Riven, have you seen this wheelchair bike on Ebay?

[glitteryb6]

one of those bikes with a wheelchair at the front, they reckon they used it from age 4 with a car seat

cgi.ebay.co.uk/DUET-SPECIAL-NEEDS-WHEELCHAIR-TANDEM-BIKE_W0QQitemZ290304763795QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_ BikesGL?hash=item290304763795&trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66:2

I used a Winther kangeroo bike last summer, in nice flat copenhagen.It was quite fun to ride BUT I have some reservations about it.I will not be buying one to use in hilly Devon.

I only had one child in front- a 16kg 2yr old. The kangeroo had two child seats and he filled one of them. He was scared going down hill as he was in front and could see the ground dropping away. (Normally he is on a trailer behind me). I didn't think the seat was great, I couldn't stop the back folding forwards when he lent forwards, tho this may have been a fault on a hire bike.
The kangeroo was incredibly heavy to steer, difficult to maneuver round corners and didn't fit through a lot of width restrictions on cycle lanes - even in cycle friendly copenhagen.
If you do buy one get lots of gears, preferably good hub gears that you can change while stationary, as its *ugger to get started if you stop in too high a gear.
I found that the wind shield etc round the child compartment had to be kept fully zipped up at the side or else boy would put his hands on the mudguards- i didn't wait to fit out if he would try to touch the wheels but I think he could.

That Taga bike/buggy looks interesting, but as the bike bit folds under the buggy do you have to remove child to convert. looks like you have to tip buggy to swing bike wheel through to front.
I haven't tried a duet, it and the Pino are a bit out of budget- we shall probably get a standard tandem and fit the stoker
position with kiddy cranks with toe straps when boy out grows his trailer. DH or I can captain as are similar height.

thanks for the review, UniS, good to have some feedback from someone who has ridden one.

I will look out for the seatback issue - it's something that had occurred to me from looking at the brochure, so interesting to hear it verified so to speak.

the zipped windshield is why I think we'll ptrefer it over the nihola, as I can imagine dd1 (ASD) will be all too prone to sticking arms out and fiddling with wheels - she could easily have doen so on the nihola, but thankfully it didn't occur to her in the hour we had it...

you do have to remove the child to convert the Taga, but that would eb a small inconvenience if it meant I could then have a larger buggy to take dd1 round the shops if needed for a few more years. it also folds up to fit in a car boot which would be a huge bonus over the kangaroo or the nihola.
Have not heard back form them re: larger seat sizing though.

we are trying the kangaroo on monday, so it will be interestig to compare it with the nihola. I saw the Taga in the flesh, and it looked good. But I had both dds with me, and they didn't have a second seat available so couldn't ride it. Of the 3, it has the least gears (only 3, whereas the other two have 7).

Hairy, pleased to hear the trike was of use after all those years in the shed. The chopper replaced the trike but ds has now lost interest in cycling so I'm not going to make the mistake of putting this one in the shed.
BTW, is your physio AP? I mentioned we had sold the little trike and she seemed to know you (we know her through riding).
Fio, will get dh on this next week.

Hi,

Just a couple more to add to the very comprehensive list by Silverfrog.

Bellabike 2 and Bellabike 4.A well known brand in Denmark. Now available in the UK through www.kidsandfamilycycles.co.uk

I love mine and have had it for a year now to do the school run with my 7,5 and 2 year old, while the 9 year old cycles.It's rear wheel steering makes it easy to turn and I got to design the box to suit our family personality.The easy to use concertina style rainhood also keeps them all nice and dry.

Also if you don't fancy a family bike. The new Circe Tandem has just been launched which is a tandem that converts easily into many different ways to ride with up to 2 children from 6months to adulthood.A bike for life!Great value too.

Happy to share my experiences with all these bikes. Carolyn - Tel:01425 270774

Is it your company, by any chance?

I tried a London Recumbant bike once (wheelchair at the front, can't remember the name). It was highly unstable, and I would have been very worried taking it out on a road which was a shame as it had a detachable wheelchair as far as I remember - a very handy design.

Wish there was somewhere you could try all these bikes out/hire cheaply before spending £££ on something that DS will probably decide he doesn't like after one trip (think Andy on Little Britain).