KimberlyL

Hi all,

I currently sometimes bike commute to work/school with my 9 yo, and a 6yo on a TAB. We are expecting our third child at the end of next March, and I'm trying to figure out what we can use for baby and how soon we can try it out.

I thought of doing a bike train with something like a burley on the back of the TAB, but I know there are a lot of other options out there, and am wondering if something more "European" might work better or be easier?

Would love any/all suggestions! And also if anyone knows how soon it is safe to ride with an infant... I have never tried it before.

Thanks!
Kim

mamaC

I do a bike train with my crew. There's a link in my signature of my bicycle built for 5. My kids are 1, 3, 5, 7.

Now, I'm assuming you have a tandem TAB for your 9 & 6 yos? If so, what about just adding a front mount baby seat for the baby? Maybe an iBert? The one I have is a WeeRide but I think the iBert would be my first choice if I had bought new.

Also in my signature is a link to the Madsen. It's a Bafiet inspired bike. The Bafiets are definitely European, but you'll be doing all the hauling and your older kids will just be sitting.

masiman

This thread discussed alot of the options. It did not go heavily into the European or Cargo bikes but try a search on them for more info if you want to go that route.

Edit: I see that mamaC replied while I was typing. The above thread is the start of her search of how to family cycle with multiple young kids.

AndrewP

I have read that babies necks are not strong enough to stand the shocks until they are 12 months old. However babies only a few days old are carried in cars in specially designed baby seats. Can these seats be fitted in trailers like the Burley

masiman

Car seats can fit in trailers, but there are probably some combinations that would not work well. Try the seat first in a trailer that you are thinking about purchasing. You will have to rig some way to hold the seat in the trailer. I am sure there are varying degrees of difficulty depending on the trailer/seat combo you decide on.

superdex

nothing until the little one is at least a year old...

Lieren

I'm expecting my second in 6 weeks, so I've been thinking about this a lot too! We need to get the baby and 3 year old to daycare (about 8 blocks away), ourselves to work, and don't have a car, so we also need the capacity to do light errands with child/ren in tow. I've narrowed it down to either getting a Zigo with the infant insert (technically not recommended under a year, but you can do your own research and you know your kid, roads, and commute well enough to judge when you can start biking) or strapping an infant carseat into a Burley.

masiman

Space wise I think the Zigo would be the better option, if a baby can be secured in one without a baby seat. I did not see where they have an infant insert. I assume you would make or buy something? Strapping a car seat into a trailer doesn't leave room for another kid.

The Zigo is nice and convenient but it does not have room for extra cargo. Most other trailers do have cargo space. It is not large but you can typically fit a grocery bag or two in the back.

Zigorider

here is a link to a woman in Germany that has a small child setup for her Zigo. Not sure how it works. The rule is that the child needs to have really good head control in any travel type of seat. car, bike etc

https://www.flickr.com/photos/3097293...3/in/pool-zigo

masiman

So far everything I have seen about the Zigo wrt personal experience is or at least strongly appears to be from someone that is involved with the company. There was one post of someone from a ride in NYC with other Zigo owners. I'm not sure what their relationship to Zigo was if any. I am not knocking the product by any means but I wanted full disclosure for all.

The pictures above appear to be from the Zigo European rep. I'm not sure where she fits the groceries she says she gets but a pic of that would be good. The Zigos look tight in the main compartment but the measurements say otherwise.

That is a cool little baby sleeping bag, harness thingy. I wonder we they got that.

Please correct me if I am wrong on any of this.

Zigorider

Hi,

I do work for Zigo! That’s why i normally limit my comments..

Personal experience:

I ride my Zigo leader with my 22 month old son all the time. We put cargo on either side of him and at his feet. On the back of the Pod there is a number of large pockets for storage. Koop and I have done a 25 mile rides on our Zigo without issue. We are normally limited only by his mood and my legs.

Now sales guy:

We also have a number of city owners that love it. Right now none are on this web site! Additional storage you can also add a rack and Panniers/basket to the back of the bike. With adding a rack you can really do as much as a normal bike cargo wise.

The strong points for the Zigo Leader: you don't have to worry about balancing at a traffic light and tipping over. You can interact with your child when you’re riding. We have a window and a top of the Pod so you can see him/her while pedaling. There is an opening in the back of the pod so you can straighten a helmet that is tipped forward, and give them a snack or bottle if needed. with out having to dismont!
With the child in front you don't have to look back when they cry. reality is when most folks do look back they tend steer/fade in that direction.

If you go on bikebreath.com you can see a review & check out what people are saying on the zigo website to see customer feedback.

I highly recommend test riding one if you have a dealer near buy. If you in the Tristate area I would be happy to meet with anyone who wants to take a spin! Let me know if you have any other questions

Marc

masiman

We go to the 5 boro every year (or at least we have for the last 5). I hope we could meet at next years event. If you have not done that ride, it's a pretty good way to expose the bike to 30-40k people .

This year's was not so great, it started to sprinkle 45 minutes before the start and just got heavier as the day went on.

Zigorider

Good stuff, my Boss & son did the Boro ride on his zigo ! He said it was a wet day! His son was the dry one insdie the pod! I'm hoping we'll have a Flock of Zigo's at it next year ! Look for us next year !

cheers

masiman

He may have been braver than us. My wife and kids bagged out about halfway through and took the subway back to where we were staying. I was left riding our rig alone back to where we were staying.

I'll definitely look for you all. And I'll try to remember to ping you to try to arrange a meet.

heavypedal

My son was 5 months old before I put him into a trailer. We surrounded him with pillows and modified the supports to help hold him. He's about to turn two and he LOVES riding in that trailer behind the bike. His longest ride has been 30 miles. He loves it.

Zigorider

[QUOTE=I'll definitely look for you all. And I'll try to remember to ping you to try to arrange a meet.[/QUOTE]

Masiman, Did you see us at the 5 boro bike tour? My son and I did with 8 other Zigo's! What a fun day!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/3097293...7623994701680/

masiman

We did make it this year, what a difference from last year!

Unfortunately, I youngest came down with croup on Friday that we really did not see until Saturday. My wife and the baby couldn't go so it was just me and the three older ones. We ended our day by taking the Brooklyn bridge and doing 25miles.

I did not see any Zigo's but we were pretty well forward, about Worth Street, IIRC. If you were behind us, we likely would not see you given how much the riders stretch out in the first few miles due to the traffic jams.

Nice pix. I couldn't tell from them if you started off way in front or further back.