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04-06-14, 04:14 AM

#13

Donnie Johnson

Donnie Jonhson

Join Date: Mar 2014

Location: Australia

Posts: 70

Bikes: Many, mostly old, steel, heavy and beautiful + one titanium bike; pretty much the complete opposite of my other bikes.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by oren_hershco

Hi Donnie,

We've tour with our boy 2 years ago, in France. He was 16 months old then.

http://img2.timg.co.il/forums/1_161791663.JPG

http://img2.tapuz.co.il/forums/1_161791813.JPG

Points to consider:

- You should wait until she's a year old, or close to that. Before this age her neck muscles are too weak to support the head properly.

- A trailer is safer than a bike child seat, and gives the infant protection from sun, wind or rain.

- Finding a proper helmet is a challenge. You might find that using a baby supporting kit works better (example of or Chariot accessory: Thule Chariot Baby Supporter | Bike Kid). It's not as safe as a helmet, but when helmets are un-wearable, this is better than nothing.

- Trailers are not suitable for hot climates. The cheap ones have almost no ventilation, the good ones have adequate ventilation for warm (not hot!) weather.

- When you tour with an infant, choose the safest route: avoid main roads at all costs. We toured on bicycle roads or narrow secondary roads, which had almost no traffic.

- Don't choose a rough off-road rout; your infant will suffer from this. You can go on smooth gravel roads.

- Boredom: the child can get bored inside. It's very important to do long stop where she can walk, crawl and play. Also, climbing great mountain passes is not a good option: it will take you too long, the infant will get bored, the weather on the pass will be harsh, and the descent will be scary. => Look for a route with smooth, rolling hills.

- We found that around 16:00 the boy have had it, and tried to planned out daily route so that it ends before.

- A trailer can turn to a stroller at the end of the day:

http://img2.timg.co.il/forums/1_161792046.JPG

- Weight: just the trailer + your infant + infant stuff is more than 24kg. That added weight convinced us to give up the camping gear for the tour. It's more expensive, yes, but even like that we were stuffed with gear to carry.

Summery: we enjoyed our trip in France, despite the difficulties.

Thanks for your post oren_herscho,

I like your thinking on suitability of trailers in hot climates and it doubling as a stroller. I hadn't considered either aspects. By the time our girl is old and strong enough for touring we will be living in Tasmania, Australia. The climate is rather cold and windy, except in summer when it the UV is very high and sunburn can be an issue.

When we eventually get going we plan on having shorter days on the bike to allow for later starts, longer breaks and an earlier finish. I think it makes sense to read how the little girl is going and base judgments on her needs rather that getting to the end of the planned schedule. I understand that some touring terrain does not counter for stopping at any time, however we have the best part of an entire year or longer to plan our route/s and organize our equipment. We are thinking that a daily distance of around 40 or so km in a friendly area sounds very achievable considering our level of fitness and strength. If we plan it sensibly we should be able to factor reasonable tail winds in our area to help push us along each day. Cross you fingers.

How far were you riding roughly each day? and how long were you riding for? (Don't mind the bold) When we toured New Zealand our average normal day including all stops for food and what not was around 10 km/h. e.g. if we had 70 km to ride we would arrive at our destination in around 7 hrs. It was a very leisurely tour. I think we will be a slower with the little girl.

As for the weight, I imagine one of our bikes will pull the trailer with the baby and equipment and the other will be loaded with front and read panniers and rack pack bag. My partner and I can pack lighter to allow more weight for baby stuff. Our NZ trip was a heavy loaded, 1000 km plus and spanning over 4 weeks. We won't be pulling the baby quite that far or for as long in the trailer. We will store up the bigger ones for when she is older.

Thanks again

Donnie

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