Recreational & Family - Advice needed for Piccolo trailers

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.




Ann C
02-26-08, 12:12 AM
I am currently pulling a "train" consisting of a tandem, Burley Piccolo, and a bike trailer. (I ride this configuration with my three boys ~ 7, 5, and 3. The 3 year old is not going to want to ride in the trailer much longer. I have thought of getting a triplet and using that with the Piccolo, but they are more expensive, and there are transportation issues. Has anyone ever ridden a tandem pulling two Piccolos? I would like to hear your experience. Thanks!


masiman
02-26-08, 07:33 AM
I don't think I have seen a twin piccolo configuration before. I guess you could assuming that the forward piccolo can mount the required rack. If that can be done I think the rear piccolo would be somewhat nose down given that the forward piccolo rack height would be lower than on a typical adult sized bike (26", 700c, 27").

Any chance your oldest can start riding on his own? It will open up a riding position on the train.

We ride your same configuration. Our oldest 3 are one year older than yours. Our 8 year old has been on their single for the last year and a half since the youngest came along. At first we were limited in the rides we could do but now we can do 20-30 miles if we take it slow. Fortunately the 6 and 3 year old don't mind taking turns on the piccolo. Depending if my wife goes with us, I can set up the stokid to give them more options.

HardyWeinberg
02-26-08, 10:45 AM
What about something like this? (click picture for link)



That could become a solution for me to avoid pulling a t-a-b/trailer train which I pretty much don't want to do.


Ann C
02-26-08, 11:20 AM
Thanks for the replies... I will have to check on the height of the Piccolo to see how low it would end up being with adding a second one...good thought. My 7 year old just turned 7 and actually does not ride on his own yet without training wheels. We will have to work on that this summer. He is very fearful, so getting him to try to learn has been a challenge, especially since we don't have a good place right at our house to learn.

As far as the tandem trailer; I didn't know they were making them again. They used to make them a few years ago, but then the tandems weren't available for a while. I will have to look into that. I am not sure if my son's seat tube will be high enough yet to allow the clearance for the Adam's trailer to attach. I'll have to check. This is one reason that we went with the Piccolo to begin with. We also have another trailer that attaches to the seat post, and after using the Piccolo, I am not sure if I want to go back to the seat attachment ~ they make things more wobbly. I will look into it, however. Thanks for the information!

masiman
02-26-08, 12:16 PM
I understand about the riding thing, they are each different aren't they? Our 6 (almost 7 year old) does not ride yet either. He is very tentative about physical activity. #1 is extremely coordinated but not so interested in sports, I can't figure that one out yet, lol. #3 (almost 4) is the little monster. He may be riding before #2.

Hardy is correct, I had forgotten about the tandem TAB. They apparently did start making them again. That would maybe be a better solution than the twin piccolo's. Do try to test it out though. The hitch on that tandem TAB is not my favorite style even for the singles, I hope it is engineered well for the extra weight. The Piccolo hitch is well engineered and very nice to ride with. Piccolo production is also supposed to be back or be back soon. Hopefully you won't have problems piecing the riding positions together :).