Cycling with 2 young children Part 3: Trailers

I'll start off and proclaim my bias here. I don't like trailers. I think they are useful for cargo and out of rush hour leisure rides, but i really don't like them when your in town or crossing busy junctions.

My son agrees and still resolutely refuses to go in the trailer. He wants to be on the bike with daddy. In fact he wants to ride the bike and have daddy sit on the back. He's pretty convinced he knows how to do it :-)

That said they have a lot of benefits:
-Weather proof
-Can carry a lot of 'stuff'
-Gives the kids some freedom to do things
-Safe in a crash that doesn't involve cars
-Can carry infants from 3months with suspension and inserts
-Easy to load

The disadvantages are:
-Heavy
-They 'feel' vulnerable in traffic
-Increased width on the road (suddenly i feel like I'm holding everyone up)
-Awkward to park
-Restricted view compared to bike seat.

I often read\hear people assure me that drivers behave very nicely round trailers and in my experience they do, but i feel that I'm holding up the traffic (its harder to pass on our narrow roads). In rush hour i cant imagine drivers would tolerate being held up like this.

I do recommend having a trailer. Its a nice add-on to a child seat combo and increases luggage capacity for days out (I can fit my birdy in mine!). I'm really hope that in the summer on long leisure rides in country roads i can persuade Mike to use it , just to get him out of the sun for a bit.

Cycling with 2 young children Part 1

This is the most common question i see around family cycling and its a good un! Theres a few solutions around and I'd like to do a summary of some of them. The main ones I'm going to look at are:-

1) 2 child seats (front and back)
2) Workbikes (often wide bikes\trikes with storage\seating)
3) Long bikes (bikes with extended rears , normal bike width)
4) Trailers

I'm not going to cover, tag a longs ; towing arms ; sidecars ; tandems ie bikes that are suitable for children who are at an age when they can ride a bike.

Next I'll declare my bias.
- I'm looking for some real solutions for UK based cyclists.
- I like a bike that behaves like a bike
- That rides well
- That can cut through traffic (or quickly get out of its way!)
- That can handle rain, cold, hills, a roundabout and a 30 mph sidewind


Although I hope to illustrate some real solutions for UK cyclists. Its a fact of life though that 99% of the kit I'll look at won't be British. However, what is British and is worth a read is 'The CTCs guide to family cycling'. Its a great starting place for someone trying to decide whats good for them. I've been meaning to do a book review of it for some time, but instead i'm just going to stick an Amazon link up.

Man Does Weekly Shopping Run

I promised amazing adventures of doing the shopping and i mean to deliver!

Mike and I usually do a mid week shopping run to local Market town Saffron Walden. Previously i could only pick up bits and pieces that could fit in a pannier and a basket. This always meant shopping had to be carefully packed into the panniers which was always a bit of a stacking puzzle. It also had to be done one handed while holding onto Michael.

I went on my first shop with the trailer this Tuesday. It was interesting. A quick note here. Mikes still on the seat. There's no way he's going in the trailer, he wants to sit on the bike with dad. Here's how it went:


Getting ready: Took about the same time. No mounting of panniers and basket, but had to get the trailer out of the shed On the plus side the weather looked iffy, so i just chucked jackets into the trailer. A lot less hassle than deciding on the optimum amount to carry.
Verdict: Nothing in it so far.


Getting there: Hmmm. Well the ride was fine. I was taking it easy, just to get used to the handling, (which is very good). The trouble began when i got to town. First i got to the usual traffic light queue. Instead of shooting down the right hand side until i got to the lights (no RLJing mind you!) i felt very stuck. After 5 minutes of queuing i got through the lights. Right time to park the bike..... I suddenly realised that the bit of railing outside Waitrose that i normally chain up to would be inaccessible with the trailer due to the chicane of pedestrian barriers that i'd need to negotiate. I decided to park in the Waitrose car park bike racks. Of course this is Essex, so the bike racks are out of the way, in a dark corner... Its an extra few minutes cycle round as well.. grumble grumble...
Verdict: Hmmm, mildly annoying


Locking Up: When i get there, I'm met with a kerb that might as well have been a cliff face. So i get off, push the bike through the car park, past the waitrose entrance, and back round to where i wanted to get to in the first place.....Phew! Got there now its time to lock up. Actually that went quite well. I stopped, whipped Mike off the seat , dumped him in the trailer (to restrain him), locked up bike, stuck trailer next to bike , locked up trailer, pulled out Mike and bag and off we went.....Locking up took about the same amount of time but was easier because i could leave Mike in the trailer. Verdict: Finding a bike rack: Angry letter to council! Locking up , lovely job!


Normally the journey takes 20 minutes it took 30 minutes this time. I could find a better place to lock up, but I'll still get stuck in traffic. Now it was time to sprint to the GPs (where i was now 5 minutes late for an appointment.....

Going: After a couple of hours and coffee and cake at CouCou, its time to complete the shopping and head home. This worked great, dump bits and pieces into trolley, do shopping, take trolley to bike dump into trailer. Its like a boot! Mount up off we go.
Verdict: I have a boot on wheels!

Mike dozes off on the bike and i unpack the shopping and put my feet up!

Conclusion: Mixed! I'll use it a lot , for big shops. For trips to the library and a loaf of bread i'll stick to the panniers. Real pros and cons. Parking and in-traffic handlling being the biggest. Not for rush hour! Still a good buy for £80.

Buggy Business

So i have my new buggy. I wanted to blast out some first impressions while they are fresh:

• Its easy to hitch up
• Michael doesnt want to sit in it but thinks Doggy should. Doggy is his soft toy.
• After a while you forget its there
• Its impossible to maneauvre bike and buggy once dismounted
• It has a biiiiig turning circle
• Cars cant overtake very easily (which is bad?)
• Its great just throwing stuff into it , no careful packing of the panniers
• Its a hassle to park
• It rattles which is unnerving, but not dangerous (its the buckle on the safety strap
• Its great for a sunday trip out i wouldnt fancy it in town in the rush hour

Its first trip out was a Sunny sunday out to Audley End on Apple day. I felt very 'Sunday driver', cruising around with a trailer full of picnic stuff. Mike spent all day carrying Doggy, which was sweet. We filled the trailer up with apple juice and headed home. Mike obvioulsy spent the whole day on his Bike seat. He thinks the trailer is great (it does look like a childs toy), but its clearly not for people.

Its all routine....what next?

Regular readers may have spotted a dearth of posts recently. There are two reasons for this.

1) The rotten weather. We've not done many summer family trips.
2) Its pretty routine now

Any journey that's just me or me and Mike I always use the bike (with the odd exception). Its a pretty polished routine now. I have all my local journeys worked out down to where I'll park the bike, how long it will take and how to pack the luggage. The only things that restrict my journeys are not having enough luggage space, Mike having nowhere to sleep and very bad weather. This huge success in car replacement is a bit of an anti-climax. Now i need a new challenge.

Sooooo... I've just bought myself a new shiny trailer buggy from Halfords. That's broken my new credit crunch economising routine. Hopefully I'll be posting stories about our buggy based adventures. Look forwards to such tales as:

• How i took my garden waste to the dump.
• How i got the whole weekly shop home , not just the top up one.
• How i sat and had coffee while Michael slept.
• How i saved Michael from sudden freezing rain.