As we speed towards a new year, we started thinking about the adventures we want to take as a family in 2020. Time and time again, the amazing places Jonas, his partner Arna and his little shredder have explored kept coming to mind. This family is so inspiring, we just had to reach out to them to hear firsthand about their experiences on the trails together. Check out what they had to say below.
Bike trailers are little tow-behind systems that hook onto your bike and provide your child with a little home on wheels to nestle into for a ride.
There are many kinds of child bike seats. You can have front-mounted and rear-mounted, little chair-like seats or seats like Mac Ride that mimic a usual bike seat. For the sake of this blog, we’re going to talk about the broader category of child's bike seats that are mounted directly onto a parents’ bike.
Overall, what your choice will come down to is your preference. We love using the Mac Ride child bike seat as a family because we want our kids close enjoying the adventure with us on the trails. It was this desire to have our children involved in the experience that pushed us to design the Mac Ride seat in the first place. The choice between a child bike seat and a bike trailer will depend on your goals and hopes for your ride with your child. If you want to know more about other families experiences with the Mac Ride seat, we have a few stories on our blog. To shop online for a Mac Ride child’s bike seat, check out our online store.
]]>Buying a kids bike is like buying kids shoes. They grow so darn fast that just knowing what size they are is a full-time job. When it comes to children's bike sizes, they’re based on wheel size, not frame size, as is the case with adult bikes. Children’s bike sizes generally range from 12-inch wheels to 24-inch wheels. Balance bikes, or toddler bikes, are generally 10-14”. There are charts, like the one found on Rascal Rides, that can help you to get a rough idea of which wheel size you should be looking at for your child. We all know a small 10-year-old or a tall 6-year-old, though, so don’t take a standard chart as gospel.
What you really need to be aware of when finding the right size for your child is their height and inseam measurement. You’ll need the inseam measurement to make sure that your child can comfortably touch the ground from the lowest seat setting of the bike.
This goes hand-in-hand with knowing the size of the bike and your child. A bike’s specifics will help you to understand the lowest possible setting for the handlebars and seat. You have to make sure your child can feel comfortable manoeuvring and sitting on the bike with their feet on the ground. Comparing the bike’s standover height with your child's height and inseam measurement will also tell you if your child can easily clear the bike's frame when standing with both feet flat on the ground on either side.
The specifics of the bike is a deciding factor on which bike your child will need for their riding style and skill. Will the bike be too heavy for your little shredder to pick up, let alone pedal up a small hill? What kind of tires, brakes, and handlebars does the bike have? Remember your first time riding a bike with curved handlebars or the typical street bike handlebars? Nothing like mountain biking handlebars! What’s your little shredder used to? Biking with kids involves a lot of firsts. We found that throwing in a new style of anything could be enough to make them have a meltdown in the driveway. Best to stick to the familiar as much as possible when it comes to toddler’s bikes.
Sure, you need a bike that fits your child. A bike that’s built the right way for the kind of riding they’ll be doing. However, matching a bicycle to the skill level of a toddler is also essential. Does your little shredder already know how to pedal independently? Perhaps your very tall toddler hasn’t even started balancing on their own yet. A child’s size doesn’t always line up with their skill level as we’re sure you know. Matching a bike that may be the right size for your child's physical stature could be the wrong bike for their abilities. Like most things in parenting, there are just so many moving parts to consider.
Biking with kids can take many forms and end up on many different terrain types. When purchasing our children’s first, second, or even third bike, we always had to ask ourselves, “Where are we going to be taking this bike?” Mountain bikes were the most versatile style for our family, and it meant wider tires for some extra balance for the kids while learning. Being a Mac Ride family, we always choose to explore trails over a paved neighbourhood route, so a mountain bike made the most sense for us.
As with many things, reviews are a great way to choose a kids bike. What bike do you see a lot of at the park? What are your friend's kids riding? What are the online reviews saying? Many parents and kids have come before you and tried out brands and models and can tell you what they liked and what failed miserably in their opinions. There is no point trying to reinvent the wheel when you could ask others what they thought of the wheel first. Two Wheeling Tots and The Bike Dads are great resources to check out reviews based on age.
Picking a toddler’s bike is more frustrating and terrifying than choosing from the vast array of adult bike options. Of course, ours are definitely more expensive, but there's always the chance that the bike our kids loved in the store will be one they hate on the trail. You know the struggle. Something a toddler loves one day could legitimately be the end of their world the next. All you can do is try to keep all the specifics in mind, match the bike to the size and skill of your child, and let them test drive it first. After they’ve settled on a bike, letting them customize their bike is also a great way to help them make it their own.
Not quite ready to purchase your child’s first “big kid bike”? The Mac Ride kids bike seat is a great way to help your toddler pick up a few foundational skills for biking without having to commit to getting them their own bike. Shop online today.
Don’t take our word for it, though. Read what Tim has to say about his family’s experience biking with kids using a child’s bike seat below.
We’ve known Martin since before the first Mac Ride child bike seat became public. We were still in the early stages of the invention when Martin reached out to support us through our Kickstarter program. When the Mac Ride bike seat finally came on the market, Martin was quick to get one. Martin moved back to Canada in September 2017 with his wife and children and immediately started getting out on the trail with his own Mac Ride seat. Clearly, the best things are worth waiting for as Martin raves about the Mac Ride seat so much that we have a permanent blush on our faces.
Want to learn more about Martin’s fascinating experience with the Mac Ride child bike seat? Read on to see how he’s passed on his love of the outdoors and tree-hugging to his little ones.
Here are five we think resonate with most parents:
Sometimes, the reason for doing something is simple: it's fun. Riding a bike is fun. The wind on your face, the world flying by and the feeling of the crisp air in your lungs. There's just something about exploring on a set of wheels powered by your own abilities that we find enjoyable.
Riding a bike can give your child a sense of accomplishment as they achieve new milestones in the sport. As they get older, they can use this bike to go play at the park in the neighbourhood with their friends, or they can peddle to and from school. When they get their first job, a bike may be their method of getting to and from work. A bike is a child's first method of transportation that they feel they own. This can give your child a great sense of independence and responsibility.
It's recommended that children aged 5-11 get 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity every day. Adequate exercise helps children focus and do better in school. It helps with bone and muscle development and can help children with their self-confidence and mood. Learning to ride a bike is also great for a child’s hand-eye coordination. All in all, riding a bike benefits a child’s physical and mental health and development.
Biking is a great method of transportation. There are many cities in the world where biking to work is far faster than driving due to traffic. Riding a bike to work is not only healthy for the person powering the bike but also for the planet. A bike doesn't require fuel and leaves a much smaller carbon footprint than a car. It requires a certain amount of greenhouse gas to be manufactured and shipped, but at some point, it'll become carbon neutral if you're riding it often. When a child learns to ride a bike, they have the tools early on to choose to use a bike as their method of transportation.
It can be hard to think of activities that the entire family can enjoy. Often times, a family has a few children that are at different ages or levels. Thanks to new and different equipment available for teaching children to ride bikes, even young children can come along for a bike ride on their parent's bike. As a child grows, they can graduate to their own and enjoy family time while exploring the world and staying active. With all the time a child spends around screens and indoors, a family bike ride sounds like a pretty great idea to us.
Teaching a child to ride a bike can start long before you get them a balance bike. A child can be learning the feeling of a bike before they're the one responsible for powering it forward. That's where Mac Ride comes in. We want to provide a way to get your child outside for a family bike ride before they're able to pedal a bike themselves. They can learn how a bike feels on mountain terrain and dirt roads and can start to observe how to steer and stop. This early familiarity with a bike will help them learn to ride their own bike faster as they get older. A baby bike seat, and later a child bike seat, is the perfect way to introduce biking to small children.
Ready to give your child a head start at learning to ride a bike? Or are you itching to get out on some family adventures with a child bike seat? Shop Mac Ride here.