Originally Posted by
LordFoo
I'll cast my vote for "black goo from the world beyond". Congrats Jeremy!
On topic: My wee guy is nearing the 1 year mark (wow, has it been that long already?) and I definitely think he'd appreciate coming along for a bike ride.. from those of you with little ones in tow, I'm looking for advice on buying trailers -- sliding seems safer than falling from a high mounted seat in case of a crash. Also, where does one get a helmet for a 1 year old noggin? Finally - is there anything particularly interesting to consider about riding fixed with a load (i.e. trailer+kid)?
Greetings from a lurker. My 2.75 year old has been riding a chariot sidecar since slightly before 1, and it is the best. It used to be a daily ride, to and from daycare with a different rider for each direction. Now it is a weekend hauler, often to the market for a week's load of groceries. Grocery payload is low on the sidecar, but I can still load up the panniers more or less as usual.
Surprisingly little effect on ride quality, once you adjust for the extra width, which is not excessive. Advantages are that you are so much closer, can see each other easily, pass things back and forth, carry on conversation . Not so much crap kicked onto it as a trailer would have.
Sadly Cycle Therapy is no longer there to set you up with it. I don't know where to recommend now.
As Shapelike says (hi Mike!), there are good reasons not to start before 1 year. In our case we pushed it a little, given the distance to the daycare, the fact that it is smooth and on the Dundas East bikelane, and the alternative was walking all the way there.
Congrats on the wee one. Try to maintain something like sanity for 3-4 months which is longer than eternity and then its going to be great.