SOrry about the delayed response...
Originally Posted by
Blythe
How did it compare for you and your daughter to a trail-a-bike? Did the front position for your daughter make the ride more enjoyable for either one of you and/or feel safer? Or was it a comparable experience? Also, how comfortable was the bike for you and your daughter? The website says the front seat will be good through age 7, but with a 100lb weight limit, it seems like it will be useful for much longer than that. Do you agree that the useful life would be longer?
Trailer bike: I mostly use a trailer bike with my daughter. The ride on a tandem is superior. The trailer bike can really wriggle around. Tandems are easier to control. If transportation is an issue (i.e. transport by car or bus) the trailer bike can be a little easier, but there are transportation options for tandems, too.
Comfort: I just spent a day on the KidzTandem, but neither of us had comfort issues.
Product life: My daughter was 8 when we used the KidzTandem. Chris has a mobility option for this bike too (a front seat for disabled people), so the 100 lb limit seems pretty conservative, but you'll have to ask Chris Brown about that yourself. Like Cranky Dude notes, a more traditional tandem will offer you more flexibility -- the KidzTandem has a limited usefulness as a child transporter, though conversion to a cargo bike extends the usefulness quite a bit. You can replace the front seat and handlebars with a big cargo basket to transport stuff and turn your bike into something like a small Bakfiets.