[Closed] What (kind of) bike for a child seat?

chakaping - Member

I've got one of those Hamax child seats and discovered it doesn't fit on any of my existing three MTBs, so I'm considering buying a secondhand bike to ride round the towpaths and on easy tracks with baby.

STW logic in action there.

Replace child seat vs. buy another bike.

Hmmm - let me see....

Bikes don't have rack mounts either and I don't want one of those top-tube mounted seats.

You see the logic now?

Aye - I recall you posted on this last week. We see this quite a lot in the shoppe. Personally, I'd line up an Inbred frame and get a Blackburn/Co-pilot .

In terms of what I did I'm with druidh. I had a 456 with Blackburn/Co-pilot until he was 2.5 years and then got the LOCT on a Five.

Both good enough for trail centres if you're careful.

That said and I say it far too often I think I would go for the secondary top tube style, because the balance of the bike is a sack load better and your child feels that they are riding round in a cuddle (and you can talk).

If I recall druidh ain't keen on mid mounted seats, possibly because of endos - If I fall off I tend to go sideways though and in the LOCT at least my child is grabable as I go (in theory I haven't actually come off with him on the bike) I can land him on top of me.

You do "need" a gravity dropper style seat post though as you can't slide forward when you stop very easily.

I just had an instinctive worry about having the child in front, not because I do a lot of endos but because I usually go off the bike forwards.

The weight distribution argument is making me reconsider though. And it's not like I fall off a lot riding on the flat anyway. Hmmm.

Igm - Can you go into more detail about the seatpost thing please? I'm afraid I don't get you.

Anybody got any thoughts on the best bike geometry for child seats? Steep vs slack sort of thing.

Well, you're not going to be going at huge speeds so coming off the seat forwards should not worry you too much, nor should the geometry. Tourer / town bike style for preference.

I agree entirely about the poor balance of rear child seats. I've had the bike tip under me when I've been stationary. Go for a top-tube mount.You'll be able to talk to them better, and their view will be improved as well.

Unitl it got nicked, I had a (Specialised) hybrid with rack-mounts half-way down the forks. I fitted a tri-cross bar extension so the kids could lean forward, and instead of having footrests on the down tube, I fitted aluminuim extrusions onto the fork rack mounts. (square section, last few cm flattened, bent, drilled, bolted on. Very easy. They never hit their legs on the tyres.

I also cut the wire back-rest off the top-tube child seat so I could get on/off more easily

Can you go into more detail about the seatpost thing please? I'm afraid I don't get you

Basically just a convenience thing. When I stop I normally slide of the saddle to straddle the top tube. With the LOCT on I can't do that because my son is in the way. But with a £60 KS850, I just drop the saddle before I stop and I can get both feet to the ground - thereby not dropping the bike or my son.

Also means I can get on the bike with both feet on the ground and then lift my son on.

If you run a DH / freeride saddle height you won't find any advantage. For the XC saddle height you will.

In my exerience, give him the choice and the we'an will choose the bike with the toptube mounted seat over the bike with the rear mounted seat. He chats non-stop on the toptube seat, but is pretty quiet on the other seat.

I set the saddle height lower with the TT seat, but I aint aiming for maximum efficiency when out with the kids, so it doesn't bother me.

I have the hamax rack mounted one that I use on a cross bike. It's very stable, but it does make the bike handle poorly. Centre of gravity all over the shop. Is this the one you have? Can't you just ebay it and get a Hamax seat tube mounted one? These seem fine.

I'd get one of the front ones if I was doing it again. I avoided them because you're pedalling like John Wayne once they're on. I didn't realise, though, how slow you need to go off-road with a baby on board. They really don't like being bounced around! So it doesn't really matter if your pedalling style is a bit cramped.

OT, but I saw a guy yesterday riding at speed on the road with his kid in a backpack! Looked very funny, but very stupid - imagine the centre of gravity there, a small wobble and you and yours would be on your aris in the middle of the road.

Orange P7, R8 and the Ragley Blue Pig (and Ti) have rack bosses at the rear dropouts if you want to consider either of those.

I have a hamax recliner, and with two different bikes have issues with top routed front mech cables down the seat tube, however you can get the boss to sit around the cable mounts eliminating the requirement to buy yet another bike... 🙂 Oh Spech Rockhopper here with Avid 5's and Rebas.

Thanks again guys. I have the Hamax Kiss seat-tube mounted jobby. It only cost me £13 off ebay so I don't mind buying another seat if need be.

What's the buzz on those Weeride ones which mount above the top tube? Are there compatibility issues with those does anybody know?

I remember there were happy users when I asked a while ago before buying the Hamax.