What to do with my twins?

[maillotpois]

We got a tandem for our daughter when she was about 6 or 7. It worked quite well. The trail a bike, even for one kid, got VERY unwieldy and was no fun at all as she got bigger. The tandem handled great.

Search for "triple tandem bicycle". I can't believe the price on this one ($370!): http://www.bikemania.biz/ProductDeta...ode=PI_Tandem3

I am sure it's not the best components, etc., but it would handle way better than a trailer.

These guys knows EVERYTHING about tandems, triples, etc.: http://www.precisiontandems.com/ You would no doubt need kid backs (redundant cranksets that go on the seat tube to shorten the reach) for both for some time.

[Triskeliongirl]

Bike friday sells some triple tandems. Perhaps with different stems which are easy to swap you could make the front of the bike work for both you and your husband. Or what about a trail a bike on each of your single bikes, so all 4 of your could ride together, but you would each only need to tote one kid. Eventually you could move to tandems or single bikes.

[cyclingmama]

I have a colleauge who had a triple tandem made for him and his girls, 6 and 8, and they will ride 12-15 miles without issue.

You don't say if you want to be able to take them places by bike, or if you want to ride yourself and need to take them out of necessity, or if you are just trying to plan family time on bikes. My kids are 3 and 5, but weigh 39 and 49 pounds respectively, so with almost 80 pounds of kid plus the weight of a trailer or similar its out of the questions, particulary since I live in a hilly region. When we want family time on the bikes, I take the hybrid and their bikes to the rail trail near our house and we ride together, each on our own bikes. We go pretty slow, but on a flat smooth trail like that, even the 3 year old will do 2.5 miles.

When I want to ride, I find times that work and barter with my husband for riding time. Weekday mornings I ride from about 5:20-6:45, then shower quickly before getting them up at 7 (I work and they go to daycare and camp). Saturday mornings the negotiating comes in. I'll ride from 6-10 or so, and then I'll take them from 10-2 so DH can do whatever he wants to do, then we have the late afternoons/evenings to do things together as a family.

Good luck!!!

[tjf9]

Thanks for all the great input! You've all really given me some great things to consider. I didn't even think of a tandem! I'll have to look into that as well.

I'm really looking for a solution that will allow me to reduce use of the car. Every weekend I pack the kids up in the van and we do something (go to the zoo, children's museum, park, etc.) and I'd like to find another way to do those things, and/or find other things to do that don't require the car. I also want to get them to be more active by default. Instead of the assumption that we get in the car to do everything, I'd like to get to a place where we only get in the car sometimes.

Right now, I try to get them in the trailer on Saturday morning, and it's a no go, so we get in the van. Until we can figure out the bike, I think we might try more public transit too...

Thanks again for your help!

[sfa]

They'll probably love public transit. When my DD was about that age I used to take the bus to work and would get off about a half mile early to pick her up at daycare. It was easier and faster to walk home from there, but she ALWAYS asked if we could take the "city bus" (not to be confused with the less sexy school bus, which she also liked but it wasn't quite so grown up and cool) instead. And nothing thrills my kids more than taking the light rail or Metro to get someplace!

Sarah

[Pinkryder]

We are dealing with some similar issues these days. Both DH and I would like to go for longer rides with our kids, we have 4.5 yr old twins and a 3.5 year old. We are not sure how much longer this is going to work but...Just yesterday we went on our first long ride on the W&OD trail in N.VA (almost unbelievably!) my husband had a single trail-a-bike behind him and buggy attached to the trail-a-bike, also behind him (he is in pretty good shape!). Then we had the other child in another buggy behind me. All three kids took turns on the TAB (the 4 yr olds spent much more time than the 3 yr old), we just had them switch when they got tired or when another wanted a turn.

We will probably get another TAB (to go behind me) and keep the one buggy (behind DH) in case someone gets tired. But we may also consider getting a double TAB and eliminate the buggy all together. My DH said that they definitely DID help him when they pedaled up hill. Now, no mistaking, it was not a fast ride, but we had a really fun time.

And as a sidenote, we did pass a couple on a tandem, with an older boy (6-8yrs?) on his own bike, but attached to the tandem somehow (they must have some connection available, his front wheel was lifted off the ground), and then they also had a buggy attached to his bike behind them with a younger child. I was just glad to see that we weren't the only people forced to pull an enormous train down the bike path!