Clifton CC

I'm a dad. Little Lukas Thomas Durrant Sinclair was born on 19th December at 23:10hrs weighing 7lb and 49cm in length. He is doing well and is wonderful.

My question is. Does anyone know of the best means of getting a baby about using the bike? Are there seats that can take babies? Are there trailers that don't cost £6,000,000 that can carry babies? Most appear for young children but not month old babies. When he cries he likes being transported in the car seat and will go asleep. However, I would rather pedal him round on a bike rather than use a car.

Are trailers safe? I was a little worried about vlunerability. I have a bob yak, but when it is your little baby, one does get concerned. Are there any reports on safety/motorist attitudes to child trailers.

Any help or advice woupld be gratefully received.

Fat(dad)sprinter

First off, congrats Colin! I hope Lukas lets you get a bit of kip now and again over the next couple of years

I know of a few people in York who use trailers to carry babies and young kids around. There have been a few high-profile cases reported over the years of car drivers getting impatient with bikes/trailers, but you'd kinda hope that in a bike-aware town like York things should be better. But watch out for taxi drivers - my few "close moments" when riding with a trailerbike were being cut up by traffic-light-jumping-taxi-drivers.

When Hannah was a baby I just stuck to public transport or walking. When she was big enough (and it happens quickly) I got one of those £5 seat-on-the-crossbar jobbies. These are excellent in that as well as being dirt cheap, your kid can see where you're going and get used to the idea of cycling, albeit without turning pedals. Also I found it much more reassuring as a parent; if I'd been in an accident it would have been fairly easy to just wrap my arms round her to protect her. I never tried it, but a strapped-to-your-chest baby carrier might work for a younger child, on that same principle.

Congrats from us too Colin - great news.

We tried a trailer but didn't get on with it - can't talk easily and the drag is something else. You do *feel* vulnerable but never had any problems. Kiddy seat on the back was much better and Siobhan was a regular from about 9 months (I guess would have been fine earlier but we were waiting for spring.) Ended up doing literally 1000s miles and don't remember any major problems with traffic - got far more respect with the seat on the back and the little helmet poking out the top (or lolling out the side asleep). Handles well and not much drag. You just have to remember to throw your leg over the handlebars, not the saddle when getting on!!

Did a club 10 once....

Tag along trailer bike from 3 and a half.

When you are a sporting cyclist you won't entertain a cycle route that slows you down more than a few percent. However, when you've got a kid on the back you become far more tolerant of the idiosyncrasies of the city's bike routes. Means that you find all sorts of tortuous routes through the suburbs and find yourself enjoying a whole new type of cycling.

Have fun!

Some more encouraging comments here:

I've used all 3 types of child biking options over the years: and here is the story in brief:

When the oldest was one I used a rear child seat
When there were two a cross-bar seatette was added. Lots of rides with two on board, Chinese/Indian-style, some rides on holidays were quite long. The kids loved these!
When they were 4/5 till 8-ish one of the first Islabike trailerbikes (known as PiggybackBike) gave safe mobility. Used it on the schoolrun for 3 years, then children went solo. On Dawes Kingpin bikes, now 25 years old and used by grandchildren! No substitute for quality!

The trailerbike was regarded as personal property by youngest daughter and leased out by her leased out by her for many years to a succession of York families (£25pa pocket money)! It is now awaiting further employment.

Needless to say that all three, now at 23, 30 and 33 years of age are daily cyclists, and the grandchildren too!