Biopsych_gal

My child is 5 yr old. I have had her on a trail-a-bike since she was 3. She does have her own bike. She prefers the trek and so do I because it's easier. We live in the city/suburbs and have many cars, and being near the hospital, ambulances that share the roads with us. I am finding it hard to balance both bikes (mine and the trail-a-bike) because she is so heavy and tall now. I am 5'2" 110 lbs she is 47" 63lbs. I worry about traffic and her falling when on her own bike. I also feel she is not old enough to pay attention and stop at intersections. She is partly deaf and has a hard time hearing me when I am yelling at her to stop. This is why I kept the trail-a-bike for trips arround town or long bike trips but I am finding it very hard to stay in control and not tip over now that she is bigger. Any advice? Do I keep her on the trail-a-bike and risk falling over or put her on her own bike and trust that she will be okay? Is there a third option?

mel2012

We have a FollowMe tandem, which is a great solution -- much more stable than a standard trail-a-bike and allows them to use their own bike when it is safe. We got ours for a great deal through Bike-discount.de in Germany, but apparently FollowMe has now prohibited import into the United States through that source (presumably to require everyone to purchase from its US dealer, Clever Cycles in Portland, which sells it for twice the cost we paid through Bike Discount).


A second option would be to try the Burley Piccolo or Kazoo instead of the Trek trail-a-bike. In my experience, having the rack mount vs. the seatpost mount is much more stable and easier to control.


A third option would be to look at the Trek T900 tandem, which is relatively inexpensive if you can find it used. It may require crank shorteners for your daughter for a few years until she's a little taller, but it's a great adaptable tandem so it would be a good long-term investment. We've had one since my daughter was six (now 8) and it's proved very handy when we don't have time for my daughter to bike somewhere on her own (although she's pretty fast now), but I still want her pedaling. I often add the Burley Kazoo on the back for my six-year old to make a long "triple train."

FrankHudson

We did the Trek T900 tandem for our son too. If you ditch the suspension seatpost you can get the stoker seat pretty low, so didn't need any extenders in our case.

kbarj

I love the options folks have already given you. I think that 5 is too young for riding in traffic, so a tandem or the Follow Me Tandem seem like a good idea.

I don't know where you live, but in our city (San Antonio), there are some incredible bike paths (up to 20 miles in length) that take the traffic issues right off the table. And surprisingly there are still folks that don't know about them. Maybe there are some in your city.

Biopsych_gal

If we were biking for fun the nearest bike path is two towns away. We bike to get places, the grocery store for a small shop, the playground, etc. I will look into the other options but don't have the $$$ to buy a new thing unless it's under $50. I was thinking of something like training wheels for me so I don't tip over but I don't think that exist. Lol

Biopsych_gal

Thanks for all the suggestions. Unfortunately buying something to replace the trek is not really an option right now due to financial woes. But I will keep using the trek for city riding and try to go to a bike path or empty parking lot and maybe make a bike obstacle course with stop signs and stuff. If I can get some friends to come we could simulate traffic with pretend cars and see how it goes. I think that you guys are probably right that 5 is too young to ride on thier own in traffic so I will keep her on the trek for as long as possible...tipping over is better than being hit by a car.

fietsbob

Burly Piccolo uses a rear rack on the bike, you can keep using , later, and once the kid is comfortable you can add a front wheel kit and they have a Bike.

a clever design from when the company was owned by the people who worked there. a Co Op.





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mel2012

So this may seem counter-intuitive, but for a cheap solution, you might look at buying a used trailer to hook up to the trail-a-bike. It's like your idea of the "training wheels" -- it provides stability for the trail-a-bike and stops it from rocking back and forth as much. We did this many times with our seatpost-mounted trail-a-bikes (a cheap Instep and a Weehoo) and in both cases it made the whole rig more stable while riding (although it is a bit unwieldy for parking and turning). See the attached photo of our Weehoo+chariot "train".