Two kids - one bike / Tag-a-long advice

errol_slymm

Hi all

I've a few questions and I wonder if anyone here could help.

1. My lad is getting on for five, he's a long, skinny thing and is only just getting too heavy for the Hamax child seat. I fancy a tag-along and the guy at the shop recommended Adams. Looks pretty good, anyone have any experiences good or bad?

2. I'm no fusspot but I'm nervous about taking him in traffic on the tag-along. With the child seat I only had to worry about me falling off. I've seen an accessory for the Adams, a back rest with straps but the guy at the shop reckoned they were uncomfortable and impractical. There's also a child seat that fixes to the seat post on the Adams. Anyone use or had any experience with these?

3. I'd like to be able to take my two year old little girl with us cycling. If her mum's at work it means she get's left behind at grans while I go out with her brother. Would it be possible to use the Hamax seat and the Adams trailer bike at the same time? I reckon probably not but... Any other solutions for getting two kids on one bike. The boy is probably too big to get in a trailer with his little sister.

Any advice gratefully received.

Ta

e_s

passout

You can get a double tag along for two kids - I think SKS cycles do them.

I've got the adams single folding tag along for my 4 year old and it's a good peice of kit - she loves it. Back rest not needed for her - it might actually encourage them to lean back was my gut feeling when I considered one. Got mine for about 100 notes inc P+P from Merlin Cycles.

errol_slymm

Thanks Passout

I've seen the double tag alongs which I could fit one child seat to for the little girl. Concerned that I wouldn't be able to get it in/on the back of the car though.

Just out interest, how far can your four year old go on it before she gets tired or starts complaining. We used to go 20+ miles with the child seat, but I reckon shorter distances for the tag along for a bit...

Cheers

e_s

smithosa

Sorry for the intrusion but I think you might be very pleasantly suprised by the tag along re time. We got one (the Trek model) a couple of years ago and my lad absolutely loves it. He's also got his own bike but much prefers the tag along. When we hit the flat I let him push me along, it's absolutely great fun. I've never seen a double and I'm struggling to get my head around how that might work.

Re use on the roads, I tend to be a bit more risky than my wife would strictly spekaing allow. We both where lots of high vis, and there's two high vis flags which atatch to the back of the tag along. I think that as far as safety is concenred that the big issue. They're so low down drivers foocus on the main rider and disengage brain. Make the kids extremerly visible and you should be ok.

Hope that helps, enjoy!

passout

Time wise it's at least as good as rack mounted seat - I'd say a bit better as she enjoys it more. Usually 45 minutes is fine with my daughter; more if you have a pub or ice cream stop!

Gav2000

I'd be concerned that a double tag along would be too much weight anchored to your bike via the seat tube and could be hard to keep stable/upright. I make this comment as I have a 1 child Adams trailer bike which was great for my daughter up to age 5 and is fine for my 5 year old son but was quite hard to control when my now 7 year old daughter went on it last week. I had to raise the saddle for her and although she rides her own bike well the trailer bike kept leaning to one side or the other and I then had to balance that load, it was not easy (or safe probably).

My solution when they were younder was a trailer bike for the older one and a seat on my cross bar for the younger one (up to age 4). We did the 23 mile BHF Rutland Water cycle ride like that and raised over £500!

Gav.

smoothhound

I've got one of these...

http://www.roland-werk.de/engl/addbike

They come with a special rack that acts as the hitching point rather than connecting to the seat post. This makes the ride a bit more stable, especially when junior makes sudden weight shifts. The other obvious advantage is that you can additionally accommodate a normal child seat, I use this setup regularly on the school run with my 5 year old and 3 year old and it feels satisfyingly stable.

They are not cheap though, around £250 at the moment for the single speed, but they hold their value very well in the second hand market.

pansy_pots

My 5 year old and 3 year old both love the tag along and are happy to go as far as they would in the trailer/bike seat. As the previous poster said we use hi vis vests.

I can happily tow the tag along with a weeride centric seat as it is front mounted. My bike is pretty heavy though. I can still fit my very tall 3 year old in the weeride and my 5 year old at a push.

errol_slymm

Thanks for all the responses, wish I'd seen the addbike before but not sure I like the rack when I'm cycling on my own.

Anyhow, I got an Adams last weekend and the boy loves it! So much so he didn't want to stop to get an Ice-cream! Found the weight was alot more than a child seat and I reckon it would be a struggle to get them both on.

Thanks again for the advice folks!