Mom / Dad-mobiles, Kid-transporters

Still available?

Colour coordination is on point, but the toptube pigeon really ties the whole thing together imo

Does anyone know if there's an unbranded/non hype version of the £60 tow ropes you can get?

Trailers. What's the deal with trailers?
Are they really about transporting multiple/bigger children? Or is there an advantage for one small toddler?

Hi, Did this go in the end?

What's a bigger children?

We rented one on holiday for our 2.5yo and 4.5yo. The 4.5yo is more 5yo size and 20kg. They were on the limit of fitting in imo.

I'd say they're probably best for <4yo. Plus there's the weight.

I’d say multiple children, yeah. Used to cycle my two around in one when they were 2 and 4. If I just needed to move one of them at a time then they go on the bike seat. They are cumbersome and weigh a lot, so I don’t see why you would use one to move a lone kid unless you also needed to move a bunch of stuff, but they can be pretty handy if you don’t have storage for a cargo bike.

^great, thanks for trailer thoughts

Next. Does anyone have any suggestions for back-of-seat visibility, I'm wondering about lights, maybe some sort of stick-on led strip

I tied an old high vis vest to the back which flapped about, plus a light on my rack below the seat, a reflector built into the seat back and a bit of extra reflective tape in strips down the seat. Realistically I didn’t ride much in the dark with the kid though, but sometimes I left the seat on and rode to the shop or work in the dark so it was daft not to light it up

Something that is very effective is reflective material with a light ontop.

Idk if you've ever seen people with panniers where there is a reflective patch behind the light attachment strap? The light bounces off the reflective patch giving a bigger spread.

I would work out your light setup and then buy some reflective tape.

You could even do something like getting a red reflective triangle, then put the light on the middle and fill the recess in the triangle with black reflective film.

Not my work (got it on ebay) but the reflective seems to work well, pointing to the side a bit as well as backwards

I like Tallboy's tying a high vis vest on too, makes things a bit more live/noticeable.

Re the trailer question above, with our solo kid, it worked well when he was 8 months (in a borrowed and botched Thule sling thing) as his world was so close he was happy with it. This year, same trailer but now 20 months, he wasn't keen - couldn't see as much as he could when mounted on bike and with no-one to goof around with, would get bored and antsy quite quickly.

On a separate note, if anyone's looking for cheap Burley 2 kid trailer, let me know. Eventually I'll get round to taking it out of the cupboard and putting an ad up here. Pretty faded cover and the odd small nick in the plastic but it's safe and rolls well. Probably lookign for £70 or so, will need to check what I've spent.

Fibre Flare!

Finally got round to taking photos of the bike trailer I'm selling - a Burley D'Lite double - and including a Baby Snuggler with it. £70. Hope no-one minds the cross-posting but the ad is here: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/391680/

Cheers!

All this talk of kid bikes and reflective tape reminds me I have a Hamax Siesta with free reflective tape for sale. £25, Bristol. Might be able to deliver in Bristol depending on where you are.

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Any recommendations for rain ponchos for the kid in the seat?

@stevo_com found/used a pretty good one IIRC?

I had the hamax Poncho, it was ok. I now have the tern full storm fort clubhouse thing and a tucano Urbano oppossum.

Cheers

The oppossum is waterproof and does have a hood but that comes out and goes over the top of the back rest of the seat/shoulders, so covers as much as the hamax Poncho did, but is fleece lined and heavy.

Oppossum

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That does look snug. is it easy/relatively quick to get on and off?

Any budget suggestions for handle bar setups for kids shotgun seats?

I think the sweet spot is long top tube, long flipped stem, seat as far forwards as possible, with swept bars (eg One One Mollymawk) and Spirgrips or similar for them to hold.

Basically make them sit as far forward and as tukt as possible without them hitting their legs on the bars. While you are as upright and sitting as far back as possible.
Also keep their feet nowhere near the front wheel obvs.

(Need to trim mudguard stays)

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Cheers. I'm back to worrying about the short tt. But those little Spirgrips look good.

I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and get a shotgun to at least see if it's worth me keeping my dad bike.

Have you had a look at Macride?
You can adjust the angle of the foot supports and the overall build height is a lot lower than the shotgun setups.
I have one and our eldest daughter loves it! We use it on the bullitt which has short and low top tube and it is all right.
I'm around a 180 cm tall for reference