About us

Cycle Sprog is a website all about cycling with kids, which husband and wife team Chris Jones and Karen Gee set up in 2012. As parents of two young boys, they had been through five years of transporting one and then two children by bike - firstly for fun at weekends, and later as a method of getting to school each morning, and doing away with the daily “find a car parking space within two miles of the school” challenge.

The idea for Cycle Sprog emerged out of frustration at the considerable time they were spending online trying to find solutions to our transport needs each time one of the boys grew.

“When we were moving from a trailer to a tag along and front seat combination, we were moaning about how little information there was online for parents who want to cycle with their children” says Chris.

“When we realized just how much time we’d spent over the years looking up advice and finding places to buy seats, trailers, clothing and accessories the idea of creating a family cycling website aimed specifically for parents was born.”

Karen Gee with her two kids when they were little.

Cycle Sprog - the family cycling website

At Cycle Sprog we aim to provide an online ‘handbook’ for parents containing all the information they need to get cycling with their children. The website launched in 2012 as a small blog about cycling with very young children, and over the intervening years we've grown to be the UK's leading resource on cycling with kids, of all ages and abilities. At the same time Karen and Chris's boys have grown and the type of cycling they're able to do has become more adventurous too!

We don't sell any products directly on Cycle Sprog, instead at each step in the family cycling journey we provide friendly advice on the range of equipment that’s available and links to online retailers to make purchasing hassle free.

However we firmly believe that your local bike shop provides the personal service and skills that just can’t be found anywhere else and for this reason we also recommend local and independent retailers where possible. For some of the links to retailers we will get a small commission if you purchase a product, which pays for the ongoing costs of hosting and maintaining the website. Where a product has been provided to us for review we will always let you know this.

We also now accept sponsored content, but always from brands who share the same passion for cycling with children that we have. This, along with advertising income, is what allows us to keep running the website.

We're also grateful for the support of our wonderful readers who buy us cups of coffee to keep us going! As Cycle Sprog is constantly evolving, we'd love to hear if you have any ideas on what else you’d like to see on this family cycling website.

If you'd like to get involved in writing an article about your family cycling experiences please do drop us a line at [email protected].

Karen Gee and Chris Jones with their two kids on holiday cycling.

The Cycle Sprog team

The Cycle Sprog team includes permanent staff members, virtual assistants and freelancers.

Karen Gee

Karen loves cycling and writing, and when she was at school wanted to be a writer for a living. After a career in the voluntary sector and then as a project manager for an insurance company her dream finally came true when she started working full time for Cycle Sprog in 2018. Karen also writes blogs for other cycling websites and family publications, having provided content for organisations such as Cycling UK, Sustrans and British Cycling as well as more bespoke publications looking for advice on cycling with children. She was named one of Cycling UK's "100 Women in Cycling 2019".

Karen Gee on a Dutch bike.
Saskia Heijltjes with a box bike with two children in it.

Saskia Heijltjes

Saskia joined Cycle Sprog in 2022 as Content Editor. She has a background in digital content management and has previously worked in Higher Education and charities. She is in charge of the amazing wealth of information we've got on our website and will be providing you with lots of new and improved articles.

Originally from the Netherlands, cycling is in Saskia's DNA and she kept cycling when moving to the UK about 13 years ago. She's based in Bath and cycles everywhere with her two children either in the cargo bike, on a tandem, or on their own bikes.

In her free time, Saskia is involved in campaigning for safe cycling infrastructure and has set up Kidical Mass in Bath. On these family-friendly cycle rides people of all ages come together to celebrate cycling and call for safer streets for everyone.

Chris Jones

With an MSc in Transport Planning and Engineering and a love of everything to do with wheeled transport (bikes, cars, motorbikes etc), it was inevitable that Chris would want to cycle with his children. When he gave up work to become full time dad, a rear bike seat was his first purchase.

Now, over 13 years later the boys don't need him quite so much so he spends most of his time with bikes, either in his role as Cycle Sprog's Technical Editor (reviewing and photographing the best kids bikes and accessories on the market), or indulging his passion for bringing old road bikes back to life.

 

Karen Gee on a Dutch bike.
Penny Millar virtual assistant

Penny Millar

Penny Millar is a Virtual Assistant and is helping in the background with the day to day tasks needed to keep Cycle Sprog running smoothly.

In early 2019, she left her corporate managerial role, she now runs her own business. Penny is likely to be the person you’ll have first contact with if you get in touch with us via email or through the website.

Ellie Payne

Ellie Payne is a member of Penny's Pink Spaghetti Virtual Assistant team. She is helping us in the background with day to day tasks to keep Cycle Sprog running smoothly.

Ellie is also a photographer when she isn't doing VA work, if you check out her Instagram you can see some of her photography and adventures - summing up her love for the outdoors!

 

Ellie Payne virtual assistant at Cycle Sprog

Cycle Sprog contributors

We're really lucky to have some amazing contributors to Cycle Sprog, who are keen cycling parents who want to share that joy with others. We're also blessed with a fabulous Facebook following, who kindly share their experiences and photos with us to help make the website much more inclusive and informative than we could make it with just our experiences. We can't list everyone who's written for us or contributed their knowledge, there's far too many. However special mention goes to our two long term and dedicated guest bloggers, Emma Young and Kathryn Yates, as well as to our own Cycle Sprogs.

Want to write us a guest blog?

We're always looking for parents (and Cycle Sprogs) who are willing to share their experiences of cycling - please get in touch if you'd like to write an article. We've even got a special Sprog Blog section just for younger bloggers!

Cycle Sprogs N and T on mountain bikes

Our Cycle Sprogs

N and T are Karen and Chris' Cycle Sprogs and they have grown up with cycling being a huge part of their life.

They are often found putting some of the best kids bikes and cycling accessories to the test - they're equally at home on trails, roads or at the velodrome. Usually Mum and Dad are somewhere behind them trying to keep up!

 

Cycle Sprog review panel

We also have a wonderful panel of kids and parents who help us review family cycling products. Our reviews will use a product for a number of rides and then review them from the point of view of a parent, together with the input of their child (where appropriate).

Cycle sprog children review panel

Cycle Sprog's most popular articles

Here at Cycle Sprog we help thousands of families each week find the information they need about kids bikes and cycling together as a family.

We've got hundreds of articles on the website, and we do hope you enjoy browsing them, but if you're in a hurry these are our most popular articles that will get you started.

The school run just got more expensive. There is another way

Rising fuel prices due to the Iran War are putting increasing pressure on family budgets across the UK.

If you're feeling the pinch at the petrol pump, it might be time to consider whether every journey actually needs a car.

For many families, the school run and short local trips are well within cycling range - and with the right bike or cargo bike, they're often quicker and more enjoyable too.

Whether it's a kids' bike for an independent ride to school, or a cargo bike that replaces the car for the daily drop-off, we've got everything you need to help your family make the switch.

Our latest articles

Here at Cycle Sprog we're always publishing brilliant new articles, and here's a selection of our newest releases.

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