cycle-touring kids & their loaded panniers

[Eden]

He was amazed to see along the route, several times, children approx. 9-11 yrs. old, cycling on their own bikes..with their own loaded panniers. They were obviously with parents/adults also touring.

His words to me: "It would put us (adults) to shame to see these little ones huffing and puffing away on the path with their loads. Ok, maybe that big pannier was stuffed with a teddy bear or pillow.. but still.

ehhhh I started touring with my mom at around that age (probably 11-12 ish). I certainly did not carry a pillow and a teddy bear... I carried all of my own clothing, my sleeping bag and pad, and part of the food/cooking kit. My mom did take the tent, so I never had the heaviest load, but I did take my share. Kids are tougher than you think they are.

[shootingstar]

ehhhh I started touring with my mom at around that age (probably 11-12 ish). I certainly did not carry a pillow and a teddy bear... I carried all of my own clothing, my sleeping bag and pad, and part of the food/cooking kit. My mom did take the tent, so I never had the heaviest load, but I did take my share. Kids are tougher than you think they are.

What distances did you cycle at that age?

[Eden]

What distances did you cycle at that age?

If I remember correctly we kept it around 30 miles per day.

[Crankin]

When we did our supported tour in and around Quebec City 2 years ago, we saw many families touring on the Route Vert with huge, heavy bikes loaded panniers, etc. I was amazed. I would like to try this someday, but I don't know if I need *another* bike. Besides my road bike, I have a hybrid (Jamis Coda) and a mountain bike. My husband has a Bike Friday, but it's the road bike model. We could probably do a local tour or short one on the Jamis' but I think the flat bars would bug me.
We've thought about trading in the BF for 2 touring Bike Fridays. What's another few thousand dollars at this point????

[Triskeliongirl]

You can tour on a road bike friday, its all marketing hype. Yes, you can put tires as wide as 2" on a NWT, but you can go 1.35" on a road model which is plenty wide even for packed dirt.

I toured from chiapis to guatemala on my bike friday pocket rocket pro. The only issue may be whether he has a model that accepts a front rack (all accept rear racks, pocket rockets have both, pros just take rear), and how much weight the bike accepts vs the rider plus luggage weight. You guys are small so unless he has a pocket pro petite you'll be fine.

[Tri Girl]

We're nowhere near anyplace that any bike tourers want to ride, so I've never actually seen people riding loaded. I think it's so cool for kids to do it with their parents. What a wonderful family adventure!

Can you pull a BOB trailer with a BF? Just curious. Not that I am going to buy a BF or a BOB, but I wondered if you could do that instead of front and rear racks for your road BF.

[Triskeliongirl]

Absolutely! I also had a trailer I'd use to go grocery shopping on my BF PRP. But really its no big deal to carry pannier bags on a std road BF unless you are a very heavy rider already close to the weight limit of the bike.