Best/easiest/safest way to bring kids on my bike?

Interested Observer

Hello all, was looking for advice on getting the kids around on my bike with me. I have 2 year old twins so would need to transport the pair of them, and would generally just be short trips to creche or the park which are near to our house. There seem to be a few options such as putting kids seats onto the bike (on the crossbar and on the back), getting one of those cargo bikes that have kids seats on them, or what I am inclined towards at the moment is something like the Burley Honey Bee trailer which also doubles up as a buggy. So just wondering if there's consensus on what the best option is or what anyone else here does? Thanks.

sharingan

We have the burley honey bee, its great, and the drop wheel/buggy is genuinely useful.

Our eldest (4) has outgrown it recently as we put him on a rear seat on a new e-bike (which is fab - the preschool run for me is little island -> higher end blarney street in cork -> Wilton (CUH) to swap bikes with his mum and then return).

The trailers are great, they will outgrow them quickly, but they will double for doing a big shop, and you will get 2 of them into the honey bee for a while. But we find the ebike + trailer option very practical. its a lot cheaper than the cargo bike options too, though the cargo bikes will probably take the twins until they are much older.

For very short runs hitching it up, and filling it with kids, changes of clothes, food etc. can be quite faffy.

CramCycle

A friend used front and back for years without issue but different ages in case they have preferences (you won't have this option) you can let the older decide by seniority or the younger decide based on niceness. I know others here have used a cargo bike and if I had the money, that would be my preferred choice, I think its just nicer for them and you. As for a trailer, loads here have used them without issue and my experience has been people tend to give them a wider birth as they know the cargo inside of them is precious.
Cheapest to most Expensive: Front and back, Trailer, Cargo Bike
Safest: Entirely your own decision, all are safe IMO but some prefer one over another.
Others mileage may vary, I only used a Hamax seat connected to the seat tube which worked well for years, but I only had one.

punisher5112

Would never put a kid in a trailer if going to be on road....
So dangerous.

magicbastarder

you should campaign for safer roads so!

punisher5112

magicbastarder wrote: »

you should campaign for safer roads so!

Nothing to do with that, it's a risk I wouldn't take, been so low to the ground one wouldn't usually see.

Look at how people look through those on bikes or motorbike, they don't actually see them and only see the car behind them etc.

loyatemu

punisher5112 wrote: »

Would never put a kid in a trailer if going to be on road....
So dangerous.

you got some statistics to back that up?

I've heard of loads of kids being killed and injured in car accidents.

CramCycle

punisher5112 wrote: »

Would never put a kid in a trailer if going to be on road....
So dangerous.

Anytime I have seen a trailer it gets way more room than a cyclist on their own and are fairly visible. Obviously just an opinion but I know other posters have used them without issue for years.

Chips Lovell

I've twins too. While I've often coveted a cargo bike, we've gone for the trailer because it's far more versatile. Can use it with multiple bikes (which is handy if yourself and your partner are using it) and it also doubles up as a buggy (which is handy because our double buggy finally gave up the ghost a while back). Use it for the school run in addition to various trips to parks around the place, shopping etc.

fat bloke

Trailers are great. Got a couple of years use out of one my kids were small.

RunRoryRun

I have a trailer and find it good. Haven’t been commuting too much lately so mainly for weekend spins - currently a 4y & 18m old in it together and they’re cosy. Have done the Waterford & western greenways with it too (different ages / kid combinations) - never a complaint from them.

I’ve used the bike seat for just one child - much less faffing about, but i never really warmed to it for anything further than 15 minutes.

loyatemu

CramCycle wrote: »

Anytime I have seen a trailer it gets way more room than a cyclist on their own and are fairly visible. Obviously just an opinion but I know other posters have used them without issue for years.

yeah, if I wanted to reduce the number of close passes I experience, putting a trailer on the back would probably be a good start.

Interested Observer

Thanks very much for the replies all. I think I am going to go with a trailer, good to read people's experience with them. I can see where punisher5112 may be coming from in that a trailer sort of feels a bit more dangerous, my route to creche is low traffic anyway with a lot of it through residential areas. I could cycle down the canal and encounter no traffic at all but DCC have those cursed chicane gates up which I wouldn't be able to get through, oh well.

NamelessPhil

I'm one of the posters who used a trailer for four and a half years from 2010 to 2014. I only had one dodgy overtake in that time. I used it as a supplemental buggy. I sold it on afterwards as we only had one child. It was great and I'd happily recommend it, child would fall asleep in it easily and it was completely waterproof. Loads of room for snacks, teddies and books.

breezy1985

loyatemu wrote: »

you got some statistics to back that up?

I've heard of loads of kids being killed and injured in car accidents.

Ide never put my kid in a car if I had either. Cars are deathtraps

breezy1985

NamelessPhil wrote: »

I'm one of the posters who used a trailer for four and a half years from 2010 to 2014. I only had one dodgy overtake in that time. I used it as a supplemental buggy. I sold it on afterwards as we only had one child. It was great and I'd happily recommend it, child would fall asleep in it easily and it was completely waterproof. Loads of room for snacks, teddies and books.

Ide be tempted to get one for the bike with no child in it as it might encourage motorists to treat me like a human

GT89

magicbastarder wrote: »

you should campaign for safer roads so!

So put your children at risk in order to fulfil your personal agenda for safer cycling. Fact is putting your children on a trailer on a bike or a cargo bike is dangerous and putting your children at risk.

GT89

breezy1985 wrote: »

Ide never put my kid in a car if I had either. Cars are deathtraps

Far more protection in a car than on a bloody bike trailer. They may be fine in the Netherlands where there is proper cycling infrastructure but not in mixed traffic in Ireland.

magicbastarder

GT89 wrote: »

Fact is putting your children on a trailer on a bike or a cargo bike is dangerous

great. give me a source for that.

GT89

magicbastarder wrote: »

great. give me a source for that.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2020/11/29/carrying-children-in-cargo-bikes-can-be-dangerous-new-report-finds/?sh=5efbec3d1479

Interested Observer

GT89 wrote: »

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2020/11/29/carrying-children-in-cargo-bikes-can-be-dangerous-new-report-finds/?sh=5efbec3d1479

but carrying children in them can be dangerous and is only safe if parents strap them in.

OP here, since I will definitely be strapping my kids in it looks like they're safe.

magicbastarder

'but carrying children in them can be dangerous'
that 'can' is doing some lifting there. 'X can be dangerous if Y is not done' is a trivial statement. you stated it *is* dangerous.

also, the testing was done at 25km/h. i'd be interested to learn what speed someone carrying kids in a cargo bike would actually be travelling at.

GT89

Interested Observer wrote: »

OP here, since I will definitely be strapping my kids in it looks like they're safe.

Do the straps cargo bikes have to comply with the rigorous safety standards seatbelts in vehicles have to comply with?

magicbastarder

probably not, since the speeds involved are massively different.

CramCycle

GT89 wrote: »

Do the straps cargo bikes have to comply with the rigorous safety standards seatbelts in vehicles have to comply with?

The study that you brought up states they were safe, there is no data (I can find) that implies children in real world scenarios using cargo bikes or trailers are in any great danger. Please stop the fear mongering unless you can back it up.

GT89

magicbastarder wrote: »

probably not, since the speeds involved are massively different.

And do you realise that on a road shared with motor vehicles on a bike there is a possibility to be hit by a vehicle doing a much faster speed

GT89

CramCycle wrote: »

The study that you brought up states they were safe, there is no data (I can find) that implies children in real world scenarios using cargo bikes or trailers are in any great danger. Please stop the fear mongering unless you can back it up.

Do you accept that cycling in Dublin is more dangerous than Amsterdam or Copenhagen?

CramCycle

GT89 wrote: »

And do you realise that on a road shared with motor vehicles on a bike there is a possibility to be hit by a vehicle doing a much faster speed

Back up your claims, or else I will start claiming that getting out of bed and walking outside is dangerous as you could get hit by a vehicle.

CramCycle

GT89 wrote: »

Do you accept that cycling in Dublin is more dangerous than Amsterdam or Copenhagen?

I have cycle in all of them and honestly can't answer that question. I've never found cycling anywhere particularly dangerous in comparison to other daily activities but that is anecdotal. Back to the conversation at hand though, back up your claims about trailers and cargo bikes and being dangerous for kids.

GT89

CramCycle wrote: »

Back up your claims, or else I will start claiming that getting out of bed and walking outside is dangerous as you could get hit by a vehicle.

So by that logic it is just as safe to walk on the road as it is on a footpath?

magicbastarder

GT89 wrote: »

Do you accept that cycling in Dublin is more dangerous than Amsterdam or Copenhagen?

it's kinda funny. everyone should drive, because it's so dangerous. and then we ask, 'well why is it so dangerous?'