Originally Posted by
bcpriess
For family rides, my advice is get a derailleur bike (gears you can shift) with the lowest gearing you can reasonably get. I've found with a burley trailer, or just riding with my son, that low gears (such as 34t up front, 28t in back, for example) are often used to maintain sufficient gyroscopic motion that keeps me upright when my kids are moving really slowly. The lowest gear (24t up front, 34t in back) is useful when both kids and our gear (aka a 100# load, all in) are loaded in a trailer that needs to be pulled up hills to various parks. Also, due to the slow speeds and need to maintain balance in many situations kids introduce (such as suddenly shifting their weight and throwing you off balance), you may prefer wide flat bars (or flared "gravel" drop bars), depending on your own balancing skills.
This.
When my daughter first learned how to ride she was on 12 inch wheels. And she LOVED to go riding with daddy.
On my 29 inch wheels, I had to ride in very low gears on flat ground just to keep from pulling away from her. My legs were spinning like the Road Runner. But I was moving along without falling at like 4 mph.