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| A Bike Child Carrier or Fietskar in Dutch Photo: Tom Pickering |
With the imminent birth of our third baby I have thought about a fietskar (a child carrier in the form of a trailer that fits to the back of a bike) as getting about would be a lot easier by bike as the kids get a little bigger. It is safer than two children in seats on the front and back of my bike - particularly given my amateurish, shaky cycling skills. The downside of bike trailers or bakfiets is that they are not cheap!
For a bakfiets you can expect to part with more than a thousand of your hard earned euro - but it is a replacement for a car for many. A bike child seat will set you back anything from 50 to 100 euro depending on the model and the price for a trailer for your bike starts around 170 euro (but remember you need to buy accessories to attach your children safely in the trailer....) and rises easily to near 1000 euro.......
Do you cycle around with your children on your bike? Do you use child seats, a trailer of a bakfiets? Which form do you feel is safer? Did you transport your kids by bike before you moved to the Netherlands? I would love to hear your views!
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10 comments:
I've also been looking into this as my due date approaches. I don't want to be a slave to the bus (don't drive here because I can't transfer my license and don't have a spare grand to start from scratch) to get around.
If I do the maths, a bakfiets would pay for itself in about a year and a half in saved bus fares for me, so I will really have to think hard - I don't know how much longer we will be living here. Of course, I'll more than likely buy from marktplaats for a bit of a saving.
I am about to start cycling with my baby - I recently purchased a fietskar for the reasons in your post. I didn't feel confident enough to cycle with the weight of a baby on my handlebars/luggage rack and figured a fietskar (would have loved a bakfiets but it was a little pricey given we are only living here for another 7 months!) was a much safer option if we were in an accident - either with a car or just due to my clumsiness as apparently if you roll your bike, the fietskar will stay standing. My little boy is only 6 weeks old though which is apparently the earliest you can put them in the fietskar with the maxi cosi but I'm going to wait a couple more weeks yet before giving it a go - with the trailer weighing 16.5kg, it's a daunting thought of trying to pedal it right now!
We arrived in the Netherlands just over two years ago, and since then I have been using a fietskar to transport our children (now 3 and 6). I had the same concerns as you about putting them on my bike - not 100% confident that we would be stable. Also it is a good 15-20 minute bike ride to my daughter's school, and there are many occasions when they would have been wet through and miserable on a bike.
We went for a fietskar instead of a bakfiets because I already had a bike and didn't want to have another large item to park. Also the fietskar is much lighter than a bakfiets (ours weighs 13kg). However, the children sit behind you, perhaps not so ideal if they are prone to arguing, and you are quite 'long', which means being more cautious when crossing busy roads and sometimes taking longer to find a place to park it. For us, the fietskar has been great - I can confirm from experience that it stays stable even if the bike falls over, and I can attach/detach it from my bike in about 30 seconds, so still have the flexibility to ride my bike without it on those rare child-free occasions! I can use it to do the shopping, and replace the trailer bar with an extra wheel to use it as a buggy, which has come in useful. We bought a Winther Dolphin XL, which was pricey but is still going strong and fits both children comfortably although the eldest is now 1m22 tall. Less expensive than a second car is what I figured! Do make sure that your bike has at least 3 gears though if you are getting a fietskar - with the combined weight of our fietskar plus children at around 53kg, I often need to change gear to get over bridges, for example. Buns of steel, here we come... Good luck with your new arrival!
Great feed back from you all - think I am convinced that a fietskar is the way to go. I already have a (very underused) bike so the idea of investing in a bakfiets is not attractive. And proof that a fall on the bike doesn't topple the trailer is a clincher for sure!!!!! It would be nice to be able to get out and about further afield and indeed much cheaper than a second car - especially with the great idea of martkplaats!!
Thanks all for the comments and ideas.
I have for the last two years cycled with my daughter on the front of the bicycle and while it was daunting, scary and difficult at first it is now second nature. However as we begin to think about the possibility of maybe having more in the future and DD getting to big for the front, cycling round with 1 on the front and one the back seems an enormous challenge but those baksfiets as so expensive
I have four children and have used both the fietscar and bakfiets. For me the advantage of the bakfiets is that the children are in front of you - so you can communicate with them and see what is going on if a child is crying. My fietscar could be converted into a large covered stroller - which was a definite advantage when making trips to the beach, markets, parks etc. Both carriers require some practice in learning to drive - and some additional storage room. Costwise, both versions are an expensive outlay - but cheaper and more efficient than driving a car!
Amanda,
I've been checking back on your blog, hoping to hear that all went well with the birth. If you can spare just a few minutes on a short and concise blog, that would put my mind at rest!
as soon as I get a sane minute or two I will write a post to update you - it's been a busy couple of weeks for sure!!! However, all is well and our latest addition arrived safe and sound!
That's great to know. We can't take these things for granted. I'm haapy to know all is well. Enjoy!
That is right. I totally agree with you. This kind of an arrangement can actually avoid accidents.
Nice post. Thanks for sharing.
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