Which bike do I need now?

[Enwi]

Hi everyone,
I’m still pretty new to cycling but I’m looking for some advice. I bought my first road bike in August 2017 and absolutely loved it. I had the trek lexa 3, and had a lovely summer doing a few longer rides (no longer than 20 miles) and some commuting. I wasn’t very confident on it and fell off more than I’d like to admit, but I didn’t mind and it was worth it just having a road bike.
In September 2017 I fell pregnant after quite a while of trying. As soon as i discovered I was pregnant I was terrified of getting on my bike and causing things to go wrong. I made the decision to sell the bike, and get something that I was more confident riding whilst I was pregnant. The problem is I have absolutely no idea what to go for. I’m expecting baby soon, and would ideally like to cycle with them from as soon as possible so I need something I’m going to be relatively confident on. I also really enjoy cycling with my family who have road bikes, so whilst I’m sure they will slow down for me it has to be at least a reasonable speed without shed loads of effort.
I’m at a total loss as to which bike to get, as I just don’t feel like anything will compare having owned a road bike, but as I say I’m a total novice so happy to be corrected.

To summarise I want a bike that is:
Capable of keeping up to a slow road bike user
reasonably easy to ride
able to attach a child seat on the back

Please tell me this exists? I’d be so grateful for any advice!

I think first of all you need to identify what it was about the road bike made you less confident? I’ve steered away from then as I didn’t like the super skinny tyres. Did you like the drop handlebars?

I got a cross bike (although they seem to be called gravel or adventure road bikes now?) which has a road frame with drop handlebars but slightly chunkier tyres. I like it a lot, but I don’t know if you could get a child seat on the back?

Perhaps a hybrid with a rigid fork would be better. It has flat handlebars and would most probably take a child seat.

The skinny tyres didn’t help, but I think the biggest thing was how difficult it was to get on and off. My feet didn’t touch the floor so if I had to slow down e.g. to cross a road or go round a corner etc I would lose all confidence and end up falling off. I tried going back to normal pedals so my feet weren’t locked in, but I still had the same panic every time I had to get on and off. With a child in tow I’ll obviously have to get off more often, so want something easier to dismount.
I really liked the dropped handle bars, so think I would be looking for those again if possible.

My favourite bike blog is lovelybike.blogspot.com I also spend time in Facebook groups like pedal parents and reading biking with children blogs (there’s a few of these)

I’d recommend reading, visiting a few bike shops, and (if you can afford to) consider power assist so that you can keep up while riding something that feels sturdy and comfortable for you.

Try a few different shaped bikes, and see if you can try with both front and back baby seats attached. Yepp are a reputable brand.

Also, before 9 months or so your options for riding with a baby are cargo bikes with a front box into which you fit a baby car seat, and trailers that you pull along behind.

When baby is sitting reliably and fits the smallest helmets safely (somewhere between 9 and 12 months) a bike seat is an option. Personally I’m a big fan of having babies in front of the rider.

Sounds like a cross bike with toe cages rather than clips might be worth looking at, you’ll find out very quickly if they can take a rear seat or not - some bolt onto the down tube from the saddle but the type I had clipped onto a rear luggage rack and it felt more se use.

(As an aside, I had a cheap trailer from eBay and a good branded bike seat. If I had my time again I’d have bought a decent trailer such as a Burley as one thing I discovered is if you have the cash up front to buy the ‘good’ brands for anything child cycling related, there is a huge market for selling them secondhand at great prices. We had every size of islabike over the years and we sold them each on for about £30 less than we paid for them, after 2 child’s use)

I love riding my cube hybrid its really light so easy to ride and you can adjust it to how you find riding comfortable, I got mine from Hargroves Cycles and they were really helpful with the set up and making sure I felt comfortable and confident, so I would definitely recommend. Heres there hybrid selection www.hargrovescycles.co.uk/bikes/hybrid-bikes.html?gender=286 can't remeber exactly what mine was called.
Hope this helps, Holly x