2011-2012 Expectant parent (cyclists) club!

tailwindhome

DonDaddyD wrote:

They come with 5.

Wait 'til you need 7 seats

cjcp

TailWindHome wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

They come with 5.

Wait 'til you need 7 seats

Went straight for seven seats, myself. What you don't fill with kids when you start off, you can fill with a bike.

rjsterry

This is a pet peeve of mine. My parents managed to fit three boys prone to squabbling + toys into various ordinary family saloons. All family holidays involved a long drive to a cottage somewhere remote, as did visits to grandparents/cousins on the other side of the country. When did we all suddenly need a small bus to travel around? Will be digging my heels in to the very last on that one.

asprilla

rjsterry wrote:

This is a pet peeve of mine. My parents managed to fit three boys prone to squabbling + toys into various ordinary family saloons. All family holidays involved a long drive to a cottage somewhere remote, as did visits to grandparents/cousins on the other side of the country. When did we all suddenly need a small bus to travel around? Will be digging my heels in to the very last on that one.

Depends how many kids you have. Mates of mine in central London have three pre-school kids and in order to to fit three car seats they had the choice of a people carrier or a chelsea tractor. I've got a 5 series and with two child seats in the back last week it was a tight squeeze for my 5 year old neice to sit in the middle on a booster seat.

cjcp

rjsterry wrote:

This is a pet peeve of mine. My parents managed to fit three boys prone to squabbling + toys into various ordinary family saloons. All family holidays involved a long drive to a cottage somewhere remote, as did visits to grandparents/cousins on the other side of the country. When did we all suddenly need a small bus to travel around? Will be digging my heels in to the very last on that one.

The promotional material for the car contained a picture of a bike laid flat inside (seats down), with the wheels on. Pretty much a done-deal after that.

Clever Pun

TailWindHome wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

They come with 5.

Wait 'til you need 7 seats

Interesting point..

Bassjunkie has a bus I take it?

EKE_38BPM

Oops, my browser seems to have directed me to Mumsnet instead of Bikeradar Commuting Chat.
Sorry for the intrusion. I'll leave now and shut the door behind me.

rjsterry

OK, I can see that three child seats won't fit side by side, but multiple births aside, that's one of the benefits of spacing them out. I'm 2 1/2 years older than one brother and 7 years older than the other. Also, TBF, this was a little while ago now, when we were looked on as unusual for having rear seatbelts, let alone booster cushions and the like. It was snug for me in the middle with a child seat and a booster cushion on either side, but we managed up to 5 hour car journeys without anyone being permanently damaged.

I can see how "you had me at, "you can fit a bike in the boot"" would happen, though.

NGale

My parents just made their life easier by just having one child (although I have half brothers and sisters from my dads previous marriage). Even then my mum had to take me everywhere in a basic pushchair and on buses as we didn't own a car until I was 15,

Funnily enough I survived unharmed :roll:

Crawler2

Number 4 on the way 29 October.

I've found out what's causing them, so no more.

tailwindhome

rjsterry wrote:

OK, I can see that three child seats won't fit side by side, but multiple births aside, that's one of the benefits of spacing them out. I'm 2 1/2 years older than one brother and 7 years older than the other. Also, TBF, this was a little while ago now, when we were looked on as unusual for having rear seatbelts, let alone booster cushions and the like. It was snug for me in the middle with a child seat and a booster cushion on either side, but we managed up to 5 hour car journeys without anyone being permanently damaged.

I can see how "you had me at, "you can fit a bike in the boot"" would happen, though.

This

I'm one of 4 kids* we just bounced about the back seat of a Ford Escort




*also 2 + twins....we should have known)

cjcp

rjsterry wrote:

I can see how "you had me at, "you can fit a bike in the boot"" would happen, though.

Would be great to get something bigger, too. A VW Transporter, or something which allows you to stand the bikes up inside with only the front wheels off, but with sufficient room to store the front wheels somewhere comfortable where the skewers don't get caught in the spokes etc. The kids should be comfortable with that, too.

They've got the Honda Odyssey in the US, but not the UK, which is annoying.

Torvid

cjcp wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

I can see how "you had me at, "you can fit a bike in the boot"" would happen, though.

Would be great to get something bigger, too. A VW Transporter, or something which allows you to stand the bikes up inside with only the front wheels off, but with sufficient room to store the front wheels somewhere comfortable where the skewers don't get caught in the spokes etc. The kids should be comfortable with that, too.

They've got the Honda Odyssey in the US, but not the UK, which is annoying.

how about something like this?

cjcp

And leave the bikes outside??!

Torvid

cjcp wrote:

And leave the bikes outside??!

only the kids bikes you could even sit them on them and keep yous in the back passenger section dry just remeber to buy them helmets

cjcp

Torvid wrote:

cjcp wrote:

And leave the bikes outside??!

only the kids bikes you could even sit them on them and keep yous in the back passenger section dry just remeber to buy them helmets

Good point. They'd also need a mask to stop them swallowing the flies.

Torvid

cjcp wrote:

Torvid wrote:

cjcp wrote:

And leave the bikes outside??!

only the kids bikes you could even sit them on them and keep yous in the back passenger section dry just remeber to buy them helmets

Good point. They'd also need a mask to stop them swallowing the flies.

Ah I was thinking they would just make a handy protein supliment, This however could be why i'm not considered suitable parent material.

DonDaddyD

rjsterry wrote:

This is a pet peeve of mine. My parents managed to fit three boys prone to squabbling + toys into various ordinary family saloons. All family holidays involved a long drive to a cottage somewhere remote, as did visits to grandparents/cousins on the other side of the country. When did we all suddenly need a small bus to travel around? Will be digging my heels in to the very last on that one.

Mate, cars are HUGE now. Compare the size of a New VW Polo with a MKIII or IV Golf.

Massive.

I was still going to get an Alfa GT but Ms DDD said no. Swings and Roundabouts, I'm keeping the bikes.

rolf_f

rjsterry wrote:

This is a pet peeve of mine. My parents managed to fit three boys prone to squabbling + toys into various ordinary family saloons. All family holidays involved a long drive to a cottage somewhere remote, as did visits to grandparents/cousins on the other side of the country. When did we all suddenly need a small bus to travel around? Will be digging my heels in to the very last on that one.

Plus 1. My parents, myself and my sister fitted fine into an Austin 1100 (which these days would probably be regarded as in the same class as a Matiz) - and that included on camping trips. And we did bring the tent (no pre - pitched options in those days) - and it was a huge frame tent, and we did fit in all the camping equipment, clothes etc. Infact all we needed (even if the space between me and my sister was piled up to head height with stuff.

People shouldn't confuse 'need' with 'want'.

rolf_f

DonDaddyD wrote:

Mate, cars are HUGE now. Compare the size of a New VW Polo with a MKIII or IV Golf.

The Mk1 Golf is considerably smaller than a current Polo. Infact, I think it is pretty close to Lupo size (and it will be far lighter).

The Mondeo is considerably larger than the last generation Granada (a model that Ford dropped because it couldn't cut it in the 'luxury' car sector.....)

Too many fat arses these days is the problem. Old cars would collapse under the weight........

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

They come with 5.

Wait 'til you need 7 seats

Went straight for seven seats, myself. What you don't fill with kids when you start off, you can fill with a bike.

I was driving a GM Yukon XL last week. Great car - seven huge seats and luggage area you could chuck a bike into and not hit the back of the seats.

Miles too big and thirsty for Blighty, unfortunately, otherwise I'd have one (or a Chevy Suburban) in a shot.

rjsterry

Yeah, my Metric Handbook has two entries for the sizes of car parking spaces/garages: European and American. It seems we are following them.

cjcp

Greg66 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

They come with 5.

Wait 'til you need 7 seats

Went straight for seven seats, myself. What you don't fill with kids when you start off, you can fill with a bike.

I was driving a GM Yukon XL last week. Great car - seven huge seats and luggage area you could chuck a bike into and not hit the back of the seats.

Miles too big and thirsty for Blighty, unfortunately, otherwise I'd have one (or a Chevy Suburban) in a shot.

Definitely. Was parked next to a Suburban or something similar this morning. No need for trees with shade like that.

The benefit of the Verso for the Marmotte trip was that we could stuff four framesets, six wheelsets, kit and three people in it. Four on the way back with a frameset on the bike carrier.

tailwindhome

cjcp wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

They come with 5.

Wait 'til you need 7 seats

Went straight for seven seats, myself. What you don't fill with kids when you start off, you can fill with a bike.

I was driving a GM Yukon XL last week. Great car - seven huge seats and luggage area you could chuck a bike into and not hit the back of the seats.

Miles too big and thirsty for Blighty, unfortunately, otherwise I'd have one (or a Chevy Suburban) in a shot.

Definitely. Was parked next to a Suburban or something similar this morning. No need for trees with shade like that.

The benefit of the Verso for the Marmotte trip was that we could stuff four framesets, six wheelsets, kit and three people in it. Four on the way back with a frameset on the bike carrier.

*googles GM Yukon

That would be just the ticket for taking the kids to the holiday home, plenty of room in the back for the patio heaters too. It is crying out for a red diagonal stripe on the side

We're currently lusting after a Volvo XC90

The Grand Scenic just aint big enough for our family.

tailwindhome

A whole new level of awesome

(from Pro Bike Kits FB page)

zenistar

Well my Sunday morning riding plans went out of the window at the weekend and the baby is not even here yet - SO came banging on the garage door on Saturday night as I was realigning brake calipers telling me she needed to go to hospital NOW.

So, since Sat evening she has been in the hospital trying to take it easy after having contractions 9 minutes apart (still 2.5 months to go) and is still there now. Baby is fine though, i got to watch the footy and F1 from the hospital yesterday afternoon with the rapid thud of baby's heartbeat as a background track

asprilla

Mate of mine in Santa Barbara has a Yukon XL. He's had it for a year and he's run out of petrol twice because it drinks fuel quicker than he can get to the gas station.

zenistar

Forgot to say - we bought a second car a couple of months ago ready for the baby. We ended up with a VW Touran which looks / sounds huge but actually is not that large and is cool to drive.

7 seas but the back two remain folded down giving a large boot space for strollers / bags etc. 2L TDI engine which has plenty of power but does not guzzle that much gas.

With a single back seat folded down my bikes roll in with their front wheel removed and tie down nicely to the brackets in the boot.

The only thing I am disappointed about is the need to move a front seat forward when there is a maxi cosi on the back seat - perhaps this is because we are using the maxi cosi base station though, i have not tried without.

rjsterry

TailWindHome wrote:

A whole new level of awesome

(from Pro Bike Kits FB page)

I've recently been given official dispensation to buy a child seat for the bike (to get the 2-year-old out of Mrs RJS's hair), and the thought of seeing how quickly I could get up Box Hill with it (and child obv) had crossed my mind. May need some bigger cogs.

Also, anyone see the Comedy Prom, and in particular Tim Minchin's Lullaby? Rather dark humour (perhaps too dark for some).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESFANzZTdYM

clarkey cat

I've been taking baby Cat out in the Hamax since he was 6 months. Did laps of Great Windsor Park today with him on the back - if you dont want to ride on roads with the LO then its great.