Advice please on bike seats for babys.front , back or middle .I have old hard tail I can put seat on back but would rather use my alpine 160. I have only seen one that can be used with a full suspension bike.

Oh god.

Without wishing to sound sarcastic, did you try the search function?

Brace yourself for some serious flaming!

What age?

(And yes, search for the recent thread…)

No. Didn’t use the search. Only been using site for a week or so. Bracing my self for the abuse of the Internet police then.

A bike seat is not considered the safest way to carry a child on a bike by some folk. However trailers (the alternative) also have drawbacks.

If you do want a bike seat, go for a rear mounted one though.

how olds the littlun..??

But middle def – Ive used rear seats you cant see what the littluns doing, if they fall asleep their head just rolls forwards and bounces (even with the reclining seats) and you cont go off road or up decent hills.

If the littluns around 2ish dont get anything other than a LOCT seat…

And I havent seen any other threads on seats despite being on here virtually everyday – would have been nice for a link rather than sarcastic comments…

The middle mounted ones aren’t particularly safe though it seems.

really..??

If you hit something you could be thrown onto the kid and squash them, that’d be my worry.

400+ post flamathon
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/young-babies-on-bikes

Although to be fair that thread was mostly about how old the kid should be, and how dangerous a road one should take a trailer on… Both legitimate concerns.

If you hit something you could be thrown onto the kid and squash them, that’d be my worry.

Rubbish – Ive somehow managed to ride round numerous xc race courses, trailcentres, the alps and even most of the olympic course without squashing my son, and we dont ride slowly or look for the flat routes, but you obviously take care in what youre doing. And if I did hit something hed fall off as well, not strapped on with a loct seat.

I wouldnt have been able to ride half the things ive done with a rear seat or trailer – safety aspects aside theyre restricting and not practical.

And trailers personally scare the bejeesus out of me – on the road (esp round here) you wouldnt last five minutes.

And that thread was really asking for the ‘varied’ opinions on here….

So because you haven’t had that particular accident, that means it’s never going to happen?

And if I did hit something hed fall off as well, not strapped on with a loct seat

😯

Ive somehow managed to ride round numerous xc race courses, trailcentres, the alps and even most of the olympic course without squashing my son

Not much traffic in those places, to be fair.

And trailers personally scare the bejeesus out of me – on the road (esp round here) you wouldnt last five minutes

Interesting you say that – I got majorly flamed for saying I’d not take my trailer on the road save for extremely quiet and spacious situations.

So because you haven’t had that particular accident, that means it’s never going to happen?

yep and I could get struck by lightning, have a tree fall on me, get hit by a drunk driver in a car park. – they havent happened yet either.

I dont ride mountain bikes on the road unless its to get to a local trail and fortunately Ive got about ten miles of cycle path to get me to the nearest – any further and the kids will get bored and ill drive. I bought the LOCT seat so I can ride off road, thats what I (and my little boy) love doing.

I dont like / enjoy riding on the road any more, the drivers round here see through most bikes and think nothing of brushing you when they go past and then blame you for bad cycling I want to enjoy my riding and not spend it patching up bruises and scrapes and arguing with idiots who cant drive. Ive seen too many accidents and commuted for too long to think that one day Ill wake up and drivers will suddenly become considerate to cyclists.

Re trailers on roads Im with you all they way, locally it is far too dangerous. Im assuming the people that are supporting them dont live in town or city centres and the drivers are a bit more considerate, I wouldnt risk my children’s lives to prove a point if not…

bigdawg – what model seat do you use as I’d like to get flamed too.

Ta

edit – ah I see LOCT is a make I assumed it was an acronym

yep and I could get struck by lightning, have a tree fall on me, get hit by a drunk driver in a car park. – they havent happened yet either

Being silly now. The process is about evaluating risk, not expecting to be able to eliminate it, obviously. Most people have common sense, but you can pretend I don’t if it makes your arguments easier if you like 🙂

Still, trailer for my kid(s) off-road. I’ve had silly accidents in my time on easy stuff, wouldn’t want my kids to be involved.

The few roads I have taken the trailer on though have been wide and quiet, and I have been with Mrs Grips who can ride behind me and slightly further out (although not close enough to obscure the trailer) which forces drivers to slow.

Hamax Siesta going for £40 – very little use. In the midlands. EMail me if interested

Back. Get a Rhode Gear Taxi. Nice design and not cheap but you will need a hardtail to fit the Blackburn rack to. Almost unchanged design in 10 years from the most litigious society on earth 🙄

The process is about evaluating risk,

Exactly, Ive been racing for the best part of 20 years – I know my limits and that ofthe bike- but Iwont go anywhere near those limits when Im riding with my son, but because I race Im a lot fitter than most people I ride off road with and as a result can easily ride with them, way within my limits, with nearly two stone perched on my top tube… Although hills tend to slow you down a bit more but when youve got your own onboard cox (theyre catching us up daddy, we’re going very slow up this bit… etc…) it kind of motivates you…

I like the idea of an outrider with the trailer but unfortunately even that wouldnt work round here – theyre likely to get squeezed or pushed into the kerb..

Where do you live where the drivers are so bad then?

I’m talking about residential back streets mind.

Forgot to say, you should add an Esge double legged kick stand, makes putting baby on and off sooooo much easier

Have them on several bikes including one of the tandems.

Nothing wrong with middle seats for most purposes IMHO. We’ve got a Siesta, a LOCT and a Weeride Kangaroo, they all have their place. All that stuff mainly gets used for getting around the place rather than RAD GNAR though 😉

I bought one of those Esge stands for our tandem, but cable routing (and a 2.3in back tyre) scuppered it. Still looking for a bipod stand that’ll go around a big tyre.

Where do you live where the drivers are so bad then?

Southend.. I used to live in straford (east London) and I felt safer riding round here than I do on the road here. Back roads are usually down to single lanes due to two lots of parked cars so are actually a bit safer than the main roads, unless you meet a complete tosser coming the other way that doesnt recognise you as a valid road user (or even so you!)

MikeD – dont want to sell that LOCT do you?? My daughter is old enough and wants to go out with us now and Ive been hunting high and low for a second one…

My boy is 6 months. I don’t intend to be doing drop ins or jumps with him onboard . Also don’t intend to take him out just yet as he is a bit young. I have that you should not let them wear a helmet until they are a year old.

until their neck is strong enough to support their head properly, then and only then can you think about a helmet, but even then Id wait a month. But with the high backed seats a helmet pushes the neck and head forward already putting strain on them before you start pedalling.

It’s worth noting that when they can hold their head up reliably at home, they probably aren’t able to cope with a couple of hours of being bounced about.. esp without a head support. After watching her in the trailer in tests I didn’t feel Lil Grips was sturdy enough until 14-16mo and she’s always been huge and ridiculously well built.

I use a rear mounted seat (co-pilot limo)

It’s very good.. I’d be very much into the idea of a crossbar mounted seat in a year or so perhaps when Jr is more confident and stronger but Mrs Yunki is against it..

If the littluns around 2ish dont get anything other than a LOCT seat…

LOCT are not in production any more and after conversations with the owner/designer I don’t think they ever will be again.

I have a wee ride kangaroo for the 1 year old and my 4 year old is on the LECO one, which is brill as she holds onto the handlebars, changes gear, rings the bell and is generally involved.

edit – forgto tto say both kids love front/mid mounted seats way more than the rear mounted ones as thy can see and feel a bit “king of the world” aslo I like having them between my arms in a false sense of security way.

Here’s the Leco one on the cargo bike. If only I could give up work and spend the rest of my days taking the kids off on picnics and trips to The Turf Locks…

LOCT are not in production any more and after conversations with the owner/designer I don’t think they ever will be again.

thats a real shame – what was the reason..??

I think he had problems with production costs, TBH I cannot remember just that he said I’ll put you on the list if we ever go back into production but I think he needed half a million to get it off the ground again.
Personally now that I have my LECO seat I cannot see that the LOCT is worth £200 when the LECO is £25..
CAVEAT – never seen a LOCT in the flesh, but for me the purpose is put kid on bike, go from A-B like to school, pub,park, towpath and the Leco does that brilliantly, I understand the LOCT is supposed to be for getting gnarr with your preteen but I ain’t doing that and as soon as they are big enough for that why not give them a bike of their own?

toys – the manufacturing involved in them demands the price – I wouldnt says its about going nuts with the kids but its the only option Ive found for safely riding off road – and the extra weight makes for good training !!

My little boy is about to get his own bike (already manic on a balance bike) but as we did a couple of weeks back a 7 hour ride through the new forest may be a bit more than he can do..;-)

I get your point about 7 hrs, although struggle to see how my 4 year old wouldn’t die of boredom after 7 hrs in the saddle 😯

How is the LOCT different from the leco? I take mine off road on the weeride and the leco but only on mildly bumpy stuff, how far can you go really?

Have a search for Safe-T-Seat. Little-un loves it. Very quick to install/uninstall. I’ve had no trouble whatsoever when riding with it. Used on daiy commute without incident for 9 months or so.

I looked at that one along with the yepp ones I don’t like handlebar mounted ones ..

If only I could give up work and spend the rest of my days taking the kids off on picnics and trips to The Turf Locks

+1

How is the LOCT different from the leco? I take mine off road on the weeride and the leco but only on mildly bumpy stuff, how far can you go really?

the loct consists of the seat and stirrups (adjustable to the height of child) and the bar that connects to the seatpost and steerer stem. The child is not strapped in or fixed to the seat – and the stirrups have a solid / fixed footrest with rubber loops – these are as ive said adjustable and are a lot lower than the downtube which gives a much more natural riding position.

how far can you go – id quite happily do anything other than jumps – when I pre ride cross country courses my son quite often comes with me, dependig on what youthink ofthe olympic course weve ridden most of that (using onyl one of he getout routes), the alps.. At the end of the day if he thinks Im going too fast he’ll tell me and ill slow down – but he’s normally tellnig me to speed up so he ca nput his racing eyes on…(long story involving lighning mcqueen!)

Its also taught my son how a bike handles, I quite often find him now leaning into corners ahead of them and standing up on drops and bumpy decents, in fact at the end of our local ride I let him steer and change gears and brake on one of hte open parts (off road) – althoguh we generally end up going round in a big circle half a dozen times…