off for the next 10km that i cant go as fast as i want.

i commute whatever the weather, trailer in tow, and always been fine.

do you use cleated shoes?

Thanks a lot for that - yep have mtb cleats on cx bike so easy to walk in around Creche - going to go with a trailer, suppose it’s good and bad news I don’t need another bike :-)

While we’re at it - any lock suggestions for just nipping in to Creche for a few mins?

tomasrojo

duffyshuffle wrote: »

While we’re at it - any lock suggestions for just nipping in to Creche for a few mins?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057715802

Some suggestions in there for lightweight locks adequate for very quick stops.