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Do you realise that they fold flat when not in use? Wheels come off, tow bar folds underneath and the sides and back all fold in. Takes 2 mins max to assemble / disassemble. Previous comments about dust / spray are right though. Never had to worry about overheating though - we live in Scotland!!!a large trailer would be too big for the camper.....
You know what happens to an adult when they fall off or are knocked off a bike. Imagine what happens to a baby. Some ****ing people
randomjeremy - MemberYou know what happens to an adult when they fall off or are knocked off a bike
They swear and get up again? Do babies swear?
yunki Jr goes in a seat on a rack on the back sometimes.. he's 21 months and blinkin heavy though.. which plays havoc with my 360 tailwhips on the dirtjumps..
there may be dirt flecks which reach your little one
our little bundle of joy has been helping me move 3 ton of compost this arvo.. it's a good home-made compost.. mostly comprised of well rotted pig and chicken dung and he's had great fun collecting worms from the pile.. he only ate two.. which is good because it didn't spoil his appetite for dinner..
The flecks of dirt thing wasn't being over-precious - the small gritty stuff ends up being flicked into their face which for a small baby can be difficult if it ends up in their eyes.
We have a trailer designed to carry 2 toddlers. I removed the fitted seat and fabricated a base to hold the carseat - a Maxicosi Cabriofix. The rails on the base of the carseat slot into rearward facing slots on the mount, and once the seat is in position and slid forwards it is secired with a webbing strap and buckle. It is totally solid. The child would be protected if the trailer rolled by the frame of the trailer and the handle of the car seat.
The fabricated base is mounted into the trailer using vibration isolating mounts off ebay. These reduce vibration significantly. In addition we run the tyres very soft.
Our wee fella is 17 weeks today and has been out in the trailer since he was 7 weeks old (and he arrived 6 and a half weeks early). He likes it, either sleeping soundly, or watching the trees/clouds go by.
We have ridden sections of the Crinan Canal, the Caledonian Canal, the Great Glen Way, around Loch Katrine and numerous local trails. Everyone who sees the set-up is impressed.
Two weeks ago we rode the Blue at GT from the top of Blue Velvet down, including a gentle descent of Good Game, and this weekend did the Green and Orange trails at Laggan. As long as you go nice and slowly, keeping an eye on the wee one, you should be fine.
The only time he shows any upset is if we stop and he wakes up. Setting off again placates him.
The flecks of dirt thing wasn't being over-precious - the small gritty stuff ends up being flicked into their face which for a small baby can be difficult if it ends up in their eyes.
fair point.. I was just being facetious if I'm honest.. I didn't even read the quote in context.. If I had.. and I'd seen the original statement came from the Grips clan.. I wouldn't have bothered.. safe in the certainty that every decision will have been made with thoughtfully applied logic and reasoning.. 🙂
Like most things a matter of choice. Despite all the expert opinion here I'd probably also consider what ROSPA say.
My middle daughter has been going in a trailer from around 2 months. Original she went in her car seat but by 6 months she was sitting in the normal seat. I used it regulary to take her to nusary 2-3 times a week . She often fell a sleep in it and would often tell me to speed up. She also liked going over the speed bumps as well as having the cover off all together. She is now coming up to 5 and still like to go in it. If you ever sit in the back of a car or have a baby in the front seat beside you (no air bag) you will see how much they are shaken around by the movement agin look in the buggy as well.
The dirt thing can be a problem off road along with general dust but i foun the road bike with its full lenght mudguards not bad.
Do you people ride on the roads with your babies in tow?
Has anyone in this tedious session of middle class oneupmanship actually thought of the children yet?
Do you people ride on the roads with your babies in tow?
No!
randomjeremy - Member
Do you people ride on the roads with your babies in tow?
Often and cars tend to give you much more room than normal though you can't nip down the outside of traffic but i tended to use that as a rest as atrailer deffinatly makes its presance felt.
damo2576 - Member
Like most things a matter of choice. Despite all the expert opinion here I'd probably also consider what ROSPA say.
Ta.... not seen that till now..... 😳
we drew the line at the cross country skis though
Dead handy IME
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I find it amazing that people are willing to put their children at risk like that - each to their own I guess
Do you people ride on the roads with your babies in tow?
As mentioned above, I use a bike for transport with kids, though since it's got warmer (and I don't feel the need to wrap the little one up in the trailer) I've been using a bike seat on the back of the tandem (mini-aracer #1 pedalling in between). So yes - try and avoid the busiest roads and use bike paths a bit more (though still ride across one of the busiest local roundabouts as it's so much hassle to avoid it). Though as somebody else said, I've always found drivers give me loads of room with the trailer - tandem with a kiddy seat comes a close second.
At risk like what, random? Like the risk of getting killed whilst driving in a car? I know I'm sounding a bit like TJ here (though sometimes he's right), but do you actually have any stats to backup your implication that it's dangerous taking kids on the road in a trailer/bikeseat?
randomjeremy - MemberI find it amazing that people are willing to put their children at risk like that - each to their own I guess
I find it completely amazing peoples attitude to risk. Would you put kids in a car? People in the UK have a very strange attitude to cycling which is a very safe way of travelling.
No at risk of being hit by a motorised vehicle while attached to a pushbike on the road. You do realise that a bike / bike trailer is not a car right?
Look I don't really give a shit about your kids, I find it odd that you don't seem to though.
Yep - I agree 100% with TJ (to be fair I tend to agree with him on more things than not).
Hey good stuff, we should agree to disagree
BTW TJ doesn't actually have kids - to him it's just an academic exercise. I do, and still think you're wrong, RJ. As I said up there, have you got any stats - or even any anecdotes - to back up your assertion?
I find it amazing that identical bait was used but differing results obtained...
we should agree to disagree
Strangely I find it a lot harder even to agree to that than I do with TJ.
I find it amazing that identical bait was used but differing results obtained...
Probably down to change in alcohol concentrations in the bloodstream.
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I love the ski trailer btw. Makes me want to be a small kid again 🙂 To fit in it now I'd have to be liquidised 🙁
Randomjeremy I will bite. My daughter goes in the trailer on the road because I care about her enough to want to show her the outdoors and not just shove her in the car. How is she in anymore danger than when she is in the push chair walking on the road side?
FWIW the Beamlet was doing 35mph plus (downhill on smooth roads devoid of traffic) from about 3 months onwards
You do know they're not supposed to go over 15mph (I've always made a point of trying to average more than that 😉 )?
And how big is that risk? I travel slower with the trailer (its quite heavy and I'm unfit) and my own experience (and others anecdotal evidence) is that cars give you a wider berth. Is it actually safer for me to take the trailer than go on my own without it?No at risk of being hit by a motorised vehicle while attached to a pushbike on the road.
I find it odd that despite your claimed apathy towards my children you feel it necessary to judge me for having made a balanced, informed and educated assessment of risk.Look I don't really give a shit about your kids, I find it odd that you don't seem to though.
At what age do you think I should involve the kids in cycling on the road? baby in trailer? toddler in rear seat? preschool on tag-a-long? primary school on their own bike supervised? teenager unsupervised? At what point on that progression does it become "OK" for me to expose my children to the risk... ...I'd actually suggest the risk of injury or fatality increases as they get older and a dead child is devastating whether they are 14 yrs or 14 months.
Baby bjorn for off road followed by Rhode gear taxi at about 6mo. Graduated to kiddyback tandem at three. Was riding on the road at about the same age with me behind. Some grief from the mother, a LOT more from the mother-in-law!
I'd probably go with a trailer now. Folding them is a bit of a pfaff though.
I don't recall seeing an epidemic of trailer fatalities. But don't leave them shut inside in direct sunlight based on recent Italian media reports.
I am working on a project in Uruguay - and some of the baby balancing on mopeds is quite scary - have seen baby balanced on one knee, and riding one handed. Pillion passenger carrying baby in their arms, whilst drinking mate (ita kinds like coffee but through a straw). Current balancing record is 2 adults and 2 kids on one small moped.
But this is generally in town where average speed is well under 20 mph......
Surely the issue is not the cyclist (with or without baby/trailer/tagalong) its the motorist not respecting other road users particularly vulnerable ones..........
So - possibly papoose/sling that supports her head - more googling required...!
You must be mental. No protection for the child. Ask a paediatric doctor and see what the response is.
TJ - you really are out of your comfort zone with a discussion on cars and kids. As adults, most of us take responsibility for our own safety and are pretty good about it. If nobody else in the world was included in our personal risk assessments, the bike / car arguement might be more balanced. Unfortunately, we take 'everyone else' into account. It isn't our own actions we think about when looking at the safety of our children - it is everyone elses. Therefore, putting my child into a car seat designed for the task and securing that in a metal box means my child is at less risk from the actions of others on the road than on a trailer.
Randomjeremy I will bite. My daughter goes in the trailer on the road because I care about her enough to want to show her the outdoors and not just shove her in the car. How is she in anymore danger than when she is in the push chair walking on the road side?
Does your car not have windows?
BTW cars drive on the roads not pavements.
But I live in the countryside where roads do not have pavements alongside
I'd walk then facing the traffic rather than risk getting rear ended by a speeding driver on the phone on a blind corner!
Where i ride their are no blind corners so keep trying to prove me wrong and irresponsible.
I stand corrected, didn't realise you were making Roman style journeys with no blind corners.
I find it completely amazing peoples attitude to risk. Would you put kids in a car?
Look, stop being silly. There's clearly a massive difference between putting your kid INSIDE a car where they're protected by lots of metal, and towing them behind a bike where they're not. CLEARLY.
The issue I have is that in a trailer they are very low down, which could make them hard to see, and that if they were hit they could get crushed under the wheels particularly of a lorry. All it takes is one driver not to be concentrating or looking where they are going, and that's not too hard to imagine.
I just imagine how I'd feel if I had to pick my toddler's remains out of the wheelarch of a bus and that stops me from doing this.
And I'm not unreasonably risk averse because I cycle all over the place and my kid will too WHEN SHE'S OLD ENOUGH.
Oh and I'd also think twice about pushing a pushchair down a narrow road without pavements.
It's a funny argument re rural roads (countryside) also since half of all cyclist fatalities occur on them - despite most journeys being urban.
I sh1t myself sometimes on road rides in the country, no way I'd want my daughter on the back!
Agreed damo - many are tight and windy. There are one or two that I really don't want to ride on because they are so blind.
FWIW the Beamlet was doing 35mph plus (downhill on smooth roads devoid of traffic) from about 3 months onwardsYou do know they're not supposed to go over 15mph (I've always made a point of trying to average more than that )?
I didn't know that.
I'm sure Mrs B would have spotted that in the instruction manual. She read it after I had been out and about with the beamlet a few times between 1 and 3 months. She read the namby pamby bottom covering guidance that nippers under 12 months shouldn't be pulled behind the bike. There was a 9 month gap chariot excursions. I'm sure if she had read the speed limitation bit she would be reminding me (constantly) to slow down.
[middle class one-upmanship] I'm pretty sure that all of this chariot activity hasn't affected the Beamlet. I came home from work yesterday to find her reciting the alphabet. She's just turned 2.[/middle class one-upmanship]
I cycle all over the place and my kid will too WHEN SHE'S OLD ENOUGH
Which will be when? At what point does she become old enough not to be vulnerable to a driver not concentrating?
She's old enough when her mother says she's old enough...and when she's been drilled to be a defensive user of the road like all cyclists should be...
You boys are hilarious. It always breaks down the same way.
Walk away.
It's obvious you're not going to change each others minds and y'all just getting worked up about it... is this some sort of way to replace the physical fighting/exercise to show 'machismo' which you cannot do any longer because you're not in a tribal society?