Taga: The Original Bike-Stroller {Review}

Taga is a high quality carrier bike that transforms into a premium stroller in 20 seconds, a multifunctional vehicle for parents and little ones that enables you to safely ride a bike, get a fantastic workout and enjoy the outdoors with your child. The Taga transforms into a stroller that can navigate stores, board passenger trains and more. What it means is that you can bike places with your Taga and then switch it into stroller mode when you get to your destination, leaving no bike frame behind and not having to worry about locking anything up.

Convenient? Very! Expensive? Somewhat. Taga sells for ($1,495 US) but considering that you are getting a high quality carrier bike that can turn into a stroller, a versatile vehicle that is safe and easy to use and that you can extend the use of the bike with some extra accessories beyond the baby/toddler years the price is not unreasonable. In fact Taga sells a shopping cart basket that allows you to ride the bike without children and it’s perfect when going grocery shopping. Great way to get a work-out and get the groceries you need.

I’ve had a chance to try out a Taga bike and I must say that I really, really love it! The assembly process was a bit long as it took my husband an hour to put together but he managed to get it all done reading the user manual included. After it was assembled we did take it to a local bike shop for them to check it out to make sure the wheel installation was done properly and the brakes and everything else looked o.k.

Once the Taga was ready I took it for a stroll. The manual recommends riding the bike without a child first to learn how to ride it and get used to it. I must say that I had to ride it a few times before I was 100% comfortable, riding it without a child affects how you turn and feels a bit off even though I put some weighs on the child seat. The bike is obviously designed to ride with a child and it was definitively nicer and easier to ride once I tried it with my son. Riding Taga with  my son has been a breeze and he really looks forward to our rides.

Taga is safer to ride than a bike with a bicycle trailer because you can watch your child at all times without having to turn your head. Taga’s 3-wheel structure makes it more stable and you don’t have to worry about your balance, safer than riding a regular bike with a child seat attachement. It also means that you can ride Taga even if you don’t know how to ride a regular bike.

While riding our Taga I always wear a helmet and so does my child. He doesn’t have to wear it once we switch to stroller mode but he always wears it when we bike. I also avoid being in heavy traffic and only use bike lanes in the city, my personal preference.

Right now I can use the stroller mode with both my 5-month old baby and my 3-year old. The bike mode using their child seat is recommended for children 1-6 years so I can only ride with my toddler for now. I could ride with my infant if I wanted using a car seat adapter they sell as an extra accessory.

I received an individual child seat with my Taga but you can also get two seats if you want to ride with two children at the same time, a wooden double seat or the car seat adapter.

What I like the most about Taga is being able to ride places with my child and then switching to stroller mode after reaching our destination, it is so easy to do! I just remove the child seat, lower the saddle, flip the rear frame and then reinstall the child seat again. EASY! People often ask about it when they see it, Taga is definitively unique and people love it, a great conversation starter! I get asked about it almost every time we go out, especially when riding to playgrounds or parks filled with parents.

Riding the Taga as a bike is super fun for both myself and my child. You can’t really go too fast as it only has three gears and really for safety you shouldn’t anyway. Hills do take some effort but I find that is part of the work-out, still I don’t recommend it for very steep hills. The Taga was designed in the Netherlands and it’s perfect there because of having no hills or mountains, if you live somewhere with lots of steep hills this may not be the best bike for you.

The Taga stroller mode looks and behaves like a jogging stroller. It is definitively large and wider than a jogging stroller but it would fit in a train and an elevator. Haven’t tried taking it in a bus and really wouldn’t do it unless it was absolutely necessary and never during rush hour. It is also hard to take the stroller inside small shops and I usually go places like the Mall or Superstore and really mostly stores with wide aisles. Taga does fold up to fit into almost any car trunk and gives you lots of options for storing at home. Getting it into a car is not the most convenient because you do need to disassemble some parts but really biking to your destination using the Taga makes more sense than driving there, that’s the whole point of owing a bike!

In general I love my Taga. It allows me to get in shape and exercise while hanging out with my child and enjoying the beautiful weather (perfect for the spring and summer!) and I LOVE that it grows with my family. I can use it with both of my children from infant up to 6 years old and then to carry groceries and more.  It’s also a truly green vehicle and I end up using our car less for short errands. The Taga bike pushes me to be more active and get my exercise outdoors while spending time bonding with my children.  A worthwhile investment if you ask me!

Taga has been honored by a surprising array of authorities.

• 2009 Red Dot Award for Product Design in the Sport Category – Red Dot is widely recognized as the world’s most prestigious design award.
• 2008 Kind + Jugend Innovation Award – Kind + Jugend is widely accepted as the world’s most important trade show for baby products.
• 2008 Eurobike and iF Magazine Award in City Bikes Category. Eurobike is seen as the world’s premier bike trade show. iF Magazine is Europe’s leading design magazine.
• Recognized by US-based I.D. Magazine in its “New and Notable 2008” feature as being one of 2008’s smartest products.

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Disclosure : I received a sample of a product to facilitate this review. All views and opinions stated on this post are 100% mine.