Kids Ride Shotgun Pro Seat review: smile maker

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Effectively a mini extra seat that fixes to your bike’s top tube, the Kids Ride Shotgun Pro means your kid can come mountain biking with you.

  • Brand: Kids Ride Shotgun
  • Product: Pro Seat
  • From: kidsrideshotgun.co.uk
  • Price: £180
  • Tested by: Antony de Heveningham

Three things that I liked

  • It’s super easy to install and remove
  • It has tonnes of adjustment
  • The build quality is top notch

Two things I’d change

  • The high seat position could make carrying taller children awkward.
  • The option to tighten up the clamps with tools instead of fingers would add extra peace of mind.
Photo: John Stanyon

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Review Info

Brand: Kids Ride Shotgun
Product: Pro Seat
From: https://kidsrideshotgun.co.uk
Price: £180
Tested: by Antony de Heveningham for 2 months

Antony was a latecomer to the joys of riding off-road, and he’s continued to be a late adopter of many of his favourite things, including full suspension, dropper posts, 29ers, and adult responsibility. At some point he decided to compensate for his lack of natural riding talent by organising maintenance days on his local trails. This led, inadvertently, to writing for Singletrack, after one of his online rants about lazy, spoilt mountain bikers who never fix trails was spotted and reprinted on this website during a particularly slow news week. Now based just up the road from the magazine in West Yorkshire, he’s expanded his remit to include reviews and features as well as rants. He’s also moved on from filling holes in the woods to campaigning for changes to the UK’s antiquated land access laws, and probing the relationship between mountain biking and the places we ride. He’s a firm believer in bringing mountain biking to the people, whether that’s through affordable bikes, accessible trails, enabling technology, or supportive networks. He’s also studied sustainable transport, and will happily explain to anyone who’ll listen why the UK is a terrible place for everyday utility cycling, even though it shouldn’t be. If that all sounds a bit worthy, he’s also happy to share tales of rides gone awry, or delicate bike parts burst asunder by ham-fisted maintenance. Because ultimately, there are enough talented professionals in mountain bike journalism, and it needs more rank amateurs.

More posts from Antony
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Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)
  • Kids Ride Shotgun Pro Seat review: smile maker
  • honourablegeorge
    Full Member

    Rode with a guide in Italy who told me at the top of a 1200m desccent that he had taken his 2 year old down the same trail using one of these.

    Posted 2 years ago
    wzzzz
    Free Member

    I find the shape of the mac ride seat much better for holding the child in position. And yeah you will be surprised what you can ride with them.

    Posted 2 years ago
    keppoch
    Full Member

    I find the shape of the mac ride seat much better for holding the child in position

    Then this product will also suit as it appears Shotgun have directly copied the MacRide. I know this sort of product copying is rife but seems particularly shameless here.

    Posted 2 years ago
    mashr
    Full Member

    Then this product will also suit as it appears Shotgun have directly copied the MacRide. I know this sort of product copying is rife but seems particularly shameless here.

    but the shape of the seat (which is what wzzzz is specifically talking about) is still completely different, and the Mac-Ride still looks better as you don’t need to worry about adjusting it (and it also seems surprisingly comfortable)

    Posted 2 years ago
    HoratioHufnagel
    Free Member

    Mac ride also folds completely flat with one allen key bolt, so you can drop your kid off at nursery, stick it in a backpack, then head back via home via the trails without it whacking your knees 🙂

    Posted 2 years ago
    wzzzz
    Free Member

    Yeah as above the seat is also made of a grippy rubber on the macride rather than slippy pleather

    Let me see the original macride is:

    Cheaper
    Lighter
    Holds the child better as the seat is better
    Child is lower so lower CoG and they can hold the bars and sit more upright without contacting parent
    Quicker to install / remove / fold flat

    Why buy the plagiarism?

    https://www.velozone.co.uk/products/mac-ride-child-bike-seat

    Posted 2 years ago
    mashr
    Full Member

    Although worth remembering that this is the actual original

    Posted 2 years ago
    igm
    Full Member

    The LOCT.

    I took my now 15 year old down the Chavannes red in Les Gets in one of those on a Five when he was 3-ish.

    The when he was 8 he accompanied his little brother down the same run. Stinky 2-4, Alpine 160 and LOCT that time.

    This year, he nicked one of my bikes, I saw him on the lifts and in the lift queues. I think we were doing the same runs.

    Little brother rode the Chavannnes red on his own this year too.

    That sort of seat is a brilliant start.

    Posted 2 years ago
    mashr
    Full Member

    I took my now 15 year old down the Chavannes red in Les Gets in one of those on a Five when he was 3-ish.

    Given some of the stuff I’ve done with mine, I could imagine that being a right giggle!

    Posted 2 years ago
    StirlingCrispin
    Full Member

    Thump (now 15) and Thud (13) both rode local trails on a LOCT.
    Best rides ever.

    The MacRide is a step up in design (and I know Glen put a lot of effort into the seat design and addressed other issues) while the Shotgun is definitely a step back.

    Posted 2 years ago
    NewRetroTom
    Full Member

    Love my MacRide. Take my daughter to school on it 4 days a week and then remove it and put it in the bag to continue the ride to work.

    I can see a few design issues with the Shotgun. Two of them referenced by the reviewer. Why does the seat need to be so high above the rail? That is adding to the “chinning” problem. Thumbscrew attachment seems inelegant/unreliable.

    Posted 2 years ago
    igm
    Full Member

    @mashr

    Given some of the stuff I’ve done with mine, I could imagine that being a right giggle!

    My wife decided not to accompany us as she couldn’t watch. 😉

    Posted 2 years ago
    a11y
    Full Member

    The MacRide is a step up in design (and I know Glen put a lot of effort into the seat design and addressed other issues) while the Shotgun is definitely a step back.

    ^ this all over. MacRide just nailed the design perfectly – I can’t see anything in this revised Shotgun that’s an improvement in any way. That additional seat height is definitely a negative with the higher CoG.

    Had great adventures with 2 x MacRides and was a sad day when they were outgrown.

    Posted 2 years ago
    igm
    Full Member

    MacRide just nailed the design perfectly

    Well there’s room for QR bolts (think mini maxles or QR skewers on steroids) instead of the thumb wheel at the back and the Allen bolt at the front. Possibly with Velcro straps to prevent accidental opening of the QR lever (there’s children on board etc.)
    If I was feeling really over engineery, how about a a bayonet fit QR? Slide bolt in, rotate bolt by 90 degrees, close QR part and do up Velcro.
    That would give a known, repeatable clamping force at both ends. And be really easy to do up and undo (I know provided you don’t lose it).

    Posted 2 years ago
    mashr
    Full Member

    None of those changes would actually improve user experience though. it’s not sensitive enough that it needs that degree of accuracy and I’d rather that Velcro stayed away. Plus, at the moment there no chance of a child accidentally opening something, which is a flaw you’ve designed in and had to overcome. The screw at the front is also very low profile, which I’ve found to be a useful feature. They are also using various COTS parts, which is a good thing

    Posted 2 years ago
    igm
    Full Member

    You’re probably right. I’ve never used the MacRide but the one thing I wanted to change on the LOCT was a quick, preferably tool free, way of getting it on and off. And having had a WeeRide I didn’t like the plastic thumb wheel way of getting round the use of tools.

    The right torque on the seat post would be useful to prevent jamming of droppers which I’ve seen happen with over torqued clamps (even seat post QRs on occasion).

    At the front end – agreed precision is not really necessary.

    As for COTS parts – plenty of COTS QR bolts in about 5-6mm size. They use them on seat post clamps. Wouldn’t sort the repeatable torque but would make taking it on and off nice and quick.

    Posted 2 years ago
    beagle
    Free Member

    Faster Daddy, Faster!!!!

    No, no, no, no, slow down!!

    Faster Daddy Faster!

    The LOCT is best purchase ever. Actually feel really sad that I may get only a couple more rides in with my youngest. Then I’ll probably put up a wanted ad in the classifieds to borrow a toddler 😁

    Posted 2 years ago
    zerocool
    Full Member

    We’ve got 2 of the original KRS seats and our (now recently turned) 3 year old twins have loved using them all this year.

    We looked at the Mac Ride, but managed to pick up some brand new and boxed KRS on eBay for £60 each so it was a no brainer for us. When you have to buy 2 of everything each time you start getting looking for the bargains.

    The biggest game changer to us was hiring ebikes as it meant getting to the top was quick and easy which maximised their time charging downhill.

    A long piece of threaded bar, a shortened roof rack strap and some slight bending of the metal plates meant they fit on the Whyte E-150s pretty well.

    Posted 2 years ago
Viewing 18 posts - 1 through 18 (of 18 total)

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