New bike…

I’ve just bought a Thule Yepp Maxi to take MiniBB out and about having graduated from the WeeRide and Mrs BB vetoing a Shotgun seat. Went to fit it on my SolarisMax and it won’t fit, the seat tube is too short. I’ve managed to get it on my ancient Pinnacle, but there is something that looks suspiciously like a crack, so I don’t want to trust it too far. The seat would fit on Mrs BB’s Rockhopper 29, but she doesn’t feel confident on it and refuse to ride the Cotic. 

So, I’m looking for a small or medium child ride bike. 29″ wheels if possible.

Is the seat tube too short for the clamp or does it mount the seat so low it hits the back wheel?

If the latter then Hamax seat have an option of a longer mounting bar to lift the seat higher. I would have expected Thule to sell a similar thing.

Or get a rack mounted seat.

Or get a second hand hybrid or old rigid mountain bike as these are great for kiddy hauling and can be left outside shops and cafes with fewer worries.

Or get a new bike. I reckon my rigid Sonder Frontier would be good for kiddy hauling but no better than my 1992 Rockhoper was once you factor in bouncing kids, basket on the front to carry nappies, toys and snack etc. Front basket is really useful / essential for kiddy hauling bike.

We (very) briefly used one of those seats to get our youngest out round the forest with the rest of the family. I couldn’t get it to work on the wife’s medium Sentier (29er) but it did just fit on my previous generation XL chameleon. Despite being a nice design for road/town bikes it just didn’t seem to play nice with the short seat tubes, big wheels and chunky frames of modern mountain bikes.

To be honest even though it did go on it was a lot off faff to set up and wasn’t a brilliant fit (kid ended up inches from my behind) so it wasn’t long (two rides I think)  before I gave in and tried out the shotgun seat. Kid was instantly at home up front (despite only being about 20 months old at that point) and it meant I didn’t have a set of tiny hands prodding my arse as we went round. So win win.

Might seem to be a bit extreme given that you have a few bikes already but we bought a Kona Minute and a rack mounted Yepp Maxi. Swapped the wooden deck for a home cut polyprop deck drilled to suit the seat base.

Big centre stand and enormous panniers made this a really practical vehicle that served both our kids until they were competent on their own bikes. Not too bad up the woods either when its dry with decent tyres etc.

Still own the bike but its on loan to another young family while the child gets more confident on her own bike.

Why was the shotgun/macride type of thing veto’d?   Sost or safety?

Cost: buy second hand and sell for not much less, and if you have to buy a new(s.h.) bike anyway to make the other seat fit….?

Safety?  is it for her to ferry MiniBB about?  Is she concerned about he ability to keep her and mini safe?  I always found it much easier to manage the weight centrally on the macride then perched over the back wheel.   cheap dropper might be the best way of boosting confidence, they’re very handy for getting steady before you move off.