Recreational & Family - Trail a bike for two?

I have two children and am a single mom. Now that we have outgrown our trailer I am looking for a solution for my two children, ages 5 and 6. They can't keep up with me, a tandem is too big and the trail a bikes only seat one. Does anyone have a suggestion?
Thanks!

Good for you mom! I'm also hoping to instill physical fitness in my kids by going outside and doing things like cycling with them (at least as long as they will let me).

Adams makes a trail-a-bike tandem:

Unfortunately, Adams no longer makes that 2 seat Trail-A-Bike which means one has to find a used one in the classifieds. I don't know what it was discontinued. Safety issues? Supply and demand issues? But I've been looking all over for one of them and all I could find were a couple of classified for sale ads from 2002 and the spring of 2003.

BB

You'd definately get a workout with that tandem!

You can get kits to fit stoker pedals for a child on a tandem. Then a regular trail-a-bike could be used.

J&B Wholsalers still lists this model in its catolouge, check with your LBS if they can still get it.

Thorn ME'N'U2 triplet bike would solve your problem.
see the tandem brochure at sjscycles.com
Also see the child-back tandems at orbit cycles. Just add a tow-along.

I've been hauling them for a few years. I twould be wonderful if we could do it together. Unfortunately, neither are able to keep up with me and I want them to love it as much as I do.

Neighbor had the Trail a Bike and she loved it. Has anyone used a child back tandem? I'm leary of spending money to find out that none of us like it.

Thanks all for the info.

Mom on the go...

I've been hauling them for a few years. I twould be wonderful if we could do it together. Unfortunately, neither are able to keep up with me and I want them to love it as much as I do.

Neighbor had the Trail a Bike and she loved it. Has anyone used a child back tandem? I'm leary of spending money to find out that none of us like it.

Thanks all for the info.

Mom on the go...

This tandem trail-a-bike has two wheels instead of one, should make
things a little more stable. They also have a single seat version.

U-plus-2 tandem trailer/trike (http://www.pashley.co.uk/brilliant/products/uplus2_half.htm)

Also check out the "Two's Company" child back tandem from the same compan y... smaller wheels make it more adaptable to smaller riders.

Two's Company Tandem (http://www.pashley.co.uk/brilliant/products/twos_half.htm)

I have two children and am a single mom. Now that we have outgrown our trailer I am looking for a solution for my two children, ages 5 and 6. They can't keep up with me, a tandem is too big and the trail a bikes only seat one. Does anyone have a suggestion?
Thanks!

We used an Addams Ultimate Trail-A-Bike tandem for a number of years before everyone got too big for it. You can see a picture over at http://www.nettworks.ch/tt/photos.

It can be a bit getting used to when used on a single bike. Having a Burley as a sea anchor actually helped stabilize it when the kids really didn't RIDE bikes.

Good luck, it's a good investment...
Tom

P.S. My Avatar picture shows two kids on it from the back!

I have the same problem exept I have 2 nearly 2 yr olds and a nearly 5 year old. I hooked a trailerbike on back and a trailer to the trailerbike. We are a bit long but in a low gear we move along and the kids love it. In your situation you could switch them off between the trailer and the trail-a-bike.

I have two children and am a single mom. Now that we have outgrown our trailer I am looking for a solution for my two children, ages 5 and 6. They can't keep up with me, a tandem is too big and the trail a bikes only seat one. Does anyone have a suggestion?
Thanks!
I have just sold a Pashley U-plus-2 Tandem trailer bike which my children have grown out of. It is attached to our tandem in this picture (if you can see it!). We called it a "Quadrum" because of the number of people on the bike! We live in the UK tho' so it wouldn't have been easy to get to your home town!

Good luck finding what you need!

Nikki Wilson

I have two children and am a single mom. Now that we have outgrown our trailer I am looking for a solution for my two children, ages 5 and 6. They can't keep up with me, a tandem is too big and the trail a bikes only seat one. Does anyone have a suggestion?
Thanks!

I think that it might not be the children who can't keep up with you, but you who can't keep up with them... in a few years. Be patient, and let them ride their own bikes at their pace. You won't have long to wait for them to be riding over 10 miles per day. My 9 year old averages 10 miles per hour and wants to ride everywhere with me! His 8 year old brother competes with him, to go even faster. I'd rather go considerably faster than either of them, but its so much better than just two years ago.

I suggest that you help your children develope the kind of attitude that will make them happy to go slow enough for their old mother, when they are teenagers.

A couple of the parents in our club have bought ordinary tandems but put a crank conversion kit on which adds an additional chainset and crank part way up the stoker's seat tube. you then run a chain from that to the main stoker's chainset.

Then add an ordinary trailer bike for the youngest