Regular Commuter, now Day Care
 

I've been a regular commuter for over five years now - about 7 miles round trip. We recently had our first child and I'm starting to think about how I'm going to include a child care run two times a week. Our preferred location is about six miles out of my way which isn't the concern - I am struggling to find a clear winner in how to combine the two though - any one have any advice on how to handle a joint child care and work commute? I'm thinking either:

• A trailer w/ my existing rack and pannier setup
• A rear child seat with a front rack and bungees for my pannier
• Or an Xtracycle Freerunner/Leap with child seat and my pannier

Or maybe someone has other, better ideas? Child care won't be for another nine months or so so I've got some time to figure it out.

Trailer worked for me. The thing about young children is that all travel requires something called a "diaper bag." This contains not only diapers, but a huge collection of toys and other items. The trailer is one way to carry all the required stuff.

I hadn't thought of that - from child care to work and back would be with an empty trailer - do you have any experience riding with an empty one? Is it terribly bouncy?

I use a trailer for cargo. I.E. half the time empty, half the time full. There is no problem with it empty, other than being EASIER to pull. :)

You might ask your daycare facility if there is a place to park the trailer during the day, as you'll need it when you return to pick up the kiddo.

Most trailers are pretty easy to connect and disconnect.

Thule Chariot trailers look very nice, but are expensive. Perhaps start hunting for a good deal on a used one?

People with cargo bikes are happy with them for kids, and child seats might be good for the smallest kids. It is up to the parents, I've seen them all in use.

What I essentially did is have my spouse do that running exclusively, and in return I covered some extra duties at home. Is that an option? I did the trailer thing with my daughter, but only for recreation rides on the weekends.

I haven't done a lot of looking yet but it seems most of the used trailers in my area are either old or newer but seemingly over-priced.

A trade would be an option but my wife would be driving her to child care so my preference right now is to figure out some system to integrate it with my commute.

I’m doing a rear seat which I drop off at the daycare. (Not a problem for them, parents also drop off car seats so spouses can pick up). It’s a Blackburn Copilot which latches to an included standard style heavy duty rack. I’m using a backpack but if I needed more space I’d get a frame bag. Panniers would go on the rack but not with the kid seat in place (that’s where his feet go) and a front rack doesn’t work with my frame.

I previously had the kid seat on a different bike that didn't work too well, it had a short rear end and high, forward dropout holes and a very upright position, all of which put kiddo too close to me to use a backpack. So I used a cheap Walmart Bell handlebar bag that hangs from a plastic hoop. In spite of its price point and its looks, it worked great.

i've not taken a child on a bike for about 30 years so i can say too much about that but i will say an unloaded trailer is a piece of cake to pull.

I like the trailer idea, and the idea of possibly leaving at daycare. Another thought is if you have a car, drive those two days and do some alternate workout. Also if you have a car, perhaps it is possible to drive to daycare with the bike and bike to and from work from daycare.

Another note is about time. Make sure the daycare hours bracket the time you need to both work and ride, and expect that if you are the last one to show up at 6 that the daycare ladies will give you brittle smiles

Yes, maybe nine years of riding with a full and and empty trailer. It's a lot easier to pull when empty. Not at all bouncy. Find a cheap or used one. If there's a store around that you like, but where car parking is difficult or impossible, it can be useful for shopping also.

+1 -> trailer, it's not just the kid(s), it's the gear.

Also, the places our kids were at had a spare room for strollers and carseats for kids not retrieved by the dropping off parent, so I could fold up the 2-seat trailer and leave it there. The final preschool for my youngest was the only one that didn't, but they had a roof overhang I could leave it or the trailabike under, protected pretty well from the elements.

An extracycle would obviously work. In the span of things, kid-toting is actually not that lengthy so our trailer and trailabike are long gone (kids in 7th and 11th grades, the older is riding the bike I used to pull the trailer with). xtracycle with a trailer, an xtracycle with a baby seat, whatever.

Or a Bakfiets .. box in the front , long front wheelbase.. fork & handlebars connected by a connecting rod..

example; Larry vs Harry bikes TECHNICAL INFO - Larry Vs. Harry

I currently have a 5yo and 7yo - I did school drop off with a Burley Kazoo (trailer bike) for the younger and the older on his own bike. Next year they should both be on their own bikes. I used a double trailer when they were younger.

Looking back, I wish I'd done a longtail cargo bike - Xtracycle, BikeFriday Hauladay, Yuba, etc. Probably one of the folding ones - BF Hauladay, Xtracycle Cargo Node, whatever other ones. I know that Cargo Node wasn't out when I would have been buying anyway. Not worth buying one now, but I think I'd still use it some. The full cargo bike (bakfiets, whatever - with the cargo pod in front) I don't think I'd use as much now, as much as it would have been a little better with the young kiddos.

Another option would be the Weehoo which will work for younger kids.
https://rideweehoo.com/

Listed for ages 2-9. I'm surprised it will go that old, but at least good for the younger kids... put them to work early.

Just have the daycare strap the kid in to the trailer and leave it out front. :thumb:

I have to add that I'm not allowed to take them by bike once it gets too cold - currently would be a bit cold, and neither the trailer bike nor my 7yo's bike have studded tires.

At least most trailers have covers that will help keep the wind and rain off of the kids.

Doesn't help much at -20.
And that's been the daily high, not overnight low.
Not much rain.

What specifically about the longtails would appeal? From what I can tell one year olds still need a child seat attached to the deck so you're still dealing with the higher center of gravity - the one advantage I can identify is that I could carry my work pannier on the back at the same time. Though once they're old enough to hold on themselves I definitely see the advantage (but I could also start using the Burley Piccalo I picked up for free at that point too AND get a little help with my commute).

Weehoo is an option but I've heard they get in the way a bit on your knees? That could get annoying on a longer commute and/or start to cause some joint problems.

Right now for me it's just the 3.5yo to daycare, and the single makes sense. I could add more cargo capacity if I needed it. I picked the child seat and not the trailer because it's the least work to ride. The long bikes seem excessive.

I have twin babies at 11mo and they'll go in a trailer for bike rides. But they're a year from daycare. I don't know if it will even make sense to ride a bike at all then, or even more so once the twins are in daycare and the kiddo is in school... or if I'll still have this job, or this house. Trying to choose a bike to buy now for a hypothetical situation a couple years out makes no sense.

Bikes are easy to exchange. So are accessories. Go ahead and try them. We're on our second trailer because the first one was too cheap. I tried a Thule front seat and it sucked. The Bobike and iBert look good, the WeeRide requires cowboy starts. But they're all only good to 1.5 or 2 depending on brand. I like my bike now but when I have the back seat on it I sort of wish it were a hybrid stepthrough and not a cross commuter. The bike I mentioned before that was otherwise-bad was a stepthrough and that part of it worked great for all this stuff.

Are you confusing a recumbent tag-a-long trailer with a front mount seat of some kind?

http://reviews.mtbr.com/files/2009/12/ig_final.jpg

I can't imagine the Weehoo would be bad on your knees... and you get that extra 1W power assist!!!

Yes, he's confusing it with a Wee Ride. Understandable. I didn't ever try one of these, the problems seemed too obvious. Cowboy starts and bow-legged pedaling and a baby helmet in your sternum

https://www.twowheelingtots.com/weer...e-seat-review/

I guess if you've already got a free Piccolo then I'd probably go with a single trailer - try to find a used Chariot. I don't find the higher centre of gravity a problem at all. The biggest thing is that I'd still be using it for other cargo-bike uses, and could have used it from the beginning. To me it seems to be what I would continue to use the longest - the Wike bike and similar are probably the best for moving a young kid and doing heavier shopping, but difficult to go far. The longtail just seems like a great solution to move bigger stuff by bike as well as the kids - throwing the kid on and towing their bike after they get tired on a ride, things like that as they get older.