Camilo

Didnt read the whole thread, so apologies if needed.

It will really, really work better if your wife participates. Not only logistically, but just as a family outing, which we both happened to really enjoy when my kids were young (still enjoy them - we meet up as often as possible in their 20s). My wife was neither an enthusiastic, nor strong rider, but she could certainly handle our slow family rides and pull something behind her.

Anyway what we did: one bike with a two seat trailer (with one of my kids alone, or two if a friend came along), one bike pulling a trail-a-bike. I can't remember when the kid was old enough to ride a trail-a-bike, but I loved that thing, and I do believe my kids liked it too.

Good luck, and do whatever you can to enjoy all of the years ahead of you.

Nachoman

My kids grew up biking.
But it seems difficult without your spouse on a bike too.
For my wife and I, we first had each child sitting in a child seat, on the back of our bikes.
Then we progressed to two trail-a-bikes.
Then when they got a little older and stronger, we shifted to two tandems.
And both kids now each have their own bikes.

Milton Keynes

Yeah, that's right. He may not have much time for bike riding soon. I ride early in the morning before work before anybody else in the house is awake, and on the weekends I'll take a couple of hours in the morning to ride 20-30 miles or so, and my wife still thinks I'm taking too much time on my bike. And our kids are 4 and 6.

mel2012

Totally possible, even without a cargo bike, in a variety of different configurations:
Rear seat+Double Burley or Chariot (but your son doesn't get to pedal)
Front seat+rear seat+FollowMe tandem for your son
Burley Piccolo+double trailer
Weehoo+double trailer
Tandem+double trailer
Tandem with a front seat installed in front of your son (who would have cruiser style handlebars) and a rear rack seat behind him.



This is my husband's bike, riding a couple of years ago with my just-turned-four year old in the WeeHoo plus his 16 lb Cleary bike and a bunch of camping gear in the trailer. Did it handle like a sportscar? No, but it was totally rideable and fun for a 26-mile round trip camping trip. He also did the Piccolo plus trailer on several occasions.

Tim199

Since your oldest is nearly ready to ride on his own and the youngest are the twins, the trail a bike with a trailer behind is the most likely scenario. That or oldest riding on his own with the twins in the trailer. The bike seat doesn't seem like a good solution since your singleton is the oldest. Your pediatrician with likely recommend that the twins don't ride on your bike or in the trailer until they are 12 months old because their necks are simply not strong enough to deal with the jostling and bumps. Yes, a lot of people do it, but a lot of people do a lot of unhealthy things and doing something unhealthy to your kids doesn't seem like a good idea. By the time the twins are 12 months old, your oldest will be more confident on his bike and either can go on his own or will be able to go longer distances on the trail a bike.

Pulling two in a trailer is definitely some effort and slows you down, but if fresh air and outdoors is the goal, then you'll definitely get that. The trail a bike also slows you down a little, but not as much especially if they are a good pedaler. I've done both separately, but never hooked both together, and it would be slow, but again it would get you outdoors.

Darth Lefty 

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts and opinions.

MAK

MY OPINION AND I'M SURE SOME WILL DISAGREE BUT I DON'T CARE... Everyone in the attached pictures should have their kids taken away. How can you ride like that and not have helmets on the kids. I'm sure that everyone who rides with kids is a strong rider who never takes chances (even when riding on roads with traffic) and never fall, sure 😉. I THINK that even kids in trailers should be wearing helmets

A few years ago when I rode the Bike Ride Across Georgia (BRAG), I remember a family with the dad riding with two kids in car seat like things, one on the top bar facing the dad and the other behind dad facing his back. Mom rode next to them. On the next to last day, dad hit a pothole and all three ended up in the hospital. At least all were wearing helmets. Never did hear the outcome.

MAK

Pictures from I-Like-To-Bike's post #10 didn't attach.

Jean3n16

My kids are older- 11, 10, 8 so they can all ride a bike now. Before then, we would not have gone out all together. Its just not enjoyable. Now they can ride their own pace and enjoy it as much as we do. The very first night we got our bikes, the kids were begging to go on a family bike ride.

YMMV

Hardrock23

We have those here, well, alreadly made cargo bikes that look the same. They are so neat. I met one of the men involved with Bicycle Copilots a few months ago when he bought some parts off me.
This is their FB page -

https://www.facebook.com/BicycleCopi...rofile_browser

Jrobert73

You might want to check the age/location of the pictures.

Tim199

I agree personally, though maybe taking the kids away goes too far. A lot of bikers prefer the kid seat things to trailers because trailers are too slow and catch the wind, but I just think bikes tip over way too often to put a kid strapped into a seat that high off the ground. And even though trailers are slow, I prefer to think of the times I take the trailer out as a strength/resistance training ride and it really doesn't matter if I go a few miles an hour slower if the kids are safer.

I'd like to think the kids had to go to the hospital just to be checked out and nothing serious happened, but that's just my blind optimism.

CosmicF

I modified a child trailer that I picked up at Wal-Mart to hold both of my kids and the dog. I could also put a cooler in the back of it with our picnic. We spent every weekend for several years doing this. To modify one of those trailers you just have to be creative, have some welding skills and/or some sewing skills. I don't have the trailer any more, because my kids got old enough to start pulling it with their own bikes, and then it disappeared to the void.
But, yeh, do it. Get them involved. We rode all over our town, the neighboring towns, and found every trail and cut through in all of the neighborhoods.

LaughingLots

Who let the Ugly American out of its closet?

blacknbluebikes 

Bakfiets en Meer » Overview: WorkCycles Kr8 Bakfiets

chaadster

Republicans.

I-Like-To-Bike

For once, I agree with your contempt for a poster's ignorant remarks about helmet wear. But you might try to restrain your non stop spewing of snark at all posters who don't meet your impeccable standards for bicycling correctness.

LaughingLots

[QUOTE=I-Like-To-Bike;18989888]That's just you being sensitive about being called out about your unfounded and unsupportable claims vis-a-vis youth cycling leagues and how they influence life lng joy of cycling.

Look, I held back my contempt when I saw the picture of your goofy heap with the 30 pack of Old Style. So you have that going for you...

ceridwen

Two options:
1) Cargo bike with either all 3 sitting on the deck (in kid seats for the younger 2) or two on the deck and one in front of you

2) Regular bike with either a Tyke Toter or something like the Yepp Junior (rear seat) for the older kid and the twins in the trailer.

I've only got two kids, but we use variations on both options for them. We have a Yepp Mini on my bike for my son (11 months) and a Tyke Toter that we put on either bike for my 3.5 year old daughter. When I want to take both kids out by myself I use the cargo bike with both kids on the back in seats. We did try a trailer with our daughter for a long time, but she absolutely loathed it and after 2 years we gave up. But as long as your kids are happy with one I think it would pair fine with a Tyke Toter for the older kid. Or you can do a rear seat for the older kid. There are ones that wouldn't have him so close to you and will work for relatively large kids. I just enjoy the Tyke Toter a lot because I find it comfortable to ride with and I get to talk to my daughter while we ride.

Tyke Toter:

With the kiddo riding on it:

Cargo bike set up for both kids:

ceridwen

For what it's worth, I love being able to take both kids out without needing to have my husband ride too. We also enjoy riding as a family, but we only have one car and I'm home with the kids a lot more often, so having a way to get out of the house with both kids without needing the car has been awesome. And it also means my husband can do the same sometimes to give me a break while he still gets some exercise. And both kids like to be on the bike, so they're pleased about it too.

I think it's great that you want to be able to get out with all 3 by yourself and hope you find a configuration that works for you.

Stadjer

The technique seems to be:
-Keep the weight between the axles as much as possible, and behind the front axle
-An upright riding position
-Use a natural stable bike, with a considerable angle on the head tube
-Use a double kick stand
-Be relaxed about it

Kids like it, they are not yet used to beeing isolated from the world around and want to see, hear, smell and feel the world around them. Of course they will have their days or moments when they are not happy and smiling, but I've never seen kids teaming up to sabotage the ride by synchronous weight shifting.

Of cours, if you're such an incompetent cyclist that you can't stay on your bike you shouldn't ride with or near kids, your's or other people's kids. The idea that helmets make cycling safer is completely unsubstantiated.

SloButWide 

For the price of a good used car, you can go full ELF:


Then you'd have room for diaper bags as well.

Darth Lefty 

For what it's worth, I have tried a front seat. To work well, you need an upright, stepthrough bike with a very long cockpit and very swept handlebars. Also, some front seats are more upright or set more forward than others. The Thule that I tried was a bad example of the type, but it seems like the Bobike version would have worked for me. I gave up because by the time I threw up my hands about the Thule, he'd gotten big enough for a regular back seat. I can't speak about the front saddles like the one available for the FR8. They look fun, anyhow.

Lots of these ideas wouldn't work for me. Given my budget, existing fleet, and preference for very low gears, I think my likely path is to try to get the older kid to learn to stoke, and put the babies in a trailer.

Korina

+1

ceridwen

The Tyke Toter is more like the front saddle and works pretty well even with a larger kid and more aggressive geometry on the bike. My bike is a small frame with not particularly swept bars and works well with it, though I am in a relatively upright position. My husband did well using it with his cyclocross bike for our 3.5 year old and the owner of our LBS used it with his MTB style commuter bike and a 4 year old. It's a lot more flexible in terms of what it will work with than the front seats like the Yepp, Thule, or Ibert (which we also have or have tried for our younger child). I can definitely see wanting to go with an option that lets your older kid be more actively engaged though. Especially with a kid that is less tentative than my daughter.