city safety with kid

[cratefortrunk]

Hi, I commute all around the city of Chicago by bike in most weather. My wife and I are expecting our first baby in the spring and we're wondering if there's a safe way to carry a kid with us by bike.

We have a Burley trailer that we use for groceries, but I'm nervous about visibility behind parked cars and so on. Still, if I crash, the Burley stays upright. A kid seat on the back seems like it would be less of a visibility issue for cars, but if I crash the kid could get really hurt.

Is there a viable way to bike-commute with a kid in a city environment, or are we doomed to lots of driving? Love to hear your thoughts.

[masiman]

I don't know how you urban parents do it. I'm in suburbia and it is too crowded for my liking. Thankfully we have a decent trail system here.

I'd feel the same way if I had urban riding choices. The trailer adds length but is not very visible. I'd frankly be more worried about doors opening than getting hit from the rear, but an opening door can easily push you into an even more dangerous situation. I like the child seats less due to the handling effects, plus the more restrictive environment for the kid. Less room, fewer places to put refreshments and toys, etc. There's always the option of moving to a less urban area but that involves much more than "do I spend $50 on a seat or $200 on a trailer".

Right now you're thinking about seats and trailers. It would depress me to think that neither do I have enough room to store a kid's bike nor can I let them ride around the neighborhood.

I feel for ya. Good Luck.

[cratefortrunk]

I don't know how you urban parents do it. I'm in suburbia and it is too crowded for my liking. Thankfully we have a decent trail system here.

I'd feel the same way if I had urban riding choices. The trailer adds length but is not very visible. I'd frankly be more worried about doors opening than getting hit from the rear, but an opening door can easily push you into an even more dangerous situation. I like the child seats less due to the handling effects, plus the more restrictive environment for the kid. Less room, fewer places to put refreshments and toys, etc. There's always the option of moving to a less urban area but that involves much more than "do I spend $50 on a seat or $200 on a trailer".

Right now you're thinking about seats and trailers. It would depress me to think that neither do I have enough room to store a kid's bike nor can I let them ride around the neighborhood.

I feel for ya. Good Luck.


Thanks for the opinions on seats and trailers; no thanks for the unsolicited indictment of my choice to live in an urban area.

There are a host of reasons I would prefer not to live in a suburb (that would "depress me"). I've got plenty of room for my bike, my wife's bike, our tandem, the trailer, and a future kid's bike(s). That's because my house has a basement and a garage! Our street is full of kids who zoom around the block under the supervision of the neighbors, and I won't have a problem letting my kid ride around with them.

I feel for ya. Good Luck.

[masiman]

no thanks for the unsolicited indictment of my choice to live in an urban area.

No indictment intended. Empathy and acknowledgement of a tough kid riding environment were my intentions. The urban depression was about me, not you. The moving comment was a throwaway. Maybe a smiley would have helped you get by it.

[AndrewP]

Children under 12 months do not have necks stong enough to support their heads in a child trailer. They are OK in cars in a special car seat, so I dont think they would be any worse situation if you could put one of these seats in a bike trailer. Since a trailer is not likely to tip over, I would not advise putting a helmet on a child when he is big enough to sit in the trailer. The weight of the helmet and interference with the seat back may cause more strain to the child's neck. I am not a medical expert so follow this advice at your own risk.

[Michel Gagnon]

Some people have placed infants in a car seat and attached the car seat in a trailer.


As for trailer vs child seat, I have done both. My child trailer has been used for about 8000 km, mostly for a child, but also for some cargo. And I replaced it with a cargo trailer this spring.

– If you go with a child seat, get a sturdy one. Even the Rhode Gear Limo I had felt a bit flexy when the child was weighing more than 25 lb.

– A child seat changes the balance of a bike. It was not a problem for me, as I have lots of loaded touring experience and a decent touring bike. But beware if you have a noodly bike or if you never carried more than 1-2 L of milk in panniers. A 25-lb child has about the same effect on bike handling as 40 lb of groceries (groceries don't wiggle).

– With the child seat, the challenging parts are:
- keeping the bike upright while you install the kid (and vice versa);
- storing your gear somewhere (panniers in front?).

The trailer is very stable and actually increases the load-carrying capacity of the bike. The only real drawbacks are:
- parking at the office;
- using public transit (not an option here, but in places where busses have racks, you can't bring the trailer on the rack);
- wind resistance (about as streamlined as a parachute).


As for handling in traffic, I would say the most challenging places are... bike paths. Apart from zigzagging "cyclists", most of them – around here anyways – are poorly designed with tight turns, obstacles on the road, narrow passages and sometimes even chicanes. By comparison, a 2-children trailer is barely wider than my body + panniers, so I don't really need more space on the road. Issues to consider:

– The trailer is a bit unusual and has lots of yellow fabric, so it actually register in the mind of car drivers. I get more clearance, people slow more... when I have the trailer. The safety flag is useful on highways and suburban arterials, but useless in the city itself.

– You create three tracks. Three series of potholes to clear (we like them in Montréal), three tracks to clear in the snow... But apart from that, it's great.

– Bike handling is like if you had no cargo... except you start more slowly at intersections and need low gears to climb.

– In tight spots, you can't zigzag through traffic. If you clear your way "bike-messenger" style (sorry for the stereotype), better change your ways ASAP. For locals, I can slowly and cautiously ride past stalled traffic on Du Parc Avenue (straight 5-6 ft corridor between parked cars and "moving" ones), but not on Sherbrooke Street downtown at rush hour.

– Cargo space is great. Not only you can use your panniers, but there usually is some room behind and in front of the kids. Warning: don't carry fruits and vegetables there, unless you want your child to sample them.

– Lighting. If you think lighting a loaded bicycle is a problem, that's worst with a trailer. The Chariot trailer I had had a nice narrow reflective band all around and two wheel reflectors. Very poor visibility from behind!
So I went to Canadian Tire and bought a few automotive reflectors; I then sow 2 large red and 3 large amber reflectors on the rear panel. Then I installed hose collars around a couple of tubes and attached taillights.
I designed a fairly similar solution on the Burley Nomad this summer.

[same time]

Congratulations!

I don't know The Right Answer, but I have a kid and live in a city. I take her around in a seat on the back of the bike because I feel much more comfortable with her right behind me, instead of five feet behind me and down on the ground as traffic approaches from behind. And I can just ride like I normally do, rather than adjusting to riding with a trailer. Well, more carefully and gently than I normally ride, but otherwise the same.

The kid seats they make nowadays are much nicer - and safer - than the ones they had when we were kids. The one I have would do a pretty good job of protecting my daughter if we fell over. Her arms and legs don't really stick out anywhere, it's like she's in a little roll cage. (She's almost 2 - I think under 1 year old, most people do the car-seat-in-a-trailer thing because the kid can't sit up.)

Another nice thing about the seat is when she wants milk or juice or a snack or her hand got stuck in her sleeve or whatever, you just stop, turn around, and deal with it, usually at the next stop sign or red light. No need to park and open up a trailer to figure out what's wrong.

I think there was a thread about this over in "Living Car Free" last year, too.

Good luck!

[chephy]

There was a thread on this a while ago. I'd be very wary of riding with a kid under a year old in a trailer. Babies are fragile things, potholes abound and trailer suspension is not as good as car suspension, I would suspect (pun intended). Maybe for some neighbourhood riding with very smooth wide roads and little traffic it would work. Otherwise, I'd just get too paranoid about it. (But then, of course, one reason I don't have children is that I know I'll be the constantly worried overprotective parent, and I would wish that on no kid... and on no parent!)