New Taga Bike

[tess1e]

We bought one of these for our shop and wasn't sure if it would be as good as they all say when they launch (we always get to hear all the pr and sometimes stuff doesn't quite match up to the hype) a new product but we spent the day out on Brighton Seafront with it and loved it on Sat.

My toddler daughter thought it was brilliant, so did I as I cycled to the front on it easily, it was really easy to cycle and convert over and you can keep the toddler in the seat when you take it off to convert if you want to as there is a stand you can use to keep it upright.

It's quite heavy but then I think that's so it will take the weight of an adult as well as a child but then you wouldn't really be lifting it as you'd keep it in situ as a bike...

Also comes with a twin seat option. If anyone want to see it we have it in the shop at LiliMay in Brighton but for a quick look at how fast it is to convert we have a link here:

bit.ly/dr86k

Tess1e you need to contact MNHQ and pay for a small business ad really.

Ah I see you're not a newbie...so you already know this I guess!

does look fabulous though!

Interesting

Looking at the you tube vids, I have to say it looks scarily fast and for something that fast I'd not be happy without MUCH better protection around the child...if you were hit from behind, say, and it tipped forward, their legs could be crushed.

Not for me. Nice idea in theory though.

Have written in to them and waiting back to hear...it's brilliant Not many new things I get excited about tbh but this is a goody, especially where I live in Brighton as it's a mare driving and parking!

NF - you decide how fast or slow you go in the contraption, pedal fast to go quick and slow down by using breaks or stop pedalling or pedal slower.

If you have a bike with either a rear seat or a front seat you get to town and have to carry the child or they walk slwoly - I like the idea that it changes to a pushchair.

You can get trailers that fix on the back of your bike and then the handle changes and you can push as a pushchair.

The film just shows adults cycling as we wanted to show it can take the weight of 2 adults as it's so well built but I cycled very leisurely when I was on it with my daughter and didn't feel there was any safety issues as there are 3 wheels so you get a lot more stability than a normal 2 wheeler anyway.

Must admit I was sceptical when I first saw it but after a day of cycling and then pushing my daughter I feel in love with it and have ordered one so I can lose weight at the same time instead of going everywhere by bus with my daughter. Perosnally I think it's got to be a whole lot safer than those trailers you get right behind normal bikes which are often right at exhaust fume level, in the Taga the baby is high up. You can also fit a Maxi Cosi on it - wish I'd had one of these when Lily was a teeny one but I reckon I'll still be using for years to come as my 6 yr old was also riding in it comfortable for a while.

Here's Lily in the seat - she just climbed back in after I took her out as she loved it so much so you can't see the harness straps which she is sitting on - they come up quite high but have a good padding strap on them. Lily is nearly 3 and quite tall but when she's strapped in properly there are still a good couple of inches left above her head. We took the sunshade and bumper bar off for the filming but it comes with both

see pic

Any pics of the twin seat option? Are the seats the same size / take the same weight of children etc?

I like this one you get a bike to ride or use with a pushchair

Not sure curly but will find out for you and let you know.I haven't seen it myself and know that usually twin options squeeze the seats in a bit so it'll be interesting to see how wide they really are.

Jamie - the guy riding the bike was sitting it the seat himself on Sat when we filmed it as we wanted to test what weight it would hold and it still looked safe to me - that's usually our test on durability for buggies in the shop - we get a big person to sit in them, seat size permitting and you can really tell from the chassis which ones stand up to heavy weights - bugaboo always stands up well (our rep even used to sit in hers when she first demo-ed the bugaboo to us) and so far the Taga is looking the same way so I suspect it'll take a decent weight but I'll find out exactly what the specs are and post it up.

The trio bike seems huge in comparisson and can only be used from 3 months by the looks of it whereas you can stick a maxicosi cabrio on the Taga...I do like the idea that you get a sep bike after but I wouldn't have room to store the trio in my hallway as it's so big - the Taga is just about the size of a phil and teds vibe in buggy mode so can fit in my hallways easily

I used to have a carriage pram in my hall way, it didn't get in the way either - so didn't think of room to store a pram - as I keep all the bikes in the garage

www.taga.nl/options.asp

Thanks IvyKaty, but I still feel very uneasy about the lack of protection for the child's legs and feet if it went over forwards.

The Triobike is far safer as the child is fully enclosed in a strong box...likewise we have a wooden box for the children on ours.

There's no totally safe way to transport children but this is like a buggy, nothing to stop potentially very damaging impacts to the legs and going at any speed greater than walking pace would carry that risk.

I like a lot of Dutch dewsigns but would have very little faith in this - sorry Tess1e

Perhaps good for slow rides on a safe prom but no way on the road.

IN fact, if you look at it, simply a small collision with say a lamppost could do some significant damage...where is the crumple zone? Your child is the crumple zone!

You wouldn't run with a bugaboo along a road...would you?

No but having said that you also wouldn't ride into a lamppost any more than you would with a bike as you should be watching where you are cycling just as you should watch where you are pushing a pushchair.

It shouldn't go over forwards as there are 3 wheels stabilizing the front seat and looking at the alternative triobike, yes it has a pod but like all 3 wheelers with the single wheel at the front is more likely to topple on either side especially if you go up onto a kerb. Also the triobike has a teeny tiny wheel at the front - am not sure as a buggy how that would support heavier weights as it looks too weeny to me.

I don't ride mine on the road but on the cycle lanes as I'm a bit of a chicken with cars too but don't feel it's any more of a risk than a normal bike and I don't go fast either.

Well, it's up to you...nobody tries to have an accident, but you're generally off having made provision for the possibility iyswim.

I'm glad to hear you don't take it on the road.

sorry Better off