I’ve bought a bike to take the kids home from school. I wavered between all the solutions but eventually was swayed by a chat on the phone with Robin Thorn, who was so enthusiastic about the Me’n’U2 that it decided me.

The bike arrived yesterday and is now assembled.

Assembly was straightforward. There were a couple of issues.

The derailleur side rear dropout was bent, so the sides of the dropout weren’t parallel and I couldn’t get the rear wheel in.

I rang Thorn who assured me that bending it back would be safe so that’s what I did. They did offer to do the work but as that would involve packing the bike up again (not simple) and possibly more damage in the post I decided to do this myself. It needed a big spanner to get the leverage to bend it which was reassuring.

The rear rack tends to foul the rear seat. I’ll see what options we’ve got when I’ve set the seat up for my youngest. It may be that I’ll need to rely on the front rack until she gets a bit bigger.

I got my pedals (MKS quill pedals) second hand off EBay. The stoker pedals are from Decathlon – they are light and the right size for kids. Cheap too and seem ok quality.

There are still some things to sort out:

• The gears need adjusting – possibly the cable is not aligned correctly.
• I’ve got horns and computers for the kids to give them something to do. The horns are a bit loud though, and the computers will need to be wired to a single sensor.
• The middle seat is slightly too high. I’ll need to work out a way to make it maybe 10mm lower – possibly by using an old-fashioned seat tube and saddle clamp.
• I’ll need lights – it is winter and very dark much of the time.

Overall very happy. My older child (7) insisted we went up and down the street as many times as possible. The younger one (5) is a bit scared but still had a go and enjoyed it.