CYCLE LIBRARY
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The Galbraith family tested
bike seats before buying.
Take a seat and cycle
Cycling is a great way to Get Moving and, thanks to a new ‘cycle library’, having
young children need not be a barrier to getting on your bike, reports Claire Parker.
T
here are child seats and
carriers to suit babies, toddlers
and pre-school children so you
can safely carry children on a
bike until they are old enough to learn
to cycle themselves.
And now the council is trialling a
Family Cycle Library, so you can test
different seats to see what suits your
family without having to splash out.
The fortnightly service, which is being
run by London Bike Hub on behalf of
the council, is opening at the Log Cabin
Children’s Centre, 259 Northfields
Avenue, Ealing on Wednesday, 25 April.
The seats will be available to take a
look at during the centre’s regular stay
and play session (between 9.30-11am)
and, if you have your bike with you,
it can be fitted on the bike there and
then. The seats will cater for those
aged from nine months up to 10 years,
plus there are also trailers that can hold
a single child up to 35kgs.
It will cost just £5 to borrow a seat,
carrier or trailer for up to a month and
the service is available to anyone who
lives, works or studies in the borough.
Those borrowing equipment will
need to pay a £50 security deposit, but
cheques will not be cashed as
long as the equipment is returned
in good condition.
Stewart Galbraith is a local parent
and his twin sons now go on his and
his wife’s bikes, after trialling a seat
first. He said: “The cycle library is a
really useful idea because they’ve got
a range of different bike seats for kids
which you can try prior to buying. I’d
always been a keen cyclist, but until
then I didn’t really know how to get the
children involved.”
For more details visit
www.ealing.gov.uk/cycling
around ealing April 2018
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