I'm sure there a re plenty of you out there who have kids and have wanted to carry the little one on the bike.

Not sure which of the three options to go for:

Carrier on the crossbar
Carrier over rear wheel
Trailer

What are you experiences of any of the above options? Ideally would want something easy to swap between my wife's bike (weekday trips down to library/play groups) and my bike (weekend rides, not really off road but gentle bridleways)

Thanks for any advice

andrew

We used rear seats – Co pilot Limo – that fit onto Blackburn racks and are easily put on/off & swapped between bikes. The kids were comfortable, and the seat was supportive enough for them to fall asleep.
Also happen to have 2 going cheap if you are interested!

If I was doing it again, I'd go for one of the Adams Trail-a-bikes with the optional baby seat

There are quite a few threads in the bike forum but for what's worth….

I bought a weeride seat to use (sold it today) but as I bought it (off ebay) around Christmas time and the weather has been pretty poor it was never used so I can't comment on that too well. Some people love them, some find them a bit difficult to pedal with.

I sold mine as I've just picked up a second hand Chariot Cougar 2 (a double buggy you tow). Chariots are the mutts nuts when it comes to trailers but you pay a lot for them.

The key thing you will find people talking about is the ability of the child to hold their head up, and with the added weight of a helmet. There is an article on the web I came across one day that didn't recommend any form of biking / bumping your child around until they were a fair bit older than 1. Others say it's OK.

I suggest you search the forum for Chariot, Croozer (an alternative trailer) and google them as well. Check out the Chariot facebook page for a few comments and links to other sites.

invodo.com has videos of the various Chariot trailers that are handy. If you have deep pockets and want a new one, let me know and I can send you a few details of several places in Europe.

smurf

druidh – that looks pretty good. Certainly a lot smaller than a double buggy!

smurf

It's a bluddy mine field! We've got the co pilot limo, and been through every other possible option (apart from a loct). The co pilot is OK, but better when they are a bit bigger, because it can be a harsh ride. For a 1-2 year old I'd go with Druidh's suggestion, or go for a seat tube mounted seat for the extra bounce.

personally I hate the awful feeling all the extra (high up) weight a child in a childseat gives a to bike. it even feels dodgy just getting on and off so I've always used trailers, I'm currently transporting my 6mth old in a reasonably priced Kools stop 2 seat child trailer with a webber baby seat strapped inside. takes no time at all fitting the trailer to the bike too. Plus your bike goes back to normal for riding sans bebe afterwards. (or even during ;)) You can usually pick up S/H (hardly used) child trailers cheap on Gumtree.

may try a cross bar mounted seat when she's older

Oh.. inside trailers I don't ever put the kids in helmets, babies simply won't fit in the seat and it just makes toddlers have to sit slumped forward awkwardly.
it's very unlikely they'd be any use anyway, most are like a rollcage, infact I've tipped trailers a good few times cliping roots etc. when riding singletrack back I used it daily with my eldest (when she was 3 or 4) and she always just sat there perfectly secured laughing at my bad driving.

Depends where you'll be riding also. Trailers require clearance, even worse on the road, hence my building a longtail to carry my two boys on the bike commute.

What's a longtail?

Have a look at these, Ive got one and it suits me and baby c to a tee, been using it since he was about 8 months old, works til they are about 15k or so.

http://www.bobike.nl/products/en/bobike_mini+.htm?fluxmenu=m2____m9

You can get brackets to fit the crossbar or the stem, comes off in a few seconds. I prefer the stem mounted version as if you did crash the kid wont get hit by the bars, also when it attaches to the stem the seat is a bit higher and further away so no splayed legs like you get on a wee ride.

trailer all the way for me.

Myself and the two boys loved the trailer – light easy to use and very stable.

We all hated the trailer bike, heavy, unstable very long.

What kind of trails can you do with a trailer, do you have to stick to fire roads?

The front mounted seats are great. Little'un gets a really good view and the bike's centre of gravity doesn't get messed up too much…

We took the girls down a fairly narrow bridleway at the weekend in the trailer. Wheels are 90cm apart and that is the critical factor. Sam was not mad on the bumpy bits mind but Alba just fell asleep.

pedalhead – Member
The front mounted seats are great. Little'un gets a really good view and the bike's centre of gravity doesn't get messed up too much…

…and you have the added bonus of a human veal damage limitation device between you and the stem of your bike should you unfortunately have an accident.

As for trailer bikes – I've seen one used very effectively at Laggan Wolftrax

We used a Weeride crossbar mounting seat for carlos jnr , whilst they're pretty good they do restrict pedaling a little bit but put your child in a great position to see whats going on and let you talk to them.

The main problem with it is if jnr wants to sleep , we did the Camel trail in Cornwall 2 years ago and had to tie Luke to the seat to stop the bike over balancing as he lolled about.We also had to drill 2 new holes in the crossbar so it could be fitted to mrs carlos xs Cannondale.

Hammax Sleepy, seems to do what it says on the tin.

Also it seems to offer a bit of suspension through the mounting arm.

As for trailer bikes – I've seen one used very effectively at Laggan Wolftrax

probably not by anyone as crap on the bike as me though 😀 I'll leave that to GF.

mrs flash,

What kind of trails can you do with a trailer, do you have to stick to fire roads?

I think you are supposed to but I certainly went for the rougher end of fire roads. You are obviously restricted by width, but I think the lightness & stability is a winning factor.