Recreational & Family - Child stoker back rest options?

Hi,

I'm a new member, looking for some advice on back rests. My husband and our very tall 22 month old daughter have just started riding a tandem bike and we want her to have a back rest for safety and comfort. Ideally we'd like a set up so that she can sleep in the stoker seat. Does anyone know if this is possible? If it is not possible then we will have a reclining child seat on the back of my bike or the back of the tandem, for when she needs to rest.

Here is a pic of our current set up:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_r2WZZTTrf1Y/TNGfHLoTCmI/AAAAAAAAAr4/oRsdfvL_fsA/s400/P1020011%281%29blog.JPG

So far we have been looking at trail-a-bike back rests on ebay. (We're in the UK).

Thanks for advice (not sure whether I should be posting in the tandem section - let me know if you think that would be better).

Nina

We used the ADAMS back rest. It was more of a safety net for us not our son...and we used it all of about 3 times, but it was easy to use on our tradtional setup. We bought ours from REI but had to special order it if I remember correctly. Not always easy to find.
Ellen
Totally love your bike BTW...what is it?

Sorry I don't have any suggestions other than Adam's. I don't know that Adam's would hold him upright if he fell asleep, it seems like it has just a waist strap and is kinda upright. I wish I knew of a better option for you.

Depending on how far you are going to ride and for how long, it might still work. I have done a lot of cycling with my small kids and they seem to fall asleep pretty quickly until about age 3. Something about the movement of the bike just makes mine so sleepy. So you might need to add a seat on your bike rack and then if your little guy gets tired you could stop and move him from the stoker position to the toddler seat to sleep.

We used the ADAMS back rest. It was more of a safety net for us not our son...and we used it all of about 3 times, but it was easy to use on our tradtional setup. We bought ours from REI but had to special order it if I remember correctly. Not always easy to find.
Ellen
Totally love your bike BTW...what is it?

Thanks, I'll look at the Adams back rest. Our bike is a Thorn tandem, onto which my husband has fitted the kiddie cranks, home made handlebars and his favourite touch, the pink and silver streamers!

I have the Adams backrest for my 2.5-yo daughter, riding on an Adams Trail-a-bike.

Sidebar: I'm only worried about her falling asleep because she's pure passenger, unable to pedal. My older daughter, on a tandem with kidback cranks similar to yours, can't fall asleep because she's constantly pedaling! So, I didn't worry even though she started at 3yo.

On her, the Adams is around the ribcage, not really around the waist. There's some adjustability based on where you clamp it, but I clamped it high to get the strap up, so that if she falls asleep she can't slump very far.

I'd still worry about her being asleep, though, and would pull over and wake her, let her walk around, etc.

I think if your daughter requires a sleep option for the rides you're doing, a full child seat is probably required. We had one on the back of our tandem, and it didn't interfere with the pedalling kid at first unless the child worked her feet out of the heel-cups and straps.

Good luck.

Let us know how your 22-mo old adjusts to pedaling in a team. My girl, starting at right around 36 mo took a while to get the hang of it, even through the was a champ pedaler on big-wheel and her training wheel bike.

For my second kid, he wasn't comfortable as a stoker until he turned 4. My cranks (140mm) were too long until then.

For my second kid, he wasn't comfortable as a stoker until he turned 4. My cranks (140mm) were too long until then.

I think our cranks are 110mm or 115mm.

So far our daughter seems comfortable for short rides, she is quite happy to have her legs going around without actually doing any work! We're suffering with keeping her warm in the cold weather now though so probably wont do much riding over the winter. We haven't yet had any concerns with her not having a back rest so we might just go without, and always carry a child seat for when she is tired...