Child Bike Seats - front or rear?

gabriel959 · April 2010

Hi,

I am looking to buy a bike seat for my daughter (now 16 months old) as we want to go cycling with her. Anyway I have seen the WeeRide Kangaroo bike seat and quite like that seeing as it supports children up to 18kg (she is 13.5kg) and doesn’t seem to be mounted on the steering like the BoBike Mini.

I have got two questions though – do they work with road bikes? I would like to install her in my Giant SCR 2. I have quite an upright position on the bike so I reckon it should be ok but I would like other people’s comments on their experiences? I have seen

Second question is… is it a good child seat? What are people experiences with this? Do you have any other recommendations? Is it better to have a rear child seat instead? If so, which ones would you recommend? I have seen the BoBike Maxi and quite like the look of it too…

Thanks,

baudman · April 2010

I'm not a lover of rear mounted seats for a variety of reasons (where it puts the weight, bike handling, ease of getting on/off, safety and in some ways most importantly, being able to interact with your child). However, I'm not sure how you'd go mounting a rear seat on your frame. I don't think it has braze-ons? (Can't see in the pic I just looked at).

BoBike seats are mainly for quill style stems, but I believe there is an A-HEAD mounting kit these days. However...

with any of the front-mounted seats, I think you're gonna end up with quite an uncomfortable ride. Drops make it tricky to reach around, and put your head/chest really close to the seat. The WeeRide also (tends to, depending upon the geo of your bike) make to splay your knees out to avoid hitting it. The Bobike, less so, but perhaps a bit.

Also - I'd be checking the suggested weight tolerances on your frame and rims.

So... my suggestion? Grab a cheap (old clunker) bike, but no so cheap it's unsafe

And use that as your family commuter. My old ChroMo workhorse was recently reborn in that guise, for exactly that purpose.

Horses for courses really. But let us know how you get on. Who knows - it may all work a treat.

gabriel959 · April 2010

thanks for the reply - but I really can't buy another bike, even if its a clunker as I haven't got anywhere to store it!

My Giant has got rack mounts so I could install a rack mounted rear seat. I can appreciate what you say about child interaction but is it really worse than having it mounted in your stem where it alters the handling of the bike considerably?

I have now discarded the WeeRide and BoBike because of the knee bit...

I can see that you use a CargoBike and I understand something like this is much better than a rear seat but I am very limited space wise at my current home...

I am heading towards the Hamax Plus... what do you think?

baudman · April 2010

Before we got the CargoBike, we had a trailer. (AND... you can carry a lot of beer in a trailer when the kid isn't in it)

gabriel959 · April 2010

But but...

Trailer is the same problem as the cargo... we haven't got the space to store it really.

Ramjam · April 2010

I have the BoBike Mini, I bought an old jeloppy and put it on there, a Raleigh Pioneer ebay special. I have not noticed any change in ride characteristics at all. On our second user now

. The only bad thing i can say about the BoBike Mini is that the kiddies grow out of them

. The reaction you get from people you pass is brilliant as well, and you can even get a wind screen for wet days if you can justify it.

Child Bike Seats - front or rear?

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