If Taga is the answer, what was the question?
The Daily Mail have picked up on the Taga Trike.
The article finishes with the quote “‘I can’t think of any other way a mum could use a bike with a child seat and still be able to use a buggy in the same trip” from Steve Masters, Editor, UKparentslounge.com. It appears that Steve hasn’t heard of the Steco Buggy Mee Deluxe.
At 26 Euros, it’s slighly less expensive than a Taga Trike, and doesn’t leave you with a stroller that’s the pavement equivalent of a Hummer. I am reminded of Henry Workcycle’s piece from ages ago on the TrioBike. It’s astonishing what ridiculously complex bikes people can get built and generate media coverage with. I’d love to see how one of these folding trikes would cope with a winter commute. I guess the people that design the bikes and write the article don’t use the bikes themselves. I’ve used the cargobike as my main form of transport for nearly a year now. When carrying my boy, I can fit a pram or a likeabike in the front at the same time as having a waterproof cover on. The Taga is £1700 with a 3speed nexus setup. Same price as the bakfiets with an 8speed nexus hub and a full cover. I suspect the comparison I’ve made with the bakfiets.nl could be made with a Christiania if one was set on a trike. Velovision has a first impression up, and they seem to think it’s a sensible piece of kit. I am surprised. It looks like the answer to a question that no-body is asking to me. Or maybe question of “where can I get an expensive and complicated 3speed trike that converts into a massive, unsteerable pram” has been playing on you mind? If so, the Daily Mail is definitely the right paper for you.
May 19th, 2009 at 10:39 am
The question is:
How to transport a 3 year old to the railway station (2-3 miles)then get on the commuter train where bikes are not allowed but strollers are, then go another 2 miles to your destination.
The answer is: Taga
OR Walk to the bus stop, wait for the bus, take the bus to the railway station, take the train, walk to the next bus stop, wait for the bus, take the bus, walk to the destination.
I like the one word answer better. ;)
May 19th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Hi Anna
Firstly, I am surprised that a train company would not allow bikes but would all MASSIVE prams that don’t fold down, but lets leave that for now. If that’s Taga’s USP and not “ooh look, a child seat and a stroller at once” a neater answer in your “commuter family bike” scenario would be a Brompton and a trailer/stroller, because the trailer/stroller (see Chariot or Croozer) can fold down when on the train, so as not to annoy other passengers. It would be cheaper and more flexible too.
Maybe I am missing something, but it still appears to me that this is a design looking for a solution. It’s huge, both as a bike and as a stroller, so multi-mode transport device, it isn’t (except where train companies are perverse).
As stroller + bike, the Buggy Mee does it for <2% of the cost (assuming a parent has a stroller and a bike already). A bakfiets cargobike or a cargo trike can already fit a kid and a stroller in the boxes, or could be equipped with buggy me so could take multiple kids plus a stroller.
As a simple child carrying bike, it is less flexible than the existing products (carries fewer children, less developed accessories, etc), and introduces mechanical complexity which is unwanted in a utility cycle.
Maybe the ride is wonderful (or will be once they fix the self-centering effect). It’ll still be one of many tadpole trike designs, albeit without minus capacity plus added complexity. Or maybe the “commuter family bike” market is huge, and there are many train companies that have an irrational bias against bikes, but that love MASSIVE unsteerable strollers.
I’m definitely going to give one a try when they become available locally.
July 14th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
The Steco Buggy Mee Deluxe is nothing like the Taga. The whole point of the Taga is that you fold one down to create the other – not that you take something off that you then have to carry around while you wheel the bike and keep a baby under your arm.
July 16th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
You are right, it’s nothing like it. With the Steco, you can ride a proper bike, not a weird handling trike with bizarre tiller controls, plus you can take a proper pram, not a vastly oversized unsteerable folder.
I can see that if you have to visit x and y, and it’s convenient to convert the taga at x, stroll to y, then convert to cycle home. Personally, I would park a bike at x, use a proper pram to y, then back to x, and cycle home. I cannot imagine many scenarios where the inconvenience of the return pram journey could outweigh the awful handling of the taga, and the unsteerable nature of the pram?
Anyone thinking about trying one really out to use it in their intended setting. On the less than perfect paths I rode it on, it was useless, and opinion shared by every other person I spoke to on the distributors stand. I was no great fan of the package, but in comparison to the Zigo Leader, it was no contest. The Zigo was fine to ride. The controls of the Taga made it feel like a novelty toy.
All that said, I could not criticise the build quality. It was clearly put together with some thought. Why that didn’t extend to the steering tube/tiller controls is baffling. If it handled okay, you could forgive the silly pram.
Don’t forget, the Steco is 1.5% of the price of a Taga. I could handle a few return pram journeys with £1670 in my back pocket.
November 26th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
DrMekon, I see your points, but if it gets people cycling it’s a good thing right? If it gets the press to write about cycling, that’s good too right?
Anyway I don’t think Velovision is really endorsing the bike: “it’s easy to ride within the trike’s limits if you want”. And they do mention a simple stroller as an alternative in the printed issue 34.
Velovision is often very diplomatic in their criticisms. The magazine would be a zestier read if they were bolder. On the other hand, most of the bikes reviewed probably have their fans, and readers are often unlikely to even be aware of the bikes available if Velovision didn’t write about them.
So on balance, I think Velovision is doing the right thing when being diplomatic in their criticisms. After all they are there for all to see.
June 29th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
[...] my second go on a Taga the other week. Long-term readers will recall that I was skeptical before I rode it and continued to be so when I rode it last year. My main complaint was the steering system, which [...]