New Dads/Mums getting their baby cycling

So just wanted to share my experiences and give some chance to also comment as hope to help future mums and dads with advice.

Managed to get the little un out with us in a Burley Minnow trailer at 9 months. We even bought the new baby insert and I suggest to find what you can second hand as you will!
That alone was £70 new! Lesson was that alone was not enough and needed to get some foam padding on the back so he leant against that as in just the newborn insert with a helmet on it was pushing his neck down.

The burley minnow fits a Thin QR axle no issues, however if you have a thru axle like our bikes you THEN need a £60 axle from Burley!

I looked online and found an M-Way axle thinking it’d work, £15 down the drain as it didn’t. What I hadn’t thought about was that you get different thread pitches on different axles.
Once again the kindness of asking nicely had a fellow father who had previously bought the Hamax axle which you can swap out the thread pitches on, offer it to me for a very good price and I’m so so grateful as I think new again they’re about £80!!

So then we had a trailer sorted and then at 11 months he was stable enough to be in front of us on the bike.

Oh what a journey this bit was…

Bought a weeride after being advised they work well and comfy for a first go on a bike for little un
Erm nope…. Fitted the weeride or tried to. My Capra has no height above the headtube and the frame slopes on an angle at the top so the weeride mount wouldn’t fit!
So off I went, contacted Weeride and they suggested the steerer mount.

However didn’t have the stack height with the current stem to fit so off I went and found a DMR stem and the only one that would I thought give me enough stack height was £55!
So I bought that, excited that it’d finally work.
£20 later I had the steerer mount too, fitted it. Tightened up but there still wasn’t enough le-way on the steerer so the result was it tightened up and the headset was loose! AAARGH!

Weeride’s need either a headtube that allows the bracket to fit to it above the top cup on the frame OR enough steerer to fit the steerer adapter!

So that was out the window, did some more research and got a second hand Thule yepp mini. Again the bracket on the steerer wouldn’t fit so I was able to find a narrow bracket, but AGAIN not new as sold out everywhere and another kind person managed to sell me one.

It’s been great however little un sits very far back and it’s a good job I have long arms!
Also what I’ve now found out is that the turning circle is horrendous because of the foot stirrups!
You can’t remove the stirrups without removing the handlebars so so long as you are not going too slowly below 5mph you can still turn as you need.

There we go… hope that helps.
You can see things aren’t cheap and there’s just not a brilliant answer for a very young baby before shotgun etc…

We have a Weeride and it’s been great. Our Daughter loves it, she wants to go out on it all the time.

Shame it doesn’t fit your bike. I’m fortunate enough to have a dedicated bike for it and it just works. We’ve done a few big rides in Scotland, the only bad point is that the pedalling position is just odd with how you have to position your knees.

Danny, is that you?

The Thule Yepp is really made for a Dutch style bike. I think it’s a bit of a bodge on a proper mountain bike which is why the weeride is probably a bit more popular here whereas everyone in the Netherlands has a Yepp or similar. I did find an issue with the Yepp style seat when my son first used one, his bottom went red raw from the friction of bouncing around

Mac Ride is what you need for upfront.

Clamps to a special 10mm headset spacer and the seat post so doesn’t matter on frame shape but you need a bit of seat post (not the bit that drops) to bolt too plus at the steering end it needs a bit of spare steerer tube if you’ve got a short (less than 50mm stem) and you might need to replace the clamping bolt from the shipped knurled one to a standard Allen bolt to stop the knurled bit fouling the stem.

quick to put on and take off if you want to ride without maiming your knees.

I’m devistated because mini D is now too big to ride the mac ride. I’ve had some of the best rides ever with him sat up front.
He’s now on his own bike with a tow rope but he’s not into cycling as much as I’d hoped.
He is into climbing, geocaching and computer games though so can’t complain too much.
Cough, stealth ad for a mac ride, cough, based in West yorks, cough 🙂

Thanks but the point is here for very young babies. They can’t be on a macride when they don’t even understand about what holding on is… which is mainly my point, so this post is for pre-macride and Shotgun. For when they’re very much relying on you and basically can just sit strapped in and enjoy taking in the world around them.

I found not alot of advice and found my own (expensive) path to making it happen, if my experiences can save others the pain then pleased to help!

Too big? My 6 year old went on it until quite recently. Can make seeing where you are going a little challenging though!

Fair point Chris – even though mine are only a few years older I’ve already forgotten what a 9 month old does.

That’s the thing, I know it well. A 9 month old doesn’t do a whole lot, lots of looking, smiling, babbling, leaning, but yes I remember being at 6 months into the new journey and I was tearing my hair out just wanting to get out and ride with him, even having the time to ride myself would’ve been nice so makes easier if you just bring the nipper along!

chris – stop overthinking things.
Just do what you want, enjoy your Dad time – and that’s it.
Other parents will find their own way.

All I’m seeing is the opportunity for a new bike was let slip! 😀

Chris,
the new bike idea isn’t daft, particularly when they’re small.

You won’t want to whip bike seats on and off so if you do get a chance on your own / just you and your other half to get out on something interesting you end up riding with a child seat.
The flip side is that you won’t be riding anything overly technical with your 9 month old so a basic bike will do.
The WeeRides are good kit but I seem to remember making some alterations to the secondary top tube.

By 3&1/2 I was riding down the Chavannes in Les Gets with a small boy yelling “faster daddy”. I used a LOCT for that if they’re available anywhere (not made for 10 years plus).  The MacRide ought to be good too.

Then Islabike reimagined as a tiny fat bike, Kona Stinky 2-4, Orange 5, Orange Alpine, and now stealing my Bird.

it doesn’t get cheaper.

We’re in York too (on the assumption you are) if you need any advice.

Ooh and FollowMeTandem. Forgot that 

Had my youngest out on a bike ride at 2 days old (cargo bike) and haven’t stopped since. He’s on a shotgun at the moment, but at 4 and a half it probably hasn’t got long left

Erm nope…. Fitted the weeride or tried to. My Capra has no height above the headtube

and thus the dad bike was born.

Mines an old school 26” hardtail MTB. Standard QR axles, standard Alu frame tubes, standard head tube. That’s the only bike I have that has fit the various baby seats I’ve used.

Kids in bike are ace. Had our little one out initially ina Croozer trailer with baby insert (as OP says the accessories are eye watering expensive new and in short supply) doing local rides in the canal from a few. I the old and we were doing laps of Gisburn from 8 months. Came out the insert as he grew, but still used the trailer. Also got a Weeride when he was 1ish? And used that also depending on where we rode. Kept both until he was maybe 4
Got him a balance bike on his first birthday. Spend the initial time wheeling him round the house which he thought was hilarious, then once steady in his feet he started walking round with it between his legs, at no point during this stage did bum and seat meet but he enjoyed taking his bike for a walk. Once he moved into the scoot stage the best thing we did and moved him on massively and kept him engaged is visiting a pump track. He really enjoyed this, he thought it was exciting and fun which is the main point really. The short downs let him get a bit of speed and learn to balance but the next up would keep speed in check.
He then started doing the Gisburn walking tracks on his balance bike which he thought was awesome as he’s riding the same place daddy rides. Age four he went straight to a 16” wheel pedal bike and we took the peddles off for a few months, then put them back on. He’s loving it now, and we’ve just bought a retractable tow thingy so he can do bigger loops with a bit of help on the climbs.

He loves watching Danny Mac and Brendon Semenuk, and this last week the rampage practice stuff. He’s gone to school looking forward to tonight’s main event. (Hope it’s not winded off). He has asked for ramps for Christmas to practice his “ramp skills” but doesn’t want a flat bit, just the up bit and down bit but not the flat bit in the middle daddy. He wants a gap jump 🫣

So, in summary. Kids on bikes is ace. My kid on a hike makes me smile like a Cheshire Cat.

I remember being at 6 months into the new journey and I was tearing my hair out just wanting to get out and ride with him

Your child’s going to be with you for 18 years or more. It’s probably best to slow down a bit and chill. 

I feel your pain. Bought a “universal” WeeRide and found that ti didnt fit any of my bikes.

I’m waiting until our little one hits 2 and then I’ll buy a Shotgun seat and pop it on the VooDoo Bizango for rides around local reservoirs/parks/round to the grandparents etc

Our lad used to love our Weeride, many fond memories of him telling me to go faster, or him falling asleep on the pad.

All I would says is, dont take it too seriously, its not about getting the perfect setup for you on a bike, its about spending quality family time out in the fresh air hopefully as a family to escape the mundanity of changing nappies, feeding and sleepless nights.

Even 10 mins in the local park is good, not planning the next 25miles off road adventure

This has worked very well for me from not much older than 6 months

I loved when my daughter was on a seat behind be, she used to love tickling me and warming her cold hands on my back!

Then we went to trailer (secondhand Burley ). Used it every day in all weathers for 4 years (didn’t have a car). Now she is too big so we used the FollowMe for the school run. We both enjoy it but she isn’t protected from the weather.

She could cycle without it but traffic isn’t great at this time so I would rather be in control.

Have a look at a BoBike Mini, fixes to the bars, they have adaptors for all A frame stems apparently, we used one with both of ours, was excellent, it’s sitting in the loft, if you’re near Cardiff you’re welcome to it.

Thanks folks, I totally agree new bike option wasn’t there though as we have 4 bikes in the asgard already, one not in and the garage is stacked…

We did a national trust MTB route the other day which was the first ever time I took him in what they class as a berm… ironically her whyte HT she got for it, got a flat by the time we hit the cafe stop as it’s not setup tubeless!! Also he can’t go on mummy ‘a bike as she’s little with short reach and even me being over 6ft he was tickling my chest with his helmet….

Probably the least fun bit but also funny, was when he turned around and saw that my nipple was worth a flick or too…… REUBEN I’m trying to concentrate you funny boy! 😂

One of my favourite memories of the kiddy seat (we had one on the back) was the boy at 18 months shouting ‘have it’ all the way down the fast(ish) descent on the green route at Grizedale.
Turns out he was trying to alert his mother to the fact he had finished having a drink and would like her to take the Tommy Tippy from him. Oops.

9 months we went used croozer trailer with insert . Got lots of use from that. Into a yepp maxi on the back of the cargo bike.

Then a macride which tbh we have hardly used on account of jnr being too big pretty quickly to remotely comfortably ride once she was physically capable of holding on and also she got on her own pedal bike confidently pretty soon after.

Which lead us at 4 to a combo of a 40 quid slightly modified Adams tagalong and a beinn 20 + tow whee. Depending on where we ride.

**** knows what we are going to do this time round. Jnr two is 4 months and has already exceeded height and weight for the croozer insert…….. His pram carrycots, his car seat and his next to me crib …

Well just thought I’d provide an update to the whole cycling with a child debarcle.

As I found it really was if you read from the beginning.

Anyway after a kind member let me purchase their slim Thule adaptor to fit my Capra even that didn’t work with the bike seat. We had one ride and then as he got bigger his head pressed in my chest when he wanted to stretch out.

ANSWER: New bike! Picked up a Merida hardtail with long steerer, standard Thule mount fitted to it. Did this as I put the mount on her whyte and we did a ride with him. Just a short shakedown to see how he’d get on, it was in the height of summer as such and he LOVED it.

So that was the excuse to employ n+1 .

So not actually used the new bike yet with him, as we sent the bike seat forward to France with my others half’s parents as we’re heading there after this weekend.

The mount is fitted though and hoping for lots of days in the saddle, around them are lots of hills too so dare I say it may even get some fitness back this holiday 😂

I think I called that right a while ago 😎 Enjoy the time together.

I now get to grandad once a month to two children who live in a flat in Hatfield. We’re about to try some bike riding with a 3 and 6 year-old who have never been on two wheels.

You can’t remove the stirrups without removing the handlebars so so long as you are not going too slowly below 5mph you can still turn as you need.

If it’s like mine was (might be a different model) you can take the stirrups off and keep the handle by cutting a little bit of brass rod or something and taping it into the hole that takes the stirrups.

Can’t post pics because it’s long gone!

Edit: didn’t notice the age of the thread and recent update!

Turns out he was trying to alert his mother to the fact he had finished having a drink and would like her to take the Tommy Tippy from him. Oops.

While on the shotgun a few years ago. Eldest said he wanted to go down the stairs.  So we went down the stairs, following the tantrum , it turned out he wanted to walk down the stairs.

I explained he didn’t use effective communication. I remind him of this when it comes to filling out a CV and preparing for questions.

Yes “new bike” appears to have been the answer!
Also I sized up to an XL and is much more comfortable for me, and riding stairsets when he wanted to walk them 😂

That’ll be me too as love riding a challenging set of stairs at pace, anyway everything reigned back slightly now with him on !

everything reigned back slightly now with him on !

Turning up with a slightly broken/dented child will involve some pointed questions from Mrs York! Says the man who put his 10 year old on the sharp end of a trad climb (Nursery Slope, Mod) and fretted somewhat while a mate showed him the holds and how to place gear.

Well we’re off to Les Gets for the DH shortly too, we’re not taking bikes there but I saw that there was a Green golf course trail for families…. Until I watched the video for it. Very much not for an under 2 year old in front of a hardtail! From what I saw it looked like a red XC trail in the UK 😂

Were expecting alot closed because of the DH anyway.

9 months then on a rear seat. Too cold, ended up with a sleeping bag and that worked ok.

2 years in- kids ride shotgun and balance bike.

4 years in bike with shotgun MK1 b got stolen

Shotgun MK1 replacement didn’t work on super sloped top tube.

4.1/4 shotgun MK2

4.5 tandem with kiddy back. He has learned to pedal on this😃

Started pedaling his bike 😃

This month it got a suspension fork and 2.3 off road tires. We rode down a bank that my .wife ( not super keen of bikes) has never ridden. So age 4.5 he’s a keener mtber than his mum.