calling all cyclists...

[bea]

dh has started to ride into work with dd1 (almost 3) as the weather is nicer, he prefers cycling to driving, i sometimes need the car etc etc...

however, he needs to take work in with him and usually carries a rucksack (on his back of course) but when cycling for the first time the other morning, we found the rucksack was inches away from dd's face... he solved the prob by wearing his rucksack on his front....

but there must be better slutions than this?... he has side panniers... but with the bike seat, there's no room to fix them on the bike... i don;t think a front pannier would be big enough (he's a lecturer and carries lots of folders!!!)... so what do you all do???

thanks!

This is a tricky one. Someone should invent a bag that attaches to the child seatthough I suppose you might have balance problems. I'm a lecturer too, and use two front panniers when I've got dd1 in her seat, but they are sometimes a bit small. They don't take A4 size stuff very easily. You could get a trailerwe've just got one and our dd loves it, although we haven't used it much yet. (The plan is to use it for both dd1 and dd2 when dd2 is big enough to sit properly.) But they are quite expensive--we got ours cheap from a friend who was no longer using it.

I don't know how old they have to be to ride a trail-a-bike--maybe 3.5?

I used a leather belt to attatch my bag to the back of my daughter's seat and apart from gettting used to the extra weight it was fine.

We fixed 'rear' size panniers onto the front pannier rack when we cycle-toured in Italy with 2 toddlers. It's not wonderfully stable, though we did a lot of miles... would definitely suggest using extra bungey cords to make sure they don't jump off the rack if you carry extra heavy loads or use rough roads. You could also put child in a seat that mounts on the front of the bike (in front of rider, only works with some styles of bikes), and use rear panniers as normal.

I unclip my bag and attach it the back of my son's seat. I've found as long as you can keep it from swinging, it's ok. The leather belt idea sounds great for my husbands backpack, which doesn't unclip. Just make sure it doesn't swing!

I have a basket that clips on to the handlebars. It's removable and will carry an entire classes' late assignments. It only cost 9 quid.

thanks all for all the suggestions... methinks we'll be trying the old leather belt tied to the back of the bike seat trick... however i'm surprised that no-one has invented a child seat with attached bag for such occasions... hmmm. a moneyspinner there?