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Cycling Tips for Parents

Posted May 21, 2008 at 03:00 PM by Martinique Haller

Section: Her Fitness, Athletics, Her Gear & Apparel, Her Health

The general rule of thumb is that an infant can be loaded onto your bike (or trailing behind it) when she or he is strong enough to hold up his or her head with a helmet on it. According to the International Bicycle Fund , some states require that the child be at least one year old before taking on the role of your official cycling sidekick.  Even at age one, a physician should weigh in to let you know whether her neck is strong enough.

So, your baby is ready to join you in your active lifestyle - but what’s the best way for you two to ride together?  The option we see the most is of a child sitting in their own seat behind the adult rider above the rear wheel, but there are a few more options.  The trailer that safely houses your precious cargo is an option, as are front-mounted seats where your baby sits in front of you and faces forward with the wind in his face.  There are also special bikes one can buy that are built to carry children and cargo in a special extended section between you and your front wheel. This last category is popular in bike-friendly locales in parts of Europe, but the bikes are very expensive and cannot be converted to ‘regular’ bikes when your toddler is on her own two wheels a few years later. However, these are a good investment if you use a bike for most of your traveling and getting around town and if you know of a few people a few years behind you who might take it off your hands when they have little one of their own.

There are pros and cons to each option and most parents will make their decision based on safety and cost.  Any bike that you add a significant amount of weight to (whether fore or aft) will affect the handling.  Some of the front-mounted options are mounted almost exclusively on the handle-bars which will make steering more difficult especially as your darling grows.  Similarly, the weight of a child on the back will surprise a seasoned rider, and a stabilizing kick-stand is in order to keep the bike from tipping over when you’re buckling in your baby.  Bike trailers are not great options for parents who plan to continue riding in the streets of urban areas as it’s difficult for cars to see what you’re pulling behind you, and you become a much wider load with the trailer.  A flag can help this situation, but it’s still iffy.  Trailers, however have the advantage of housing the kids close to the ground so they don’t fall when you do, and they can carry much more weight than anything mounted onto your bicycle.  Before you consider any of these options make sure it will work with your bike. Your bike needs to be able to support the weight and the different brackets required to mount these additions and not all bikes do.

For serious cyclists, you may want to see about trading babysitting with your other active friends so you can all get your work outs in sans baby, or convince your partner to take turns with you.

Here is a very simple overview of the pros and cons of these different carriers.  Like most, it favors the rear-mounted seats and advocates for trailers once your kids are larger, but not yet big enough for their own bike.  Another option at that point is to think about sharing a tandem or a trail-a-bike. Check out the New York Times slide show of different bike seats for kids.

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Tags: babies, bikes, biking, child-seats, cycling, cycling with kids, dads, front-mounted seats, handle bars, martinique haller, moms, parents, steering, toddlers, trailer, wide load

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