In October of 2024, my husband (also an OOFD guide) and I expanded our family when our free-spirited and spunky daughter was born. As a “bike couple,” we knew early on that we wanted to be a “bike family” with her in tow. Knowing how to do that, however, seemed overwhelming. But as we have started to navigate the first years of Fiona’s life on bikes, we’ve learned that it’s actually not that hard.
There are tons of different factors that go into how to start biking with littles, so not everything we did will be the same for everyone - but hopefully some of this will be useful to get you out there with your little. I also like to think about doing new or challenging things as a continuum - for us, we will still drive places when it’s really far or the weather is really bad, but we bike as much as we can otherwise.
As I said, we wanted to be a bike family since before Fiona joined us, so for our registry, we added a bike trailer fund, which our friends and family fully funded. We ended up getting a used Thule Chariot Cross in great condition that we found for half the retail price on Facebook Marketplace. I’ve also found that the Chicago Family Biking Community Facebook Group is super helpful for finding things and getting suggestions to fit your family’s needs. We decided on this trailer because it has some of the best shock absorption and great accessories like stroller wheels, a jogging attachment, and a rainfly that has made biking in rainy and wintery conditions possible.
When Fiona was about 7 months old, we made our first bike journey to the pool! We started small; the pool was about 1.5 miles from our house, and we could mostly take side streets and bike lanes. I do want to note that often US doctors will recommend waiting till one year old. After lots of research and talking with our pediatrician, we made the choice to get her riding sooner because we felt that her neck strength was strong enough to do so. That might not be the case for all families - so do what’s right for you.
That first summer riding with Fiona was magical. She associated getting in the bike trailer with going to the pool, so she would scream with delight the entire time. We kept the rides short and made sure that she was prepared for the weather so that every time she was on the bike, she was happy and had good feelings about being in the trailer.
As she approached one year, we started to go a little further, and my husband started bringing her to daycare in the mornings on the trailer. Two things that kept us riding deep into winter that first year were being gifted a Thule muff (it’s like the best little sleeping bag to keep her warm in) and throwing in some of those special stuffed animals that you warm up in the microwave. Sometimes we would open the rain fly when we’d get to her destination, and it would be toasty in there even though it was frigid outside.
With spring on the horizon, we spent a lot of time debating what we were going to do with her in the summer. We knew we would keep using the trailer for when it was cold or rainy, but we also knew she was ready to go in a bike seat. We decided that a dedicated cargo bike was the right option for us, but there were some challenges to consider. Mainly, our apartment building has basement bike storage, but it wouldn’t be easy to get a large bike out through a sharp corner in the staircase. We decided that a “short-tail” cargo bike was the best option for us because it’s not much longer than a standard bike, which means we can get it up and down those stairs [fairly] easily. It will also be great when she is older, and we can transition her to the bench seat. We bought it new from Mandalyn at Offbeat Bikes in Logan Square, a local bike shop focused on cargo and family bikes (and a good friend of the OOFD family). We love this bike, and so does our daughter. We got her a purple Thule Yepp child seat (again off Facebook Marketplace), and every time we leave the house, she asks for the purple stroller (meaning her purple bike - anything with wheels right now is a stroller).
