I'm looking to buy a child seat so my little girl can join me on some gentle summer bike rides. What do people recommend - front or rear mounted, makes, models? And are they safe to fit onto bikes like my orange 5, or would i be better borrowing the wifes old hardtail? Thanks.
We sell quite a lot of the Rhode gear/ Co-pilot seats (fit to a Blackburn rack included)with no problems reported.Obviously, they won't fit to the 5, being rack mounted, but would you want a seat mount permanantly fitted to it anyway?
Personally, i'd stay away from those that clamp around the seat tube, i'm no engineer but i'm sure the tube isn't designed to take the sort of loads that would be placed there.
LOCT all the way. You'll end up doing more than you thought possible with the little one!!
if yer nipper is young the LOCT is not an option though.
Get a Weerider. £60 ish sell for £30 when you are done. Will only get you through a couple of summers before she outgrows it but the kids love sitting in the front. Make sure you have room on your headtube between your headset cup and top tube for the mounting.
After looking at the options recently, i decided to go with the LOCT one, as it just seemed better that sticking the little one over the rear wheel.
Its age range is 2 - 6 years old and it is expensive, but looks like a quality piece of kit.
I fitted mine to an old FSR at the weekend and one quick ride with the little one, i am glad i got this one.
However my only problem is, that is not quickly removeable and you need 10-15mm of 'spare' steerer tube to attach it to. Ammitedly it only took 30mins to fit, but if this is your only bike it could become a pain removing it regularly.
I have got to invesitigate whether you can unbolt part of it and leave part of the fixings under the stem, because that would make things much easier
I looked at pretty much everything and got the hamax sleepy - over the rear wheel nd it reclines for when the littluns asleep and his head doesnt bob everywhere...
Those top tube seats - the wee ride and equivelents I couldnt ride without smashing my knees to bits and couldnt touch the bars and the loct I was virtually leaning on my little boys head and I wasnt happy he wouldnt slip off...