Triple bicycle

DH & I recently purchased a triple road bike. We have 2 daughthers, ages 3 1/2 & 21 months. Last year, we road a tandem & the girls were in the Burley trailer. The Burley is too crowded this year with both of them in it, so we're transitioning our oldest daughter to the middle seat on the triple. DH just got the bike last weekend & needs to do some tweaking to it so DD can ride in the middle (cranks, seat, toe pedals/clips, handlebar, etc.). Once were road-ready, we going to do some very short rides to get our oldest daughter used to riding with us. One comfort for me is that she'll be in the middle seat & I'm in the back, so I'll always have an eye on her. We'd love to progress to some local organized rides on the weekends (they usually start off at 20-25 miles). I know we'll have to make more stops than when both girls were in the Burley. DD appears to be very excited about riding the bike with us, but we'll see how it goes when she's on the bike with us. We're planning on pulling our youngest daughter in the Burley for 2 more years, at which time we'll have to make a decision about whether to go with 2 tandems, a quad or a single & the triple.

I was just wondering if anyone else has been in a similar situation. How did you transition your child from trailer to riding on the bike, how old were they, do you have any special setup for the bike, any helpful hints for making the rides fun, etc.

Thanks for your help.

We have a 4 1/2 year old, 2 1/2 year old, and 1 year old. Our 4 year old can ride her own bike, but not as fast as we would like, so we are getting a trail-a-bike this year to hook her to the back of Dad. (REI carries them on their website.) The other two fit in the trailer behind me. However, we don't do club rides yet. I think having the kid in the middle of a triple would be safe, and I would love to see pictures of your whole family out together, including the trailer. It must be quite a train!

Tamara

We've had a tandem with our daughter since she was about 5. Some things I've learned:

- Keep rides short with a destination of an ice cream store or something fun like that.

- Take regular breaks to walk around.

- You definitely want her feet attached to the pedals somehow. My daughter couldn't get into the clipless pedals because she wasn't strong or heavy enough so we use cages - that foots need to be attached to the bike so it doesn't whack her.

- If you're using the kid-back, dual crank system, we found ours slipped a lot at first. I tried shimming it with rubber, etc. Finally I wrote Sheldon Brown who said to just put it directly on the paint and crank it down really well. That worked!

- Definitely read Sheldon Brown's information about riding a tandem with kids if you haven't already. http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/index.html

- Her butt is going to be the limiting factor on rides. Be sure to teach her how to take periodic standing breaks. She will need to develop balance and some strength to do this - but we'll say "COAST" and then we coast for a bit and let Em stand up to rest the butt.

- Having a bento box in front of her that she can put a snack in is helpful.

- Get her the cool clothes. Bike shorts are critical as we know. It has been a real challenge for me to get Em to not wear underwear with the shorts. I am still fighting that battle.

- Keep it fun. If its a bad day or she's cold or tired or whatever, she'll hate it. Go home. We are total fair weather riders - I will only take the tandem out if it is warm and sunny and blue birds are landing on my shoulder. Well, not quite.

Em and I have done metric centuries on the tandem, and it's been great. Good luck and have fun with it!!

That is adorable! I would love to know how much the bike and trailer weigh total! Definitely post a picture :)

Jessica

Sounds so great. Post a bunch of pictures!