New child ... infant front seat recommendations
#26
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acidfast7 and I Like to Bike,
Stop the bickering! I deleted several offending posts. Let’s get back on track with the thread.
Stan
Stop the bickering! I deleted several offending posts. Let’s get back on track with the thread.
Stan
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I used a belly pack until my first born could hold up her head. I then used a two wheeled cart. For the first 11 years of our marriage we had no car. Here is my favorite cart and it is the safest one available.https://cycletote.com/products/child-trailer
#28
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With a child seat on the bike there are two main things to worry about.
First, the child may be very wiggelly when being put into the seat. No fun when the bike is balanced on a kickstand. You pretty much have to keep at least one hand on the bike all the time . You can not leave the bike alone for a second. It was worse than I thought it would be. Also even with a helmet on, if you fall sideways the kids head will hit the seat side very hard. Maybe these are obvious, but try it a friend's bike if you can.
A child trailer will not fall over if you do. I think it's safer. But they are lower than a car, be sure to use a good safety flag.
Keep the weight in the trailer over or in front of the axle to keep the trailer from lifting the bike in the air when you are not on it. This may never be a problem, it showed up when I turned a trailer into a dog trailer, loading from behind. The dog started to put weight in as he got in and the bike went up in the air.
First, the child may be very wiggelly when being put into the seat. No fun when the bike is balanced on a kickstand. You pretty much have to keep at least one hand on the bike all the time . You can not leave the bike alone for a second. It was worse than I thought it would be. Also even with a helmet on, if you fall sideways the kids head will hit the seat side very hard. Maybe these are obvious, but try it a friend's bike if you can.
A child trailer will not fall over if you do. I think it's safer. But they are lower than a car, be sure to use a good safety flag.
Keep the weight in the trailer over or in front of the axle to keep the trailer from lifting the bike in the air when you are not on it. This may never be a problem, it showed up when I turned a trailer into a dog trailer, loading from behind. The dog started to put weight in as he got in and the bike went up in the air.
Even these two stairs become a hassle than and the bike lanes are extremely narrow.
https://www.google.com/maps/@50.7799...7i13312!8i6656
I think the trailers are great, especially if they're ski compatible for the winter, but just not for this cycling environment.
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#30
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With such tight space constraints, the Steco Baby Mee comes to mind, before you can use kids seats. However, doing that on a normal DF bike might be tricky: https://www.bakfiets-en-meer.nl/2009...orn-on-a-bike/
#31
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With such tight space constraints, the Steco Baby Mee comes to mind, before you can use kids seats. However, doing that on a normal DF bike might be tricky: https://www.bakfiets-en-meer.nl/2009...orn-on-a-bike/
#32
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Take a second look at a trailer, really. Singles are no wider than handlebars, they convert to a stroller, and have available an infant sling.
Year 1 is awkward for cycling. Year 5 gets awkward too because he's too big for the bike seat but not good enough on his own bike yet.
Year 1 is awkward for cycling. Year 5 gets awkward too because he's too big for the bike seat but not good enough on his own bike yet.
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#33
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Take a second look at a trailer, really. Singles are no wider than handlebars, they convert to a stroller, and have available an infant sling.
Year 1 is awkward for cycling. Year 5 gets awkward too because he's too big for the bike seat but not good enough on his own bike yet.
Year 1 is awkward for cycling. Year 5 gets awkward too because he's too big for the bike seat but not good enough on his own bike yet.
A ton of bike shops in the city (maybe 10 to 15) and haven't seen a single trailer yet, which makes it quite hard. Nor have I seen one in the wild (and I see around 50 cyclists a day).
#35
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I know this thread is pretty old now but wanted to share the route went. Since about 10 months old my son has loved riding in the i-bert front mounted seat. I've had this on several different bikes now and this old mountain bike with high handlebars is by far the best. I've had it on a drop bar gravel bike and a bike from the 70's with high rising handlebar, but this works better than either of those because the clearance from the legs to the handlebar, with lower bars it's a tight squeeze to get legs down in their place.
I'm glad I went with a front mount, I can see what he's doing and I can enjoy seeing how happy he is on the bike and he really loves the bike. Only downsides are that it is a little bit in my way, legs do have to spread around it but not too bad on this bike, and when he moves a lot it does make the bike turn but not enough that I'm worried about shooting in to traffic. He did figure out how to pull the brake lever the other day so maybe the extra unplanned stops could be downsides as well.
My kid is 99.6 percentile for height (I'm 6'6"), so he's going to outgrow this thing before he is 3, he just turned 2. I'll probably get about 2 years total from it then need to find a trailer or something. I think the weehoo looks interesting.
I'm glad I went with a front mount, I can see what he's doing and I can enjoy seeing how happy he is on the bike and he really loves the bike. Only downsides are that it is a little bit in my way, legs do have to spread around it but not too bad on this bike, and when he moves a lot it does make the bike turn but not enough that I'm worried about shooting in to traffic. He did figure out how to pull the brake lever the other day so maybe the extra unplanned stops could be downsides as well.
My kid is 99.6 percentile for height (I'm 6'6"), so he's going to outgrow this thing before he is 3, he just turned 2. I'll probably get about 2 years total from it then need to find a trailer or something. I think the weehoo looks interesting.
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My twins are approaching four. With 2020 being how it's been, there haven't been many long rides for them, because the boy twin is off the charts for height and width and makes the trailer too small. So mainly it's been balance bikes to the park. The girl twin is nearly ready to pedal, the boy twin is not there yet. It's funny how their skills have turned out. She definitely has the coordination to ride the Spawn we got her but she's got little pedaling experience because there have been no preschool trikes in her life. He's going to put it together a bit later, and skip the 16er we've been saving from the older brother. I got him a girl's 20" Riprock coaster that can have a low enough seat height for him to start on. The oldest boy meanwhile has developed no added skill at all. He's 6-1/2yo on a geared 20" for 6mo now, he's been pedaling for nearly three years, and he still rides like he just got off his balance bike.
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Last edited by Darth Lefty; 12-29-20 at 09:59 PM.