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
