Cycling with 2 young children Part 3 Longbikes

Longbikes are bikes with extended wheelbases that allow the carrying of more luggage or more people. I've posted before on longbikes , and listed a few. I'll update the post to show the manufacturers what i'm aware of. These bikes have been around a long long time in Holland et al, but more recently they are having an exciting world wide resurgence in bike boom USA and its there i'm going to leap straight into.

Xtracycles are the most exciting thing on the block at the minute and its the owners who are saying it. Xtracycle owners seem to be the happiest cyclists i've come across. Read the blogs etc. Its worth noting that this company is in its infancy and many of the owners customise their bikes to suit their purposes. A very common customisation is two child seats. I'll post some links to some of the best ones, but the exciting news is that xtracycle are developing their own system:


My favourite child rig in the whole world is from a very clever chap who has a lovely blog called longwalktothegreen. The nice man is considering selling these seats . There are a lot of other folks on the web who have done similar adaptations, but this man has the nicest.

Another family worth reading about is carfree with kids. Their rig isnt as impressive as longwalk to the green's, but they more than make up for it with cheerful attitude. an OTT paint job and a cool numberplate.

These xtracycle bikes although still in their infancy have the following going for em....

• They can handle luggage + kids
  
• They are bike width and so are sill great in traffic.


• They ride like a bike and have good stability


• Its a system thats clearly going to develop as time goes on


• It can adapt to the kids growing older


• Without kids its a great shopper

The disadvantages are as follows

• Its long (duh!), which will make parking mildly awkward and stops it getting on a train, car etc


• They are heavy and are likely to need a good set of brakes and re-inforced rear wheel.


• Outside of the US they dont have much prescence, although there are a couple of UK stockists


• They end up expensive, but they do have the capacity to last a lifetime so not such a big issue

and a december update, courtesy of Julian from Totcycle, have a nose at the xtracycle gallery (click on the kids keyword in the 'cloud').

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.