That Cycling Feeling

Having children too young to ride their own bicycle does not mean you have to go everywhere by car. When 70% of all car journeys are for trips of less than five miles, using your bike for at least some of these journeys makes good environmental – and financial - sense.

Children as young as one or two months can be taken out cycling and this article aims to give an indication of what is available for different ages of child.

There is an enormous range of equipment on the market aimed at parents with pre-cycling age children. But before you get out your credit card, it is important to think carefully about a number of issues:

• the age of your children
• where you will be cycling with them
• what you will be doing when you get there
• your fitness level
• safety/visibility to car drivers

one to six months old
For the youngest children, a bicycle trailer is the only solution. This device enables one cyclist to tow up to two children in a rigid “tent”. The maximum towing weight for trailers is about 45Kg. To tow very young babies and those that cannot sit up on their own, you need special baby seats that fit inside the trailer.

Cycle trailers are great for leisure cycling and for ferrying children to school/nursery. They are also OK for shopping at the supermarket if your child/children can sit in the trolley or will walk independently when you get there. If you have two children in the trailer, you won’t get much shopping in because of space and weight restrictions. Also remember that you have to tow the fully laden trailer - which is where your fitness level comes in.

Bicycle trailers can cost up to £400, but the better quality trailers have a good resale value. A stroller conversion kit is worth considering if you want to cycle into town, park, and then continue on foot. However, don’t forget that it will be at least as bulky as a double buggy, which will make manoeuvring it difficult on crowded pavements and in shops.

There is also the safety angle. Cycle trailers are highly visible. Most are brightly coloured and have a little flag. Car drivers tend to find them rather unnerving and subsequently give them a very wide berth.

A friend of ours says that she and her husband have taken their children out in a bicycle trailer attached to the back of a tandem - the cycling equivalent of an 16 wheeler articulated lorry - she says it completely intimidated any car drivers they encountered.

Six months to approx three years old
As soon as a child can sit up confidently (from about six months), they can go in a bicycle seat. Most bike seats will hold a child up to 18Kg in weight, although better quality ones will go up to around 22Kg. There is an enormous range of bike seats available and with prices ranging from £30 to £130 - you need to look around.

Weight is an even more important issue with bike seats than with bicycle trailers because you will be carrying the child rather than towing them. Because the child is up behind (or in front of) you, the balance of the bike is affected – particularly if the child starts to wriggle. There are also the issues of getting the child into the seat: can you lift them in and keep the bike stable unaided and then get onto the bike yourself? You should also check that the bike seat is easy to put on and take off your bike and how easy it is to fit to another bike.

From the point of view of the occupant, features to look out for are: head support; reclining seat backs (young children soon fall asleep in bike seats); seat padding (being seated directly over the back wheel of a bike can be uncomfortable); adjustable foot rests and toe restraints; a five point safety harness.

It is theoretically possible to have a bike seat on the front of your bike and one on the back; making transporting two offspring at the same time a possibility, but once again, consider your level of fitness - and the stability of the bike. From the point of view of motorists, cyclists with bike seats are a little more alarming than cyclists on their own – but only marginally so.

Four years to whenever . . .
Once a child becomes capable of pedalling – from around four years old – a trailer bike becomes an option. These are basically the back end of a child’s bicycle with no front wheel and no independent steering. The trailer bike is hitched to the adult’s bike either on the seat post or over the rear wheel. Trailer bikes cost around £60 for a basic model, up to £300 for one with gears and brakes etc.

The best trailer bikes hitch over the rear wheel of the adult’s bike. This ensures that the trailer bike tracks the path of the adult bike. With seat post-hitched trailer bikes, the trailing bike tends to cut corners, and also to “waggle” around which interferes with the steering of the leading bike, so the adult needs to be able to compensate for this – which can be tiring. For this reason, the national cyclists organisation, the CTC, advises that the person on the leading bike needs to be at least twice the bodyweight of the child behind them.

The big advantage of trailer bikes is that even when the child can ride independently, you can go on longer bike rides without risk of them getting too tired – they simply stop pedalling. The disadvantage is that once you get to your destination, they don’t have a bike to muck around on. It is possible to buy a “tow bar” for under £100. This attaches to the adult bike and lifts the front wheel of the child’s bike off the road, but you need to ensure that the child’s riding position is comfortable. Because of their length and the presence of a child, motorists tend to treat a bike plus trailer bike (and a flag) with more respect than an adult cyclist.

So there is plenty of kit to choose from and it is possible to buy these things second hand: local cycling clubs would be a good place to start. It should also be mentioned that if you want to get fit and lose weight, propelling yourself and a two/three year old around on a bike seat or a cycle trailer, has a lot to reccomend it. What looked like a nice gentle slope can suddenly become a lot more of a challenge - but think positive! Visualise the first time that you manage that climb without turning into a beetroot coloured, gasping, dripping wreck!

Useful websites: www.ctc.org.uk
www.companyofcyclists.com/
www.cyclingengland.co.uk
www.bikeforall.net

Well, as the poem says (more or less):

The holidays are over
And now it is the rule
For all the little children
To hurry back to school . . .

. . . . and for me to start blogging with serious intent.

It's been a busy summer. Since July we've: been camping in Guernsey; had a week in France; been up to Yorkshire; had the kind of horrendous day out at Legoland that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy; I've started learning to play guitar; we've both been to see a kinesiologist and had to cut out sugar, yeast (no wine or beer - yikes!) and dairy from our diets; and now we're moving house and organising a blessing for Youngest Son. I think that's enough to be going on with. Hopefully October will be a month for consolidation. . .