My twin girls are 4.5 years old and a few years ago, I saw a tandem trail-a-bike on craigslist for $40. It was being sold ‘as-is’, and when i got there, i knew why it was only $40. But since I was willing to put the work into it, and a new one costs over $300, I was quite excited. Immediately after I got it, I tossed the rusted-solid chains and removed the wheel, scrubbing all the rust of it, repacking the bearings and making it all nice and smooth and shiny. Then the thing sat there.
Over the summer, I went to the Larz Anderson Bike Swap Meet and got a bunch of little things that i thought would work great with the trail-a-bike to pimp it out, including some old english three speed bars and some pink pedals and most importantly, for me a brooks b-17 for $50. I ended up being wrong on some of the measurements, but a trip to the LBS, and I got new seatposts, new shiny silver chains, and pink grips! About a month ago, I decided to pull down the frame, finish taking everything off, clean and repack the bottom brackets and put it back together. I destroyed my crank puller (the cranks are equally hard steel and the threads were stripped), but again the LBS helped out. Finally, after procuring a replacement seat-post-connector, we were ready to ride. The girls were unsure at first and I had to lower everything down to the lowest setting, but here you go: a little test ride around the neighborhood.
I have given them a Dahon 20″ rear rack and a cute Dutch saddle bag I got off ebay for them to store their backpacks on the way home from school. Also on the rack is a blinky light. More pix soon.
Right before I had built this up, i also decided to try putting the stoker bar onto my xtracycle, and the girls seem to love that too, but the current configuration (and my confidence in them) only allows one kid. I might have to fix that as it’s easier than the trail-a-bike.
This was just a pose -- we didn't actually ride with both yet
Zipping along!
See, both girls got a chance. This was me going to pick up the gear for the trail-a-bike
Love the set ups. Back when I was going to do two kids on the X I thought of having my husband build a handle bar that came out of the snap deck. Like a wooden T bolted down to it halfway in for the last person to hold on to.
I have some ideas for a wrap-around handlebar thing, but i haven’t the time or expertise (much less the need yet). But i like that idea too!
geoff–
came here through the fb link. This set up is way, way too cool! The girls are going to be the coolest biker chicks in town.
sujata, i actually got the idea to facebook the posts from seeing your post. so thanks! :)
and yes. yes they will be!
Tandem trail a bike. That is sweet! Very nice.
Oh yeah, I also finally got your RSS into my Google reader. I had put it in before, but not correctly.
Cheers!
I found your site while searching for tandem trail-alongs. I too have twins girls who are now 4 and growing weary of sitting in the bucket of a madsen while the older sibs get to ride. But the 1.5 hour/3 mile trek home from school today clearly shows me they aren’t up to the task of actually riding any distance. Any chance your girls at age 6.5 are outgrowing this set up and you need to sell it?! Any advice on purchasing tandem trail-alongs in the area? The best I’ve found is the Adams for about $500. Thanks!
Heather,
I have to say that while the load of two kids, the tandem-trail-a-bike and their backpacks is starting to get a bit heavy, we still use it regularly on the weekend to get to and from places. the bickering is tough to deal with, since riding on a tandem is all about cooperation.
i would recommend setting up a RSS feed on your local craigslist for the word “tandem” and you’ll have to sort through a ton of crap, but that’s how i found my frame so cheap. like this, but for wherever you live:
http://boston.craigslist.org/search/bik?query=tandem&srchType=A&minAsk=&maxAsk=&format=rss
That said, if you were to buy it new, you would probably be able to sell it pretty easily, as I did recently with our trailer. also looking at your blog, if the girls were off training wheels, the 3 miles wouldn’t last nearly as long (though that’s still quite a way for little legs!)
good luck!
Thanks. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask. I thought I would be able to easily sell the madsen, but that isn’t happening and I’m afraid of getting stuck with another expensive piece of equipment gathering dust in the garage. They still move slowly, walk downhills, inspect every dandelion and dead squirrel and will never be as fast as their older sibs. Also the traffic is a concern because we need to ride on some pretty fast moving, curvy roads for short distances.
The training wheels kill me. My other kids were off around 3 years but these kids have had far less bike time since we trave during warmer months and then deal with snow and ice when home (and in possesion of bikes.) They’ll get it when they decide it is important enough.
Thanks for the suggestions.