bigbadwullf

The only acceptable use for an animal and a vehicle.......IMHO. Rest in peace Kookie, you wonder dog!
https://thebannerisup.district37ama.o...n-kookie-1.htm

tabriz

I'm thinking of just staying on bike paths or streets with little/no traffic.

Sixty Fiver

I sneak in here a lot too...

Stealthammer is the guy to talk to about taking your bird for a ride... his Macaw free flies with him when he rides.

Have yet to take my birds for a bike ride and would worry about crashes but Talouse and I do enjoy our walks... she is a Senegal parrot. Would not ride with her in the harness as this would be far too dangerous if she was to jump off me but with a solid bird carrier (I have several) and mounting system could see myself taking her or my other birds places by bike.

As far as getting out with your birds, it is great for them to explore and experience as much as possible as long as it does not stress them out and Talouse is fairly sociable and will let people give her scritches which is also good as she needs to be well socialized less she get too attached to me.

I volunteer at a local pet shop and work with the birds there and Talouse likes to go and visit with me...

PatW

I think it is a good idea to have the bird restrained in someway whilst riding. Parrots tend to have one response to fear and that is to jump into the air. That would not be a good thing while riding on a bike trail. I have seen people with parrots doing things like this. Once I saw a person with a scarlett macaw sitting on the handlebars of his bike acting like a hood ornament. The other time, it was a lady with a blue and gold macaw on her shoulder while she in line skated on the bike trail.

Parrots are intelligent and love stimulation. So I think your 'too would probably have great fun with it.

scroca

If you took your parrot to the taxidermist first, you could carry the thing any way that was most convenient without a lot of expense.

ChrisM2097

How thoughtful of you to suggest that he kill his pet in order to reduce cost and increase convenience. Maybe I should do the same for my diabetic dog? It sure would save me some money and free up some time.

scroca

No animals were injured in the making of the quoted post.

Looigi

jim p

You bird owners probably already know this but when a bird gets frightened it will sometimes bite the owner. My brother had a large parrot and walked into a grocery store with the parrot sitting on his shoulder. A couple of kids saw the bird and came running. The bird immediately clamped on to my brothers neck. He said that it was so painful that he almost went to his knees. My brother decided not to take his bird into situations that could cause it to freak out.

Talking birds can be very entertaining. I wonder what kind of biking sounds the bird might pick up. If you climb many hills you might have a bird that could do heavy breathing sounds for you.

Sixty Fiver

This is called misplaced aggression and a bite from any parrot be it big or small can be extremely painful... well handled and socialized birds will not pursue one of these bites when they realize it's wrong as they are very intelligent and at most times, very gentle.

Budgies give inordinately hard bites... and Conures bite you because they love you.

My Senegal has never bitten me or shown any aggressive behaviour with me but will defend against strangers or people who sneak up on her... give her a chance to say hi and offer scritches and she is one happy bird.

My female Ringneck is cage aggressive and I respect her desire to protect her "nest"... once she is out and about she seeks out my company and she is actually less nippy then her boyfriend who just does not know his own beak strength when he gets over excited.

When Lucce nips he always follows it with an "I love you" and you can tell he knows he was a little too firm.

gmt13

tabriz

I agree. My cockatoo seems a little clumsy, and the last thing I want is for him to go into the spokes! I already take him out for walks in the pack, and he enjoys that. I had an experience once where a hawk came swooping down and tried to take off with another one of my parrots. After that experience, I'm much more cautious, and protective. While it would be nice to just put a parrot on the handlebar and take off, I can imagine too many things going wrong. So, I'll be the overprotective person and use the pack.

bjaspud

Come on, please tell me you are all pulling my leg regarding taking your pets on bike rides, right?

Racer Ex 

So do you use wood or sheet metal screws to fasten the cleat on your peg leg?

Glad to see you're getting some exercise in between the plundering.

I saw that Shimano has "hook friendly" Di2 shifters now.

Asso eye patch?

moppeddler

I'd train it to flap its wings on uphills. No one rides for free!

bigbadwullf

Nobody has said the obvious yet. Of course some got mad at someone JOKING about stuffing the bird first but no one has yet to mention the sheer inhumane idea of putting a winged animal in a cage where it is basically in jail. Someone had to say it. So there it is. Send the thing back to it's county of origin and have someone set it ......................F R E E !! Forget the idiotic idea of biking with it because the idea is not to get the bird some fresh air it's to get YOU ATTENTION. Yikes, you guys made me say it and there it is.

gcottay

A friend owned by a cockatoo added some wide velcro to the bird carrier and uses the bars and a regular flat front rack.

The downside is that she must cover the cage when getting ready for a ride without the bird.

daredevil

You got something against that? Check my avatar...when they get tired of running, they hop in the cart.

JPMacG

My brother used to take short rides with our African Grey on his shoulder. The bird loved it, whistleing and talking, and doing a sort of dance where she bobbed her body up an down. As I recall (this was many years ago) he had a pad or something to protect his shoulder from her talons and beak. He almost always came home with bird poop on his back.

smoore

This has turned into one weird (but entertaining) thread.

We found a baby Robin once and my kids raised it. It would ride on my daughter's handlebars. Alas, it didn't realize the domestic dangers and...a cat got it.

flychomperfly

i was looking up some bicycle info on the web when i happened upon this discussion. i decided to join the forum so you would have some real info about riding and touring with parrots.

the main thing i want to point out is the only problem they do seem to have is the vibration on their feet. birds sway on branches--they aren't bounced jack-hammer style like we get from the road. as humans, we use grips on our own handlebars to minimize road vibration, so we knew it would probably be an issue for long rides. therefore, altho they can hang on fine, too much can be a stress problem.

we purposely created a custom perch that goes on our body in order to dampen vibration for our 'passenger.' we also have the foam grip on that perch to help give her better grip and help with shock. but we noticed, even with that precaution, after a long ride our grey parrot does appear to be tired from holding on. she really enjoys the ride--she beeps, whistles, and talks--but she does get tired with the constant bouncing and jerking that happens on a bicycle.

therefore, we feel that for very short rides, the handlebars or other apparatus may be okay, but for touring, the bird should be more isolated from road vibration--such as a human-based perch. we have considered trying them out in a carrier strapped to the bike, but we haven't figured out yet how to help out road vibration there and still make it stable enough. so, the couple of times when we hit rain or bad wind, we have just put the bird into a hoodie pouch in our shirt--where she is happy to cocoon.

please note that while we do organized rides (used to do centuries), and do bicycle a lot more than the average person, we are mostly recreational riders now.

here are videos of our birds on bicycles. one of them is an organized ride...the other is the very first time she was ever on a bicycle...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IxKBEOiDps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MleJiZzuVe0

flychomperfly

oh, yah...forgot to mention... if the bird isn't flighted, then falling is indeed a big problem--even with a leash. our birds are flighted, and if anything does happen, they go *up* -- but they're on leashes, and then then land back on our shoulder (or head). but a clipped bird can fall, or end up in the spokes.

that's another reason for riding with them on our bodies (or on a perch that is mounted to our bodies).

BlazingPedals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...ZdHne-WO6aE8qw

wthensler 

Use the pack. We have three parrots (one Moluccan Cockatoo) and we like to take them outside, as they clearly enjoy it. But we take steps to safeguard them as well. I would think your Umbrella would enjoy it......

KD5NRH

If it can get into the spokes while perched on your shoulder, you really need a better riding position.