New to touring - learning from scratch!

[JamesRiley]

I'm in agreeance with RonK regarding daughter, I think she may be a bit too young to be touring behind a bicycle as she is still an infant at 12 Months old, her neck muscles would not yet be developed enough to handle the rigours of being jostled around. At least another year or two for her to grow before tackling anything really big like Multi days.
You should get a better idea how she'll go with half day and full day outings but for Multi days, I think she's too young still, but this is only my opinion and I'm not a Doctor.

Thanks for the input Brumby,

We have a 30km dirt test coming up, which might help answer or confirm your concerns.

The trailer has a reclined seating position and mesh area behind her head for her helmet to rest in which holds her head pretty steady. (hard to explain, but a look at photos of the Thule Chariot Cougar 2 might help)

In early tests, she falls asleep on the bitumen but can become grumbly on dirt if she's not in the mood, but travels fine on dirt when shes in a good mood.

We aren't the first to give it a go, here are a couple of articles. There are several others and also youtube videos.
https://gearjunkie.com/biking/bikepacki ... rs-infants
https://weareexplorers.co/bikepacking-with-a-baby/

[brumby33]

I'm in agreeance with RonK regarding daughter, I think she may be a bit too young to be touring behind a bicycle as she is still an infant at 12 Months old, her neck muscles would not yet be developed enough to handle the rigours of being jostled around. At least another year or two for her to grow before tackling anything really big like Multi days.
You should get a better idea how she'll go with half day and full day outings but for Multi days, I think she's too young still, but this is only my opinion and I'm not a Doctor.

Thanks for the input Brumby,

We have a 30km dirt test coming up, which might help answer or confirm your concerns.

The trailer has a reclined seating position and mesh area behind her head for her helmet to rest in which holds her head pretty steady. (hard to explain, but a look at photos of the Thule Chariot Cougar 2 might help)

In early tests, she falls asleep on the bitumen but can become grumbly on dirt if she's not in the mood, but travels fine on dirt when shes in a good mood.

We aren't the first to give it a go, here are a couple of articles. There are several others and also youtube videos.
https://gearjunkie.com/biking/bikepacki ... rs-infants
https://weareexplorers.co/bikepacking-with-a-baby/

Yeah fair enough James, it seems that infants may be more resilient than I give them credit for lol. Oh, and the moods, you'll get plenty of them. I guess it's their only way to communicate their feelings.
That we are explorer's website is a beauty, never came across it before so I guess I learnt somethings today and wouldn't have if I didn't make a comment. I wish you all luck with taking your daughter on these adventures and hope she loves it too.

brumby33

[JamesRiley]

Thanks Brumby,

I hope she enjoys it too! I certainly hear your concerns. We will see how our over night test goes in a few days on a rail trail.

If we tackle a bigger trip soon our route and distance will be determined by what the little one can handle. It's likely it will be slow and confined to good roads. We would have a general plan of where we want to go, but will remain flexible on distances and pace.

The great thing about bike touring compared to hiking is the availability to spend more time in hotels, caravan parks and have access to more facilities if we need.

[LateStarter]

Looks like some great trailers, the dog might be happy to sit on top of the yellow drybags.

I do a lot of training in Sydney centennial Park and see lots of parents and baby / small people in baby seats doing circuits, small people mostly sound asleep

[baabaa]

John and mira have all the biking with dog questions tried and tested.

https://www.youtube.com/@OmniTierra/vid ... shelf_id=0

Like your idea on getting out and about with the gear you have and what you can throw together - bike touring does not need to be fancy to be fun and even some hard core around the world bike tourers get by with some pretty shabby gear. A few rides and nights out and you will soon work out what works and what does not and can be left at home.

[JamesRiley]

Looks like some great trailers, the dog might be happy to sit on top of the yellow drybags.

I do a lot of training in Sydney centennial Park and see lots of parents and baby / small people in baby seats doing circuits, small people mostly sound asleep

I hadn't thought of that! he probably would be fine straight on them. Maybe a bit of closed cell foam for grip and to protect the bags a little. This would be the cheapest, lightest and simplest option I reckon!

I made up a dog platform with storage space in front. It's not finished and we haven't tested yet, and would need panniers to carry the rest of our stuff. We won't be taking our dog on the Tassie trip we are planning though, so this project is put on hold for now.

I'm more keen to test your idea though!

[JamesRiley]

John and mira have all the biking with dog questions tried and tested.

https://www.youtube.com/@OmniTierra/vid ... shelf_id=0

Like your idea on getting out and about with the gear you have and what you can throw together - bike touring does not need to be fancy to be fun and even some hard core around the world bike tourers get by with some pretty shabby gear. A few rides and nights out and you will soon work out what works and what does not and can be left at home.

cool youtube channel! thanks!

I definitely enjoy the testing, adjusting and choosing gear aspect of it all.

Anything that has wheels can get very expensive, being a bit of a car nut I know it too well. Hopefully we can keep the costs down, and keep things simple for the bike touring.

[JamesRiley]

We did a 35km rail trail test on mostly smooth dirt track. We wanted to do an overnighter and go further but my bike developed some bad bearing noise after i went to town on the chain with de greaser... (live and learn). So I repacked bottom bracket and freewheel. I'm predicting it will be a regular thing because they certainly aren't sealed units.

Our little one loved the day trip and she had some good naps.

Hard work carrying all that gear! I would guess 50-60km days would be achievable in similar conditions. Maybe further on bitumen.

[Thoglette]

I'm predicting it will be a regular thing because they certainly aren't sealed units.

Every five years or 20,000km, which ever comes sooner (unless you like fording rivers). The nice bit about cup-and-cone is that, if made properly in the first place, they basically last forever. If the balls are at all dodgy, replace them with the best ones you can find: they're still stupidly cheap (if you stay away from ceramics :-0) Headsets not so much (eventually they "index").

The challenge is adjusting them, it takes a bit of skill and some familiarity with the bike. No wonder shops love sealed units - just whack'em in & job done.