Riding with the baby
 

Hello,

Well, my son is now one-year old, so I am getting excited about taking him out with me on rides. I was wondering if anyone out there can give me some advice. I am trying to decide between a trailer and a rack-mounted seat. In some ways the trailer seems best - it looks comfortable for the boy (especially if he wants to sleep) and the ride is smooth. On the other hand it seems like riding with the seat would be much easier and possibly safer. Any advice?

Also, what brand of baby helmets to people like?

Thanks

The bike trailer is by far a much safer option. Child's seats for bikes are very dangerous and you can just Google it to find any number of reasons why. I have a trailer and love it for my kids, even though one of them is about too old for it.

The trailer is sooooooooo much more easy to pull than i ever imagined. It also is nice because there is room for the kid to play with his/her toys and to put drinks etc. My kids even bring books. So the bike seat is definitely not easier and definitely not safer. Go with a good trailer, a Burley or something like that. I spent around $170 on a Schwinn at Target. It works great for what we do and has a rain cover, net cover, etc.

Don't forget a helmet. That is the biggest problem if you buy a cheaper trailer is that the back of the helmet hits the back of the trailer and the helmet slides over your kids face. This aggravates the kid. I basically fixed this by buying helmets with more vertical backs (more like football helmets) and using a couple pillows behind the kids to provide more clearance behind the head.

As we were parents of young children far before the advent of trailers (and helmets, by the way), I am curious as to why you consider trailers safer? We did ride with kiddie seats (and also one in my Gerry backpack) and did just fine, as did many others. No accidents that we heard about.

The only "kiddie" accident I know about around here was when a kiddie trailer, being pulled by a bike, was hit by a car in an intersection. The biker simply did not realize how long it took to clear the intersection with a trailer, and the auto hit the trailer. Fortunately, only minor injuries to the kid.

It would seem to me that trailers would be safer then kiddie seats. If you crash, I would think that the trailer would probably stay upright. I would wonder if they child might be harmed in a crash whilst in a kiddie seat.

I have heard from parents that small children can nap and play with toys while in the trailer and they were quite pleased with them.

However, one of our local riders, Diane, had a child and her girl did fine in a child seat until she graduated to being a stoker on a tandem.

Go the safe way and go with the trailer for children, if you do use a rack on the bike there is always the possibility of hitting a pothole or crack in the road, and then we would need to fear the worst. Yes, if the bike were to fall I believe the trailer stays upright so the child is unharmed, but to have the child sitting on the bike with you is a serious risk.

We recently bought a trailer for our 2 year old daughter. I found the following article informative:

http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/opi...dcarriers.html

While I don't necessarily disagree with the conclusions of that article, the reasoning to get to the point is filled with misconceptions and half-truths.

Simply an opinion piece. No research at all.

Mainly trailers are considered safer because they are about 4 inches off of the ground, which doesn't leave gravity a lot of room to work with when it comes to falling. Your reasoning reminds me of so many grandparents that refuse to buckle their grandkids into child seats. "Oh we used to haul you kids all over the country and you didn't die," they say. (saying this to the little kid's parents)

"That doesn't mean anything, so you got lucky and nobody ever got killed, so what? THat is no reason to risk the life of your grandkids," is my reply. I know that you didn't say anything about seat belt use and i am only referring to the fact that you mentioned that you used to do it a different way and that should make it ok.

My point is that just because something used to be done a certain way, doesn't mean it should continue that way. Twenty years ago nobody used to wear a seatbelt. This video illustrates why we all should.

WARNING THIS IS GRAPHIC. CLICK AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

What "REASONING?"

Asking a question is NOT "reasoning," and you really ought to learn the difference between a discussion and a question and accusing someone of false or incorrect reasoning.

I have NEVER stated that trailers are or are not safer than bicycle seats - I was asking why it was now thought so.

You are implying words I never stated and thoughts I never thought.

And what in the world does seat belts have to do with bike trailers? Talk about faulty reasoning!

Here is a much better article, IMHO.

Grrr! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Thanks for the reference. It is pretty informative. Here is another that I had been looking at:

www.bhsi.org/little1s.htm

There seems to be some contradictory opinion between the two, specifically on the likelihood of a trailer flipping over. The Harvard article cites the stability of the trailer as a plus. The BHSI ariticle talks about how easily trailers flip. Intuitively it seems that it would be hard to flip a trailer over just from road hazards or cornering.

Could someone with some trailer experience shed some light?

I never claimed it was anything other than an opinion piece. The author clearly states that fact.

It's interesting that you made the following statement to Ranger,
"You are implying words I never stated and thoughts I never thought." after doing exactly that to me.

No, I never said you stated it was opinion or research. I simply observed that it was not research.

Ranger talks aboiut my "reasoning" when in fact, there was no reasoning, only a question. Two quite different things. Your analogy fails the test of parallelism.

Here is an example of "parallelism"

Cycling with baby
 

Hello,

I asked this question in the "general" forum but perhaps it is better discussed here. My son is now one-year old, so I am getting excited about taking him out with me on rides. I was wondering if anyone out there can give me some advice. I am trying to decide between a trailer and a rack-mounted seat. In some ways the trailer seems best - it looks comfortable for the boy (especially if he wants to sleep) and the ride is smooth. On the other hand it seems like riding with the seat would be much easier and possibly safer. Any advice?

Also, what brand of baby helmets to people like?

Thanks

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=57779

Your kid is a bit older but the discussion is along the same lines.

No, you didn't just observe that it was not research. You pre-empted that statement with the following, "the reasoning to get to the point is filled with misconceptions and half-truths". Your tone was clearly meant to discredit the article.

Actually, there was reasoning. After your question you made the following anecdotal remark, "The only "kiddie" accident I know about around here was when a kiddie trailer, being pulled by a bike, was hit by a car in an intersection". Your "innocent" question was clearly followed up by your reasoned opinion - the only accident you mentioned involved a trailer, therefore trailers are less safe than seats. That is the reasoning that Ranger was referring to.

Your example of parallelism is just patronizing pseudo intellectualism.

Wow those are some great points against the bike trailer. :rolleyes:

1. Extra Length....We're not pulling a semi trailer here. This is a non issue.

2. Reduced Communication. "Hey dad, i'm slobbering all over myself back here and i think in a couple miles i am going to crap my pants. How is it going up there?" said the one year old.

3. Cost. Well heck, if it costs more it must be bad.