My bike, and how to make it mine and carry toddler/groceries?

[jenniferh]

My Kids LOVE their trailer. Room to stretch out, they can eeverything we pass, there is a little drink holder and they put a snack next to their legs. It works perfectly and is the safest option. I'd highly recommend a trailer over a seat. Plus, since you only have 1 kid,you could use the 2nd seat to hold your food.

[jdubble]

I'm going to chime in and say that I have both a trailer and a seat and both are great in different situations. The trailer is definitely great for protection from the weather, for hauling additional gear or groceries, or an additional kid. But I first got the rear mount Bobike seat when we lived in San Francisco because I did not feel comfortable biking in traffic with a trailer to my son's daycare. It was too low, too far behind me, and we couldn't communicate with each other over the sound of the wind and traffic. I felt much more comfortable with him right behind me, at my level, and we could easily talk to each other on the ride. It's never ever felt unsafe to me, or made me feel like the handling of my bike was compromised.

[Grog]

Just curious: Is there any evidence about the safety of various bike seats? I agree with jdubble that in urban traffic a trailer would feel much less secure to me than a top-tube mounted seat like the one Irulan showed.

[hebe]

Thank you so much for all your replies.

That mtbr link is really useful, I shall spend some time there reading.

The weeride is one of the front mount seats I was thinking about, also the Ibert which seems to be a bit lighter and fits on the stem rather than the top tube. I think the bottom line will be to try rear and front mounted and see which feels safer as clearly they'll change bike handling in different ways. I did think about trailers but would really want B close to me. I appreciate all your comments, there is a lot to think about.

[jdubble]

Thank you so much for all your replies.

That mtbr link is really useful, I shall spend some time there reading.

The weeride is one of the front mount seats I was thinking about, also the Ibert which seems to be a bit lighter and fits on the stem rather than the top tube. I think the bottom line will be to try rear and front mounted and see which feels safer as clearly they'll change bike handling in different ways. I did think about trailers but would really want B close to me. I appreciate all your comments, there is a lot to think about.

here's a great page that has reviews with pros/cons of several different front-mount seats. it's a great family biking website in general

http://totcycle.com/blog/all-about-f...ike-seats.html

[tpb]

+100 on the trailer suggestion

We had a trailer for both our kids and they loved it. They could still chat with me as well as stretch out, play, look around, sleep, etc. Also, it was very secure. Even if I wiped out, they didn't.

[trista]

FWIW, we have two trailers for 3 kids, and there are a lot of times I wish I had a Wee-ride carrier for our toddler. Trailers are great in certain instances, but not the best choice for every situation.

[Irulan]

Just curious: Is there any evidence about the safety of various bike seats? I agree with jdubble that in urban traffic a trailer would feel much less secure to me than a top-tube mounted seat like the one Irulan showed.

In 15+ years of various assorted bike/web discussion ( starting with usenet that's how old I am) I would say that rear mounted seats really get the thumbs down for instability and backweighting of the bike, and front mounts like the wee ride get the thumbs up. Plus, I have done IRL both ways.

[hebe]

Thanks again for the replies. I'm going to read all the reviews I can find. I'll be offline for a few days now, but will update this thread later.