advice on cycling as a family, bike trailers etc

[lunavix]

I'm only just learning but kids are keen to come out with me. Ds is just 5 and dd will be 3 in August.

Ds is very inexperienced, so I'd like him to start riding everywhere, but his bike has something wrong with it (front wheel isn't moving) and I don't drive so don't know how to get it fixed.

DD is still too small really I suspect, although very keen. I did buy a bike trailer for them but sold it as I have dysprxia and knew the width would be a problem (spatial awareness). I'm wondering if the best idea would be to practice ds on bike and get single bike trailer for dd as narrower? Any advice please

call your local bike shop and ask them if they can recommend a mobile bike mechanic who could come to you and look at your son's bike, although tbh you might be better off just getting him a new one

as far as trailerbikes go, we got one when dd was 3 and she loved it - although she could already ride a bike independently so I don't know how easy it would be to use with a child who was still on stabilisers?

if you go down the trailerbike route, I strongly recommend getting one which attaches to a rack over the rear wheel rather than one which attaches to the seat post - they're more expensive, but affect the bike's handling much less, which would be important if you have dyspraxia

the best children's bikes I've ever come across are from Isla Bikes
they're fantastic and easy to ride and they do a very good trailerbike too

second islabikes. we do tons of family cycling, kids are 3 and 5. we have trailgators on to attatch their bikes to ours if they get tired, but last week the y both did 20 plus miles on their own! they have the islabikes.

I used a trailerbike successfully with DS1 when he was just 5 and at about the same time he managed to cycle without stabilisers.

DS2 is 4.5 now, would love to have a go on the trailerbike but is not quite as brave as his brother. Our neighbour's kid has used a trailer since he was 4. I think if we kept at it DS2 would manage but sadly cycling is one of the activities which just seems to get pushed to one side at the weekend

Are you in London? The London Cycling Campaign (google them) will have details of bike mechanics who could come to you to fix DS's bike - the mechanics advertise in the magazine.

You should be able to find a local bike mechanic who will come to your house to fix the bike. Sounds like it might be the brakes sticking to the wheel.

How about a bike seat for the 3 yr old if you're worried about the spatial awareness aspect of a trailer.

Where are you planning on cycling as a family? will it involve cycling on main roads at all? If not, the 3 yr old may be able to manage a bike on her own, with stabalisers at first.

DS has cycled since he was 3, cycles to school every day now and we use our bikes to get everywhere, so I highly recommend it!