FelixScout

So we have spent the last 3 years riding with an Adams Trail-a-Bike for my kid and we like going on rides they simply cannot keep up with on their own. So I was wondering about adding a tandem for them to ride since they are hitting a height limit with the trailer.

Does this make sense to do?

Chilepines

We did it with a kid crank when our oldest hit about 6. Pulled the Trail-A-Bike behind the tandem with the younger kid after she graduated from the Burley. Once we hitched the Burley to the Trail-A-Bike behind the tandem - which gets a lot of attention!

jccaclimber

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tandkids.html

https://www.precisiontandems.com/artkidbackinstall.htm

I've talked with a few people who started small children as a stoker around the age of 2, and maintained that until the teenage years when either having their own single became a lot more fun, or other interests in life got in the way.

My kiddo isn't old enough yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

Use toe clips so they don't catch a pedal in the back of the ankle.

Paul J

Tandems East is located across the river from you in South Jersey. Mel and Barbara, who own the business have been riding for decades and raised their kids on the back of tandems. Mel designed a kid-back ket for raising cranks to fit kids. You might want to take a short drive down to see them and check out their used tandem stock. https://tandemseast.com

L134 

I posted a few pics of my kids on our tandem here: https://www.bikeforums.net/tandem-cy...time-goes.html

Bike was an old Santana Sovereign with the Santana kiddie stoker kit. It all worked well.

I second the suggestion of checking with Tandems East.

NRissy

That what I did. I started my son ona wee-ride co-pilot; when he got frustrated with that (anything over 12mph he was just spinning instead of helping to pedal) I go a tandem.
I joined a tandem group on Facebook and put out my request with this nice picture of my boys and set up at the time.
I soon had a couple of people trying to sell me their old tandems; I found a guy who really wanted my family to have his tandem; so I bought it. I got a child stoker kit added to it and last summer my boys and I really enjoyed our bike!



Summer 2023 my youngest will be old enough to go some miles in the trailer. He's a little too young to be in it much this summer.
So this summer both pictures get combined! Tandem, trail-a-bike, trailer set up will be in full swing! 7 year old on tandem, 4 year old on trail-a bike, and two year old in trailer!

WheelsNT

We had our kids on a tandem with a child crank at about 2 1/2. If you don’t think they’re totally ready to stay on the seat, you can get a Adams trail-a-bike backrest.

https://www.trail-a-bike.com/product...ies/back-rest/

The backrest is made to lean backwards, so we bent it forward some to match the back angle for our kids. We used our backrest for a couple rides before deciding we didn’t need it. But every kid is different.

So you could have all of them on the bike with you if you had a quad. That’s what we finally did.

Darth Lefty 

We tried a kidback and it wasn't popular. I think a newer M/S MTB like a Fandango, or a Periscope style tandem, with some really short stoker cranks (or 2-hole cranks or crank shorteners) would be a lot better.

4-5 is a really awkward age/size for bringing your kids. They are too big for kid seats but not really big enough for 20" size bikes or trail-a-bikes, much less a slammed adult size.

cyccommute 

My 3 year old with a kid crank.



She was technically 3 but by only about a month. That was 33 years ago. A kid crank on a tandem is way better than a trail-a-bike.

icepick_trotsky 

I would take a hard look at the Burley Piccolo. I have used every kid trailing device known to man. It is miles better than the Adams. It attaches to the rear rack like a fifth-wheel trailer, so it both moves more freely and is more stable. Also, my eight-year-old loved being able to shift on his own. Suitable for up to 10 year-olds. (Not my photo).

merlinextraligh

Several options. A Bike Friday tandem will accommodate a child as they grow. Also a Co-motion Persicope.

Another option as shown in the pic above is a child stoker kit on a conventional tandem

RCMoeur 

Taking my son along as he grew, we first used a Taiwanese Piccolo knockoff, only with the pin at the back of the rack. The price was great and it seemed much more stable than a seatpost-clamp setup, but that vertical load behind the rear wheel did affect handling a teensy bit.


About the time he outgrew the trailercycle, he could reach the pedals on the tandem without a kidback, so we switched to that.


These days, he's taller than me - but not all that interested in riding anymore. He's welcome to ride anytime he changes his mind.

tandemdr

This thread really peaked my interest as it brought forth so many memories, that will be cherished forever. And to share some of that, our unparalleled experience (AFAIK) includes riding with the kids on 2 seat tandems, triplets, quads, quints and finally on their own tandem. It all spans ages 18 months through their early 20s and encompasses 18 consecutive MTR tandem rallies, from 2000 through 2017, two NWTRs, 28 state crossing tours, 3 Hotter'n Hell Hundred ride, local metric and full centuries, other local smaller events, and two self supported tours. College and lack of time eventually got in the way. That is the short version.

Growing up on tandems! Here is a warning though as there are consquences which I live through each day.
https://www.precisiontandems.com/artharmon.htm

More than you will ever want to know here, from those in the trenches, written by others and well worth the read as perspectives vary yet there is a common denominator in making it all work.
https://www.precisiontandems.com/tandems_and_kids.htm

This link
https://www.precisiontandems.com/art16moolddiary.htm
summarizes just a few of the many lifetime memories starting with 18 months and into adulthood. Teaser photos below were both taken at MTR rallies. The first photo is when Natalie was only 18 months in Duluth 2001, touring the parking lot as she so desperately wanted to ride like her older sister who had yet to turn 4! The second one is in Dayton 2013, ages 15 and 13!
Here is 15 year old's perspective of being a captain during two MTR rallies while on their own tandem.
https://www.precisiontandems.com/mtr2013/mtr2013.htm
https://www.precisiontandems.com/mtr2014/mtr2014.htm
I gotta admit, it was incredibly fun to see them hanging with the lead group to the first rest stop and to listen to the comment from those that watched them grow up on tandems at all the MTRs.

Duuuuuude99

I have 5 kids ages 8, 6, almost 5, 3, and 1.

Kids have been exposed and riding since they could sit in an ibert. As each has grown, I’ve added to the stable. The 8 and 6 year olds are very capable of riding their own bikes but only until about the 45 minute limit.

To get 4 rolling, we run a train consisting of a tandem with kiddie cranks with a burley kazoo trailer bike, followed by a burley double trailer as the caboose.

pleasant to ride flat and downhill. Uphill, not so fun! But it’s fun for the kids.

if it’s just one kid, the tandem and kiddie cranks are so wonderful allowing them to be part of the process and great conversations are had with them that we don’t get any other time.

tandemdr

Well said and fully agree. The alone time without any distractions and non face to face verbal interaction is a real eye opener as what comes out really reveals what is going on in their young minds. And being an equal participant on the longer bike, directly with a parent, is very meaningful to them.

tgot 

Another vote for the kidback Stoker. Or equivalent. Nearly first ride, with my eldest, convincing the wife that this wasn't crazy:

Age 3.5 there.

At ages 5, 3, and 1. The double-double, Daddy riding with three kids while Mommy worked weekends:


The last with my youngest, age 5?, now on the back and pedalling instead of asleep, getting ready to ride.

If my Strava lines up, that was 13.8 miles and 2kft of climbing.

The cost per hour didn't make a lot of sense. But the ability to get a real ride kept me sane, and the sense of adventure with the kids was priceless.

I'm tearing up remembering.

I've got one of three who's now a rider, goes by herself as well as with me, enjoys it. Beats me up hills but is gentle about the trash talk.

tgot 

P.S. I want to shout out thanks to the precision tandems site and people linked above. I had read some of those before buying a tandem and getting a shop to setup my kidback system.

Would not have happened without those pages and encouragement!

NRissy

As promised the weather was finally nice enough for me to break out the tandem, we-ride co-pilot and trailer set up. we got about 4 miles in with a trip to the park! Looking forward to a lot of miles on this rigg this summer! I do need to adjust the child stoker kit pedals for my now 7 year old, he has grown quite a bit sense we used it last summer.

Big bike train!
I remember last fall thinking I need to lower the pedals, not just raise the seat.

MNBikeCommuter

Yup, it was some special bonding time with my kids. We got our 'dale when they were 11 and 9 and put in many good miles together. Lots of time I didn't even need to prod--they just opened up and carried the conversations. And when they didn't, we just rode.

It was fun watching your daughters grow up on the CANDISC ride. Melissa and I were "only" on a two-seater, as compared to your quad you rode many times. Melissa and I managed to ride together until the final year of CANDISC in '17, and then her life got in the way, much the same as with your daughters. Last year we managed 49 miles together. Our goal had been to break the previous year's 50 miles, but I hadn't paid enough attention to the stats to push her for a couple of extra miles on our last ride.

I've gone solo on 3 of the 5 CaNDak rides since then, the CANDISC follow on. There was not one tandem on any of those rides.

From the CANDISC ride in '13. My sister actually happened to beat us to a rest stop as we'd done an extra leg (Dog Den Butte). She saw us coming and got her camera ready...

Al Bundy

Daughter #1 rode with me for several years from about age 8 until about 4-5 years later when it was no longer cool. Looking back some of the best times I have had on a bike. We did many events together including El Tour of Tucson, Tahoe lake, Cool Breeze, Palm Springs. We started off with an older Santana and then built up a Ti tandem using a custom frame from Xacd. Now she's 22. God the time flies.