Trailercycles

Steve Hodgson said:

It seems that trailercycles (Tandem Trailer?) are recommended for
around 4 years and up. My daughter is just turning four and near the
limits for the rear seat we currently use for our commute.

My feeling is she is ready for the move and sensible enough to cope but
our trip is in a city partially on road and I wonder if I am perhaps
being too optimistic.

Any thoughts welcome.

We have used a Trailgator for the odd trip around Preston. Frankly, with
Small towed behind Kate's bike and me as rear outrider we found this
quite acceptable. We haven't yet drummed up the courage to use it around
town without an outrider although the vast majority (think 99%) of other
road users viewed the setup as being remarkably cute and very much to be
given a wide berth.

In fairness, it's not helped by Small's current bicycle having a rear
brake that is almost impossible to disable and, subsequently, replace.

Cheers,
Luke

--
Red Rose Ramblings, the diary of an Essex boy in
exile in Lancashire <http://www.shrimper.org.uk>

Steve Hodgson said:

It seems that trailercycles (Tandem Trailer?) are recommended for
around 4 years and up. My daughter is just turning four and near the
limits for the rear seat we currently use for our commute.

My feeling is she is ready for the move and sensible enough to cope
but our trip is in a city partially on road and I wonder if I am
perhaps being too optimistic.

Any thoughts welcome.

I've got one that I used from around age 6 to 8, for a short < 2 miles
commute, now we have a proper tandem. It was a fairly cheap one (around £80)
and OK for short trips. There is a bit of a wobble in the joint, which isn't
dangerous but

It can scare the child untill they get used to it.
It means you can't chuck it into corners like a single or a proper tandem
It gives you a tired [censored] and shoulders after a while as your constantly
correcting for the wobble.
The instructions said max speed 10 mph, we had it up to 30 no problem.
The thought of the joint failing is terrifying, but it didn't.

I've made it sound really [censored], but it was fine for short gentle trips.

I keep meaning to put it on ebay, but if you can pick it up (West Yorks) its
yours for £20. If you think its not worth that I'll put it on ebay. Its got
a little bit of rust on the cranks, If your interested I'll put some pics up
somewhere.

--
Andy Morris

AndyDotJinkasAtgooglemail.com

Love this:
Put an end to Outlook Express's messy quotes
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Steve Hodgson said:

It seems that trailercycles (Tandem Trailer?) are recommended for around
4 years and up. My daughter is just turning four and near the limits for
the rear seat we currently use for our commute.

My feeling is she is ready for the move and sensible enough to cope but
our trip is in a city partially on road and I wonder if I am perhaps
being too optimistic.

Any thoughts welcome.

I have used a Trailgator for a 45 minute (each way) commute through
central London with our Ben, who was 5 1/2 when I started early last
year. The only real worry I've ever had is if he is tired after school
and could fall asleep. I invested in a mirror just so I could keep a
better eye on him, though getting him to sing songs while we go along is
more reassuring.

Using the Trailgator has had one negative effect, Ben seems to have
forgotten how to cycle for himself, the unusual use of the handlebars as
something to just hold on to has un-learned his balancing skills.

The problem I now have is that Ben, who is now nearly 6 1/2 is very
weighty, he is a big lad anyway, but I am sure he is a bit too fat. He
was pushing the Trailgator close to its stated design limits. This has
resulted in a bit of a 'commuting by bike' hiatus, so I've been looking
for alternatives.

On Ebay I bought a Trek trailer bike, a large version with 24" wheels,
but even this doesn't seem to have the maximum weight limit I would hope
to find. There is plenty of height adjustment left in the bike, I had to
hunt down a shorter seatpost just to make use of it to begin with, but he
will never be able to make full use of the size because he will just be
too heavy. I don't see how anyone could make full use of the size to be
honest. Ben and myself have yet to try this trailer bike out for a
'decent' run, maybe I'll have some opinions after tomorrows Critical Mass
ride.

I can't see see where to go from here and I am struggling to get his
cycling skills up to a sufficient level for him to cycle solo, though
still accompanied on our commute.

On this note, does anyone know of any mailing lists or fora where trailer
bike use is discussed more frequently. For what I've found, there
doesn't seem to be a lot of child with parent cycle commuting talk going
on anywhere. Are we such a rare breed or just very shy?

--
The email address, should you need it, does not need the NOT.

Colin Murphy said:

On this note, does anyone know of any mailing lists or fora where trailer
bike use is discussed more frequently. For what I've found, there
doesn't seem to be a lot of child with parent cycle commuting talk going
on anywhere. Are we such a rare breed or just very shy?

There is a rasonable amount of discussion here:

http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?f=182

Andy

In article <[email hidden]>, Colin Murphy
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

The problem I now have is that Ben, who is now nearly 6 1/2 is very
weighty, he is a big lad anyway, but I am sure he is a bit too fat. He
was pushing the Trailgator close to its stated design limits. This has
resulted in a bit of a 'commuting by bike' hiatus, so I've been looking
for alternatives.

Childback tandem or adult tandem with kiddy cranks - he'll be able to
contribute more to the propulsion, you'll be able to go further and
faster (even without extra input). Or get a trailer bar and a regular
bike for him, so he can ride solo for part of the way.

In article said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Colin Murphy

Quoted message said:

The problem I now have is that Ben, who is now nearly 6 1/2 is very
weighty, he is a big lad anyway, but I am sure he is a bit too fat. He
was pushing the Trailgator close to its stated design limits. This has
resulted in a bit of a 'commuting by bike' hiatus, so I've been looking
for alternatives.

Childback tandem or adult tandem with kiddy cranks - he'll be able to
contribute more to the propulsion, you'll be able to go further and
faster (even without extra input). Or get a trailer bar and a regular
bike for him, so he can ride solo for part of the way.

The Trailgator he has now is a trailer bar for a regular bike.

There are trailerbikes with higher size/weight limits, which would
probably be cheaper but not as good as a childback tandem.

In message <[email hidden]>

Colin Murphy said:

For what I've found, there
doesn't seem to be a lot of child with parent cycle commuting talk going
on anywhere. Are we such a rare breed or just very shy?

I think there are a lot of users/buyers - but not perhaps at
club/usenet level of communication.

I ride with a 13 year-old occasionally, and it is scarey stuff, as he
is a little handicapped, and doesn't concentrate well - those
descriptions fit me too, but slightly differently. But he wants to be
better than everyone else whereas I just want to survive to enjoy...

But I am trying to train him up...

Hopefully I'll get him to London Freewheel on the 23rd September.

I'll pick up some pointers when I get training myself - through the
LCC Merton scheme...
--
Charles
Brompton P-type T6 in Motspur Park
LCC; CTC.