Biking with babies/kids

April 6, 2019 by Piotr

We have only(?) one car. When our kid was born, quite a few people suggested that we might need another one (because of him). We decided not to get another one for now. I commute by bike, and it was only natural that I need to be able to take Antek with me. He is 2 now, and he loves wearing his helmet. But for the longest time we were wondering if we should get a trailer, or a seat, and which one will be better. We were also wondering what is really the right time to start taking our kiddo on the bike.

We decided on the seat… and then friends of our friends have given us a trailer!

Antek started biking with me when he was 8 months old. It was chilly outside (~35F), but as we know, there is no such thing as a bad weather, there are only bikers in inappropriate clothing. Antek was fine, and ever since we used both trailer and seat depending on how long is the ride, and what’s the weather.

Generally, for daily commute, I prefer not to use the trailer. It’s much more difficult to park, and it feels weird to pull an empty trailer. But on longer rides, trailer is our choice. Here are the pros and cons of the seat and trailer:

Seat

I’m using a Schwinn Child Carrier. It comes with a rear rack that fits 26″ and 28″ wheels. After the rack is installed, it’s fairly easy to take off and put the seat back on, when needed. (one bolt, one screw, and one lock). It has adjustable feet support and feels pretty well built.

• Seat is very convenient for local errands. Leaving bike with the seat is not a problem, and parking is easy (unlike parking with the trailer).
• Seat is more difficult to install (you need to install a compatible rack, typically it comes with a seat).
• Seat is not a great solution for longer rides. There is no support for the head, and no place for toys!
• It may be awkward to park in some places, but still better than with the trailer 🙂
• It’s easier to interact with the kid. e.g. I can pinch him when we are stopped on a red light, and we can talk to each other easier, sing songs, etc.
• The bicycle feels wobbly, especially now that he is over 30lbs, but it’s not a big deal.

Trailer

We use Burley Bee Trailer with an extra Burley Hitch on the second bike. It is very light (really, really light), and has almost no rolling resistance. It has two seats, a bug/dust cover and a rain(waterproof) cover. It takes 30 seconds to attach or detach it from the bike (one pin, and then safety clip).

• Kid gets to read/play/sleep comfortably in the bike,
• Center of the mass stays low on the bicycle, the bicycle doesn’t “wobble”,
• No need to move bags to the front of the bike,
• Easy to switch bicycles (no need for an extra rack on the second bike), so that if one of you gets tired, the other can fill in,
• It’s designed for two kids,
• Has extra cargo (in the back of the trailer),
• Protects kid from the wind and rain,
• Wearing helmet in the trailer is … weird,
• It’s more difficult to judge the width of your bike.

Panniers (bags)

With seat in the back, you need to move panniers to the front. I am using Minoura rack, which fits my 29″er mountain bike with front suspension with no issues, with the small (18 liters) Seattle Sports Hydralight Rain Rider Bike Panniers. These bags are waterproof and good quality, but the lock on the top clip is prone to breaking. Even when it breaks, the panniers are still working fine though, so it’s not a big deal.

Tail light

Both solutions hide your tail light. With the seat, you can just put the taillight on the rack. (I use topeak readlite aura tail light which uses 2xCR2032 batteries. If you forget to turn it off, you will most likely need to change the batteries; but it’s very visible and well built).