I’m wanting to take my little boy out on the bike when the weather warms up a little bit and it got me thinking about which type of child seat other people use, front or rear mounted ones and why choose that style?

Front ones give more visibility for the child but how do those who use rear ones find it, do you children complain about not being able to see anything?

Any tips or pointers from those who have been there will be great.

Just used a front one for the first time at the weekend. Far better! Little one seemed to get bored on the back but on the front I can chat to him and he loved pointing everything out. Came hope with a mud spattered face just like his dad so he was well chuffed. 😀

swavis – Member
Just used a front one for the first time at the weekend. Far better! Little one seemed to get bored on the back but on the front I can chat to him and he loved pointing everything out. Came hope with a mud spattered face just like his dad so he was well chuffed.

Out of interest, which front mounted did you use?

i would have thought the front one would be safer. a few months ago at Llandegla, i saw a guy come flying down the red route with one of those attached to his bike…he also had a very distressed child who was about 3 years old, crying his eyes out (even the dummy wasn’t working!!) so they must be pretty safe to use….although personally i wouldnt take a child that small on the red route no matter how safe the bike seat is….

We used a front mounted seat for our little ‘un from when he was about 8 months. This one in fact: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ok-Baby-Orion-Child-Seat/dp/B000SD1HYW

Much better as they can see out and feel nice and secure as they are between your arms. This one can either attach to the head tube or to the down tube with an extra attachment if your headtube is too short. I had to play around a bit to get it in a position where I didn’t knock my knees but once set up I managed 20+ mile rides with him – even did the family route at CyB which he loved.

Once he reached the weight limit he graduated to a rear seat which he also likes but not as much.

Out of interest, which front mounted did you use?

Oxford leco

Although it doesn’t show it it comes with footrests as well. I got one for £16 from ebay and thought it was worth a punt. Bargin!

That oxford Leco looks like what I could do with – my dad had one similar when I was a kid and I loved it, going low down on the handlebars on his road bike. Would be handy as a leave on the bike seat, for when I don’t have time to put the trailer on, or when I’m riding on somewhere else afterwards.

All the other front seats I’ve seen are no use on a road bike because they’re massive – has anyone tried the Leco on a road bike (I’ve got quite a relaxed touring type position, so I think there’s room for her, and it is an aluminium not super light frame – Trek 1200, so not particularly worried about any clamp damage).

We used to have a Safe t seat

It isn’t of any use if you have a slammed stem or very slack head angle, but the way the passenger is positioned makes for an enjoyable ride and allows them to hold the handlebars.
The price, however, is a joke, so I’d only get one second hand if I was looking for one.

Front seat here – rear seats make the handling go crazy and your nipper can’t see jack.
I used a WeeRide for my two boys (not at the same time, natch 😉 )

We have a WeeRide Kangaroo for the youngest. I bought a rear mounted seat while trying to find a LOCT for the eldest (3) and didn’t like it at all. It was a Hamax Siesta and fits to the seatpost, apparently those that fit to a rack are better.

Personally I’d go for the mid/front mounted for all the reasons above. If you can find one I’d highly recommend a LOCT for when he/she outgrows something like a WeeRide. A mate bought one of those Leco’s and it put a crease in his top tube so beware! Needed a bit of fettling but it’s OK now.

LOCT:

Child seat belt must be attached and properly fitted to the body and seat.

Currently using a Weeride here, kangaroo I think it is. I wouldnt bother with the more expensive version, Jnr FD loves it, and I couldnt see why anyone would want to put their child behind where they cant see anything.

I do however have the problem of having to ride with knees slightly out. I couldnt use SPD’s, and after 15miles or so my knees do hurt a little.

However at nearly 3 he is out growing it rapidly, and I was wondering what could be next.

Tonyd – Not seen one of those before, how much are they, and what age range are they for? I see on the website it says not less than 2, but I cant see where it says what age to?

Edit : I wouldnt put that Oxford one any where near my bike, you would need some force to keep it up right, and I am not surprised its bent tubes

FD – Not sure what age you can go up to but the guy in the vids at the website has a child of 5+ on there by the looks of things. I’d say the upper end would be more dependent on the size of the child and the bike you’re fitting it to. If they haven’t learnt to ride a bike by the time they’ve outgrown this you’ve probably got bigger problems!

You can only get them second hand now as they stopped making/selling them a little while ago. Apparently this was due to the prohibitive cost of manufacture, when you look at the quality it’s easy to see why as they are incredibly well built. The ‘stirrups’ are adjustable in length and angle, you just have to be careful not to set them in the way of the front wheel. I’ve put a little pair of grips inside my shifters so he has something proper to hold onto.

I can’t emphasise how great these things are. Keep an eye on the classifieds here, that’s where I found mine, and where I’ll be selling it in a few years time.

Interesting to hear from those who’ve put their kid on the front and the back, that the kid much preferred it on the front. I was thinking about getting a front mounted one for the reasons mentioned above. I also was looking at getting a Weeride Kangaroo, so good to hear people having had good experiences with that one.

swoosh – I’d highly recommend a Weeride. I think as with most things how you intend to use the seat will drive any decision you make.

The rear mounted one (Hamax Siesta) we tried was awful – it has a single mount point on the seat tube so was quite bouncy and felt like it was swinging around a lot at the back. Others have not had this issue so it could be I hadn’t mounted it properly or just down to the old 90s MTB it was attached to having bendy steel tubes. Either way I didn’t like the way it made the bike feel unbalanced and unwieldy, junior was bored, and neither of us liked the lack of interaction it brought.

If you just want to transport junior from a to b then a rear mounted will probably be OK, preferable even as he/she can have a sleep on the way home. I expect most of us on here want to use them as an introduction into the joys of biking though, in which case mid/front mount is the way to go so they can interact more and actually see the benefits. They can actually have a sleep still on the weeride – that big thing in front of the seat is for the to hold onto or rest their heads. Of course generally they end up off to one side and asleep on your right wrist so you can’t change gear 🙂

Front was all I used, has the advantage of knowing when they have fallen off the bike.

I’ve been dropping my son off at daycare on the way to work using a Yepp Mini since he was 8 months. He loves it. Since he turned 14 months or so we have been doing intermediate trails at the Redwoods (Rotorua, NZ), which he also loves.

I tried a Weeride Kangaroo and liked the fact that it attaches to the frame and not the handlebars, but found it sat too low and got in the way of my knees. The Yepp has an aheadset adaptor which can mount it on the steerer tube above the stem, giving loads of leg room underneath, even for a lanky get like me.

The only problem is that he is rapidly approaching the 15kg weight limit and will soon have to go on a rear-mounted seat, although iirc most front seats have a similar weight limit.