Kid Bike Trailers-Advice

[Saxa82]

we had a bike trailer for our son and we (or I should say I) used it from the time he was about 2-4 yrs maybe even less. Honestly, it sounded like a great idea, but it was a bear to haul. The longest I could ever muster was 12 mi, and relatively flat. It weighed about 25 lbs, plus my bike then was 40 lbs, plus his weight. It really burned up my knees. But it was fun for tooling around.

[RebeccaAnn]

We have a Nashbar trailer that I use several times a week. It was a gift, if I was getting one again I would come up with the $ for a Burley or other name brand. We may need a second trailer before my son is ready to graduate to a trail-a-bike! And the higher-end trailers have some really nice features.

We started using it when he was 12 months old. I asked our doctor at the 1 year checkup if it was okay, he told me I should have asked at the 9-month checkup. 3 months of wasted riding time....

We ALWAYS use a helmet. I will probably let him use the backyard riding toys without helmets but my feeling is if he's leaving the yard, he has to have a helmet. He hated it at first but now accepts the helmet as part of the ride. I put his helmet on last thing before we leave, and take it off first thing when we get back.

The first ride was rough. As many have suggested, use towels behind the baby to keep the helmet from pushing their head forward. He's 15 months old now, we're no longer needing the towels.

Mine loves drinking from the water bottle. On our first ride we went 3 miles around the neighborhood, stopping every 1/2 mile for a water break. After over year off the bike I needed the water as much as he wanted it! We did a couple more short neighborhood rides with lots of water breaks. As he got used to riding in the trailer I increased the time between water breaks.

If he gets bored, and doesn't fall asleep, I'll sprinkle some water on his legs and the floor of the trailer for him to play with. We usually take a stuffed animal and a spill-proof water bottle for him to have in the trailer. Now that he's a little older he is usually happy watching things along the trail and on the streets.

Our longest ride has been 12 miles. I want to increase up to 15 miles with the trailer 2-3 times per week. Then a longer ride by myself on the weekends.

We have a short trail, about 2.5 miles, about 3/4 mile from the house. On most rides we do loops on the trail and a bit of neighborhood riding. Sometimes we stay in our (hilly) neighborhood and do our 3-mile neighborhood loop over and over. I haven't been brave enough to take the trailer on "real" roads yet, although I'd like to work out a good route to my inlaws' house. I'm thinking of putting one of those slow vehicle triangles on the back of the trailer if we actually hit the streets.

One end of our trail has a grocery store and an ice cream shop very close. We plan to stop there sometime soon, probably the first time I convince my husband to ride with us. He requires his own set of rewards, ice cream is one of them.

I'm using my hybrid with the trailer because 1) the hybrid is easier to replace than the road bike and 2) more standover height on the hybrid makes it easier to hop on and off in a hurry. If we were taking longer rides, I'd probably use the road bike simply because the flat handlebar is uncomfortable for me after about 15 miles.