Cycling is known to be a fun and enriching activity, especially for families. With the beautiful sunny weather approaching, let’s get ready for family outings by bike! It’s very common to see a parent cycling with their kid in a child seat. But what about parents with twins, triplets or with multiple siblings? While cycling with a kid sounds pretty chill, transporting 2 to 5 children requires a tiny bit more planning beforehand.
But wait! It doesn’t need to be stressful nor unaffordable. In this article, we’ll guide you through finding the right set up for your family.
If you’re here, it’s probably because you already know the main benefits of cycling regularly. Did you know, though, that cycling can help relieve the stress of adults and kids, which also means fewer tantrums? Let’s have a better look:
Just like any sport, cycling releases all the good chemicals in your body that help you feel more relaxed. This is also true for kids, as it can improve their mood and help them release any tension. Even if they don’t actively move, kids can profit from the fresh air and quality time with their family.
Pedalling is an activity that raises the metabolic rate, helping to keep you healthy and fit. But that’s not all! Most cities are developing an extensive network of cyclable paths that are often secluded from the main roads. Think about the pollution you & your little ones can avoid breathing.
Most people own a bicycle or have easy access to one (like the city bikes you can rent). This means that bike strolls make a great outing idea even with extended family and friends. Plus, even your grandparents can safely come along too!
Cycling with your kids onboard will expose them early on to road safety. It will make them more attentive & encourage their critical thinking.
Apart from that, bike family time will also introduce an healthy activity in your habits. Your kids will grow up having a positive association with being active & the outdoors. Furthermore, this will leave an imprint for more mindful individuals. Encouraging your kids early on will have a positive impact towards a greener world. A world where bikes are more common than cars.
Sharing the moment will also help strengthen your bond and create beautiful memories.
By travelling by bike, kids get to know their local area. Which can help them feel more curious and independent. This can do wonders for their development and help boost their confidence for future commutes even in solo! How come?
Bicycles provide a hands-on experience especially for inactive passengers. Contrary to motorised vehicles, by bike you’ll ride at a speed that allows a better engagement to the surroundings. Your little passengers can profit from the view and be able to memorise it with time. Additionally, by cycling you’ll have direct access to the city centre that is often too busy or even not allowed for cars (especially in Europe cars mostly drive on highways and main roads).
Pin
264
772
Shares
There are many ways to carry kids by bike. Some are more popular in certain parts of the world than others. This article explores over a dozen such ways, plus includes links to more information on these different set-ups. Trailers, bike seats, cargo bikes, e-cargo bikes, trailing bikes, mamachari…
Written by parents, for parents: people who live and breathe biking with their kids. Perhaps you are a looking to go biking with a toddler or need a car-free way to get to school with 2 kids, here’s how:
I remember the feeling of being daunted and overwhelmed when I first started to explore all of the ways that you can carry kids on a bike. I was aware of the venerable bike trailer, had seen the odd Xtracycle attachment, remember riding in a rear child seat myself, and knew of long-john style bakfietsen, but that was about it.
This page will help you to learn about the best bikes for carrying kids, including bikes with two child seats and carrying two kids on a bike.
Over the past decade of cargo biking as a family in some form or other I feel as though I have learned enough now to help other families get started on their kid carrying journey, at least from the perspective of a North American. Read more about my background and experiences on my About page and here. Read on to learn about how to carry a child on a bike, be it the best bike for mom and toddler, you want to bike with your 4 year old to preschool, or perhaps find the best bike for mom and baby! All options are listed below with links to more information to help you learn more about this social, inexpensive, and environmentally-friendly way to get around your city.
Contents
What are my choices?
Here are your options! Some of the methods listed below are more popular in North America, like trailers and longtail cargo bikes; others are more prevalent in Europe, such as bakfietsen and trikes; still others are more commonplace in Japan, like the mamachari.
Where to buy?
Hopefully you have an awesome local bike shop who specializes in family cycling. But, if you aren’t so fortunate, never fear — many of us family cyclists have ordered contraptions from near and far in order to keep on riding and it has all worked out! Leaps of faith are part of the adventure.
You can find a comprehensive A-Z Directory of local bike shops in North America on Bikabout’s Family Biking Resources page.
Contributors
I am well versed in the art of bike trailers, longtails (and kid seats), and bakfietsen, but I asked some wonderful folk to share their perspectives using other kid-carrying methods listed. Below you will find more than a dozen ways that you can carry children by bike, including:
Small passengers
The first part of this overview covers bikes that are more appropriate for carrying little ones, perfect for the age when your children are either immobile babies in car seats, snacking toddlers, preschoolers, or even elementary-aged kids who just need a ride to get somewhere. They are also ideal for chores, like grocery shopping, with or without kids.
Read this section if you are looking for the best bike for mom and baby (and beyond)! The bikes in this section can easily carry two kids on a bike.
Bike trailers
New mama, Lindsey Bartley is already a veteran kid hauler with a quiver of bikes for every occasion! She writes,
“The lowly bike trailer is much maligned by many people (including me) who ride with their children on a regular basis. They’re heavy and cumbersome, plus they add a lot of drag on uphills and push on downhills. You can’t hear or see kids as well.
Baby’s second ride in a trailer!“But don’t throw them out as a fantastic kid carrier for babies! Short a front loading bakfiets, trailers are pretty much the only way to carry a baby who still needs to be in a car seat. They provide weather protection. They keep toys (and snacks) safely ensconced. They haul groceries and camping gear.
“Our trailer exploits are pretty benign, I mostly use it when I’m going somewhere hilly and I want the baby to nap along the way. I’ve planned a few summer camping trips though, and for this the trailer will be key for carrying baby and leaving my rack free for gear.
“So, don’t feel bad for me when you see me huffing up a hill with a trailer in tow. My baby is probably napping, and we may very well be on a fabulous camping adventure!”
A trailer was our gateway into cargo biking and if you can find one used, it is arguably the cheapest way to “cargo bike” out there. Trailer models can accommodate one or two children, depending.
Here is a review of a really unique trailer with suspension and just one wheel — perfect for off-roading: Tout Terrain’s Singletrailer.
Bakfietsen
Lisa Corriveau of Spokesmama, a car-free mom, cycling blogger, and active transportation advocate, has discovered through trial and error that her “favourite family bike is my Bakfiets.nl: a two-wheeled Dutch cargo bike with a metre-long wooden box in front. *Edit: Lisa has now owned a Tern GSD e-cargo bike for the past year and is a huge fan of it, too!
Lisa’s 4 year old daughter in their bakfiets in Stanley Park, Vancouver.“Though very heavy, it’s easy to ride when full of children or groceries because the weight is low to the ground and easy to balance. When I return to the supermarket bike rack with a cartload of groceries, I can just drop them all in the box and off I go. When I’m carrying my four and seven-year-old, they can climb in themselves — they treat it like a little living room, sometimes reading books or eating bowls of oatmeal on the way to school.
“Most of our trips on the bakfiets are commuting to school or running errands, but we occasionally go for long family bike rides with it. The kids can ride their own little bikes as long as they want to (which is often farther than I expect!), then when they’re tired, I can carry them and their bikes.”
As a fan of both box bikes and linguistics, I’m sure that Lisa would love me to point out that while the Dutch word bakfiets does indeed end in an -s, it is in fact singular! The plural form is bakfietsen.
Bakfiets generally hold 1-2 kids plus gear with ease. Many models can accommodate 2-4 children, plus you could add a child on the rear rack (or front seat for small passengers, if you needed to), and/or a child on a trailing bike or FollowMe Tandem.
Trikes
The three-wheeled version of a bakfiets is also known as a trike! It is not like the tricycles of your childhood, with one wheel in the front and two in the rear; it’s the opposite and there is a large box sandwiched between the two front wheels. These bikes are very stable when stopped, but don’t expect them to “ride just like a bike” because they are not bicycles (with two wheels), they are tricycles and they handle differently.
My friend has been riding a Trio Mono in Calgary for the past few years with her now three kids, two in the front bucket and one on the back in a Yepp Maxi. I have a feeling that the year she spent living in Denmark greatly influenced her decision to opt for a trike!
Trikes are well-known for being able to accommodate larger loads and can be great for adaptive cycling needs, including this wheelchair transporter trike or a gomier trike (below).
Trikes have capacity for at least 1-2 kids, plus gear. Many trikes are even suitable for 2-4 or even 6 kids, depending on the style and size of children!
Gomier trikes
The adult version of the trike of your childhood, with a basket in the rear! Some people choose to put a small infant or child in the rear basket and appreciate the close proximity that this setup provides.
Mid- or longtail bikes
One of my favourite ways to zip around with kids on a longtail cargo bike! In fact, we have owned three different ones; check out my review of our Xtracycle Edgerunner over at Rascal Rides.
Longtail bikes are literally just that: the rear end or tail of the bike is longer than a regular bike. This gives you room for 1-3 children, depending on your configuration; they also provide lots of room for groceries, gear, and even towing bikes — an especially nice perk for if your child tires while out on a longer adventure. They’re also fantastic bikes for bike camping or even bikepacking.
Xtracycle sells both complete bikes and a conversion kit, the Xtracycle FreeRadical Leap, so that you can transform a regular bike into a longtail. Like trailers, this is another excellent less expensive entry point into the world of cargo biking.
Midtail bikes are slightly shorter version of the longtail, offering room for 1, sometimes 2, children, depending on the model. Or, John Lucas of Cycletrucks.com makes an extra sturdy rear rack — “Caddyrack” — for the back of your bike that more-or-less transforms it into a mini-midtail!
These bikes aren’t the best choice for biking with small babies, but once your infant is strong enough for a front-mounted child seat, like the Yepp Mini — if it fits on your bike (and works with your body), then you’re good to go. Kids progress to the back deck in a child seat at first:
And then ultimately hoop-style bars with a cushion to sit on. Put the heaviest child closest to the rider for better stability.
A unique style of longtail bike is the bucket version made by Madsen:
Electric-assisted bikes
Some times you need to level up with your bakfiets, or any cargo bike (or bike!) for that matter, and opt for an electric-assisted version. I know I did.
Car-free mom Genevieve Metzger of Genepedia has tried out many and owned several cargo bikes, before landing on their Riese & Müller ‘Packster 80’. She writes,
“For nearly a year now my family has been getting around using an electric-assisted bakfiets (box bike) style bike called the Packster 80. We love this bike because it allows us so many of the conveniences of using a car but with the benefits of riding a bike. The kids stay warm and dry underneath the rain canopy during the wet fall, winter, and spring here in Seattle and I don’t need to worry much about bundling them up, which means it’s much faster for us to get out the door. The assist means that navigating Seattle’s hills is no problem and we don’t have to worry as much about which routes to take.
Genevieve Metzger and two of her young kids, ready to take off on a camping trip with their e-assisted Packster!“We use our bike for everything but our favorite adventure is to go bike camping. Last year we did two overnight trips and we’re eagerly anticipating this summer so we can fit in even more! One of the coolest things about this bike is that it can carry two kids and all our camping gear and still make it up the hills!”
Electric assist options are available on more and more models of bicycles right out of the box, for bakfiets models like Genevieve’s or longtail style bikes (like the Xtracycle Edgerunner or Benno Boost). They add a significant cost at the on-set but I believe it is worth it if you live in a hilly area and are committed to reducing your car dependency. There are aftermarket add-on options available, too, but they don’t seem to be one-size fits all so you will have to do your research; we ended up adding a Stokemonkey to our CETMA in the Fall of 2017. Other after-market add-ons that might work include Bafang.
Front-mounted child seats
There are many options out there for front-mounted child seats. They attach in different ways, accommodate various weights, and offer various accessories, like a windshield. People seem to either LOVE or HATE front-mounted child seats!
For older babies and toddlers
Some bicycle styles can comfortably handle a front-mounted child seat for older babies and toddlers. The Yepp Mini and iBert are popular models. Some riders cannot manage this style, so try before you buy! I am shorter and had difficulty finding enough room in the cockpit for me and babe; my husband suffered from knee-knocking issues that he didn’t want to have to deal with (understandably so). These seats have a limited window of use, too, but are an amazing way to interact with your children — I wish we could have made it work.
Front seat for toddlers and preschoolers
Our friends use their MacRide with their toddler now preschooler and have loved it for years. They use it in town for family bike rides, to get to preschool, on bikepacking adventures, and on easy family mountain bike rides.
Kristen Bonkoski of Rascal Rides writes, “The Mac Ride is an open-style front-mounted bike seat that fits kids ages 2-5. When my son was a baby and toddler, we used and LOVED the iBert. It traveled all over the country with us, and rode miles and miles of mountain bike trails. We mourned quite a bit when he outgrew it, and struggled to come up with a good replacement. We’ve finally found it with the Mac Ride. Unlike some other open-style (no harness) front-mounted seats we’ve tried, the Mac Ride feels safe, installs easily, and is comfortable for both myself and my son. Like all front mounted seats, we love the interaction that it provides and the fact that it is suitable for use on singletrack. We spend lots of time singing and chatting and laughing while we ride.
“Our family is currently spending a year traveling the country, and the Mac Ride has been along for the fun. We’ve ridden it on the 24 Hour race course in Tuscon, under the London Bridge at Lake Havasu, and on the shore at Laguna Beach. Although my son is 5.5 and perfectly capable of riding his bike most of the time, I love it for exploring new towns where we aren’t sure about bike routes and traffic and I feel safe having him on my bike with me. It is also nice for mountain bike rides when he is tired, the trail is challenging, or he just doesn’t feel like biking.”
Other unique front seats to check out are the Do Little Bike Seat from New Zealand, the aptly named Shotgun Seat, or if you need one that will work on your Brompton, there’s the Milian Pere Chair!
Rear-mounted child seats
Perhaps you don’t want to buy a whole new bike to be able to carry around one child. Many bikes accept a rear-mounted child seats that can fit on a rear rack or has a special seat post clamp, such as the Yepp/Thule versions.
It depends on the child (their strength and size), but the recommended age for a rear-mounted seat begins around 9-12 months. There are also some models of rear-mounted child seats that are suitable for older children, like the Bobike Junior.
The extra weight on the rear of an “ordinary” bike (i.e. not one designed for cargo) will adversely affect the handling of the bike (something you may or may not like — I’m not a fan). Other considerations are the weight limit of your rear rack if you choose a rack-mount child seat and also the strength of your rear wheel. In parts of the world where rear-mounted seats are popular, often the bikes are designed to handle the extra weight, with sturdy frames, built-in racks, and nice stepthroughs. Gazelle is one brand that I can think of off the top of my head that tends to do this very well.
Rear-mounted child seats are an inexpensive way to turn a regular bike into a kid-carrying bike. Utility bikes are best at this and some can even carry older kids (without a harness).
An amazing family utility bike found in central Utrecht, Netherlands.Mamachari
I was so excited to have Clémentine Climent of Kaeru Bikes volunteer to write about this fantastic and underrepresented (in North America!) 20″ wheeled cargo bike. You might think, ‘woah, those small wheels are goofy!’ but don’t underestimate their strength and ability to give you a nice low centre of gravity for your wiggly load!
One of the very unique features of the mamachari are its u-shaped handlebars with room for a child seat right in between your hands. Clémentine writes,
“I love the front child seat because you can observe the world from your kid’s perspective, when little humans start finger pointing objects and developing language. With my son, we observed trucks, talked to the pigeons, and waved to school friends along the way.”
There are a few potential downsides when carrying kids with regular front- or rear-mounted child seats on a regular bike, she notes, like “[w]ith the back seat, some kids have their face crushed in the backpack of the rider” or in the front “the child’s head [can be] in the field of vision or the rider’s knees hit the seat”. But these problems have been solved by the unique geometry of the mamachari Japanese bikes. In front, U-shaped handlebars are specifically designed for the front child seat, considering the child seat not as an accessory but the reason for being a family bike.”
Our friend’s e-mamachari that she brought back from Japan with her.Tandem & Trailing Bike Options
Once your children are old enough and attentive enough, they can be given a job: to help you power the bike! There are several ways that this can be accomplished:
Tandem
A tandem is another option that we have explored, especially for bike touring.
Bike Friday seem to be a popular choice as they have a child stoker specific model, plus it was originally designed with kids in mind! There are also both traditional and unique options by companies like:
Trail-a-bikes
Doug Dunlop of Coldbike has seen two kids grow from infants on bikes to riding under their own steam: commuting to school, winter fat biking, and (winter) bikepacking. He writes,
“Kids eventually reach the magical age where they can pedal. They may not be able to ride, they may not be able to ride far, or they may just be in danger of tiring out. This is where the “third wheel” or trailer bike style of transport comes in to its own. They allow the child to pedal or not as the parent takes up the slack. They are great for kids who aren’t quite ready for traffic on their own bike, but want the independence of their own pedals.
Burley Piccolo
“I have tried several models and, of these, I have owned three. One (the leading brand) was so wobbly that I found it dangerous and I was reluctant to even give it to my friend (who used it for five years).
“After trying a half-dozen different brands of trailer bike, I liked the Burley Piccolo and the Tout-Terrain Streamliner. Since the Piccolo attaches firmly to its own rack, it did not have clearance issues with large or fat tires like most of the seat post attachment style types do. I could also use a seatbag and I could attach panniers to the Piccolo’s rack.
“The legendary Metal Cowboy, Joe Kurmaskie towed a Piccolo (towing a trailer!) across America. The Piccolo attaches firmly to its own rack and has a “headset” that screws and clamps to the rack. This design means that this model of trailer bike has little effect on handling.
“The Piccolo is a steady and reliable unit and I do not hesitate to violate all of the suggestions on the safety label. I rode it on several multi-day wilderness bikepacking trips and I found the ride to be comfortable and secure for all that I used it for. I just sold mine last year after using it for both my kids, I used it well beyond its design intent, and it never let me down.”
Please note that Doug modified his rear rack in order to better accommodate his fat biking setup (modifications included making it wider to accommodate a wider rear hub and to have better side tire clearance), otherwise it only fits up to 27.5+ tires stock.
Followme Tandem
“The second is the FollowMe Tandem coupler. This allows one to attach a 20” or smaller wheeled bike to the rear hub of tow bike. Since the attachment is low and the hinge is long, the FollowMe Tandem has a great ride quality. It does not have enough ground clearance to be ridden mountain biking, but on roads, paths, and gravel, it works very well. Its best quality is that it allows the child’s bike to be removed in seconds to the child can ride independently, the FollowMe then folds and hooks flat to the tow bike. I most often used it to keep my children from wandering into traffic on busy sections of trips. For most trips, this meant that the FollowMe was folded on my bike more than 90% of the time — but was a great source of comfort when the time came that I wanted it.”
Doug’s FollowMe has found a new family within the neighbourhood!
Weehoo
Another option especially suitable for younger children who would like to pedal but are still prone to napping is the recumbent trailer bike by Weehoo. Various models are designed for one or two children and some have extra capacity for adventure!
I have heard mixed reviews on the stability of this seat-post mounted trailer bike, but also know one family who has put thousands of kilometres on theirs over the years so it can’t be that bad!
The following links will take you to even further details on how to carry kids by bike, including the pros and cons of each as well as a comprehensive list of brands available – I have tried to cover all brands, and have focused on ones that are set-up for carrying kids and hopefully found in North America. Good luck making the right decision for your family!
Other posts that might be useful