Hi all, should be having our first little one this week, fingers crossed, and been wondering how anyone else manages to keep the riding up with their new addition. The last issue of singletrack gave me hope that we’d be able to do a lot more as a family. The thing is, I can’t seem to find much in the way of opinion about bike trailers and seats.
Anyone have any experience about either? Also, any advice on cycling with babies in general would be very helpful!

Just spent all day riding around with our twins (3) in a croozer kid for 2. Highly recommended, can handle a bit of the rough stuff, but mostly pootling through the woods/buy the river/to the pub 🙂

I have a two and a half year old and a five week old..

the youngest goes in a ropey old trailer that we were given by an auntie.. we put him in his car seat and then strap it into position in the trailer..

the oldest has been travelling in a co-pilot limo rear mounted seat since he was a year old.. it’s an ace rack mounted seat but cost a bit..

I have used a rear mounted seat for all 3 of mine.
current one is a Hamax Siesta, chosen because it has a slight recline feature, so if baby nods off, you can recline them without their head drooping forwards.

Haven’t ever bothered with a trailer because have nowhere to store one so cannot comment on those.

Yeah I’m at a bit of a loss really. I had thought perhaps using a trailer at first as I’m not sure about little one being up high and strapped to the bike, but my other half doesn’t like the idea of not being able to see the trailer behind, especially with cars.
Obviously, I’m not expecting to ride home from the hospital, I just don’t want it to be my thing of going out for rides and leaving everyone home.

I’ve got a croozer trailer, it’s brilliant – rolls nice and smoothly, keeps her nice and warm (we’ve ridden with it in subzero temps), and motorists give you a massive wide gap when overtaking as it is so much more obvious than a seat. oh and loads of toys can travel too – quite often I find that teddy or rabbit or someone has hitched a lift and Rose is pointing everything out to them.

get it early and get the kid hooked early – with the baby sling bit in the croozer, we’ve been happily going for decent length (up to forty mile) rides since six months, and now she is almost two she is always asking for bike trailer, and obsessed with her balance bike too.

I’ve been camping with mine too, brilliant fun, just the two of us and my hiking tent.

Oh and great for shopping too – massive boot to bung things in, I even carried her bike and a decent load of shopping the other day and it was fine to tow (bottom gear up the big hill mind, but this is derbyshire!)

Another vote for the Croozer. Itakes a pretty convincing buggy for long offroad walks too as you get the additional wheels for free. It’s also got a huge “boot” for picking up shopping (I get the massive bag of dog food in ours)

If echo what others say about drivers giving loads of room (if I was fitter I’d tow it empty all the time)

For keeping an eye on the baggage, I’ve got a little mirror mounted on the bike headtube which allows me to glance betweeny legs at the smiling faces behind.

I have a Chariot Cougar 2, bought because it has suspension (of sorts). I don’t really like rear seats, not keen on what happens if you have a spill but then again I also don’t like taking my trailer on roads very much so dunno really.

Chariot make infant slings which are superb but they don’t recommend taking babies in them on the bike under 1 year old, which I think is for legal reasons since it’s illegal in SOME US states apparently. We’ve certainly had babies in it. Absolutely excellent bit of kit.

Anyone had any experience with a ‘bumper explorer duo? I’m in the market for a second hand trailer and theres one of these going quite near me on th’bay, it looks quite nice in a middle of the road kind of way, but a bit of personal experience would be appreciated…

We have a seat on her bike and I hitch an explorer solo trailer on mine. The little un couldnt go in the trailer till he was about 18 months to 2 years (getting straps on and knocked around) but he loves it now at three. Little tip though for trailers…..strap them in and try not to tank it round corners…I’ll say no more.

huge croozer fan here.

It gets used weekly. Goes with us to France for a month. When we had one stolen (in france, long story) first thing I did when I got back was buy a replacement.

Stable, spacious, reliable, durable, versatile.
Brilliant bit of kit.

Best said in pictures

[img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Rw0qqK_dE0E/TgjnsMOIAYI/AAAAAAAAAA0/oRUigRG-pq0/s400/IMAG0032a.JPG[/img]

Aren’t Croozer made by Chariot anyway? They look similar in construction – both very nice. The Croozers might be slightly sturdier than the Cougar I have but they don’t do suspension.

Incidentally Chariot models fall into two categories. Those that fold nice and flat and are designed to be used as pushchairs, jogging buggies, and for variety of other sports (like mine) and those that are mainly meant to be bike trailers. The latter are bigger and sturdier, can take older kids, but are even more chuffin expensive.

Got a Topeak rack mounted seat and a trailer we haven’t tried yet.

Our (nearly) 3 year old has been in it since about 10 months and there’s still growing room.

I hadn’t thought about car seat inside trailer – that’s a good call for the summer with no.2 having arrived in February.

My top tip if you go for a rack mounted seat is not to mount it to anything remotely ‘whippy’ in the back end (I have scars from tail whip resulting in a metal barrier slam) and stick a wide bar and short stem on it. 10kg up above the rear wheel can take a spot of body english when negotiating cycle crossings and barriers in tunnels.

I bought a wee-ride. It’s a top tube mounted seat. My wee fella loves it and you can interact with them much more. Feels safer as well cause you are surrounding them though admittedly drivers can’t tell you have a child on board.

You do have to make sure they have something wind proof on because they act as a windblock for you.

Hmmmm, I think we’ll be lookiing more at seats, possibly a Hamax Sleepy or polisport at first, maybe a trailer later.
It was definitley a good article, it doesn’t seem to be a subject that’s discussed much.

Having used a WeeRide, a LOCT and a CoPilot (2 mid-mount and one rear mount) I like the mid-mounted ones for most riding.

The bike is better balanced and the child thinks they are riding along in a big cuddle. You can fit them easily on a full suss bike (why shouldn’t a small child have the benefit of suspension?) and they don’t foul brakes (disc or rim) Plus you can drop your head down beside theirs and have a chat as you ride along.

Downsides? Well getting on and off is a little more difficult (I hadn’t realised just how much I slide off the saddle as I stop), but as we both have dropper seat posts on our full suss bikes that’s not a problem. Oh and LOCTs are like hen’s teeth.

Our eldest has done bits of red green and blue downhill at Les Gets (including the “4X” bit under the red egg) on the LOCT from about 3 years old with no problems.