Trike

Hi everyone,
i am thinking about purchasing a family tandem.

please give me some input on what do you ride:

How many seats?
what brand it is?
is the family happy?
how often you use it?
how many miles have you ridden so far?
which tires/wheel/hub/spokes count do you use?
what kind of problems & breakdowns have you experienced?

tie dye tandem

We ride a steel Santana Quad with our family. Ours is a 26" wheel with wide tires and smooth tread patterns. Our cranks are out of phase, and the ride is very smooth. The biggest challenges are starting and stopping. We have had the bike for four years now and covered something between 1,500 and 2,000 miles. We have done many large group rides, a few Great Ohio Bicycle Adventures, a few Great Western Bike Rallies, and tours both on our own and with others. Our children are now 8 and 13, and it is getting harder to get everyone on board for a ride now than before, but we have had many happy family rides over the years. We have not had too many mechanical problems. We have ridden with several other quads, and even a quint once. We also have two tandems, and use them as well. Our quad is a fixed length bike, not a convertible. We can mount it on our car, and we have shipped it many times. You can find images of it by looking at my other posts.


Trike

Nice picture!
are you able to balance the bike on your own at a red light? or you need your wife to help you? how hard is to start?

i now have a triplet with child carrier so i manage to balance the bike with 3 kids, but wondering if i will manage alone on a hex?

this is mostly city riding so there will be a lot of stop and go and slow riding.

tie dye tandem

My own opinion is that riding in tight city roads in Europe would be difficult with a hex. These bikes are much nicer out on the open road with minimal stopping and starting. With the right team I am sure you could balance a hex and start and stop where only the captain put feet on the ground. I do this with our quad. However, if this only works with seasoned riders who don't lean way out unexpectedly. It also depends how heavy your kids are. You might want to read a bit from the blog of this family that decided with almost no significant preparation to ride a quint bike on a 7000 mile journey with small children:
https://www.pedouins.org/journey.html

Trike

whole team currently is 350lb and i am 150.

what are your numbers on the quad?