Recreational & Family - Burley piccolo with child seat?

Hilo everyone,
I'm new here and am anxiously awaiting my youngest daughter turning one so we can all get on the bike. We currently have a burley piccolo we use with our five year old and I really love it. Does anyone use a trail a bike with a child seat? Since the burley doesn't attach to the seatpost, I am thinking I would have to have a child seat that mounts in the front. Anyone with any experience? My husband thinks the idea of both on the bike sounds dangerous, thoughts?
Thanks in advance!

You husband is very right. Think of the position a child is in when sitting up on a child seat. Even a minor crash, collision will easily have you tossed off of the bike allowing it to fall over. I would contact Burley and see what they say about connecting a bike trailer onto the Piccolol. Sure you might have a "bicycle train" but much safer having your little one low to the ground in a roll cage.

You husband is very right. Think of the position a child is in when sitting up on a child seat. Even a minor crash, collision will easily have you tossed off of the bike allowing it to fall over. I would contact Burley and see what they say about connecting a bike trailer onto the Piccolol. Sure you might have a "bicycle train" but much safer having your little one low to the ground in a roll cage.

I don't think Craig has ever ridden with a front mount child seat. Do a search on "ibert" in this forum. Some think the world is falling with this setup, but you'll find that they have no experience with them. Although I have no experience with them, I would have no problem with using one. I almost bought one earlier this year, but it was not cost effective given that our youngest and last would only be able to use it for one season. Otherwise I would have been happy to own and use one. The weight limit for the front mounted seats is something like 40lbs (WeeRide and IBert are two that I know of). Take that into consideration as you will need a solution for when they are too big for the seat but not capable of being in a riding position (tandem or TAB).

Ibert Owners (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=362546)
Ibert (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=436643)

You can connect trailers to the TAB's. It makes for a very long bike and other minor issues, but mechanically I have not seen or heard of any problems. I am almost certain the manufacturers would not bless the configuration due to liability issues. Check out post #10 in this Suggestions thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=404357). We do a little over 1k miles/year in this setup.

I think someone wrote about using a rear bike seat with a TAB but I do not recall exactly.

Danger with both kids on the bike is relative. If you don't feel comfortable, then you are correct to not do it. On the other hand, there are plenty here who have done two or more kids from around the block to extended tours (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=279527) and that is within their comfort level.

FWIW, I ride regularly with a friend and her 1yr old- she has an ibert seat mounted on her MTB. We often take our kids (mine is 3.5yrs) to the local library, park, etc.. I've used the ibert with my 3.5 yr old (who is *just* over the limit) and with her 1yr old and prefer it 10x over a rear-mounted bike seat. You have *much* more control with the ibert, and the kids are much happier because they aren't staring at your butt LOL

If you are set on using the Burley and a bike seat, I'd go with an ibert if you child can fit in it...can you find one locally you can give a trial ride with?

I've also seen someone locally with the TAB+trailer setup and it does make for a loooong bike, but may be more comfortable for you if you are not a strong rider since it makes for a less 'tippy' setup.

I just started using an Xtracycle to carry my two kids -3.5 and 6- to school and it works *great*


But that may not work for your situation since your youngest is 1yr. Tho, I have seen people who have attached a Peapod (http://store.xtracycle.com/_e/Parts_and_Accessories/product/PP-01/PeaPod.htm) to the frame of the bike and a TAB to the back of an Xtracycle! Which also makes for a loooong bike...

The only thing I know of:

http://www.roland-werk.de/engl/addbike/

We put a "neck" on a bike rack for our trail a bike and the kid seat on the bike rack and it works great. Basically like the roland, which I would really love to have. I personally don't see a bike seat for a child as dangerous as long as you are careful. They are commonly used over in Europe all the time.