Bike trailer and rear seat

jlm29

Is it possible to use both of these at the same time? I have a rear carrier seat thingy. I have a 4 y.o, a two y.o and a nearly 1y.o. Would love to be able to bring them all off (not far, I’m not superwoman 😂) when they baby is a small bit bigger. Would it be possible if I put the 2y.o on the back of the bike and the other two in a trailer? I was thinking of getting the double trailer in Halfords, but didn’t want to buy online without checking in case for some reason it can’t be used with the seat in situ? I can’t see from looking at it why they wouldn’t work together (other than the fact that it would be very heavy , but I know very little about bikes

AMKC

I don't see why not as long as you are careful and make sure the trailer is secure to the bike. Maybe make sure they have belts and helmets and flash jackets too when you go out with them.

tomasrojo

The child trailer I used, and still use for cargo, hitches on via a little socket fitted at the axle of the rear wheel, so it should not interfere with a child seat that is suspended over the rear wheel. The child's legs can't reach down that far if they can still fit in a child seat.

Safety measures are entirely your prerogative. A kick stand was recommended to me by another poster here, and it does help when you're trying to attach a trailer. I guess you should put the child in the child seat in place last? Someone with experience of this set up would be better placed to confirm that.

jlm29

tomasrojo wrote: »

The child trailer I used, and still use for cargo, hitches on via a little socket fitted at the axle of the rear wheel, so it should not interfere with a child seat that is suspended over the rear wheel. The child's legs can't reach down that far if they can still fit in a child seat.

Safety measures are entirely your prerogative. A kick stand was recommended to me by another poster here, and it does help when you're trying to attach a trailer. I guess you should put the child in the child seat in place last? Someone with experience of this set up would be better placed to confirm that.

Yes, a kick stand would be quite useful actually, I already have the seat and find it awkward sometimes to manoeuvre him into it and then myself onto the bike. And I would definitely put him up last. That’s really what I wanted to know, that they’d work together.
As regards safety, they’ll all have helmets etc. We won’t be on busy roads. We live in the middle of nowhere, so we’d just be around v close to home, and I’d like to be able to take off to the greenway without having to worry about hiring anything

Tigerandahalf

3 kids is a lot of extra weight.
Pulling a trailer with a couple of kids is heavy enough especially when you come to any incline.

One of the big issues is what to do if you have to get off the bike on your journey to go back to the trailer. Even with a kickstand it wouldn't be safe to leave the kid in the bike seat.

Outside of the stress on the bike it will be hard work to pedal that load not to mind put up with the screaming, fighting and nappy changes along the way.

I did it with 2 in a trailer and it worked very well for trips to the playground and they would fall asleep in it afterwards. If you had someone on another bike to take the 3rd kid it would be much easier. We have done that and it is more enjoyable.

tomasrojo

With that number of kids, a cargo bike would be a more practical arrangement, but it's a lot more expensive.

EDIT: If you're cycling on the flat, your arrangement might be quite doable. I find it's going uphill that you really notice loads. 4yo, 2yo and 1yo is about 35kg, I guess? It's quite a lot, but it's probably ok on the flat if you're not going far.

Tigerandahalf

A cargo bike is expensive alright and like the bike trailer would need to be stored inside a garage or covered area.

A lot depends on how much use you are going to get out of it and your storage space. You don't want to be putting a trailer up and down each day. Leave it in the ready to go position.

The double bike trailer from Halford is small and low in height. I have seen a few around but it would do the job too.

You need to consider taking a nappy bag, food and drinks as well and where they will go. Some trailers will have a rollover bar at the back which you could hang a bag off.

There are also trailers out there that can be converted to a running/walking buggy. That might give you more options. You could then carry the youngest in a sling.

jlm29

tomasrojo wrote: »

With that number of kids, a cargo bike would be a more practical arrangement, but it's a lot more expensive.

EDIT: If you're cycling on the flat, your arrangement might be quite doable. I find it's going uphill that you really notice loads.

No hills anywhere near us, and it wouldn’t get enough use for me to spend much money. I’d just get a babysitter and leave one or two at home . At the moment we’re out on our bikes a lot, around the house. It’s grand for my 4 y.o, but I’d love to be able to go around the block, but I wouldn’t take him on the road.

tomasrojo

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

There are also trailers out there that can be converted to a running/walking buggy. That might give you more options. You could then carry the youngest in a sling.

Yeah, that's a good point. The trailer I used (and still use for cargo: it's really been useful) converts to a stroller -- and it's a really good stroller, albeit rather big for public transport. In fact it was a one-child trailer, so when we had two I used it mostly as a stroller. It wasn't suitable for carrying two children as a trailer, but for a while they didn't mind both piling into as a stroller, and it was very water-proof, and much easier to push around than a usual stroller. And I was able to attach a kiddie board to it anyway, which didn't impede its use as a trailer (I mean for one of them or cargo. with the kiddie board folded up out of the way -- I didn't cycle with one of them standing on the kiddie board!)

Again, though, like the cargo bike option, that trailer would be a bit pricey, if you didn't intend to use it all the time, as I did.

site_owner

i did it for ages, the halfords trailer is very small, but it is ultra light compared to others. low res image below, all i could fidn right now

i had a croozer after this, both kids fit much better.

and now a cargo bike

tomasrojo

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

A cargo bike is expensive alright and like the bike trailer would need to be stored inside a garage or covered area.

This is of no interest to the OP, but the WorkCycle people do claim it's ok to leave their cargo bikes outside. I have a bakfiets.nl cargo bike, which is very similar to the WorkCycle kr8 bakfiets, and you could leave it outside, I think, especially with a canopy on the box. You might have to oil it a lot, but it does use marine plywood for the box, and everything that can have a case around it has one, in the Dutch/roadster style, so there's a lot less exposed than for a road bike, hybrid or mountain bike.

The Kr8 is the ideal way to transport kids, groceries, tools or whatever you need around the city. It is equipped to carry kids safely, stay clean and dry in street clothes, to ride in the dark and poor weather, and to live outdoors

https://www.bakfiets-en-meer.nl/workcycles-faqs-overviews/overview-bakfiets-cargobike/

It may not be 100% true, but it's a lot truer than of most other bicycles.

site_owner

I keep my cargo bike out in the elements.
I also keep a spare trailer outside but under a bicycle cover.

Weathering of the canvas is a bigger issue than anything else as long as the bike is maintained and used regularly.
I wouldn't leave a bike to just sit outside indefinitely but a cargo bike or trailer used multiple times a day would be a total pain for me to haul in and out.