Recreational & Family - Rain gear for toddler on bike seat? Cover?

I'm going to start commuting with my 19 month old in September. She has a co-pilot limo and that works well for us. I'd really like to NOT use a bike trailer as we live in an apartment and have no place to store it (i.e. it would be in our living room) but I'm wondering what to do about rain. We live in Portland, so we have a lot of it. I'm not so much worried about light rain as getting a bit wet won't kill her and she has a gortex jacket, but more so about more heavy rain. I know I could get her rain pants, gloves, etc. but what I'm hoping exists somewhere out there is a cover similar to the stroller rain covers that would fit over her and the limo. Haven't been able to find a thing, only "capes" from the Uk which are like a rain poncho. Any other ideas?

I've never seen such a thing as you're looking for, and can imagine a lot of serious obstacles to designing one that would work, but that doesn't mean they don't exist. I presume you've checked the "co-pilot limo" website?

If you're still open to other alternatives, the Chariot Sidecarrier (http://www.chariotcarriers.com/english/html/sidecarrier.php?flaID=productvideo) offers all-weather protection and folds up alongside the bike for more manageable storage without disconnecting it. I looked for generic pic of this on the web, but didn't see one. I'll try to pull mine out tomorrow and take one to show this. It's handy, and although I disconnect it to store it, I find it handy to fold up when parking at crowded racks downtown.

Here's what I'm talking about. You can see it saves quite a bit of space from its deployed position, and the pushbutton release wheel could be popped off quickly too, if you wanted a bit more space.

Sorry I don't have anything to your specific request.

http://p6.hostingprod.com/@chaadthomas.com/pix/sidecar_folded.jpg

Thanks, that's a great picture! I'd seen the side car online and I think if I went the way of a trailer I'd definitely be interested in this. We had a burley solo for our son and it was such a pain to fold we never did, and it was always in the way. Our kids are 6.5 years apart so everything he had has been sold/given away and we have to start from scratch. The price tag is a bit more than I'd like to pay but I'll keep my eye out for a used one just in case. For now we're going to try just a gortex jacket and pants, with gloves and see how it goes. I only have to commute about 3.5 miles each way so not too bad, but we do have to go over a bridge which can get pretty blustery. I can bus it if it's too windy or raining too hard, but I guess what will really make or break the decision is whether or not my daughter freaks out about riding with me in the rain or not. I'll probably block most of the rain but if it's blowing and getting in her face she may make it pretty clear that it's the bus or a side car :). We're commuting to a university and driving is not an option parking wise....so it's bus or bike. Thanks for taking the time to take the photo!

How did the bike commuting with the toddler work out for you? I'd love to hear some stories. I bus commuted with my two year old for a while.

For what is worth - two of my three kids actually like to commute in the rain (go figure - it must be only me who is a wuss), provided they:
- were able to wear their rain boots (their requirement)
- were warm enough
- had sunglasses on if it was raining harder
Too hard to tell with the youngest one, as we did not have any rain on the days I take him to his daycare:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d10/ssailor/P1030454.jpg

rain cape, ftw. there are good reasons they're used throughout the world, among them being 1) effective; 2) inexpensive; 3) easy to replace; 4) multiple-use.