Bicycle Seat For Child

[Spencer]

I would like to get a seat to add to my mountain bike for my 2 year old. I saw two different ones at the store today. One was made by Bell and fit above the rear tire. The other one mounts right behind the handle bars so the child is in front of you (facing forwards). The front mounted seat looked like it would be great for the child but might interfere with the adult. So I would appreciate any input you all can give me on this. What brand and style have you tried and what do you like and dislike about them?

Thanks

 

[Jeff396]

We had one of the seats that sits by the front handle bars. I liked everything about it except that you had to ride with your knees a bit more outboard than you normally do. Once in a while you forget and rap your knee. I really liked having the child in front of me so I could talk to him easily. I also never had to worry about all the weight in the rear tipping the bike when you got off the seat if you weren't ready for it. I don't remember the brand, we purchased it from the Sky Catalog on one of the airlines.

Jeff

 

[RobS]

If you really want to give your kid the royal treatment and have a more enjoyable ride for yourself, get a Burley trailer (or similar). We got one years ago for our first son and have put hundreds of miles on it. Pull it with our single bikes and our tandem. The kid(s) have a lot more room for all of their essentials and can even have a nice nap inside. Rides great and tows almost effortlessly though you'll get a workout on the uphills. Lower CG seems safer. Check them out at Burley /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Egon]

For safety sake the trailer would be best.

The child seat on a bike gets the weight up too high. The front seat would interfere with the proper riding position for operation of the bike. The back seat makes it more difficult to balance exspecially at low speads such as when approaching traffic signs. It will also interfere with mounting/dismounting.

There is also the case where if/when a crash occurs the child is defensless and could be subject to serious head/neck injuries even with a helmet on.

Egon

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Spencer,

Like Egon says, a trailer may be the safest...but certainly is a different animal and a lot depends on what you want to do.

For example, there are people who love to ride and ride bicycles for ten's of miles in a day with their kids, and even tour for hundreds of miles on vacation. A trailer would be a must have for them I think.

Now if you want to take an easy, slow ride around your property or on country roads maybe going five MPH, that is a lot different from sailing down the road averaging 10 to 15 mph on the level and maybe faster on the down hills...

When our kids were little, we lived in Japan and kid's bicycle seats were the norm and it scares me now to look at pictures of us and the kids on those bikes without a helmet or a care! Ignorance was bliss...

We had both front and rear seats on our bicycles then. My wife had both when she took the kids shopping with her, bigger girl on the back and smaller one in the seat on the handlebars. Both were good, but I think the front seat is better because you can talk with you child and point things out easier.

Egon is right on with respecdt to the danger of falling with the child in the seat. You don't really want to do that. Any you might...there is no guarantee that you won't. So you need to ride slowly, and maximize the chance that if you do slip, you can just put your foot down and hold the bike up without falling yourself. Maybe easier said than done...but slow is a good rule when a child is aboard. A little kid sitting in the bicycle seat when the bike falls is like your or me being on the top of a ladder when it slips. A lot different that slipping on a banana peel and falling to the ground.

Most important is the helmet. Buy a kids properly fitting helmet before you buy the child seat.

I think you can safely use a bicycle seat and have a lot of fun with your child. And I am sure you will take all the care necessary. Myself, I would go with the front seat. Maybe a bicycle shop would let you test both before you buy.

Have fun with the little one. They do grow up real fast!

 

[Spencer]

Thanks everybody for your replies so far. The wife and I were going to get a trailer last year but never got around to even getting the bikes out of storage. I thought since my daughter is 28 months old now that a child seat would be fine but you all bring up great safety points and her safety is a huge concern to me. It makes sense that the front mounted seat is balanced better between the front and rear tires than the rear mounted seat. I could also try to wrap myself around her in a front mounted seat in the event that we were falling and try to cusion the blow with my body. I can see where the trailer could be the safest but she would be so isolated from me in a trailer. We couldn't talk as easily but I suppose it would protect her from the sun and the bugs. Keep the suggestions coming, I have a couple of weeks before it will be warm enough to go for a ride anyway.

 

[fishman]

Spencer,

When my daughter was little, I had a rear child seat that attached to my rear rack. She loved it and we both enjoyed biking about immensely. However, when she got a little bigger, sometime between age 2 and 3, we had to get a trailer. She was just too big for the seat. My concern was that if you laid the bike over while underway, her little body wasn't fully contained in the seat frame any more, and some serious road rash would result.

The trailer I purchased was great, but it did slow me down a lot more than the rear seat option. Positives included the ability for my daughter to carry all kinds of snacks and drinks and have them immediately handy, no possibility of scrapes or bruises, a larger profile to make it easier for cars to see us (gravel roads/back roads only, however). Downsides for the trailer I purchased anyway, was little protection from chasing dogs (daughter was usually armed with rocks), less cushioning, and the inability to lay the bike on it's side while the trailer was attached. If I were purchasing a trailer now, I would make sure that it provided complete protection in front from flying rocks and insects, was completely enclosed for protection against animals, with netting in front/back for cooling, and had an attachement that allowed the bike to be laid on it's side. The better ones used to attach with a universal joint on the chainstay, don't know about now.

I wouldn't worry about not being able to communicate. We never had a problem, and the trailer I had required the child to sit facing backwards. I imagine a trailer that allowed the child to face forwards would facilitate communication. We usually saved the talking for breaks and just enjoyed the scenary.

One last recommendation. Buy a couple of those battery-powered LED taillights that constantly flash. The batteries last a long,long time and they make you more visible.

Oh, and I always insisted my daughter wear a helmet, even in the trailer.

 

[Egon]

Spencer:

When you crash with the front mount seat you may just end up being a big weight on the child. There is usually no time for anything. If there was time you wouldn't be crashing. Also remember that the bike geometry is a big factor in stability.

Egon

 

[herbenus]

We put lots of miles with two kids on our mountain bikes with a rear seat. I think a trailer would be safer but if you plan on trails in parks a seat would be more convenient. Lots of trails will have narrow places, or you may have to get off bike sometimes, carry kid, then bike. (This is best with two people.) We bought one seat and two mounting brackets so it could easily be moved from bike to bike. We never had trouble with it but it does almost require two people to safely hold bike, put kid in, watch kid while you mount. Dismounting is trickier. One problem we had was when kid is older, reaching weight limit of seat, they will lean over to see around you and tip bike a little.

Our old seat is currently unhitched, sitting on driveway, waiting on a garage sale.

 

[FamilyFarm]

We have both - my wife has a seat on her bike for the baby and I pull a trailer with 2 younger children in it. The trailer puts more work on you, but is obviously safer for the child. Our trailer was purchased through LLBean and is very well made. If you want a seat, I highly recommend Rhode Limo seat. It is very light weight, very sturdy, safer than most, mounts securely, and of course is rather expensive. We have enjoyed ours and it is made to last 'forever'. It goes on and off the bike in a few seconds and when not on the bike, you have a very sturdy rack that remains on the bike to use for other things. Just do a search for Rhode Limo by Rhode Gear.

Terry