On the other forums, I noticed that they have pics of their vintage bikes, their road bikes, their commuters, etc., so I thought it would be fun to post pics of our bikes pulling our trailers or our child seats or our trail-a-bikes or however we manage to transport our kids. I'll start....here's a pic of my '94 Schwinn Sidewinder pulling my Chariot Caddie. The kids are taking a nap, so they're not in the Caddie right now :D

Oh, and on a safety note....they always wear helmets. The youngest is 16 months (I started her at 16 months), and the oldest is 3 years 4 months. The oldest has always LOVED her helmet, and the youngest loves hers because the oldest does. I actually put their helmets on in the house, and let them run around in the house with them on one night to get the little one used to it. It worked. When she sees the trailer, she runs to it, grabs her helmet, and hands it to me! :)

I just posted a long explaination earlier today about my rig, so I'll just link to it and add a couple more pictures Details (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=148506)

The youngest is 14 months (32 lbs.) though he's been riding for a while now, the oldest is about 2 1/2 years old (42 lbs) and has been riding all year. They talk about bike rides all the time and when he realizes we're going to go for one, the youngest gets so excited we have to hold him out at arm's length until he settles down because of all the flailing around.

I just posted a long explaination earlier today about my rig, so I'll just link to it and add a couple more pictures Details (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=148506)

The youngest is 14 months (32 lbs.) though he's been riding for a while now, the oldest is about 2 1/2 years old (42 lbs) and has been riding all year. They talk about bike rides all the time and when he realizes we're going to go for one, the youngest gets so excited we have to hold him out at arm's length until he settles down because of all the flailing around.

Wow! I'm impressed! There might be a patent in your future! :) Your kids look like they are having a great time!

Thanks,
I'm looking forward to seeing more pictures!

Dad.

Bike Friday triple with Adams tandem Trail A Bike. The bike and trailer and kids combine for about three hundred pounds before I get on. Quite the visual impact when we all wear our matching shirts and shorts.

elares, WOW WOW WOW that is very impressive. Maybee there is hope for me for when I get my wife into going out and riding, and my littlest one gets old enough to ride. (the littlest one is only due at the end of Jan but I am thinking a trailer so that I don't have to wait)

WOW like I said, Impressive

by the way forgot to mention that it is a very cute picture

elares,

WOW! I'm super impressed with you and your really cute kids! Congrats for getting the whole family involved! :)

Awww, shucks. It's nothin'

The youngest, Tommy has just graduated from the trailer. I had to put plywood blocks on the trail-a-bike to further shorten the crank length. We use toe clips and straps for all. Our longest ride thus configured is 12 miles. We're targeting a local organized ride in the spring. That will be 21 miles and some significant hills. We can climb anything. Slowly.

Awww, shucks. It's nothin'

The youngest, Tommy has just graduated from the trailer. I had to put plywood blocks on the trail-a-bike to further shorten the crank length. We use toe clips and straps for all. Our longest ride thus configured is 12 miles. We're targeting a local organized ride in the spring. That will be 21 miles and some significant hills. We can climb anything. Slowly.

Good Luck! You're quite the inspiration for the rest of us! :D

elares, how did you put the trailer on with the trail a bike? DO you have any pics of that? With a little one due Feb 2, I will still have to wait but will want to get him out there on the bike rides with his big sis asap.

Thanks

elares, how did you put the trailer on with the trail a bike? DO you have any pics of that? With a little one due Feb 2, I will still have to wait but will want to get him out there on the bike rides with his big sis asap.

Thanks


Ours was an inexpensive two-seat trailer from PerformanceBike. It attached to the left chainstay of the trail-a-bike. So we had the triple, single-seat-trail-a-bike, then trailer. An articulated beast. Attached is the best pic I could find of this setup.
This configuration rode well. Of course I wasn't doing any 50MPH mountain descending. Our triple has a drum drag brake that helps keep the speed down. The kids get plenty of thrill from 18-20 mph so there is no value in going faster, only greater risk. I've not experienced any shimmy in either setup and hope never to experience it. That is what motivates me to keep the speed down.
Like I tell the kids, if we crash, mom is gonna be very mad at me.

The downside to riding with all four is that it takes at least a half an hour at ride check-in to get waivers filled out and numbers pinned and potty time handled. Not much of a downside at all really. And the kids are treated like stars when we are out on these rides.

That is absolutely awesome! What can I say?

How do you like the Bike Friday? Looks like a great tandem for kids as the frame is short enough for them to reach the pedals. How well does it work if another adult joins you? Is there enough adjustability?

Plenty of adjustability on the bike. All positions have a telescoping seat mast that will accomodate from 19" inseam on up to tall adults. The triple does have a 400lb weight limit. We love the bike.
I have not ridden it with another adult. When mom accompanies us, she has her own bike.

Cool thanks elares. I had never thought that I could attach a trailer to the trail a bike. That gets me all excited. Now I can plan for when my boy is old enough to ride in a trailer then he can go out with me and my daughter who is on the trail a bike. If I am lucky I can even get my wife jealous of our fun riding time and get her to come out with us. Or if I am even luckier we can get a tandem for my wife and me to ride and then attache the trail a bike and trailer.

Now we have a total of three families pictured in this thread... C'mon folks. Lets see some more solutions! :)

We just go back from our longest ride yet! We did around 23 miles. That is more than double our previouse longest ride. We started out with one of the groups that I usually ride with and at around 11 miles into the ride we had allready gone further than ever before and so I asked my daughter if she wanted to keep going or go home, and she said home. We were right by a nice park so we made our first stop and had a snack and then rode home. She did awesome! This was the first time I ever had to anykind of hills, they weren't much but boy what a difference it is having her weight back there.

I will try and get a pic up tommorrow.

Can you actually use that mirror for seeing your kids on the bikes or is it just for looking for cars? I just got one and could not see my daughter at all.

The mirror is for traffic. The kids sit too low to be visible in the mirror. With the most timid voices in the back, rely on a relay system to get messages back and forth. For instance, I request Billy's gear changes on the Trail-A-Bike and get confirmation relayed back to me. The Trail-A-Bike is a six speed grip shift machine.

Thanks, no other kids yet to relay messages. I was just looking for a mirror to check on my daughter. Currently I just yell out, "how are you doing" or "doing ok Sabrina" and she answers. However sometimes I just want a quick glance to see what she is doing, such as if she is standing up, or spinning the pedals backwayd, etc. Oh well, I will have to figure something else out.

Thanks

that sounds a little bit like me when I was about four and when my dad wanted to go on a bike ride around the neighborhod he would take me and my brother. He started taking us on rides when I could keep up on my tricycle.

This is our 2 year-old (well at the end of Decemeberr he will be) on the back of our tandem. However, that's nothing elares - really inspirational.

http://www.nesport.co.nz/photodisplay/051106%20(1719).jpg

Ian

Now we have a total of three families pictured in this thread... C'mon folks. Lets see some more solutions! :)


OK- Here we are (sans engine). They have gotten too big for this set-up since this pic was taken. My daughter grew 6" since March, and is now taking up a lot of room in our little trailer. And my son is getting taller by the minute. So we are currently benched, until we can find a solution to riding in traffic with the both of them safely and comfortably.

You can see entirely too many pictures of our set up here: http://arlentandem2005.crazyguyonabike.com/

Here is my Kettler Silverstar with Adams Trail-A-Bike all ready to go to Winter Vacation Camp and on to work. We do about 600 miles per year together. Vacation is now over, so the Adams has been disconnected until it is needed again, but the memories remain.

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=3393&stc=1

Paul

We put our first in one of those child restrained bike seats. Then we moved to the trail a bike when the second was born. Then when the second out grew the child seat, we bought a tandem. Then when the second out grew the trail a bike we bought a second tandem. 12 years later we are still out there almost every weekend on two tandems with our nine and twelve year old.

12 years later we are still out there almost every weekend on two tandems with our nine and twelve year old.

Tell us more about your experiences on two tandems, if you would. My kids are still young, but I'm toying with the idea of building two tandem recumbent trikes (a'la Greenspeed). At what age were they really able to contribute pedaling? Did they love riding when they were young, and do they still? How far were they able to ride when they frist started contributing to the pedaling, and how far do you all ride now? Stuff like that... any concerns or disappointments? Thanks!

You are incredibly creative! Maybe you can help me. I have a 5 year old who can't keep up on her own bike and a 3 year old that either needs to be in a trailer or toddler seat. Our trailer barely holds them both and I would appreciate it if the 5 year old would peddle. Can I put a seat on the back of my bike and a trail-a-bike behind that?

ELares- is that a tandem trailer bike? Where did you find that ? It would be the answer to taking our 2 girls along with us I think. How do you like it?

ELares- is that a tandem trailer bike? Where did you find that ? It would be the answer to taking our 2 girls along with us I think. How do you like it?
Yes, that is a tandem trail-a-bike from Adams. Someone saw it in a bike shop window in Ohio and and posted the contact information to the Tandem@Hobbes mailing list and I jumped on it. Shipping to Los Angeles was onerous. These trailers have not been made for a few years and are seldom found available new. Now and then they come up on T@H or Craigslist or Ebay. Shipping is always a problem.
It is perfect for us. I behaves just like a single trail-a-bike and solves our group cycling problems just great. We are not fast but we are all together. :)

elares

I just hooked up the trailer to my daughters trail along which is hooked up to my bike. I will post a pic soon. elares, I am trying to live up to your image, but unless I inherit more kids this is the max I am going to get. Of course if I could get my wife to ride a tandem with me then we could add that as well.