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She’s too big really for the shotgun seat (and her 2 year old brother wants to use that anyway). She struggles with anything more than a gradual incline. Not sure a tow rope is a good idea but also don’t want to buy a tag along bike. What do others do to ride with a family?
I know you don't want to.... and they are highly unfashionable.
But if you have the space - you can pick up tagalongs pretty cheap on market place. We paid 40 quid for ours. Went from doing 2km-5km rides to being able to do 25-30km rides.
Wanted a follow me tandem but the prices are insanity.
It’s not so much that I don’t want a tag along as I don’t want to buy something that’s not really ‘her bike’. Also needs storing. But if you can get them that cheap I’d be tempted.
I’ve (peacefully) resigned myself to the fact my 4-5 year old is happiest riding the nearby tarmac surfaced, dead flat former railway line near us. Until she’s on a bigger bike with gears I’m fine with that. She loves it and I’m not pushing her out of her comfort (or wheel size) zone. She’s building her miles, and confidence each time we go. I get my miles in after the kids have gone to bed. Once she’s on a 20+ tyre with gears (maybe next year, maybe 2) then we can head out.
Obviously, check there’s nothing adding excessive drag to the bike. I found a horror show under the chain cover on ours and a good dose of wax made a huge difference. I left the disappointingly draggy freewheel cog on there though. I think most of ours’ recent improvement is just down to him growing and getting stronger though. He’s now undergeared once under motion.
We have a follow-me tandem and it’s fantastic. The ability to hitch and unhitch the kid’s bike means we can get to where we need to be pretty quickly, but then ride home at the kid’s pace. Likewise, it means we can head on bike to places too far away for the kid to manage, and then hitch them up when they get tired.
I have a seven year old and a five year old. We put the follow-me bits on her 20” wheel bike, and usually put him and his small bike in our cargo bike together for longer trips, but I expect to use the follow-me more when she moves up to 24” and he gets her current bike.
We took off all the chain guards on the Frog and Islabikes as they made horrible noises and just told the kids not to stick their fingers in the chain (son is currently on a belter so no worries there now). Ours don't really ride much than cycle paths, pump tracks and hard pack family trails (like the Butterfly trail at Haldon Hill). My son will ride slightly rougher stuff on his Belter 16 but not far.
We’ve just resigned ourselves to not riding anything too rough until they get sorted on 20+ wheels. I know some kids are hucking and jumping at 4 and 5 years old but I’d rather they had fun and gradually improved when they’re ready. Anything more than a slight uphill relies on one of use pushing them up it. We haven’t braved up to a row rope yet.
My 5 year old is 4 weeks into a 16" bike
On an old railway line he can do 10-11km just
Today he did 8km round Sherwood green route. Involved a lot of stops and exploring, 2 food breaks, some pushing, but he's a kid, that's all to be expected. It's not about him riding my rides, is about me spending time with him on his bike having fun.
As adults I suppose we ride to ride, for kids it's mostly to get from adventure to adventure.
2 hours of fun with a bike interspersing 😀
What Sheffield said really. Make sure they absolutely love it by making it fun, about them and not about us. Then as they get older they'll want to go further.