Cycling with Infants and Toddlers: Family cycling equipment 1-2-1 session

About this project

Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is piloting a new programme designed to help families discover practical ways to cycle together. Through personalised support, hands-on equipment demonstrations and the opportunity to try different options, we want to help parents and carers feel more confident about incorporating cycling into family life.

Whether you're completely new to family cycling, curious about child seats or trailers, or looking for advice tailored to your situation, this session is designed to support you in a friendly and welcoming environment.

What to expect

This is a free, pre-booked 1 hour 1-2-1 session with a family cycling specialist.

During your appointment, you will:

• Discuss your family's needs, current cycling experience and any questions or concerns you may have.
• Explore a range of child-carrying equipment, including child seats and trailers.
• Receive personalised advice on what equipment may work best for your family.
• Learn about fitting, safety checks and practical considerations.
• Have the opportunity to handle and try equipment.
• Receive simple tips and guidance to help build confidence cycling with a child on board.
• Leave with clear next steps and information about further support available.

Sessions are informal, supportive and tailored to your individual circumstances.

Who is this for?

This session is suitable for:

• Parents, carers or guardians of infants and toddlers (aged between 6 months and 4 years)
• People who are interested in cycling with a child but don't know where to start.
• Families considering purchasing or borrowing child-carrying equipment.
• People who already own equipment but would like advice about fitting or use.
• Individuals who would benefit from personalised support and guidance.

No previous experience of family cycling is required.

NOTE: This project is focussing on Infants and toddlers, carrying them by bike. Children can be carried by bike from around 9 months to around 4 years. You are welcome to attend with a younger infant in preparation for getting cycling with them, but the session will not cover detail about children cycling their own bikes.

What to bring

If possible, please bring:

• Your bicycle (if you have one)
• Any child-carrying equipment you already own (no need to have anything though- we’ll have loads of equipment for you to try)
• Your child(ren), if you’d like to! And a helmet for them if you already have one (we have ones to loan if not).
• Any questions you would like to ask

If you do not currently own a bike or equipment, or its too much of a faff to bring both your child and a bike, you are still very welcome to attend- the session will run out of a bike library, so you are welcome to borrow a bike instead- no children available to borrow, but we'll bring a weight to simulate a child if you don't have one with you.

Who is delivering the session?

The session will be delivered by Alice and Emily from Transport for Greater Manchester.

Alice and Emily have extensive experience supporting people to cycle more often and have been developing this family cycling programme to help parents and carers find practical solutions that work for their everyday lives.

Alice Morris (she/her): Alice is a mum of one who has been transporting her daughter by bike since she was 6 months old. Alice has worked supporting people to cycle and walk for over 15 years and is passionate about the joy that using a bike for short journeys can bring. A leisure and commuter cyclist with first hand understanding of the barriers to cycling with young children and tonnes of top tips to overcome them puts Alice in a great spot to help you get out in the saddle and share the fantastic feeling of freedom with your child.

Emily Wormald (she/her): Emily has previously worked for Cycle Sprog- a family cycling website, writing about all thing’s family cycling. After reviewing loads of family cycling equipment Emily is eager to share pros and cons of equipment and get you set up with the right thing for you. Emily is a keen leisure cyclist, running a women’s cycling community in the Lake District, with her favourite rides being café rides and family rides.

Alice and Emily will provide impartial advice, practical support and encouragement throughout the session.

Equipment loans available

Following your session, you may have the opportunity to borrow selected family cycling equipment from a participating Bike Library, subject to availability and suitability.

This allows you to try equipment in real-life situations before deciding whether it is right for your family. There may also be an option to purchase some items after the loan period if you love them- but with zero pressure to do so.

The delivery team will explain the equipment loan process during your appointment.

Monitoring and evaluation

As this is a pilot programme, participants will be asked to complete a small number of monitoring and evaluation surveys before and after taking part.

These surveys will help TfGM understand what works well, improve future support for families, and assess the impact of the programme.

Completion of these surveys is an important part of participation in the project.

You will be sent a link to complete the first short survey when you book.

Bikes and helmets

Learning to cycle is fun but does carry some risks. Whilst every effort will be made to prevent accidents whilst participating in cycle training, you should accept the risks and any inherent dangers associated to learning to cycle and release TfGM from any liabilities in connection therewith.

Participation in the training is at your own risk. TfGM or its delivery instructors/providers do not accept responsibility for loss or damage, to your property or that of a third party however caused.

Although TfGM are able to provide bicycles for use on these schemes, bringing your own, roadworthy bicycle is encouraged.

If the participant uses their own bicycle it is their responsibility to ensure that it is in a roadworthy condition. It is recommended that you ensure that your bike has been regularly and properly serviced and that if you have any concerns that you take your bike to be checked by a qualified bike mechanic prior to participation.

You are encouraged (but not obliged) to wear a cycling safety helmet. It is the rider’s/responsible adult’s responsibility to ensure that their safety helmet conforms to the current regulations, fits correctly and fastens securely however, your instructor/provider can advise on this.

It is the cyclist’s/attending adult’s responsibility to ensure that any bike suggested for use for training purposes is in a roadworthy condition and properly serviced.

The instructor(s)/provider(s) may, at his or her/their discretion, refuse participation on or to continue to train you if they consider a bike to be in an un-roadworthy condition.