Hello!

I am new to the Bike Forums, and very happy to be here. I am striving to become more and more dependent on a bicycle, and less and less dependent on a car. Maybe we'll even be able to do away with the car all together (at least one of them, we have two)!

Our kids are five-year-old twins (just turned five) and a one-year-old. All of my kids are small for their age (5-year-olds are 40 pounds and 40 inches tall). My five-year-olds can ride bicycles without training wheels (one of them very well, the other is still a little shaky with the pedaling part, but has the balance aspect mastered due to two years on a like-a-bike), but I definitely wouldn't feel safe taking them out in traffic on their own bikes yet (and can't imagine feeling safe doing that for a couple of years still). So I need some way to be able to bike with all 3 kids.n

We haven't done any biking since the fall (we live in MA), and at that point I was pulling a Burley trailer with my four-year-olds in it, and had the baby in an ibert seat on the front of my bike. It was okay for me, but the older kids hated it (too squished, couldn't see anything) to the point that it made biking with them not much fun. They will definitely be too big for the trailer at this point (at least together), and I really am eager to be done with it myself (I didn't like them being way back there and so low to the ground).

I am thinking about either an xtracycle or a bakfiets. I like the look of the bakfiets *a lot* but it's hard to image buying one without being able to try it out (and I don't believe there are any remotely close by). Our neighbors have an xtracycle that they use with their kids, so I can try it out. I tried it out once last summer just with my older kids and I didn't love the feel of having them both back there. It definitely messed with my ability to balance the bike. I can't imagine that it would feel good with 3 kids back there! But maybe with practice I would learn to love it?

Has anyone else debated the bakfiets vs. xtracycle? What have you decided? Any other options?

Thanks!

Take a regular road bike, remove front rim insert a broom stick and attach 3 children as your powering device. :) They will get tired quickly and then put them to sleep.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d10/ssailor/IMG_5626.jpg

Check out the thread on pulling a trailer on a road bike. This picture came from that and you can ask them.

Hmmm . . . I was kind of hoping for some more serious responses, but maybe I misjudged what kind of a place this is?

I am not particularly interested in using a bike trailer, but if I were to use one, I definitely wouldn't put more than 2 kids in it. As I said, my two older kids have outgrown the Burley trailer (both in size and tolerance).

Any more realistic ideas would be really appreciated.

Thanks.

I've only got one kid to move around, so I don't have real advice for so many.

The US importer for bakfiets is here http://www.dutchbikes.us/ and their address is in Mass, so maybe you can check one out before you buy. (For some reason they are really hard to google.) Bakfiets are supposed to be very heavy unloaded (~80 lbs) so if you have lots of hills it may not be the best choice.

Are you trying to haul kids and, say, groceries? Or just get the kids around where they need to be? The xtracycle could hold the two larger kids in the rear and maybe tow a trailer for your groceries. Surly makes a xtracycle style frame called the Big Dummy which might be for you if you're going to buy something from scratch.

Check out the utility cycle forum for more info about carrying large loads. .

I have 3 kids - 5, 4 and almost 2. I use a tandem (5 yo stoker) and a kid trailer. If I were rich I would try the tandem + a TAB with the baby in a front mounted seat. I would also buy an xtracycle (and load the kids on the back). FYI my 5 yo loves the tandem and always wants to ride it instead of his single bike.

Another woman on these forums has 5 yo twins, she used a tandem plus a TAB for them.

Biking with 3 kids makes life interesting anyway - hope you find a solution.

I have three boys that I ride with who are 7, 5, and 3. My seven year old rides on a tandem with me; we pull the 5 year old on a Burley Piccolo (trailer bike), and the 3 year old in a trailer. I know that you don't want a trailer, but your one year old would do great in there by himself. I started this when the 7 year old was 5. The other two were in the trailer together, and the youngest caused a lot of problems for the middle child, so that is why we bought the trailer bike. They love the set up now! The trailer is great to carry extra supplies.

Thanks for the responses!

I am going to try out a bakfiets (so cool to see that they're not that far away afterall!), and then go from there. I really like the look of it. I'm hoping to replace a car with whatever solution I come to, so ideally I'd find something that can do everything (carry kids, groceries, work in all kinds of weather, etc.).

My main issue with the trailer is that my kids have never been happy with it. I also feel a bit unnerved to have the kids dragging behind me, so low down. I get a lot of dirty looks when I ride on the street with the trailer (even in bike lanes). My baby is quite happy in the ibert, but has so far hated the trailer--especially if he's alone back there without one of his brothers.

I will look into the tandem/TAB idea. It makes me a little nervous just because a lot of our biking does involve stopping at traffic lights, etc. and I just can't imagine how that would work. I can see them being more able to do that in a couple years.

If anyone else has any ideas, please feel free to share! Thanks!

Hi,

When my son was five we always had him lead so that I would observe what was going on. As an extra benefit I found the kid was not discuraged by always trying to catch up and would speed ahead. There is nothing wrong about walking across intersectionns. If the sidewalk is used and this may be the correct thing to do in certain circumstances, and the kids must know the dangers of being on the sidewalk and know how to lower the risks. When passing pedestrians, the kids get off and walk until the pass is completed.

David

+1 on the tandem/triplet/quad, TAB ideas. I am not familiar with the Bakfiets, but from the link it looks like they are cargo bikes. I am more certain that the Xtracycle is cargo only. If that is all they are, I imagine that they would only be usable for a year, maybe two as a means to transport your brood. This year or next the twins will be bored with sitting on all the rides and you'll get more and more tired as they grow. 5 is a good age to start them pedaling as a stoker on a multi seat bike or on a TAB. Plus if you pull the baby in trailer on the train, you'll have a rest spot for one of the twins if they get tired.

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=66179&d=1204263704

If you'll look in the Utility Biking Forum, there was a thread on the "Family Bike" that showed one option. The catch is that that kind of bicycle is not too commonly available in the US.

You have a couple of problems with the idea. One is that your kids are not that small. So some of the 3-kids-on-a-bike ideas will work if they're 1, 2, or 3, but not so well for a couple of 5-year-olds. Plus, if they can ride on their own, they'd kind of resent not being able to. And 100 lbs of kid is not that much but if you try to balance that up high like on the Family Bike, it could be a challenge unless you're pretty beefy.

Another thing is the cost. On those bakfiets bikes, they cost a couple of thousand dollars or so. But in just a year or two, you'd probably have those older kids on their own bikes anyway, so it can be hard to justify the cost if just used for a while.

Where we live right now, we've got a Walmart at one end of a bike trail and a Walmart Corner Market a mile or so in the other direction, with good alleys going to it. I could ride a pedicab with 3 kids to either one of those places pretty easily, and if you just happened to have a situation like that, it might be an option. But I wouldn't want to get one out on a busy street in this area, so it wouldn't be a good general solution.

Hmmm . . . I was kind of hoping for some more serious responses, but maybe I misjudged what kind of a place this is?

I am not particularly interested in using a bike trailer, but if I were to use one, I definitely wouldn't put more than 2 kids in it. As I said, my two older kids have outgrown the Burley trailer (both in size and tolerance).

Any more realistic ideas would be really appreciated.

Thanks.

Are there any greenways that you can take the kids to ride on? When my grandkids were at Hanscom AFB outside of Boston, there was the Paul Revere trail, which I believe was a converted railway line.

Neighborhoods that aren't shortcuts to somewhere else are good, very low traffic and that's just the people that live there.

I love to ride with just one of my grandkids, especially the 12 yr. old. but more than one and it's more work and stress than the ride is worth. The 6 and 5 yr. old girls are kinda slow at getting the hang of riding without training wheels so the only place I'd ride with them is a bike/pedestrian trail and then, only one at a time.

Frustrating I know, but it'll pass and before you know it, they'll be kicking your butt around the neighborhood. Then they'll turn 16 and a whole new set of nightmares for you will begin.

+1 on the tandem/triplet/quad, TAB ideas. I am not familiar with the Bakfiets, but from the link it looks like they are cargo bikes. I am more certain that the Xtracycle is cargo only. If that is all they are, I imagine that they would only be usable for a year, maybe two as a means to transport your brood. This year or next the twins will be bored with sitting on all the rides and you'll get more and more tired as they grow. 5 is a good age to start them pedaling as a stoker on a multi seat bike or on a TAB. Plus if you pull the baby in trailer on the train, you'll have a rest spot for one of the twins if they get tired.

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=66179&d=1204263704

The bakfiets can carry kids, in fact it has a complete cover you can put over the box area to keep the rain off. The xtracycle can carry kids too, they show kids sitting on the back.

I'm not sure how you manage three kids and groceries. If you can carry the three kids on the xtracycle perhaps you can put the groceries in a trailer? I've seen an extra cycle tow a trailer, so it's possible to do that.

I have 6yo twins, so I also do the tandem-trailer bike and add a trailer to the back when we need to carry supplies or pick up groceries. They started riding with me this way before they turned 5. If you go this route, be sure to choose a trailer bike with gears, rather than a single speed, or the twin on back gets a free ride!

That reminds me, I should pick the kids up on the bike this afternoon.

Catherine

Just wondering if anyone's had any further thoughts on this subject. My twins are only 3-1/2 years old, but they're very big. One's 47 pounds, the other is 42. So we're nearing the weight limit on the Burley D'Lite, but they don't have the coordination or stamina to balance or pedal for the duration of the 22-mile round commute to preschool.

And has anyone found a trailer with a weight limit significantly over 100 lbs? it looks like Cycletote goes up to 110, but I'd really like a trailer the boys won't outgrow in a year.

Thanks!

We ended up getting a bakfiets (ducth cargo bike), and it's heavenly. My first impressions:

http://totallysmittenmama.blogspot.com/2008/06/shes-here.html
http://totallysmittenmama.blogspot.com/2008/06/welcome-to-my-new-life.html

It easily fits all 3 of my kids. They're comfortable, I'm comfortable, we're having a great time. I wouldn't recommend it if your route is particularly hilly, but if it's relatively flat, I think this is the best option there is.

Oh, man, I would LOVE one of those. I keep going to the triobike website and salivating--but we live in a fifth-floor apartment, with no garage, and it would never fit out our door. (There's a banister in the way.)

And there's also a hill problem.

But I love those things.