Mom / Dad-mobiles, Kid-transporters

Looking at getting a follow-me, but also want a rear rack to attach a pannier to and to secure the Follow-me out of the way.

The bike I'm thinking of using is an old 26" mtb.

Is there anything I need to be aware of? For eg it looks like you want to not have a rack that protrudes too far back.

I was looking at this thorn one

Cheers

+1 for the Thorn Expedition + Expedition Lite. Great utilitarian racks.

Unrelated… any Xtracycles gathering dust out there? Slim pickings on eBay / Marketplace

Just under a year of smashing out nursery runs, commuting, big shops and recreational rides with - and very occasionally without - my kid, time for a bit of maintenance and fiddling on this.

Incoming:
New chain (gold) and cassette (silver)

New cables (purple) and hoses (silver braid). New hoses unfortunately necessary as since I changed bar position they're a bit short and have kinked.

New mudguards - these ones are a little too narrow and a lot too floppy

New headset (blue)

Low profile bolts for the I think 16 unused bosses

Tubeless setup - yet to puncture on this but we are going on longer and longer rides, and the idea of fiddling with tyre levers while my daughter is standing cold and wet on the side of the road does not appeal

Colour choices all vetted by the boss

Rear hub service also necessary

Possibly replace the pizza rack with a pelago commuter + lowrider kit - would be good to get the pannier weight a bit lower as the weekly shop + ever growing kid makes the steering a little ungainly

Still absolutely loving riding this, and looking forward to it running even smoother

1 Attachment

Absolutely love it.

What age did you use the shotgun from?

Just before 3rd birthday, we had a Yepp Nexxt Mini before that she outgrew. Could have transitioned younger I think, she was immediately comfortable with the active, sitting on a saddle, hands on bars type position instead of the car seat, strapped in style of the Yepp

Great. We're scratching our heads. Our 2 1/2 year old getting too bulky for the Yepp with winter garb and we're on edge with weight.

Commute for childcare is 25-40 mins. Wondering if thats a long time to ask him to be in the saddle.

Whats it like with unexpected bumps ? (in the road, not the belly)

Our daily commute is more like 10 mins but she can and does enjoy much longer trips. Weather probably a factor if you're doing it every day over winter though.

Bumps are less of a factor with 2.25" tyres but she doesn't find them a problem - I think the footpegs and handlebars help with this as she can take weight off the saddle. She sometimes stands up a little as an adult would. It being up front means it's easy to warm them a bump is coming too

Depends on the kid really - our youngest have been on it since she was 1.5, but only for sub 4-5k. Now at age 2 she will still sometimes have enough and try to stand up and exit the seat while riding. Her older sister was between 2.5 and 3 when we started and she took to it really quickly.

would be good to get the pannier weight a bit lower as the weekly shop + ever growing kid makes the steering a little ungainly

Rear rack and panniers?

Otherwise you're putting a lot of weight up front aren't you?

It's a thought. It did have a rear rack at first, but it seemed a bit unnecessary to have it fitted all the time when I only really use the panniers for the weekly shop, and they do fit on the pizza rack fine, if a little high

eldest has outgrown the trailer, and is now on her own bike, but for further travel or in busier traffic would like to get an e cargo so we can go further with both the kids (3 and 6). Can take the youngest on the back of the wife's bike with the seat, but busier traffic is not really doable with a kid riding solo. Last week we went to see friends in Edinburgh but there was no way we could cycle over from the city centre like that, whereas Id have happily had them on a cargo bike with me.

So Im really keen to look at what we can do to facilitate using the bike more to go further afield.

Anyone gone down this route?

Yeah just seen this and it looks great. Very interesting...

Le petite porteur's new longtail looks awesome for that purpose

It does - looks like it fits the bill perfectly.

Sent le petit porteur a message about shipping to the UK, sadly its frame only.

I think they're based near Paris. Eurostar over and cycling holiday back along the Brittany canals?

Why this one over the other long tails that are available in UK?

Cheaper and more purple

This is great - I arrived at a very similar (although much more beaterish) form for my kid carrier.

The shotgun and swept bars work so well.

1 Attachment

much more beaterish

Your strider on the other hand is a lot fancier than ours!

The bars on mine are on one mollymawk (maybe same as yours) and I love them. The deeper I go into weird alt bars, the more I like it. Fear it is not going to stop before German Lesbian Handlebars™