Front vs Rear seat for 16 month old

zakkz

Hi fellow parents!

I wanted to buy a child seat for my 16 month old daughter to take her out when I'm cycling around town, and really like the front mounted seats - they seem a bit safer to me, and there is the added benefit of being able to see the little one!

The only thing is that I haven't seem anyone riding around with one - all the parents I see have the standard rear mounted ones. Is there some benefit to the rear ones that I haven't been able to deduce?

Many thanks

baudman

One of the advantages to rear is that, depending upon the geo of the bike, front mounted ones tend to impede your pedaling. This can be little, or quite a lot, depending upon the seat, and the bike you mount it on. The rear, being back there, is out of the way. You can also use them for a little longer, as your child grows.

But seriously, they are the only advantages to the rear mount that I can see. Well, those, and the fact there's a lot more out there so you have a greater range of choice/options.

Front mounted has the weight between the two wheels. Rear it's out (generally) behind the rear axle. And quite high. It means it's tippy. ESPECIALLY if you are walking the bike.

It's a lot harder to converse with your child. (IMHO, this is a huge reason, as it's one of the joys of cycling with my little one).

It's a lot harder to see what they are doing.

It's harder to load safely, as they are behind you.

Often, but not always, you can't use the rack for anything else. So, if you want to carry a load/pannier/whatever as well. You can't.

We use a BoBike mini. (See link for family bike in my sig). This mounts on the steerer, so is about as far forward as you can get. It does make the steering heavier - but it's actually a pretty natural thing.

I actually prefer trailers over rear seats, but prefer front-seats best of all.

Of course, different people. Different bikes. Different preferences. What suits one may not suit all.

zakkz

That makes a lot of sense - thanks for your reply.

I think I'm going to go for a front mounted one for now - it just seems a lot more natural tO me

baudman

See if you can try a rear mount first (friend/whatever/perhaps even a shop). Then you can compare.

But especially, heavy kid in rear - high - behind the rear axle, walking across a road, and the front wheel slipping and the bike pivoting around the rear (IYKWIM). I've seen it happen quite a few times. And on a couple of occasions, the parent hasn't managed to stop it in time.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/baudman/42 ... otostream/

wasp707

Personally, I wouldn't buy a front seat. If you have a front impact the child takes the full force. To me rear seats seem to offer better protection and my 2 boys have always been fine in their Hamax and Co-Pilot.

natrix

I've used both and far prefer the rear mounted seat (as does my wife). The front mounted seat (a kangaroo wee-ride)was OK for short journeys (up to 1mile) but after that we found it became impractical because of the knock-kneed cycling style that you have to adapt.

t4tomo

wasp707 wrote:

Personally, I wouldn't buy a front seat. If you have a front impact the child takes the full force. To me rear seats seem to offer better protection and my 2 boys have always been fine in their Hamax and Co-Pilot.

Thats quite a lame argument - if you have a rear impact a child in a rear seat takes the full force.

I used to use a front stem mounted one when kids were little, and a cross bar mounted seat when the were bigger.

Yes you have to pedal with your knees out at bit, but then you probably shouldn't be aiming to cycle at warp speed when you're carrying your kid on board. I never found it much of an inconvenience.

wasp707

Sorry to be so lame. My choice was for rear seats. Each to their own.

natrix

Pedalling with my knees out with a front seat nearly made me lame!!

Daz555

I used a rear seat for a long time with my son. When my daughter arrived I went for a trailer instead as I need to be able to carry two at a time.

Like night and day. Tailer every single time and I wish I had put my son in a trailer right from the start.

Adam EF

I've used both and definitely preferred the front cross bar mounted one. The rear was good as it was removable if they fell asleep I could take it off and prop them up in it (The Co-Pilot rear seat we used was designed to make this easy with the retaining bar folding back to the rear of the seat to be a stand so it's freestanding) assuming you have the strength to remove and lift the seat with them in it.

But the front just felt cosier and more secure. Balance was better as my son got older and heavier as the weight is between the wheels and not at the back causing fishtailing as you pedal. They're also between your arms and you can chat with them easily even when your surroundings (ie city traffic!) are noisy.

Front does impede your natural pedalling a bit depending on their size and the positioning of the seat but as you're not generally travelling fast with a child onboard anyway it's not as much of a problem as you'd imagine.One problem can be lack of space to step forward into on the crossbar when you stop at lights etc if you like to get of the saddle to put your feet on the floor as I do with the extra weight to hold up. You can lower your saddle a bit though so that you easily touch the floor whilst remaining on the saddle although that will affect the stretch of your leg when pedalling, but again unless you're doing long distances or trying to get full power out of your legs to go fast then that's not as much of a problem as it might be otherwise.

The best designs I've seen are the ones that pivot with the handlebars. Ours didn't as it was fixed to the crossbar and that soon caused problems as my sons legs grew and the handlebars knocked his knees when I turned tighter corners. The ones that are stem mounted and move with the handlebars means this doesn't happen.

Rear mounted seats also use up all rear pannier space, so carrying things can be a problem. You can use a backpack but they can tend to push into the face of the little one behind you if you carry a significant amount. You might be able to mount front panniers to carry things on some bikes, but that can affect the steering a bit which I didn't want to do with a child onboard.