kevmk81

I'm sure this has come up in the past, but I'm curious what some of your experiences are with riding with trailer and children in tow. So far the longest I've ridden with my 13 month is half an hour. I do take pretty much everything to take care of him, from his distilled water, to toys, diapers and wipes, so that part is covered. So, what are some of your experiences? What's the longest you've ridden with your little ones? Anyone take theirs for longer bike rides, like a 20 to 30 mile trip? Longer? Hopefully it's not torture for them :-/. Lately ours has not wanted to keep his helmet on, he just wants to pull it off. Ends up with the front of his helmet just covering his eyes. Hopefully the more he sees dad wearing his helmet he'll be ok with wearing his... but anyways, that's just a secondary topic to my first question. :-)

delcrossv

45 miles. (about 3-3 1/2 hours) with 2 kids in the trailer. They slept for a good portion of it. I'm pretty strict re: helmets, no helmet, no ride, no exceptions.

MKRookman

50 miles overnight trip with my then one year old. We plan on doing week long touring next year when our newborn son is a year. Two year old lives it. And same thing with helmet. No helmet no ride.

VastCrew

When my son was 1, he was pretty happy with a 23 mile loop. It was a nonstop ride in a seat on the back of my bike. He just looked around for the most part, he would usually snooze the second half. Not long after I added a few miles and swung by a playground. He has some free time and a snack and then would crash for the ride home.
Without a helmet I would stick to a neighborhood or quiet trail ride!

mrbelvetron

My wife and I went for a three mile bike trail ride with the twins (in the trailer) and our 4 year old on her Trek. They are good as long as we keep moving. If you stop they have too much time to poke, grab, and prod each other. Then the fussing starts. When it cools down we plan on going longer if my big girl is up for it.

otg 

I did 20 miles with my grandson last week, first time using the trailer. I was on a MUP and kept it under 12-15 mph. Going to try again tomorrow if the weather cooperates.

Saving Hawaii

My 3 year-old is a big fan of bike rides and we frequently go 10-20 miles in a day. Usually it's punctuated though. I make a point of always stopping at a playground to let him run around somewhere along the way. Sometimes we'll stop at a water fountain that kids run around in that's near my house on the way home. Visit mom at her work sometimes.

Good exercise hauling that cheap Schwinn trailer around. Closest thing I can get to "uphill both ways".

jfh

50K with 2 kids in a trailer at the Giro d'Vino, Lodi. Thankfully the route is as flat as it gets (it was fair bit of work to keep up with my wife), the kids could get out and snack at rest stops, but otherwise there was a fair amount of sleeping. We pulled them around a lot for random errands around the neighborhood when they were young, no issues with helmets or anything like that.

Tim199

Mine didn't have good luck with keeping their helmets up at 13 months either. I found that the helmet coming down over their eyes thing stopped as they got older and could push it up themselves and adjusting the helmet fit helped some too. A pad behind their back so that the helmet isn't pushing up against the back of the trailer might help as long as it doesn't put them at an awkward angle or otherwise make them uncomfortable.

I think how long you can ride with them depends a lot on temperament and how much you keep at it. I have a friend that could take his son out from 12months on up for 2 hour rides, just a very calm kid. I had to persist for a while and work up from unpleasant 10-15 minute rides to where I can ride for an hour or sometimes two and they often ask to ride in it. I will often stop at parks on the way so they can play, especially for longer rides. I'm sure I could go for as long as I wanted if I let them nap or watch a portable movie player, but neither is really my thing for various reasons.

Phantoj

I made my first two kids wear helmets in the trailer, but relaxed the rules for the younger ones. A rider in a bike trailer is pretty safe anyway.

Once they fall asleep, you can ride for a long time!

Generally I rode 1-1.5 hours on a bike path... it is good to have a destination for them to look forward to.