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My lad will soon be too heavy for his Yepp Mini front seat so I need to get set up for the next step. I currently commute on an old Rockhopper with a pannier rack for my bag (spare tube, pump, lunch, work clothes) and the Yepp Mini up front, dropping The Boy and his seat off at daycare on the way. If I fit a rear seat, however, it seems like it will prevent me from mounting the pannier onto the rack.
I could use a rucksack but will it sit right in his face? Anyone ride with this set-up? I know it'll depend on the model of seat and rucksack as to how 'in his face' the bag is.
I'm also looking at other options... Number one choice would be a Kona Ute, Yuba Mundo or similar, but getting that past the CFO might be tricky. An Xtracycle Free Radical is probably the next best thing, but again they're not cheap.
Anyone ride with a rear seat and backpack? How do you find it? Or has anyone got any other tips/bright ideas?
Cheers.
We've got a Hamax Sleepy which has a fair bit of fore and aft adjustment and a tilt facility. I can get away with riding with a rucksack and my boy in the back.
I'd say it depends on the bike setup - if you have a more upright riding position you may find your backpack is in your face.
If that's the case then what about a bar mounted bag or frame bag?
Yeah, I was looking at the tilting seats. They look ideal for if the child is sleeping on a longer trip, but I'll be mostly doing 10-minute trips with him wide awake, and tilted back doesn't seem ideal if he's not sleeping. Given that it's such a short trip I could just go with the bag-in-face method but I'd rather he grows up enjoying being on a bike...
I've been looking for ways of mounting a bag up front but I need something that will remain fairly... voluminous? I.e. not cinched down with straps etc, as I carry a shirt which is collapsed/loosely folded into the pannier at present to prevent creasing. Front-mounted set-ups like the Freeload seem to be geared towards tourers where the bag will be compressed down, and I can't find a 'normal' front rack that will fit to mtb suspension forks.
I do this when I don't take the trailer - it's fine with a small rucksack. What you are taking sounds pretty small. As said the hamax racks have some adjustability.
I also have a hamax pannier for the child seat but wouldn't really recommend it as it's a bit fiddly. It's just a normal pannier with a half flap so the leg of the seat can fit down into it. It's fine on the bike but I found taking it on and off a bit of a chore - you had to sort of slide it out from under the seat. Sounds a small irritation when I write it out like that tbh but i never liked it.
You could maybe bodge one of these that would be better, depending on how it fitted to the rack.
Practicalcycles sell a rack adaptor that gives an additional pannier mount point so you can still use your pannier with the child seat. Not sure details but its on their web-store.
Much better off with a long-bike tho, your rockhopper will be quite short in the rear so child will either be right up against you or their weight (and the pannier weight) will likely be behind the rear axle.